Final Fantasy XIII-2 Officially Announced

[Fuzz]

Looks like it is official now. Is anyone excited to hear about this?


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At an event in Japan to update fans on some of its new titles, Square Enix officially announced Final Fantasy XIII-2 -- which, as you might remember, was heavily rumored once the company registered the domain for it.

Next to nothing is known about the game at this point, but Lightning will return as a character in the game, and FFXIII director Motomu Toriyama and producer Yoshinori Kitase will both return to their roles for this new FFXIII story. It's also definitely coming to both PS3 and Xbox 360 and will be released this year (in Japan, at least).

We'll deliver more news on Final Fantasy XIII-2 as we hear it. For now, though, what do you hope or expect from Square's sequel?

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Source: 1UP.com

[Aerif]

I'm not really sure if I'm excited about this since XIII itself wasn't exactly a stellar game.

If we're following the trend with games labeled -2, then expect the girls of the game to dress twice as slutty (although they already don't wear much), and some ass-pulls when it comes to the storyline.

Also... (spoiler):

Unless there is some other orbiting world above Pulse, I'm not really sure where this game could be set, but it's probably going to involve a new society that was built ridiculously fast on Pulse.

I hope that they put some form of multiplayer into the game. I know FF isn't really all that multiplayer friendly, but it's almost obligatory to include online play nowadays.

Despite all my comments, I'll probably still buy it.

[Zargabaath]

Hopefully Toriyama can mend some of the weaker plot points in FFXIII; then I wouldn't be so upset about FFXIII. I am interested to know where that purple hair fellow came from at the end of the trailer. Were there still people alive on Pulse but the party never got far enough? We'll find out. What I want from this sequel, to reiterate, is for Toriyama to explain some of the questionable plot points that were in Final Fantasy XIII. If he did that, I would probably figuratively bang my head against the wall because it would make it look like SE: a) rushed FFXIII or b) Toriyama knew all along and wanted a sequel [SE too] and should've have just made FFXIII & FFXIII-2 into one game. If the story in FFXIII-2 is going to be separate from FFXIII I only want it to be better. In the end if I feel that these two games should have been one whole journey - damn you SE!

Lightning's get up did look a little too much & silly; I don't think it really fit her all that well. There was no metal work in FFXIII, the cast had some type of cloth material with Vanille have a little fur. Even PSICOM & the Guardian Corps had a kevlar or teflon type armor. It showing up now makes it seem like they took some feedback, that it was too futuristic and gave Lightning some good ol' fashion knight armor with some feathers.

I'll give it a peak next year. I assume with it coming out later this year for Japan they may try to quicken the process of bringing it over again. Read an article that this will be coming out in the west next winter so I would think around a year from now.

[Merlin]

As usual, the YouTube commenters are complete idiots. The most common response was that FF sequels are too sexed-up and the main character wears nothing but the bare minimum. Apparently, they must have been watching a different video because she's wearing full plate mail. In the words of Hatsune Miku... (not really)


On the other hand, I do find her outfit rather out of place in the world of Pulse. It looks like Sephiroth and Yuna's outfits had an aborted baby. Then they added a splash of Claymore to round it off. Yeah I went there...

I'll probably buy it just to see where the storyline goes. That's what I did with FFX-2. If they are lucky I will actually buy it new, and not wait for a used copy to pop up a few days later and screw SE out of the money...

[LocoColt04]

It better have an awesome gimmick to go along with it though. I know I'm one of those rare birds who actually enjoyed FFXIII, but if FFX-2 is any indication, FFXIII-2 is going to need a hook to keep me playing past the first hour.

In X-2, it was definitely the job system (err, sorry, dressphere system) that kept me intrigued.

[Andromeda]

I enjoyed FFXIII as well Loco, we stand together. ;p But I really don't think the game needs a sequel. At least with FFX there was the 2 seconds at the very end of the game of Tidus rising to the surface making you ask what is going to happen next. No such ending for FFXIII. The story is concluded and they didn't give any mysterious tease. Not saying you can't make a sequel without a hook at the end, but the story's over. I don't need a hastily put together sequel to cash in.

And I have to agree that the change to armor is a little on the strange side. Plus she has a shield now as well as a new blade, though it looks like it is still her gunblade from before. It just has a new sword blade on it. I don't really know what they are planning for this. They going to fight the Pulse fal'Cie now or something?

I loved FFX-2, because I took it for what it was supposed to be. A light hearted romp, that was silly and peppy. It was fun and stayed true to that. And after playing FFX, which is one of the most depressing games RPGs to play. You sort of needed that jolt of happiness.

FFXIII-2 looks like it is a staying serious, but FFXIII wasn't dark and moody like FFX. So there's not a lot of need to be a polar opposite.

I'll still end up getting it, but I want to see what they've got in mind for this. Especially since I'm still waiting for Versus. ><

[loaf]

I'm in the middle of playing FFXIII. The only thing I would see being really cool for a sequel would be a multi player function. Each person controls one person in the party, no role setting and switching, everyone has all the roles and inputs whatever commands they want.

[IgnitedX]

I enjoyed FFXIII too, only thing I didn't like about it was the grind at the end trying to get the platinum trophy on the PS3...

I also learned not to take reviews online too seriously. So I'll definitely get FFXIII-2 and see for myself. Can't lose more than $60 + tax and a few hours!

By the way, anyone know where I can watch the trailer? Seems like Youtube deleted all of them for copyright reasons, which is quite counterproductive considering the point of the trailer is to get you wheeled into buying the game... can't wheel me in if I can't see it! EDIT: Nevermind, found it!

[Alisbet]

I wonder if this game in some way would connect the story lines of FFXIII and FF Versus XIII together. I know that they are supposed to be separate stories but we can hope, right?

[KingClaudius]

I loved/hated final fantasy XIII, I guess im looking foward to XIII-2 but i dont wanna get too hyped yet. I just hope its not as corney as X-2, and im praying its not like a made up story from the past. I guess having towns and open world is asking way too much for a sequel, but atleast make the game exactly the same as XIII and just continue with the main story and dont ruin the XIII.

[che]

I wonder if this game in some way would connect the story lines of FFXIII and FF Versus XIII together. I know that they are supposed to be separate stories but we can hope, right?

Whatever happened to that game, anyway?

I dunno how I feel about this yet. I suppose I'm excited at potential awesomeness, but I didn't like the style of FFXIII (linearity). And the battle system was cool until you figured out all that matters is when to switch to a different paradigm, and the endgame was absolutely irritating trying to farm traps. :/

[Dodie16]

Whatever happened to that game, anyway?

There was a trailer shown at the SE Press Conference that happened recently, which was actually pretty incredible to watch. It's leaked online now if you're curious, but idk how long it'll stay there.

Unfortunately, still no release date though...

As for XIII-2, I'm pretty curious as to what direction they'll take it in. I thought XIII wrapped itself up pretty well at the end too.

[KingClaudius]

I read somewhere that there releasing a HD version of the trailer tomorrow 1/20 of XIII-2 and a HD vid for Verses on the 27th. any truth to this?

[Merlin]

I'm just hoping this game isn't a rushed attempt to gain some ground back from FFXIV completely bombing. Overall, Japanese companies are way behind the curve when it comes to next-gen gaming. They are spending all their time trying to learn how to do HD graphics and spend little to no time doing Quality Control. Unlike the US, they don't have dedicated QA departments... they just wing it with their programmers.

Not only that, but supporting the XBox 360 crippled any hope of FFXIII being open-world/non-linear. Believe it or not, but that was the original goal... until they realized that it would be too costly to produce 6+ DVDs for the Xbox 360 version. I'm not hating on the 360... I play the hell out of both systems and they both have their benefits. In the case of RPGs, the Blu-Ray has the edge because of storage space.

I thought FFXIII was a very beautiful movie with an interesting storyline. Oh wait, it was a game... But seriously, the difficulty level was 1/10. I'm tired of playing baby RPGs. Go back to the days of FFIV where even regular mobs would destroy you if you weren't prepared. I'm not a fan of endless grinding, but damn... take off the God Mode. /end rant

So the tl;dr version is this: If SE keeps on the way they are, the company will go bankrupt in the next year or two... and if FFXIII-2 is nothing but a half-assed bail-out attempt, they will guarantee that fate. We want our FF back... No ideas for FFXV? Move over because the fans do. Get a clue SE. /sigh

[Angel of Iniquity]

Well it seems really interesting, especiialy if I can fight some more Long guis, or maybe fight another Undying (OMEGA PLEASE!)

This game is getting released pretty quick so I'm not surprised if he was planning on it since the initial release. BUt one thing, I want different monsers... No damned Motorcycles... and more elixers please!

[Andromeda]

I'm just hoping this game isn't a rushed attempt to gain some ground back from FFXIV completely bombing. Overall, Japanese companies are way behind the curve when it comes to next-gen gaming. They are spending all their time trying to learn how to do HD graphics and spend little to no time doing Quality Control. Unlike the US, they don't have dedicated QA departments... they just wing it with their programmers

Yeah I make my living doing that. One thing that most JRPGs fail at doing is doing proper text for a SDTV. They are all like we have HD so we have smaller fonts now and everything will still be readable. But then they don't check to see what it looks like on non-HD.

I found FFXIII to be quite challenging. But I've seen it go both ways with people. Some people find it extremely easy and others extremely challenging. I died a lot and normal monsters can totally mess you up. And you don't really ever reach a point in the game where you can stomp everything without even trying. There are still monsters around once you're maxed out that you have to be playing with all of your attention or you'll be dead. Spamming attack won't work for FFXIII, it's the fastest way to get yourself killed.

FFXIII managed 6 million units in sales from what I read last. So it was certainly not by far a financial failure. It might not have been a fan success or a review success, though reviews remained pretty decent. But financially people bought it up. But it is certainly true that a fair number of fans felt a little burned by the game. So the numbers probably will take a hit. But FFXIII-2 will probably still manage a few million units, considering that FF fans will probably pay attention even if they are saying that they aren't going to buy. So if review and public opinion change, they'll probably jump on board.

[Linus Li Lelouch]

Why.....

Maybe one day I'll forgive XIII for it's blastphemy and play it.....but no

And like the rest of us who asked the same question...

What the hell happened with Versus XIII, I was hoping that would be the Next-Gen FF game I would actually like...

and now XIII-2...really!?

[Victoria]

I believe it was already addressed within this thread "Whatever happened to Versus?"

There's a new trailer out for it, that's what. >_>
Other than that, no news. No release date, no nothing. Although I like Lightning's armored look. Very sexy indeed.

[Linus Li Lelouch]

Yeah it was just a phrase, but thanks for the sarcasm. Must be really something if they show a new trailer of it almost yearly now.

[Robbo]

Personally i would've thought this games main objective would be:

SPOILER!!:

Getting Fang and Vanille back from being crystallised, and it would also inlcude Serah as a playable character?

I will probably buy this game although i didn't enjoy the lack of towns in the original XIII, Who is this mysterious dark haired gent in the trailer?

Also i saw someone wanted to see a HD version of the trailer:YouTube - Final Fantasy XIII-2 Teaser Trailer [HD]

[KingClaudius]

I agree with Squall- Dissida. Im new to the forum so i dont know how to do that "spoiler" thing...So i wont say anything. I have a feeling this whole game is going to be on Pulse. and that mysterious character is from Pulse also, maybe im just wishfully thinking. Because I was kinda pissed about about XIII ending.

[Andromeda]

The ending of FFXIII should remain as it is and they should move on not trying to change it. It would weaken the impact of their sacrifice. It would also weaken the ending.

And the mystery man is said to be Lightning's rival and partner. So I guess he'll be with her, but challenge her as well. Considering he is in the logo, it's unlikely he is a villain or the bad guy.

[Flongo]

Hi there. I'm new on the forum, just wanted to throw in my opinion.

My major concern for XIII-2 is the characters. I think the core gameplay of XIII is great, and using the same setting etc. they will be able to focus more on the story.

But I do NOT want to see Hope again. Never in my life have I hated a character in a video game so much before. I play this game with a friend and every time he gets on screen and says something we're practically yelling at the screen for him to drop dead.

So my hopes go out to the game ditching some of the "side" characters and focus more on Lightning / bring new characters to the game.

Also a feature I'd like to see is the ability to choose the Japanese voices (I think I read somewhere this was originally planned for the release of XIII). I heard a comparison on Youtube and somehow Hope seemed less annoying and also I really liked the voice of Lightning.

Anyway if Hope goes away I'll buy it in a heartbeat!

[Andromeda]

It's likely he'll make some sort of appearance even if he is not part of the actually core game. Everyone will get some sort of cameo no doubt if they are not with Lightning on whatever journey she's going on. The same happened with FFX-2, Wakka and Lulu had their cameos.

And it is possible that SE would have giving us Japanese voices had the game been PS3 only. The game was already 3 discs on the 360. And audio takes up a pretty sizable amount of space. The PS3 would have gotten away with it, but the 360 would have needed another disc probably. So it is unlikely that we'll get both tracks because FFXIII-2 is multi-platform.

[Flongo]

I think I would be okay with a cameo. It's just the thought of the main party etc being the same that I would not like.

Yeah, I thought that might've been why they didn't give us multi-audio. But as a PS3 owner here's to hoping they will put it on our version anyways .

And while on the audio subject- I hope it will feature yet another stellar soundtrack. While XIII may not have been perfect I feel the music very much delivered as one could hope from a Final Fantasy game. Pretty much every day we've played this I've stopped and said: Hot diggity, this is some nice music- I think I'll go buy the soundtrack soon!

[therathalos]

It was said lightning is the girl version of cloud, so i'm seeing this guy as lightning's sephriroth? and I hope they don't include any more fal'cie's they were the most boring enemies I have ever come across, in the novella of XIII it says she's in a land full of monsters so hopefully no fal'cie will be present

[Angel of Iniquity]

I thought the Fal'cie were cool, well the ones of Pulse, ya know, bismark, atomos, dahaka.
If they have more, maybe Diablos, or that could be the purple haired guys summon if they are still in this game.

[Dan558]

I hope Characters are better balanced and its not a bad change like FFX to FFX-2.

I hope Fang (if returns) and Hope aren't ridiculously overpowered like they were in the original

[SuperSabin]

Am I excited for this game? not really. We all know whats going to happen anyway, Lightning's boyfriend is going to go missing and two other girls join her in a personal quest to go search for him and rescue him while going through different clothing styles and doing all these odd missions. Yep, sounds like XIII-2 to me.

[Ryu-Kentoshii Hirokima]

Well, I Did A Little Digging Into This, And Looks Like They Are Releasing FFXIII-2 In 2011 In japan, North America, And Europe All In The Winter. Which Is Odd, Considering We Are Still waiting For FF Versus XIII... Anyway, Here Is The Link To The Source: Final Fantasy XIII-2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anyway, Hope This Helps. Cannot Wait To Play Them All

*Edit: Here Is The English Trailer For FFXIII-2: http://www.viddler.com/explore/sceablog/videos/1549/