Eric Neigher, Contributing Editor: Ah, Final Fantasy XIII-2. What can we say about this game, and its federal tax-form-esque title, that hasn't already been said about re-runs of Diff'rent Strokes? That is: doesn't it feel a lot like we've seen this one before?
David Wolinsky, Contributing Editor: Yes, but even worse: I can't pin down when I saw this episode in the first place. Final Fantasy XIII-2 is so indiscernible from its recent predecessors that I can't be even be sure this is actually a new game. Almost everything about it felt by-the-numbers, from the J-Pop soundtrack with inspirational lyrics, to the ho-hum steampunk setting. The demo's most interesting wrinkles, sadly, were that you could recruit enemies to join your party (I got a flamethrowing pepper to hang out with me!), and that the map was real handy. Those really shouldn't be the things that stick out in my mind in a role-playing game, particularly Final Fantasy. Even though we were both unimpressed, what did you find yourself digging about it?
Eric Neigher: I ate what I'm pretty sure was a flamethrowing pepper once. Or at least, it turned my anus into a flamethrower of sorts. You win that round, Mexico, but I will be back! I guess what I found most impressive, as I always do with the recent Final Fantasy games, was the amount of time and money spent on the cut-scenes and production values. The game looks good -- if you're into that soulless pop sort of look -- and I guess that's a testament to its ability to generate interesting visual ideas from its artists. But the series has shown itself to utterly lack that inspiration from its designers. Like you, my reaction was "Well, here's another Final Fantasy title. Yay." I never felt engaged at all -- and it's all the worse, because this is essentially piggybacking on Final Fantasy XIII, so it's even less original. Of course, you had more time with it than I did. What did you think of the combat system and the characters?
David Wolinsky: I think the problem is just that Final Fantasy is on autopilot. I saw a ton of random battles in the demo, which seemed weird, since the game assumes you want to switch on "auto battle." With that on, your characters use their best judgment in determining what enemy to attack, what sort of attack to use (magic/physical), and whether to use a defensive item. We're conditioned to embrace level-grinding in RPGs, but something seems loose when you're getting dragged into fights but not expected to deal with them personally. Just to make sure you're awake, you're occasionally thrown a couple of quick-time events mid-fight, but let's just back up here a moment and reiterate: This is Final Fantasy. Why is Square Enix intent on trying to make it anything but that?
Eric Neigher: That's a really good adjective to use: "automatic." Nobody's flying the damn plane anymore -- not even you. You just watch the game pass before your eyes and stare in wild wonder at the feat of boredom before you. The quick-time events are just included so that Square Enix can put "video game" on the box and not "cut-scene factory." The story, as always, made no sense whatsoever. Some girl named Lightning, who is very serious and not all that hot, is on a quest to find happiness by fighting a big tough guy of some sort. Really, next to what brand of bottled water I'm going to drink next, I can think of almost nothing that I am less interested in than FFXIII-2's story. Let's say we were living in a perfect world, where Square Enix was actually going to make changes to the series and this game in particular. What changes would you like to see? What would make you sit up and take an interest in FFXIII-2?
David Wolinsky: I think shifting toward real-time combat might help. At one time, that might have been a controversial suggestion to make about a Final Fantasy game, but look at FFXIII-2: It hardly resembles its ancestors at all. They're going for a huge open world, so some uninterrupted exploration might be nice as well -- and if it had real-time combat, at least you wouldn't have your momentum interrupted. But I dunno... those might just be feeble make-goods in a game that's largely uninspired. What do you think would help push the game in a better direction? Maybe we've just had our hearts broken too many times by the series at this point, and we've been alienated away. But I still think Square Enix could find a way to restore glory to the Final Fantasy name. Don't you?
Eric Neigher: Hmmm, sure. Something akin to the Tales series' combat system would be cool. Anything to get players more involved directly in the action. Personally, if I could change one thing about Final Fantasy XIII-2, it would be to make it into Final Fantasy VI-2, because that game kicked so much ass. I miss the old menu-driven turn-based combat system, the interesting items and monsters (you never quite knew what their abilities were), and even the music -- which now is a J-Pop mess. Sometimes, even our favorite series take a wrong turn... but usually, they die off and are reborn later. Somehow, Final Fantasy has managed to linger on in zombie form: dead, but still moving its limbs.
