Forums > Submission Feedback > holdthephone's Final Fantasy XIII-2 review

Wow. Someone has something nice to say about FFXIII-2. Which, by the by, is the clunkiest title I've ever heard for a game.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

You know, it sounds like this game has a pretty great concept that seems wasted on a poor original game. I try to think about time traveling in some of the better Final Fantasies, such as IV or VI, or (perhaps controversely) VII. How could would it have been to witness the chaining of Zeromous, Kefka before his fall, the fall of the Cetza?

Your review is well written and your choice of images was well made. I still can't get behind a sequel to a game I felt absolutely no emotion for and it sounds like you needed to have felt something, or liked the original, to like this one. Which is too bad because sometimes, in video games, the sequel can save the game that came before it (Devil May Cry 3 springs to mind).

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Wow. Someone has something nice to say about FFXIII-2. Which, by the by, is the clunkiest title I've ever heard for a game.

You clearly haven't heard of Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, or Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, or Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy (pronounced Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy), or Final Fantasy Theatrhythm, or basically anything else from the Square half of Square-Enix lately.

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@zipp

Good points, and I'm glad my review was able to get that across. People who were fond of XIII will certainly get the most enjoyment out of the sequel, and the new design is by no means a signal that others should suddenly hop back on board.

Mobius 1, engage...

Is Tom Chick fired?

He gave a 4/10... what an idiot..

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He has his own gig at Quarters To Three. Very unfortunate really, since he seems to always get review copies, and review them immediately, in contrast to lazy bastards here who have to wait for the 'right, conducive mindset' before going into 'reviewing mode' .

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I'll be giving it a lower score than Tom Chick did.

Good review, Holdthephone. As much as I disagree with it :)

You exist because we allow it. And you will end because we demand it.

Haha, one can ever expect to reach a middle ground when it comes to Final Fantasy =]

Looking forward to it!

Mobius 1, engage...

Wow. Someone has something nice to say about FFXIII-2. Which, by the by, is the clunkiest title I've ever heard for a game.

You've clearly never heard of Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2.

Your girlfriend's name ends in .jpg

Is Tom Chick fired?

He was never full time staff, he was a freelancer. Also, idiot? Really? Because he gave it a score you don't agree with?

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.

No need for concern, Joe. You've just met RunningFree, our resident troll!

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

I know RunningFree. I was addressing the other bowl of cheese puffs.

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.

Oh geez, you're right. Sorry. I can't tell these !@#$! cheese puffs from one another.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

I know, right?

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.

Enough is enough, I've had it with these motherfucking cheese puffs on this motherfucking site.

I can avoid death by not having a life.

Strap yourselves in. I'm gonna open a fucking port.

JOSEPH VALENCIA was able to build this sig IN A CAVE…… WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!!

You're tearing me apart, cheese puffs!

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.

I've been rereading this review after hitting up Suskie's a couple of times and I wanted to make... I don't even know if it's a suggestion, but it's just something I realized when reading this one again.

The writing here is really good. The opening, though, throws me off because you start on a negative note. You talk about how ridiculous the opening is. Then you immediately call the opening bad-ass. My mind doesn't make the switch with you.

You do the same thing a lot throughout the review. A couple paragraphs down you say how approachable the characters are... and then immediately say the plot has been dumbed down and that Lightning makes people's eyes roll into their head.

For me, your strong writing would've made a better point if you had used it to stick to a stronger stance, or at least to more directly establish what your stance on the game was going to be before launching into your criticisms. Had you begun the review saying how much pleasure you got out of FFXIII-2 and how you thought it was a huge improvement on FFXIII, I would've been more prepared to identify your evidence for these points when they appeared in the review.

As it is, I feel a little lost, not knowing exactly what your point is (I'm still surprised, based on your review's content, by your final score). It's losing myself in some fantastic writing, so I can't complain too much. Maybe it's something to think about for future pieces that are tackling a balanced opinion like this.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Thanks zipp, really wanted some feedback here and most of the comments so far have been less than relevant.

I suppose the structure is kind of like a roller coaster. The mood was intentionally souring towards the later segments of the review though. As a message to fans of the previous game, I wanted to make sure the disappointment within the narrative got across as the biggest failing, and something to be rightly offended over. If earlier the game was spending time with two enjoyable characters on an interestingly moved narrative,exploring some great environments, and collecting goodies, than the conclusion was to put emotions (and oh do they run deep with Final Fantasy) in check and put the positives back in perspective.

If the stance was confusing however, it is probably the fault of the two paragraphs surrounding the monster hunting and the game's battle system. Those were pretty dry recap segments, and didn't convey all of their enjoyments, or explain why the system works so well in the post-game. And maybe the ripping into Lightning was much too personal -- it probably doesn't phase most players, I guess it's just me being selfish.

On a funnier note, I didn't mean for my use of the term "ridiculous" to imply anything negative about the game in the first line, but maybe a change is in order if that's what it sounded like. This could also perhaps be related to the reader's opinions on X-2, as some enjoyed it for its leap from reality, while others became pretty militant about it. XIII-2 has a far fetched premise, but up until the point where it implodes at the end, I give it the respect it earned for itself in the earlier segments.

Was simply trying to poke fun at it =]

@zig: pretty much nailed what I was thinking, lol

Mobius 1, engage...

The opening, though, throws me off because you start on a negative note. You talk about how ridiculous the opening is. Then you immediately call the opening bad-ass

Here's the thing though -- FFXIII-2's opening *is* both ridiculous and bad-ass. It is beyond absurd, but wears a straight face while depicting an INSANE battle between two supreme warriors. It would immediately turn comical if the writers were just to wink, but Square never winks.

It comes down to this:
1) some people will think it's badass because it's so ridiculous, or
2) some people won't think it's badass... because it's so ridiculous

It's a natural progression of what we saw starting with FF7. That game was ridiculous, too, but had its charm.

//Zig

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Here's the thing though -- FFXIII-2's opening *is* both ridiculous and bad-ass. It is beyond absurd, but wears a straight face while depicting an INSANE battle between two supreme warriors. It would immediately turn comical if the writers were just to wink, but Square never winks.

Well put! I wish a little more of this had seeped into the opening paragraph here. This is my response to the review; good to see there are differing responses. I wish we'd get to see more feedback, too! I have been sad to see Hold's thread devolve into a discussion of cheese puffs, especially when he took the time to write something that's actually worth reading and responding to.

Note to gamers: when someone shoots you in the face, they aren't "gay." They are "psychopathic."

Sorry for the belated comment, htp. This is a wonderful review that describes the ridiculousness without itself becoming ridiculous. I've also been dragging my feet on playing FFXIII, as I've had it since release and still haven't opened it. This might have given my ass the.kicking it need so I can do so.

The only thing my milkshake brings to the yard is a subpoena.