Doug Elfman is an award-winning entertainment columnist who lives in Las Vegas. He blogs at http://www.lvrj.com/columnists/Doug_Elfman.html. Twitter at VegasAnonymous. By Doug Elfman ADVERTISING The genre that “Final Fantasy XIII-2” falls into is a mouthful: It’s a cinematic, sci-fi, fantasy, real-time,
By Doug Elfman
The genre that “Final Fantasy XIII-2” falls into is a mouthful: It’s a cinematic, sci-fi, fantasy, real-time, turn-based, action-role playing game.
Wait, let’s make this simple.
You portray two heroes, Serah and Noel. They live on a pretty planet with beaches and forests.
Three years in the past, Serah lived in a city that floated over the planet. But a bad guy destroyed the mechanism that allowed the city to float.
So Serah’s sister Lightning dispatched that bad guy. She also may have inserted her soul into a magic brace that cradles the floating city and keeps it from falling.
But now, a meteorite is tossing monsters onto the planet, and these monsters want to kill everyone.
This sequel begins with Serah pining for her sister. The warrior Noel shows up out of nowhere. And Serah and Noel begin a long quest to kill monsters and find Lightning.
It’s imperative for that plot to be compelling, because the game is three things: Watching dialogue-heavy narrative scenes; slaying monsters; and earning points to upgrade your magic and combat skills.
“Final Fantasy XIII-2” is very good at balancing those complex elements. Anime film scenes are beautifully drawn. Storylines are mildly persuasive.
I am somewhat addicted to how deeply the game lets us upgrade the heroes’ fighting strength, via hundreds of options. Every few minutes, you earn experience points.
Then you pause the game, open a menu, and assign those points to boost your magic, weaponry and your ability to self-heal during battles.
Even cooler: Sometimes after you defeat a monster, you capture it, and it travels with you, fighting your foes at your command. You also upgrade those monsters’ fighting and medic powers in the upgrade menu.
This is a huge game. You travel to more than 30 locations using time-space-rift “gates.” There’s a kind of rewind button if you want a do-over in a location.
My main caveat: The action of battling monsters is old-school RPG. You don’t move around and swing swords.
Instead, you take your turn by choosing which attack force to throw at a monster. Then the monster takes his turn. Then you take another turn. He takes another turn. And so on.
All the while, the otherwise static TV screen fills up with numbers to show you how many hit points you dealt your opponent, and vice versa. This can feel tedious.
I have always hated turn-based action RPGs. That mode of action seems decrepit and stuck in 1980 “Dungeons & Dragons” dice games.
However, I mostly enjoy it in “Final Fantasy XIII-2,” because battles move very fast and intuitively; you have many attack options at your disposal; and it seems nifty.
We just need a more digestible term for this genre, other than “cinematic, sci-fi, fantasy, real-time, turn-based, action-role playing game.”
How about “Your Turn Fantasy?” No, that’s terrible.
“Final Fantasy XIII-2” by Square Enix retails for $60 for PS 3 and Xbox 360 — Plays fun. Looks terrific. Challenging. Rated “T” for drug reference, mild language, mild suggestive themes, simulated gambling and violence. Three and one-half out of four stars.
Doug Elfman is an award-winning entertainment columnist who lives in Las Vegas. He blogs at http://www.lvrj.com/columnists/Doug_Elfman.html. Twitter at VegasAnonymous.
