FFXIII-2 Trailer: Enhanced Combat System Showcased

Square Enix has often said they took lots of fan feedback into account when creating Final Fantasy XIII-2.

So let's see if they took some of your ideas to heart. A new IGN video has surfaced, and it shows off the "enhanced battle system" in the upcoming sequel.

We won't pass judgment until January 31 when the game is officially on store shelves (not too far away, remember), but we have to say- the changes and upgrades don't appear to be drastic. For better or worse, that looks a lot like the FFXIII combat mechanic with a few hopefully significant enhancements. Kinda have to play it to get a good idea.

So, what do you think? Me, I had a big problem with enemies being allowed to move and attack while your party was in the midst of a Paradigm Shift animation. I also didn't like the leader death = Game Over part, nor did I like not being able to pause the battle (like an any RPG), or the fact that I couldn't issue commands to my allies in combat. ...but I'll live.

Hey, I put 100+ hours into FFXIII. I don't do that if I hate it. Just wasn't "Final Fantasy." ;)

Related Game(s): Final Fantasy XIII-2

Tags: final fantasy xiii-2, ffxiii-2, ffxiii2, ffxiii-2 video, ffxiii-2 trailer

12/1/2011 9:07:49 PM Ben Dutka

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Comments (45 posts)

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Excelsior1
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 9:43:40 PM
Reply

Cue Square hate in 3..2..1...begin,

Only the first pardigm shift took any length of time to complain about. I would always pardigm shift right at the beginning to get it out of the way. I heard they are supposed to be even faster in 13-2.

I did not like the whole game over if the party leader dies either but I got used it. My biggest gripe about FF13 was the killtubes. I hate linear games for the most part. Some of those long, and narrow corridor runs were almost like Chinese water torture for me. I hear they have changed that now. I sure hope so.

Not exactly thrilled by Serah as the lead character, either.

Last edited by Excelsior1 on 12/1/2011 9:47:32 PM

5 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 10:02:56 PM

What's wrong with Serah? She's very slight and smexy. I think Hammer pants is taking a big role too, there probably isn't a "main" character but a bunch of main ones like in previous entries.

0 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 10:32:33 PM

LOL at hammerpants. Serah seemed so fragile...almost like a slight breeze would blow her away. She is very cute. Almost too cute for battle...does that make sense? She's like the classic example of a character who you try to protect. Yeah she can fit into any JRPG party for sure but her taking on the lead role...I'm not so sure. She was not exactly the most in depth character in 13, either. She did spend the majority of 13 as a crystal so maybe I'll cut her some slack.

3 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 10:40:34 PM

Maybe this journey will harden her up to her sister's standards of tough. But at least she can hang back and attack with a bow and arrow so she doesn't get knocked away.

But it is a direct FF sequel, so it might turn her into a tramp like Yuna did :P

4 up, 0 down

LimitedVertigo
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 10:58:01 PM

Underage girls/girls that look underage are where it's at!

2 up, 1 down

Gamer Girl Gemo
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 12:10:12 AM

Serah kinda reminds me of what they did to Yuna from FFX to FFX-2. She changed drastically personality wise, but from a character development standpoint, it kinda made sense how she hardened her personality. I liked the characters quite a bit from FFXIII, so here's to hoping they didn't mess with them too much.

0 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 1:03:04 AM

If you have to do a Paradigm Shift to "get it out of the way" because it caused an OBVIOUS problem - which is what we all did, of course - than something isn't right.

Let's not defend obvious flaws.

6 up, 1 down

Excelsior1
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 2:04:05 AM

Uh oh. I sense another negative article/comment about Square inbound.

Last edited by Excelsior1 on 12/2/2011 2:05:22 AM

4 up, 4 down

Underdog15
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 6:41:57 AM

Dude.... grow the f*#( up.

2 up, 2 down

Excelsior1
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 7:02:59 AM

Sorry I could not help myself.

2 up, 2 down

Excelsior1
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 9:28:56 AM

It's like this. I can not tell you how many negative comments I have read from Ben about Square ranging from Squaresoft is dead, they were taken over by pod people, S-E is like a bunch of children, and it's obvious the devil walks amonst us and they are in charge of Square. That was just this past month. It's freaking relentless. He says he usually stays away from Square. That might be true in total editorials but he's always taking shots at them in other places.

I might not even disagree on any single point but the frequency seems excessive. I know I am not the only one who has noticed this. I'm not trying to be an a$$ about this but it's just how I feel. I'm sure I'll get blasted for saying this but I can live with it.

4 up, 1 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 9:37:04 AM

Okay Excelsior, but so what? Most of the game developers out there, with a few exceptions like Capcom, know EXACTLY who they are making games for, know precisely what they are trying to do, and deliver the experiences that their fans are looking for. Square Enix has gone so far off the script this generation that it boggles the mind, Square was one of his favorites (one of mine too) of all time and it's so weird to watch them take this bizarre route to destruction that it's worth mentioning every time they say or do something weird. It's all warranted in my opinion. I think any company that abandons sense would get the same treatment.

2 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 10:04:32 AM

Excelsior, just be quiet. I'm sick of people whining about what I say or write.

There has been ONE editorial this month. One. The others were ALL news articles, all of which were written at other sites, and MOST of which received way more flak from those communities, which basically exploded when Kitase said what he said.

What I say in the comments has nothing to do with anything. You're allowed to say what you want. So am I. The knee-jerk reactions of, "oh, cue the Square hate" are CRAP. You just ignore all the times I said I played 100+ hours of FFXIII, and that it was a great game, and the times I defended it to people who said it wasn't.

If you want to completely over-exaggerate everything and misrepresent what is written on a daily basis here, don't post. Got it?

P.S. Your first comment will incite hate more than anything in any article. It wasn't even warranted.

Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 12/2/2011 10:20:00 AM

2 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 10:52:21 AM

Ofcourse you can write whatever you want, but by doing that you should be prepared for people that might take exception sometimes. I am prepared for that when I post. Am I breaking any rules of any kind that justifies being told not to post? You write what you want, and I will continue to write what I want as well. It's on topic and a fair observation in my humble opinion. I don't think I am breaking any rules of any kind. I guess I don't get it.

1 up, 1 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 11:03:05 AM

You're intentionally calling me out for something that doesn't exist. There is NO over-abundance of Square coverage at PSXE. Scroll down the main page, please.

There was no reason to post, "cue the Square hate" in that comment. The article is just about a video and in no way attacks anything.

1 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 11:58:36 AM

Gotcha. That is fair. I should not have wrote cue the Square hate. The other things I wrote seemed alright to me however.

1 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 8:54:22 PM

By the way, Joystiq just did an article, "How to Fix Final Fantasy."

......to reiterate, PSXE is hardly the only source to post such pieces.

0 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 10:01:59 PM
Reply

Looks a little better, I'm looking forward to this next year. I think all of those things you mentioned have been fixed. We know the killtubes are gone so all that's left is to find out if your HP regenerates for each battle. That really destroyed the whole point of the game last time.

1 up, 0 down

Yukian
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 11:07:30 PM

Sorry for sounding so dumb but I have to ask... what are kill... tubes? ?_?

2 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 12:21:44 AM

they are the term we made up to talk about the level maps in FFXIII where the levels were actually basically just tubes that you ran through occasionally killing enemies in. It was THAT linear.

4 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 2:30:43 AM

I know that have they have fixed the first paridigm shift quirk becuase I saw some footage from E3. I have heard that the killtubes are history. Party leader going down still equals game over as far as I know. It looked like your health still regenerates between battles from the footage I saw.

One interesting thing I have heard about FF13-2 is that it will have the Golden Suacer 2.0 in it.
FF7 fans will ofcourse know what that is.

1 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 9:42:59 AM

I read that party leader death does not mean everyone dies, which makes sense because you can switch party leader on the fly.

0 up, 0 down

Riku994
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 10:45:23 PM
Reply

Looks the same to me... And lo and behold, they're showing off the XBox version >_>

5 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 11:08:57 PM

I noticed that as well. :(

0 up, 0 down

Warrior Poet
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 11:10:51 PM

That may actually be a good thing. The Xbox version ran pretty badly compared to the PS3 version last time around. If tweaked the engine so the Xbox version looks better than the PS3 version of FFXIII, the PS3 version will be at least that good if not better. Either way we're in for a pretty game.

0 up, 0 down

LimitedVertigo
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 11:13:53 PM
Reply

Looks like another "keep playing because you're interested in the story and characters" game from SE.

4 up, 0 down

Warrior Poet
Thursday, December 01, 2011 @ 11:15:04 PM
Reply

I always thought the battle should be over if any of your characters die. I'm a fan of permanent death in games since it makes the storytelling so interesting, but that doesn't make much sense in a really linear RPG. I mean...I was playing Star Ocean a few weeks ago. Claude got killed and Rena immediately stopped casting her buffing spell to revive him. Celine and Ashton ended up getting slaughtered because of that.
At first I was pretty mad at the AI...but then I realized that's the way it should be. If you control all the characters, that shouldn't be taken away from you (like all the turn-based FFs). But if they're AI-controlled, they should care about their friends.

A few battles later, Rena got killed. Celine used a healing item right away so she was fine, but Claude got really mad and started getting critical hits 100% of the time. A character affected by emotions would work well in FFXIII-2, I think.

2 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 9:45:03 AM

But in an RPG they aren't "dead" they are swoon or KO or what have you. That's why a phoenix down works on everybody but Aeris after her fateful moment.

1 up, 0 down

Warrior Poet
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 4:57:44 PM

Yeah. KO makes more sense then "Death" as a status :P

1 up, 0 down

Gamer Girl Gemo
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 12:06:20 AM
Reply

Sooo.... Why are they still putting "Final Fantasy" in this game's title?

This doesn't look like a Final Fantasy to me...

3 up, 0 down

gungrave
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 1:47:26 AM
Reply

The second they went multiplatform, they lost me. FF is the only reason I bought the PSP and PS3. I felt that slap in the face that year during the MS E3 conference. Still haven't purchased FF13, despite of the price dropping 3 months after release date. FU Square-enix, I'll let my wallet do the talking...F*ckers!

5 up, 0 down

___________
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 4:19:04 AM
Reply

all ill say is na na na na.
na na na na.
hey hey hey goodbye!
amazing how much can change in the matter of 5 or so years!
from king of the hill, to flaming garbage bag magnet!

0 up, 4 down

Underdog15
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 6:43:21 AM
Reply

You know.... FFX-2 had a completely different battle system from FFX.

And I would argue that FFX-2 had one of the best battle mechanics ever. I wouldn't have been upset if FFXIII-2 had just re-done it, either.

3 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 7:54:03 AM

That is true. I liked FFX-2's battle system a lot as well. The dress sphere changes kind of remind me of the paridigm shifts. It could work, but Square would never go for it unfortunately. I loved both FFX's and FFX-2's battle systems becuase they actually gave you some time to think. Unfortunately now they seem to be convinced those systems don't have enough twitch in them.

What's a little sad is nobody has even tried to release a full budget triple A JRPG with those kinds of mechanics on the PS3. I guess the Last Odyssey would fall into that category, but that was awhile ago and most likely on the wrong system.

2 up, 0 down

Underdog15
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 9:29:21 AM

hmm, I'd never thought to compare the dressphere changes to paradigm shift. They are similar, I suppose. Obviously there was far more variety in the classes in FFX-2, and I loved the AP job leveling system. I also liked the fact that in options, you could skip the dressphere animation change either entirely or partially.

But that does make me think... If paradigm shift was a little better imagined, it could have had the potential for the same depth.

From what I've read... at least the getting smacked around during shifting has been fixed.

1 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 9:46:44 AM

It wasn't completely different, just improved in most areas.

Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 12/2/2011 9:46:53 AM

0 up, 0 down

Clamedeus
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 7:13:00 AM
Reply

Blagh, I'll pass.

5 up, 0 down

wolfsinner
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 9:15:45 AM
Reply

Looks good. I love FFXIII, spent 100+ hours playing it. It was my second Platinum trophy too. It was a great game.

I'm a bit disappointed to see that it seems like there are no new roles.
And it also seems like all the flaws from XIII are still there (mainly, only controlling the party leader). That's disappointing.
They could make the battle flow slower so that you could control all characters (or pause time, that would be even better).

I like QTEs so those cinematic sequences are welcome.

All in all, I'm still excited about FFXIII-2, but it seems like it'll just be the same battle system as XIII's with some minor tweaks.

0 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 9:51:03 AM

But at least you can switch the party leader mid battle.

0 up, 0 down

Underdog15
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 10:14:38 AM

Yeah, that one fact alone is a major improvement. It was a really big barrier. Since you can't dictate best strategies for your AI, you would often have to control the same person, all the time. It ended up having a domino effect. At least now that I can change characters, I can make sure what needs to get done gets done.

0 up, 0 down

wolfsinner
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 2:17:20 PM

World,
I did not know, or notice, that! That's great actually.
That's half of my problem fixed.

Now if they added more roles... I'd be truly happy.

0 up, 0 down

dmiitrie
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 10:25:39 PM

@World: can you pause combat? Because if you cannot, then allowing you to switch party leaders is an empty gesture, at best.

1 up, 0 down

kokoro
Friday, December 02, 2011 @ 9:45:47 PM
Reply

Looks like more of the same crap to me.

1 up, 0 down

Gravelight
Sunday, December 04, 2011 @ 11:25:32 PM
Reply

Reminds me of X-2 and a bit of crisis core as well. I just wish that some familiar characters from the older games would appear, maybe even be playable depending on certain side quests or something, i dunno. And all these bright colors and cartoon people are getting repetitive. I'd like to see a FF with the looks of a game like heavy rain or bf3. Keep the colors in the magic and special effects, but go more towards realism with the environment and characters. And since it hasn't really been done since FFVII, I would like to see more blood. Gallons and gallons of blood. The "Street Fighter" version of spit and hyphened yellow or white "smack!" sucks. Basically, i'd love to see Final Fantasy become more of a life-like fantasy. Oh yeah, if the main character dies it's game over... whoever thought this up needs to be beat up on a daily basis for just being whoever they are, in my opinion, stupid idiots.

1 up, 0 down

Ludakriss
Tuesday, December 06, 2011 @ 9:41:29 AM
Reply

FF Versus. And their Shakespearian use of language along with blood and the all powerful prince that does not brag however, feels burdened by responsibility...

I'm looking at you sophisticated, intelliget, interesting story seeking RPG fans. Oh yeah. We're in for a treat.

And yo! Gravelight

Surely this is what you're talkin bout, no?

0 up, 0 down

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