Is FFXIII-2 better than FFXIII?

[black orb]

But you had money to buy the game. What a crazy world we live in.

>>> Obviously all the games need to be bought or rented atleast once to be played, DLC is just extra stuff..

In either case, I'm not sure how much attention you could have been paying if you think the graphics are worse than in FF13. The music was great too, probably my favourite soundtrack of any of the 4 last games (except FF11).

>>> I was talking about Art Direction, not graphics..

I wont argue about other people`s terrible taste on music..

[Mirage]

And in the process of saying that you won't, you go right ahead and do it. Congratulations.

[Red Mage Coffman]

Story: NO.
Music: NO.

Everything else: Yeah, pretty much.

[Mirage]

So what's wrong with the music?

[Loony BoB]

Opinion on music will always vary from person to person. Not really worth the debate.

[Skyblade]

Actually, I'll take on the music question.

How is XIII-2's music better than XIII's?

The best piece of music I can remember from XIII-2 was one of the variations of XIII's battle theme, played when Serah was thinking of Lightning, and wasn't actually from XIII-2.

Not that there's anything wrong with XIII-2's music, but does any of it actually surpass XIII's? The question was, is it better? Or is it merely "as good as"?

[Loony BoB]

Many may have been based on (there were definitely some notable new songs. ) but they were still different, and therefore will inevitably be held in different view. This is normal. It's like when you hear a cover of another song and like it more/less. I loved Snow's Theme in XIII and I loved Crazy Chocobo in XIII-2, for example. Different!

I liked the music in XIII-2 because it felt far more notable and fitting to the scnearios than anything did in XIII. I barely noticed the music at all in XIII most of the time, which is a shame because if you actually stop and listen then it's really good. Too many sound effects and constant talking really overshadowed it, however I feel they got it right in XIII-2 with clear and memorable tunes mixed in with good voice acting.

[Mirage]

Synchrodrive, Augusta Tower+ remix, New Bodhum + remix, Worlds Collide, Ruined Hometown + remix, the Coliseum track (it's not named on my soundtrack), Chaotic Labyrinth, Historia Crux, Run, those are all tracks I like a lot.

On to the list of tracks that I don't like well enough to actually put on outside of the game, but that still work very well within the game itself, there's Book of Prophecies, Parallel World, Interval of Time, Plains of Eternity, Last Hunters, Paradigm Shift, Paradox, and a bunch others that I don't feel like spending time checking the names of and writing down here.

I don't think there's more than 2-3 tracks that I actually don't like, and those would be fighting pudding with pudding, crazy chocobo and... maybe one more.

Too bad the story sucks as much as it does. I really want to listen to all these things while playing again.

[Omni-Odin]

The Battles
Battles I think are about as fun as last game. The liked the monster-building part of this game and therefore it gets the nod because although you can only have three in your paradigm pack, it gives you many more options of the skills and passive abilities your character gets to have.

The Characters
I got to go with XIII-2 on this one. Characters who once annoyed me in XIII (Hope, Snow, Lightning) actually changed their ways and became actual real people that I found myself to enjoy. In fact, Hope was my least favorite FF XIII character and he is my favorite XIII-2 character. He's helpful, upbeat, smart, and when he popped onto my screen at the end, I was actually happy to see him. In the original game I was hoping Vanille was gonna pull him into the crystal with her
Noel is a great character and I felt his pain. The story may be shoddy, but I don't think it's enough to not care for this character. I mean, that character went through some shiz. So, his "soap-operaish-like" tendencies actually don't bother me because I find his motives and feelings to be a legitimate reaction of what's happened to him. The best example of this not happening correctly is Hope wanting to kill Snow in XIII. No legit reason for doing so in my mind and therefore became an immediate dumb story arc. Ruined his character for me in that game.

The Story
FFXIII-2 had a bad story. XIII's has a story that I believe to be a little underrated due to the fast pace of the game. I played through the entire game my first playthrough without looking at Datalogs and knew exactly what was going on when the game ended. Don't know why people have that problem. But the story itself was just a little too "reaching" I guess is the way to put it....Still better than XIII-2, which is a letdown. It's also too bad we all hold FF stories to the caliber of IV, VI,VII, VIII, IX, X, Tactics, and XII (that's right, I said it).

Experience System
Win for XIII-2 again. I don't even think it's close. People have to realize that while it wasn't laid out great, in XIII-2 you do have a high customization value with your 2 mains and a hundred different options of what you want for your monsters. You just have to know to only spend synergist and saboteur levels on the large crystals. Gives you the HP + Magic/Strength bonus.

Sidequests
Serendipity, alternate dimensions, Ultimate weapons, fragments/fragment skills vs. Monster Hunt
I mean, it's a complete beatdown.

Music
XIII-2. It's a general opinion. Just find it to be tons more memorable.

General Gameplay
XIII-2 again. More exploration, more NPCs to interact with giving you information on what is actually going on. Not just be randomly screaming, "Whyyy are they doing this???!!!" As stated above, the replay value is in the first playthrough with closing and reopening gates. Finish the game, wait for the credits to roll, then have fun hunting.

Conclusion: Save for the WTF ending in XIII-2, I completely thought XIII-2 was a step in the right direction. Just a little more customization value, someone who can actually write a story, and a world map and we're almost back.

[Mirage]

That's a good post, Omni Odin. I agree with almost all of it.

[maybee]

Yeah it is.

Storyline. Better, told through the game and not through a silly guidebook.

Character Development. Much better.

Villains. Much better.

But then there's the music...

[Mirage]

Yes, then there is the music <3.

[Formalhaut]

Music's always subjective. I liked both OSTs, and have my favourites from both, though I'd lean towards XIII. Just personal "guesswork". I fully respect anyone else supporting XIII-2 though, because that was very very close.

[Jinx]

Opinion on music will always vary from person to person. Not really worth the debate.

This could be said for anything, which makes you wonder why anyone debates anyone on any topic.

[DMKA]

Opinion on music will always vary from person to person. Not really worth the debate.

This could be said for anything, which makes you wonder why anyone debates anyone on any topic.

Because some topics actually matter in terms of what particular view a significant number of people hold toward it, the possibility of said views to be changed by others, and how it affects things in the world. These are usually topics of a political and moral nature.

Music, on the other hand, is purely a matter of taste as an entertainment/art medium. Everyone likes different kinds of music and hates different kinds of music, and it doesn't really matter or change anything, making the debate pointless.

Debating why a piece of music is "good" or "bad" is like debating why the color red is better or worse than the color purple.