Final Fantasy XIII-2 review | 8.0

I've been waiting for FFXIII-2 for a while and I have to say this game is an improvement to all of the weak aspects of Final Fantasy XIII. I have played this game nonstop since it came out and I was able to rush through the main storyline in 20 hours. Keep in mind that I have beaten this game (got through the final cutscene)but not with 100% completion.

The first DEFINITE improvement is that you are no longer bound by a linear storyline / corridors to travel through. This is a much welomed improvement for sure, the option for the player to proceed at their own pace by selecting to skip around history is very nice.

The second improvement is that the upgrading system seems to be easier to use, you are able to level your character as you please and you are able to level whatever role you want.

Now to the bad parts (not a lot and these are just opinions)

The first is that your third party member is limited to the monsters you encounter and capture. And you feel a bit empty inside after spending time leveling a monster only to have it replaced by a lower level, but stronger creature that you just captured.

For the people that were wondering about the Amazon DLC Omega, it does NOT make you overpowered or allow you to breeze through the game. I have beaten the game with at least 3 roles of each character maxed to level 99 and still omega kicks my ass (he doesn't join you until you beat him).

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The MAIN problem I have with FFXIII is that this is the only Final Fantasy game that I've played that literally said "to be continued" after you beat the final boss. It leaves me feeling so unsatisfied that the game ended like that. Well to be fair I don't know if there is an alternate ending for finishing the game with 100%. But after looking around on youtube, the secret ending doesn't really add much to the ending in FFXIII-2. I'm not going to go into details of how it ended but it feels cut short.

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Overall this is a very good game, it is a must buy if you enjoyed FFXIII and it feels like a much more polished game and what FFXIII should have been. Still a very good game, I might update this review when I finish more of the game.

UPDATE: Ok, well now I finished the game 158/160 fragments and have done basically everything the game has to offer and now my total playtime is 50 hours. So bascially if you are going to spend your time with only the story mode and ignore all of the side quest content, this game can probably be rented and beaten in a week. However if you are a completionist and like to do all of the stuff that the game has to offer, just keep in mind that this game does not offer nearly as much play time as other final fantasy titles.