New York Comic Con Final Fantasy XIII-2 Impressions

While at New York Comic-con this past weekend I was able to skip a few lines to take a look at a few Square Enix games. While Square Enix had a bunch on offer I spent the most time with the one everyone is keeping their eyes on and that I'm personally most interested in: Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Before giving my impressions let me preface by saying this is not the TGS demo but features similar content to the E3 demo - but I wanted to give my take on the gameplay systems of the game. Alex, Erren and Takahashi-san have all checked out various versions of the game over the past year.

Because of the content of the demo some information may be outdated and won't represent the final product. I was able to ask questions regarding the game's evolution and where it was at TGS, but my personal experience is still tied to a build that has since been surpassed.  For that reason, I will not dwell on what we already know and give my own take. It might be a good idea to look at some of the more recent impressions as well.

The demo throws you right into the action with a boss fight against Paradox Alpha and puts you in control fo Noel, the dual sword-wielding time traveller.  The battle system at a core level remains relatively unchanged from Final Fantasy XIII; You still select attacks or bypass that with auto-battle while paradigm shifting to suit your current situation.  

Quick time events titled as "Cinematic Actions" appear at certain intervals during the boss fight. Square Enix reps told me that this was an attempt to make battles more dynamic and reward players with the opportunity to inflict extra damage. Depending on your opinion of QTEs, this could be a good or bad thing. The few in the demo were relatively non-intrusive, but it could definitely get annoying later in the game when RPG fans like to be focused on battle tactics rather than reflex reactions.

After the boss we find ourselves in the Ruins of Lake Bresha at an undetermined point in time. One of the first things you will notice is the area is now populated with humans, making for a more lively environment despite the rain and dreary atmosphere. Communication with NPCs works like a combination of XIII and XII rather than just the latter. Some will still talk automatically when in close proximity while others will allow you to press a button to hear what they have to say just like in previous games. Others won't say anything at all.

I was pleased to find out many areas will not just reuse assets from XIII using the pretense of time travel and actually be entirely new environments to explore. Fans that lambasted the original for its linearity will be pleased to know the areas are much more open. While the maps are still linear to some extent, there is noticably more focus on exploration and illusion of a free-roaming world is there, keeping it in line with past entries more than XIII and X to a lesser extent. Paths end, split off, lead to treasure and nothing else; plenty to do other than moving forward.   

Engaging the enemy works a bit differently than XIII. Rather than trying to get behind an opponent in hopes of a preemptive strike, there is now something called the "Mog Clock". When near an enemy a countdown clock will appear; the object is to attack the enemy with Noel's sword before the timer is exhausted completely. If you manage that, it'll result in a preemptive strike. This was very hard to mess up in the demo, but Square reps were quick to tell me that it will be much more difficult in the actual game.

One interesting new feature that has been on everybody's mind is the inclusion of the ability to recruit monsters into your party. In this demo defeating monsters in battle will automatically bring them into your party as an available member, though it's unclear if it'll always be that simple in the final product or if some monsters will require other conditions to be fulfilled.

I was able to confirm a few interesting facts regarding monster recruitment with the folks from Square Enix. Each one is locked into a single paradigm or job role - a behemoth will never be anything other than a Commando, for instance. Square Enix claim there are over 150 monsters to recruit, alllowing for a great deal of customization and combinations in battle. Square were also clear in saying that monsters will not be throwaway allies that can be ignored as some have speculated. I think this is likely to be a hit or miss addition - it'll be easy to get overwhelmed and many fans may not be looking for the scale and depth of a Pokemon game in a major Final Fantasy release, especially when the feature is not optional.  

Speaking of monster recruitment, I was able to ask another question that has been on everyone's mind; will we get permenant human party members? The answer was no - those roles will be tied to guest spots so the development team could focus on monsters, a massively customizable system that will shake the game's structure. I expect fans of Final Fantasy XIII's cast to be disappointed by this news, but Square Enix reps assured me that the system was very well balanced and would only add to the experience, so it might be a good idea to wait and see.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is looking to fix much of what led to the first's criticism while tweaking what it was praised for shooting to make it even better. Despite what I'd call some hit or miss implementation on certain features, the game is shaping up to be a worthy entry in the mainline series and something many who were disappointed by XIII would consider a "return to form". You probably already knew this - but it would be wise to keep an eye on this one.