Does XIII-2 actually improve on XIII?

[KarmaTheAlligator]

I enjoyed both. I liked what they did with FF13, how they railroaded you throughout the game (except for frigging Pulse, why have a free roam there?) to convey a sense of urgency (you are supposed to only have 13 days, after all). The fighting system, with the Paradigms was nice, but the fact that if the leader died you got a game over was annoying.

13-2 changed many things, and I enjoyed the free roaming since it's there from the start, the levelling up is a bit too obtuse if you're trying to get an optimal setup for my tastes, but still manageable. The fighting is faster paced than in 13, which is both good and bad, since at the start you probably won't be strong enough to 5 star everything, but at least the target time doesn't depend on your stats like in 13.

All in all, 13-2 takes what 13 did and tries to shuffle things a bit while trying to look similar.

 

[babinro]

I guess I'm in the minority who felt 13 was far better than 13-2.

13-2 had a slightly improved combat system and more customized leveling experience. It's characters were far less interesting than those in 13 and the story was completely forgettable in a bad way. You're also forced to backtrack through areas constantly without a guide. Even with a guide there's plenty of backtracking. 13-2 drags on and is straight up boring. The pet system didn't enhance the game for me either. I'd much rather have actual party members with personality/story over just a random monster.

In my case I've played through FF13 three times and had fun each time (my major complaint is the tutorial picks up far to slowly). I had to force myself through FF13-2 once and ultimately resorted to a guide for locations since playing the game as intended was to boring.

 

[JonnyHG]

Sounds like padding. I agree that XIII was better, I never got to the end of XIII-2.

The entire game is padding, as I suspect XIII-3 will be. SE said in so many words that numbered installments will have sequels so they can do less work and make more money.