The first 20 minutes of this game are better than the whole of XIII. Or at least I think they might be. The smokes and mirrors have placed me under the illusion that I am playing this game to much more convincing degree than XIII managed to muster at the very least, which I guess is something, right?
Within the first 20 minutes you witness Lightning acting more of an absolute boss than you thought possible. Riding a robot horse. Stopping a meteorite from destroying the world. Kicking some n***a who looks like a white Rick James through walls in a sequence I can only describe as Dragon ball Z meets Soul Calibur meets Inception. More robot horse flying. Serah's clothes transform into some hoe get-up without her questioning in. Watch a bit of the ending to XIII. Watch Serah break down like Rachel Crow on The X-factor and fight a shit ton of battles. It's a lot. And the game has barely even started yet. I'm unable to truly decide at this point if I prefer it to XIII. But the scope and lack of explorational linearity? I admire it. Is 'explorational linearity' even a term!? Nope? Well it is now.
I can't help wonder why Square Enix were not able to deliver more of this for XIII if they were able to pull it off this well all along. You could say this about most games. But the baffling thing with Final Fantasy XIII was that it so obviously not fun nor compelling to play. Oh let's make a game full of tutorials. Centre it around a great battle system which caps everything, auto battles, locks out all of the good shit until the 20+ hour mark and not allow ANY exploration for gamers what-so-ever. Of course this wasn't going to work. Yet Square Enix made that game any way, which 'surprise surprise', many of us disliked. Forcing the development of the direct sequel in an act of redemption...and also making mo' money from multi format sales. Although this game may as well not release in Japan, seeing as the country still hates XBox.
I've only scratched the surface of this game and already it's offering more of the Final Fantasy sense of exploration many of us dearly missed from XIII. And the ease of dipping in and out of games and the episodic structure of the adventure makes it easy to pick up and play and then put down. It's a complete twist on how a Final Fantasy game traditionally plays. But the traditional elements of Final Fantasy have been tested and changed over the years to the point where they almost mean nothing now. It's just become a name. So now is as good a time as any for Square Enix to restructure Final Fantasy and XIII-2 isn't doing too bad a job so far. The plot is doing it for me at the moment. But a buddy of mine ensures me it does get a bit better.
Within the first 20 minutes you witness Lightning acting more of an absolute boss than you thought possible. Riding a robot horse. Stopping a meteorite from destroying the world. Kicking some n***a who looks like a white Rick James through walls in a sequence I can only describe as Dragon ball Z meets Soul Calibur meets Inception. More robot horse flying. Serah's clothes transform into some hoe get-up without her questioning in. Watch a bit of the ending to XIII. Watch Serah break down like Rachel Crow on The X-factor and fight a shit ton of battles. It's a lot. And the game has barely even started yet. I'm unable to truly decide at this point if I prefer it to XIII. But the scope and lack of explorational linearity? I admire it. Is 'explorational linearity' even a term!? Nope? Well it is now.
I can't help wonder why Square Enix were not able to deliver more of this for XIII if they were able to pull it off this well all along. You could say this about most games. But the baffling thing with Final Fantasy XIII was that it so obviously not fun nor compelling to play. Oh let's make a game full of tutorials. Centre it around a great battle system which caps everything, auto battles, locks out all of the good shit until the 20+ hour mark and not allow ANY exploration for gamers what-so-ever. Of course this wasn't going to work. Yet Square Enix made that game any way, which 'surprise surprise', many of us disliked. Forcing the development of the direct sequel in an act of redemption...and also making mo' money from multi format sales. Although this game may as well not release in Japan, seeing as the country still hates XBox.
I've only scratched the surface of this game and already it's offering more of the Final Fantasy sense of exploration many of us dearly missed from XIII. And the ease of dipping in and out of games and the episodic structure of the adventure makes it easy to pick up and play and then put down. It's a complete twist on how a Final Fantasy game traditionally plays. But the traditional elements of Final Fantasy have been tested and changed over the years to the point where they almost mean nothing now. It's just become a name. So now is as good a time as any for Square Enix to restructure Final Fantasy and XIII-2 isn't doing too bad a job so far. The plot is doing it for me at the moment. But a buddy of mine ensures me it does get a bit better.
I was playing consistently until they told me that Caius had JUST crossed this mechanical bridge, but I would have to travel to another time and find the key then come BACK to cross over. I thought that was stupid, so I stopped playing altogether.
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