Here's Everything You Need to Know About Final Fantasy XIII-2

NPC's with sidequests and text? What a notion!

Great subtitle there Perry. You nailed it dude, LOL!

Final Fantasy XIII: Now with towns!

All I heard was, "This is a JRPG".

They just listed a whole bunch of things that should have been standard for the FF franchise (besides QTE's). Though I guess after FFXIII, that's probably the best thing for them to do.

I felt extremely burned by FFXIII; I'm just hoping that the story is told outside of the database this time. Either way, I'll wait for reviews/word of mouth before touching the FF series again.

@MikkaQ said:

Did this guy record each word separately or something?

What the hell is wrong with him?

I read this before watching the video not understanding what it could mean.. but yea, that's pretty spot on.

I can't believe this got a perfect score in Famitsu

I hate the inclusion of that Kingdom Hearts looking motherfucker. Was FFXIII with its female protagonist too progressive for Japan's sensibilities?

Also, even for JRPG standards, that antagonist looks dumb as shit.

@GunnBjorn said:

VO Guy:''The sequel to the 'Smash-Hit' RPG FF13 is almost here...''

WHaHaHaHahahaha! Oooh Hoo Hoo HaHahahaha...! *Gasping for air* Haaa Ha Ha ha ha...! *reaches for the heart* Haa haha... Aaargh!!! *Died of laughing*

Whatever your opinion of the game, sales figures demonstrate that FFXIII was a "smash-hit".

Argh.... What happened to you Square? Everything just suffers now, from character designs and story, to the music and gameplay. Nothing is like it used to be.

They should've waited and put this game out on the PS3-2.

Okay Square, you have officially jumped the shark. Who thought that adding quick time events and monster capturing to this game was a good idea?

Well it actually seems like there are some RPG elements back in the game.

@Andheez said:

Well it actually seems like there are some RPG elements back in the game.

You mean the last two FF games hasn't already jumped the shark

No thanks. I'm only going to play FF games i know i already like.

So... FF13 meets FF7 & Chrono Trigger. Not a horrible choice to take the series.

Also, this guy sounded like a McDonald's training video announcer, but he made me 100x more interested in this game than any dramatic, über-Japanese trailer did before. Still not a fan of the paradigm system. Or adding Pokémon summons.

That narrator sounds like one of them robot voices on OPM's podcast. Just not funny.

@Grissefar said:

@Nymphonomicon said:

@Excast said:

Lost me at "smash hit"

Yeah, I think calling that game even a minor success is pushing it...

It's sold more than both of the Batman games.

I refuse to believe that. Unless Final Fantasy is Japan's Call of Duty...

Because playing as Lightning's prepubescent sister was what everyone wanted from the first game. "This is okay, but I want to play as that dumb 13-year-old that's totally not annoying at all." -- Everyone, probably.

Very interesting. It would appear that they threw in a lot of things absent in XIII that seemed to disappoint a lot of fans of the franchise. It's interesting because while it shows that they did listen to the complaints, I can't help but wonder how that may have effected the creative vision of this game. Maybe many of these things shown in the trailer were tacked on and were not originally intended to be present.
 
 I'm looking forward to playing this.

@Nymphonomicon said:

@Grissefar said:

@Nymphonomicon said:

@Excast said:

Lost me at "smash hit"

Yeah, I think calling that game even a minor success is pushing it...

It's sold more than both of the Batman games.

I refuse to believe that. Unless Final Fantasy is Japan's Call of Duty...

Hate to tell this (unless someones done it already) but its true. People in Japan basically have a national holiday whenever a Final Fantasy game (proper one mind you) gets released.

Though to be honest I'm not too sure if that's still true today.

Wait. So instead of playing Lightning who was the more stronger of characters you play as her sister that I didn't bother caring about in the first place from the first game?

I think the best things about 13 were the combat and visuals and while those seam to be present still here I can't help but think it's still going to have another lack luster story.

I also found the crystalarium to be well...pointless. Instead of auto leveling your character in every other FF now you can continue to manually do it yourself in a fancy looking menu. Sigh.

Well I say kudos to those who are interested in this. I wish I could be, I do. However I think SquareEnix has lost me on this series. Bummer really.

Wow!!! They freaking solved it!! Quick time events!!! That is exactly what final fantasy needed!! Wow square Enix u make the most intelligent decisions!!!!!!!! HA!!

@poisonmonkey: The answer is "WHO CARES?" with a dash of "If you were first, did you want an award for that?"

Is this video really necessary? When (or if) we played this, wouldn't we learn this in the game and through tutorials?

Stupid VoiceOver aside this looks pretty good. I'm excited! Oh and thanks iPhone for inter capping voice over.

@paulunga said:

@Lazyaza said:

Such innovative things like, npcs you can talk to, quicktime events, and cinematic gameplay. It saddens me how much time and money still gets wasted on this franchise, especially when they could be making something like a new Front Mission. God what I would give for a new Front Mission. Fucking Square.

They released a new Front Mission last year. But I'm assuming you want a turn-based strategy game, not a shitty Armored Core.

Oh yes I am well aware of that.... "game".

This seems like 1990s style advertising at its finest. "Here's what this game has in it! So many things you may or may not like, but it's there so I'll read them off a list! Aren't you excited?!" God, I'm jaded...

that was way too much information...fuck

W-w-w-wait... they dress Lightning up in this hot new armor, and then have us play this little bony ass twig instead? Shouldn't she be making babies with Snow or something? Everything else sounded alright, but that one thing is a serious disappointment.

@bossman said:

Okay Square, you have officially jumped the shark. Who thought that adding quick time events and monster capturing to this game was a good idea?

I don't know what your opinion of past Final Fantasy games has been, but others had similar quick time-like events. VIII had several instances of this, so it's not necessarily a new idea.

XIII-2 looks great, and I appreciated the straightforward delivery of the video.

Of course! QUICKTIME EVENTS!! That TOTALLY makes up for lackluster gameplay, right?? I mean what is more thrilling than "Press X to see your character do a bunch of crazy stuff that looks like a whole lotta fun that you wish you were having, but aren't. OH WAIT! HERE'S ANOTHER ONE! Oooo but this time, you need to press B! Woaaaaahhhh depth!"

Also, holy fuck, the UI in that combat system looks god-fucking-awful.

Never reading the comments section of Final Fantasy coverage ever again.

It's completely understandable why they made this video. There was so much ill will towards their last official FF outing that they had to explain why this one wasn't complete and utter Jank. In my opinion, they should put out a lengthy demo featuring all the changes they included so that we can see for sure that it's not just a bunch of b.s. Quick time events? C'mon...talk about 2 steps forward and ...'hit A now' ...'failure'...2 steps back. After the abysmal pile of unplayability that was FF14 (necessitating a complete re-do of a recently launched MMORPG) and the less than stellar reception of FF13, Squeenix needs to rethink somethings if they want to remain viable as anything more than a publisher of games. Especially if they want to hold onto any fans they had of the good FF days who are quickly losing their patience with their once favorite jrpg developers.

4.02

The Wiki needs a page for "Do what you want gameplay."

The English voice work in this is pretty typical of what Japanese marketing finds to be professional - evenly paced, precisely enunciated dialogue. Nuances of inflection or charisma get in the way of presenting information in a clear and orderly fashion, after all.

As for the game, Final Fantasy left me behind a long time ago. They just kept saturating the soil of the series until it stopped holding water. Now it's a long, tiresome acrobatic light show featuring genderless characters with translucent skin who are only somewhat identifiable by their ridiculous clothing and absurd weapons. To be fair though, my sensibilities have grown too western to enjoy Japanese kitsch like I once did. I'm sure plenty of other people are happy with what Final Fantasy is.

They're not quick time events, they're Quick Reflex Button Prompts (tm).

Does anyone know if this will have random battles? Those are almost as bad as QTEs.

Ok, I'm sold. Despite the girly-boy & girly-girl main characters, moogles and all the shit thrown in there to appease people who just want the same old tired FF formula, this reminds me enough of the FFXIII I love.

I do hope that it's way harder or has a difficulty setting this time around, though. Only like the top 5 toughest enemies in FFXIII (all outside the main quest) actually required you to use the paradigm shift to it's extremes, I think.

After the disaster that was Final Fantasy XIII, I'm still not sure. I'll give them credit for the fact they've clearly added a lot of new features to the game, but a lot of it looks like a bit 'iffy' as to whether it will actually be an improvement or a tacked on/ annoying feature. I like that they have finally added NPC's that you can talk to. Final Fantasy games have always been about adventuring vast worlds and towns and interacting with individuals. FF13 was severely lacking in this. One thing that does bother me about FF13 is the character's outrageous outfits. I know that a lot of FF games have fantasy-styled outfits for the characters, but they are usually based around town culture, like in FFX when all the Blitzballers on Besaid Island have those yellow overalls, or the distinctive appearance of Al Behds. In this one there doesn't seem to be any real explanation as to why they look how they do, other than just trying to make them look really obscure (Lightning I think is somewhat in uniform of what I remember from playing 13, but other than that...). I really wasn't sold on the linear world of 13, but JRPG was always my favourite genre until this generation, and I am desperate to see it turn a corner. Please let this game not suck balls.

Just fucking call them what they are. QUICK TIME EVENTS

It's not on rails.

Jesus, that was....terrible...

Wow, could he sound any LESS excited about the game he's selling?

guys i'm trying to sell you this game, but if you don't want it, that's cool too

i mean whatever, i don't really care, i'm just a disembodied voice

@Nymphonomicon said:

@Excast said:

Lost me at "smash hit"

Yeah, I think calling that game even a minor success is pushing it...

I'm pretty sure they can call a game that sold over 6 million copies (which was their goal) a smash hit.

@nrh79 said:

@bossman said:

Okay Square, you have officially jumped the shark. Who thought that adding quick time events and monster capturing to this game was a good idea?

I don't know what your opinion of past Final Fantasy games has been, but others had similar quick time-like events. VIII had several instances of this, so it's not necessarily a new idea.

XIII-2 looks great, and I appreciated the straightforward delivery of the video.

Yeah i mean it was a little cliche... but i actually really like the changes and updates! Summons that level up and get captured in tandem hasn't really been seen since like ff8.

It's like they tried to emulate the Red Dead Redemption trailers but failed miserably. Actually, maybe it's a perfect fit to the tween angst and airport bookstore melodrama typically found in a Final Fantasy game.

I was interested in FF XIII-2 (as someone who hasn't played FF XIII-1). I don't really know much about FF XIII but I am itching to try a current FF out.

This video made it seem really confusing though and now I am not sure what to think :(

That voice is killing me.

13 year old looking girls in thigh-high stockings, creepy. Also, I had no idea what that guy was saying, maybe it makes sense in Japanese?