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Protagonists
-Serah: YES GOOD. I hadn’t even thought of her being a potential protagonist. What an inspired choice! She’s so different from Lightning and yet clearly her loving sister.
Serah and Lightning.
-Noel: I like him a lot, though he was being graded on an easy curve since I kept comparing him with Snow. The time guardian thing was a neat role, and his tragic beginnings at the LITERAL END OF THE WORLD shaped him into a great protector for Yeul and Serah both.
Spacetime Guardian Noel.
I wouldn’t want him as a sole protagonist, but as deuteragonist or support protagonist, I’m okay.
-Just two party members: An unexpected and brilliant choice for this side game! (Even if I wouldn’t want it in a main FF entry.) It allowed the story to focus on them in more depth over its 5+ chapters.
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Antagonists
-Caius: He was… fine? Not my favorite, or least favorite. They did a good job giving him a reasonably complex backstory as someone who wasn’t just EEEVILL. Maybe my ambivalence is more about the trope he embodies, of someone who wants to destroy the world if it means having his loved one for a little while longer.
Caius art by kairoscuro.
Hm. That might be a bit harsh. He wasn’t just saving her life – he was saving her from immense forment.
-Proto-fal-Cie Adam: VERY cool. I almost would’ve preferred them to focus on him as the main protagonist, since the imagery of a post-XIII-world making their own god and having just as bad an outcome as when the actual fal’Cie were in control is SUPER FASCINATING to me.
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A Few Side Characters
-Mog: An adorable companion. We saw a little backstory, but tbh he was mostly awesome for the little hugs when he jumps into Serah’s arms after battle.
Moogle hug!
-Yeul: A tragic, sacrificial figure. Constant death is a brutal fate. One of my hindrances to feeling super invested in Yeul is how she was really so many different characters with different memories and experiences.
I wonder if we’ll see Serah in “Lightning Returns” in the same way. Multiple Serahs?
-Chocolina: HFDSHDFLSL BEST CHARACTER. She cracks me up. Her dress, her design, her voice, everything.
”Chocolina is Life,” by polkinart, posted by djinn87.
I’m excited to see the Sazh post-game content, since we may get more Chocolina perspective and backstory. Or even just seeing her interact with her beloved Sazh more.
-Alyssa: I learned about her paradox ending only after finishing, where she sides with Caius to preserve the paradox. What an exclamation point on a fascinating character – yet another in XIII-2 defined by tragedy. She knew that the disruption to reality
-Hope: I was happy to see Hope here, even if he didn’t have the most interesting growth. It was more of a typical “what’s the best kind of adult this character we met as a kid could become?” thing. Still nice to see him grow into a respected leader, jumping successfully from his arc and challenges in XIII.
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Story/Tone
A Darker Story: It’s so dang bleak. A story with no happy endings, just a variety of sad and tragic ones. I only found two – the main ending and that brilliant “Serah Gets Everything She Wants Or Does She” paradox ending – but I’d be shocked if any of the other paradox endings are happy.
It’s not usually my thing. And yet, I kind of dig it? Perhaps because it’s so unexpected, so frigging bold. I admire it.
Middle Chapter: This also softens my reaction. I know that this isn’t meant to be a full conclusion to the series. This makes things feel unique, and I appreciate it for how new it is for the series. It gives XIII-2 a freedom most games haven’t had.
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Gameplay
Monster party members: I expect this mechanic will feel better on replay. I got the basics early on and stumbled into some good monsters (like the Golden Chocobo commando), but never really solidified my strategies.
I see this generally as a strength of a mechanic. Easy to learn the basics blind, hard and rewarding to master.
The adorable but flawed healer, Cait Sith.
Oh, and it’s just flat out cool to have behemoths and cactuars and the like on your team, and even be able to put adornments on them.
Time travel: I mostly like this. I love how we see the same zones in different eras, and how it gives us a full scope of Cocoon/Pulse on a historical level.
My only knock on this is my experience with “Chrono Trigger.” It was much more elegant when your actions in the past changed the future. Tough to pull off, and I don’t blame XIII-2 for skipping those entanglements altogether!
”Outta Time, Kupo!” by tenguarts.
But XIII-2 set itself up for comparison to “Chrono Trigger,” and that specific aspect falls short for me.
Fragments: I’m an absolute sucker for this sort of system. Collectibles? Checklists? Secrets to find? YES PLEASE.
The icing on this cake is the lore. Each fragment doesn’t just reward you with potions or gear or experience. It gives you more story. Perfect.
Paradox endings: I only found one, and look forward to watching the rest on YouTube. Had to added this in because of how fantastic I believe the one I found was, and how much the presence of paradox endings enhances all of XIII-2’s systems and themes.
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Music
-Extremely good! I dig the heavy electronic themes. Some favorites as I go through the OST:
-Knight of the Goddess
-Paradox (probably my personal favorite)
-Paradigm Shift
-Starting Over
-Plains of Eternity
-C***y Chocobo. SO CUTE YET FIERCE, IS HE FROM HELL?
-Labyrinth of Chaos
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Art
Lots of assets from XIII. Which I’m fine with, since I like XIII!
A couple of the new things:
-The time-centric art, making it look like music scrolls, was solid.
-MOG WAS SO CUTE! A stuff animal of a companion.
-Not a fan of Caius’ design, for the same reason I don’t like Snow’s design. They both look so… idk, tailored, unnatural. (Just my personal taste.)
-Favorite zone: the Labyrinth of Chaos, that last version of Academia. So cool to see the blocks floating in the air that come together to form paths!
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Length
Took me just over 54 hours, 54:28. Tons of content! Never felt too long, especially since the core content is much shorter. Paced very well, and never felt like it dragged.
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Replayability
High, for a few reasons:
1) Monster paradigm optimization.
2) Fragment completion.
3) Post-game content.
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A Brief Ranking of the Side FF Games I’ve Played It’s Just One Small Opinion Please Don’t Kill Me
The side games incorporate so many more genres that it’s even MORE subjective than my main game rankings, so don’t read too much into this.
1.Tactics Advance
2. X-2
3. XIII-2
4. IV: The After Years
5. Tactics A2
6. Tactics
7. VII: Crisis Core
8. II: Soul of Rebirth
9. X-2: Last Mission
10. VII: Dirge of Cerberus
11. XII: Revenant Wings
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Final Thoughts
This is up there in the top group of side FF games for me. It’s got a rich story and characters, a bold tone, awesome mechanics, deep systems. I have a feeling that the game wasn’t even higher on my list because of its strength – it had so much that I only briefly touched on!
It’s a gem, and I look forward to watching a 100% LP.
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Next time: Starting Lightning Returns WOOHOOO!! (While simultaneously playing FFXIV: Shadowbringers.)
