Following on from last year’s Final Fantasy XIII, I have to say I was quite disappointed with Square Enix’s latest iteration of the Final Fantasy franchise. FF13 was linear and unimaginative in places and generally didn’t feel like a proper FF title. I struggled to get empathy with the characters until right at the end, which to its credit, was very emotive and moving ending I have to say, but nevertheless I didn’t quite GET the storyline at all. Personally when I play a game, I want to get immersed into the story by playing through it, FF13 however thought it would be more prudent to have pages upon pages of TEXT relaying the back story and effectively turning your Xbox into a Kindle is just lazy.

You spent more time reading about Lightning rather than play as her

Every other FF game had the back story as some part of a FMV sequence or in the case of FF7 certainly had interactive sequences like when you play as Zack or part of Cloud’s memory. That gets YOU, the player, involved in understanding what on earth is going on. FF13 however went for the Jackanory path, reducing you to reading about 3 hours worth of text instead. Seeing that I hate reading books, this was quite irritating and I had to force myself into reading all the background as I went along, creating a rather staccatoed gaming experience.

It seems to be a common theme with recent Square Enix titles as this was also evident in Nier. The pages upon pages of text which you had to do in that game was almost farcical and I felt that I spend half the time reading only for the bloody game to test you afterwards to make sure you read it. While I personally play games for escapism, I don’t expect to have a comprehension exam at the end of it, plus getting the answer wrong resets the sequence making you read through all the shite again.

FF13’s battle system was complete crap compared to other FF titles and took the time consuming turn based combat to frustrating new levels. Personally I liked the combat in FF7 and FFX-2 went back to the time bar combat with all three of your active characters. 13 however let you only control one which meant you spend the majority of the game mashing the A button like you were playing Dynasty Warriors.

Is it bad that I thought Fang was pretty attractive?

The trailer I have seen for FF13-2 does look good, as I can never fault the graphics applied in the game because frankly it’s stunning. The music has also always been brilliant so at least that has been consistent throughout the series.

But I have faith. FFX-2 I loved although it was a bit girly with the Dresspheres and storyline, but I personally preferred it to FFX (but I am in a minority here). The battle system was completely different and the storyline was brilliant. I will probably end up buying Final Fantasy XIII-2 when it’s released because I still am at heart a Final Fantasy fan. But there is the air of trepidation from me, because if it maintains the text heavy confusing storyline that 13 had, I’m just going to spend another 60 hours being confused. Plus what’s happening with Versus 13? That’s gone a bit quiet hasn’t it? I’ve watched the Final Fantasy 13-2 teaser trailer, but I must warn you. If you haven’t completed Final Fantasy 13, the trailer for the sequel WILL ruin the ending. Square Enix fail.