i just bought the game but am not sure if i should open it or not. i loved the fact that i could power level in FFX but most games have been missing it since. can i do it in this one?

Power level as in gain many levels quickly without much effort? It's very possible. If you go out of your way to do sidequests a lot of them have very little combat but give massive XP bonuses. If you don't watch it you over-level the game very quickly. If we're just talking about general grinding, FF13-2 doesn't gate you like FF13 did. If you had the patience you could max every single class level in the first major zone of the game.