Quote Originally Posted by Fynn View Post
Yeah, despite really not liking XIII at all, I don't think XIII-2 is better. Maybe it has a more fun world to play around, but the battle system is identical with the very dubious addition of monster companions. The music is cool but lacks the artistry that Hamauzu can only really pull off alone. And the plot has zero respect to the source material, despite the fact that that was a garbled mess to begin with. But you could at least see some concrete ideas in that that got completely cast aside or retconned. XIII-2 feels like a Chinese bootleg of XIII, and that's saying a lot.
I think I agree with you on some points. Let me preface my post by saying that I think XIII-2 is a great game, and I thoroughly enjoyed almost all aspects of it.

I thought that monster companion system was actually really well done. It added another layer of customization to the game, as you could purposefully look for the best monsters to collect for your team. This added a lot of depth to both the combat system and the game as a whole. However, one thing I disliked is that the Feral Links were fairly underwhelming compared to the Eidolons from XIII (which didn't have many uses outside of boss battles or the late game). Outside of the companions that buff you when you use a Feral Link, the others just feel fairly meaningless. They don't have nearly as much impact during battles. On this point, I feel this is one element of XIII-2 that isn't really polished or implemented well.

About the music, I somewhat disagree. I still do think XIII's OST is better, but XIII-2 still has an incredible soundtrack. They attempted to take a different approach with this one by introducing more songs with vocals. This was highly effective, as I found that the songs featuring Joelle were among the best in the game. Also, the Last Hunter is one of the best battle themes ever made, period. Ultimately, I don't think that the soundtrack has nearly the cohesion of XIII's, but it is still very good.

The story does seem a little bit "off" considering that XIII's ending seemed to tie up all loose ends. But to me, despite the plot being confusing at times, I still felt it was pretty good. Caius is also a standout villain for me.