Some Thoughts about Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door Remake

 Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a 2004 cult classic RPG for the Nintendo GameCube. Many consider it the peak of the Paper Mario series, which stopped focusing on RPG mechanics and then discarded plot in its entirety after its release. After a long time, it seems Nintendo finally heard the fans' cries and announced a remake of this beloved classic, to the delight of many a fan.

I've finally had the chance to play and finish the remake myself, and I'd like to share some thoughts about it with you. There will be some spoilers. Rather than a traditional review, I'll be discussing how this game holds up as a remake.

Gameplay

Paper Mario 2 is a turn-based RPG, and its gameplay is mostly unchanged. The major differences between this game and the original come down to framerate and quality of life additions.

The framerate is in the original's favor, as this game - surprisingly - runs at 30 FPS and even chugs when some events occur (a paper boat rotating caused the frames to dip on my end). The GameCube original ran at 60FPS. 

The remake does introduce a lot of smart quality of life additions: Fast travel has been streamlined by putting the important warp pipes in a single room, some backtracking has been cut down on due to a new warp pipe in Twilight Town (though bafflingly, you have to backtrack a few times before you get to use it) and many other small conveniences have been added. The changes are very welcome, although they feel a little noncommittal. The game still suffers slow periods and drags on here and there due to the still-present backtracking and sheer amount of small cutscenes.

source: NintendoEverything

Arguably, a remake lives or dies by what it can add to the original. If that is the standard to go by, then the remake is more dead than alive; aside from the quality of life changes, there is one new boss and a NPC that adds tutorialization for various battle mechanics. It's slim pickings compared to the multiple bosses added in Super Mario RPG's remake.

Conversely, one might say a remake lives or dies by how faithful it is to the original. If that is the standard, then the remake is alive and well. Aside from the quality of life additions, it plays just about the same as the original with some helpful changes.

All in all, it's a tossup on which is better in this regard. If you're indifferent to the 30FPS downgrade, then the remake is easily the superior choice for a first experience thanks to its better fast travel and other conveniences. But considering the lack of meaningful additions, the $60 price tag might be a tough sell for anyone but the most passionate fans.

Presentation

Gameplay is the core of any game, but one might argue presentation is the core of a remake - it's about giving a new coat of paint to a beloved game after all. And presentation is where the Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door really shines. All the visuals have been polished up, and each character has even been provided with additional sprites, allowing for much greater expression.

There's really no argument: The remake is beautiful and clearly improves over the already stylish looking original.

I'm a little more mixed on the music. Not to go off on a huge tangent - there will have to be a separate article for that - but I find that rearrangements and remixes can often lose the appeal of the original. Classic Japanese videogame music often lets the melody reign supreme with complete clarity. Comparatively, some of the new arrangements let the melody fall into the background a little. 

Compare the original battle theme:

With the new:

And let me know what you think!

I think this is a very subjective point, however; and the fact that they added a ton of music means it's a net gain. Each partner has a new theme song, each chapter has at least one unique battle theme - some of which are real bangers - so I can't be too upset about the tracks I personally didn't like. Especially so since the game lets you switch to the GameCube original soundtrack with a badge!

Some cutscenes have also been expanded upon with more animation or different camera angles - and sometimes the music has been adjusted to match. For example, in the final dungeon, the battle theme will not play when you enter combat in the first few areas, instead sticking with the ominous background music. This helps preserve the atmosphere.

The remake really shines here due to the sheer amount of added sprites, details, effects and music. Even if you prefer the original's music, you can simply wear a badge to switch to that. This is clearly a point in the remake's favor.

Story

You might be thinking, how does story come into this? Isn't this a beat-for-beat remake of the original game? Well, kind of.

Those of you who know me might be rolling your eyes already, because it's about my personal pet issue: Censorship. I believe no art or writing should ever be altered because it may be offensive or because we disagree with it, because art is the artist's self expression. To me, this seems like a common sense position.

So why am I bringing that up? Because the localization staff at Nintendo went through the script with a fine-tooth comb and removed anything and everything that could possibly be considered offensive. This isn't one or two instances, it's dozens. Here are a few side by side examples found by a Twitter user:

source: Liddle_Lefty on Twitter

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Any mention of the words "loon" or "nut"? Those might be seen as ableist, so they're gone. "Airhead"? Well, that's offensive to say to a woman, that might be considered sexist, so it's gone. I don't like to play at politics, nor do I care about any kind of label people want to attach to this sort of thing. I just wanted the script to be as fun, irreverent and witty as it was. And it's still part of that, but the changes are common enough to be noticeable.

Take the interaction between Goombella and the Goomba hoodlums, who more or less catcall her. This scene established Rogueport, and the setting of Paper Mario 2, as a lot more gritty and real. But nope, we can't have that, let's put some weird Twitter writing in there about sunlight or something.

On the other side of the conversation is Vivian.

In the original game's Japanese script, Vivian presents herself as female, but is described as male. Some people interpret this as her being transgender, while others say this makes her a "femboy." Due to the flexibility of Japanese first person pronouns, it's hard to come to a conclusion. This left localizers unsure what to do, which is why each localization in 2004 handled it differently. The English version removed all references to her being male or trans, while some versions like the Spanish made her explicitly male instead. 

The remake fully accepts the interpretation of Vivian as trans (and as far as I can tell, all localizations are following suit this time). This is lauded by some as a restoration and decried by some as more censorship. I don't feel comfortable drawing a final conclusion on that one, so I won't hold it against the game. It may be worth its own article also.

The unnecessary scrubbing of dozens of lines in the game's script is undeniably a mark against the remake. I'd say 95% of the script is still untouched, though, so whether or not this is a big issue to you will come down to your values.

Conclusion

The Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door remake represents a willingness from Nintendo to give the fans the Paper Mario they wanted, with beautifully updated visuals and music as well as quality of life additions. Even though the remake is faithful in terms of gameplay and visuals, there are marks against it:the lower framerate, the lack of additions and the extensive script censorship. I think it's worth experiencing, but consider getting it on sale and modding the game. People are working on script restorations as we speak!

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So, that was another article, finally! Sorry it devolved into a lot of complaining about censorship, but I have to say I am a little bummed they felt the need to treat a 2004 classic like this. I hope to write more articles in the nearby future, but we'll see. It might be another year or something; life has a way of getting busy.

First Impressions on Persona 5 Strikers

Persona 5 Strikers is an action RPG released in 2020. It was developed Omega Force and P-Studio and published by Atlus. Similar to how Hyrule Warriors is a 'Dynasty Warriors' spin on the Zelda franchise, Persona 5 Strikers is a 'Dynasty Warriors' spin on the Persona franchise. As of writing these first impressions, I've been playing the game for about 20 hours, so maybe it's a bit more than just first impressions. There will be spoilers for the first two dungeons, or 'Prisons' as they're called.

Expectations

In 2022, I finally got to sit down and play my way through Persona 5 Royal. I'd say the game is very much deserving of the praise it got, with its incredibly stylish presentation and highly entertaining RPG gameplay. It's also notable for its fun and recognizable cast of characters. The battle system offers quick ways to manouver through the One More and Baton Pass systems, which let you take another turn if you exploit an enemy's weakness and hand over your turn to another party member respectively. Since Persona 5 Strikers is a 'Warriors' type game with real-time combat, I was curious to see how many of these elements could be inherited and which would have to be dropped.

While I enjoyed Hyrule Warriors' story for the crazy crossover it was, I was especially excited by the prospect of Persona 5 Strikers because in terms of story, it's actually a sequel to Persona 5. I was particularly excited to see the characters again, since I had become really attached to the cast by the end of Persona 5.

So, what expectations has Persona 5 Strikers met so far, and which has it failed to meet?

Good Impressions - Presentation

From the moment you start the game, it's obvious that it's faithful to Persona 5's style. It has all the same flair and plenty of new artwork and music to enjoy that can easily match the original in quality. And the main cast all make a return, and they're just as charming as ever. 

The game starts you out in familiar territory, but you soon get to visit the new type of dungeon, the 'Prisons.' Each has a unique visual flair, just like the Palaces. 

As for audio, the sound effect get the job done, and the voice actors - just like in Persona 5 - do a great job portraying their characters. It'd be a sin to spoil you on all the amazing new music, but I'll share one of the combat themes that made an immediate impression on me:

I was so happy to hear Lyn came back to provide vocals for Strikers, since her performances in the Persona 5 soundtrack are legendary. 

All in all, I can't really argue with the presentation. It's top notch. 

Mostly Good Impressions - Story

The Metaverse, an alternate dimension formed by people's cognition, is a concept that leaves plenty to explore even after finishing Persona 5's story. We get to see that there aren't just Palaces formed by distorted desires, but Prisons where people's desires are stolen. And of course, it's up to the Phantom Thieves to put a stop to these tools of mass brainwashing once and for all - and find out who's truly behind their creation.

Like I mentioned under presentation, the main cast all made a return, but that doesn't go for a lot of the side characters. Tae Takumi (the doctor) and Munehisa Iwai (gun shop owner) are not present, and are instead replaced by shops in the town and a shop provided by a new character. It's not really fair of me to judge a game by what it doesn't have, but I was a little sad we don't get to see how many of the confidants are doing. If it turns out they appear much later in the game, I'll note that in my following article.

The new supporting characters are quite a success, though, in my opinion. Zenkichi, the detective working with the Phantom Thieves, is very witty and got a chuckle out of me several times. Sophia, the mysterious AI being helping out the Phantom Thieves is also endearing, has a good design and is the one now in charge of the shop.

Whether you consider this something to criticize or praise is subjective, but most of the Palace Rulers in Persona 5 were deeply unsympathic people, very close to being purely evil (with two notable exceptions). Persona 5 Strikers, on the other hand, has put some amount of effort into making the Prison Monarchs more sympathetic. They're not painted as good people, but it's explained more clearly how they came to be this way. It's explored how they went from people with noble ambitions to becoming cruel and selfish, usually due to the way they were treated. I think this has led to some really interesting interactions with the cast, but I'll reserve my final thoughts for when I finish the game completely.

All in all, Persona 5 Strikers picks up where Persona 5 left off very nicely and further expands the world. Just don't expect every fun side character from Persona 5 to make a return, and instead, enjoy the very well implemented new characters and more interesting antagonists.

Mixed Impressions - Gameplay

Outside the dungeons, Persona 5 Strikers feels almost exactly like Persona 5. You walk around town, interact with characters and shops and so on. It's when you enter the Prisons that we start to see what could and couldn't be taken from the original Persona 5.

I will start by saying the game deserves praise for attempting to implement many of the systems present in Persona 5. Personas function the same, including the way they can be crafted and taught moves. Enemies can also be knocked down by exploiting their weaknesses, perform a follow-up similar to a 'One More', and knocking many enemies down allows you to perform an All-Out Attack. You can even 'Baton Pass,' although this mostly just boils down to taking control of another character. All in all, the systems that made Persona 5 into what it is are here in some way or another. However, in some cases that is purely symbolic. 'One More' is really just a follow up attack, rather than an extra 'turn,' since there are no turns to take. And switching characters can be important in the heat of battle, but the same kind of tactical planning ahead with the Baton Passes isn't possible in an action game like this. It was inevitable that these systems would be simplified for real-time combat, but it is worth pointing out either way.

The combat itself is very flashy and satisfying, though especially on the hard difficulty, sometimes the game has trouble finding a sweet spot between enemies that just crumble in seconds and damage sponge encounters. The easy encounters are fine - Warriors type games are meant to make you feel powerful a lot of the time, after all - but it's the enemies with a lot of health that cause the most troubke. This leads to one of the biggest problems I have with the game: To knock down a boss or elite enemy (and thus do any kind of respectable damage), you need to exploit its weak spot many times, especially on the hard difficulty. Sometimes you're expected to hit the weakness more than a dozen times. This means that, if you happen to have brought the wrong characters or Personas for a given encounter, it can quickly turn into a 15-minute slog or a nearly unwinnable game of cat and mouse. This is mainly owed to the fact that enemies do damage your characters a lot with singular attacks and can easily inflict debilitating status effects and knockdowns on you while you chip away at their massive health bar and defenses with attack after attack after attack. This is further agitated by how hard it is to recover SP, which you need to cast spells. It just doesn't always feel as balanced as it should be.

I've only completed 2 Prisons so far, but they've already started feeling a little formulaic - you're tasked with retrieving 3 McGuffins to gain access to a miniboss, which will then unlock the boss proper. The Prisons definitely don't feel as complex or involved as the Palaces in that regard, which is a shame. Maybe future Prisons will change my mind on this, however.

To wrap this part up: The game tries to implement a lot of Persona 5's systems into 'Warriors' style gameplay, and it succeeds, if mostly in a shallow way. Balance issues and repetition hold the game back from greatness, however.

Conclusion so far

All in all, I fully embrace the great presentation and story, both the old and new parts. I'm a bit mixed on the gameplay due to repetition and balance issues, even if the game is very fun and satisfying when you bring the right team to the right battle.

I will stick with it just to enjoy what the game does really well, but I am secretly hoping some of the problems I've laid out will be ironed out in the third prison and beyond (if there is indeed a beyond).

Thanks for reading! Did you play Persona 5, and do you intend to try out Strikers? Or did you already play it? Let me know!

Some Thoughts About The Last Day of June

 I recently played through a game called Last Day of June. It's a short narrative driven puzzle game developed by Ovosonico and released in 2017. I wanted to share my thoughts on the game.

Presentation

Last Day of June immediately distinguishes itself with its pleasant, painterly environments. The game immediately makes a great impression with its lush environments and the adorably designed props that decorate them. Its characters resemble rudimentary wooden dolls, lacking very defined features. This took some getting used to but I was completely fine with it after just a short time. The simple style ensures each character is immediately recognizable, which is good for both storytelling and gameplay.

Sometimes things in the distance can lose a little clarity under bright light, though fortunately, the light isn't as intense in most areas as it is in this starting area:

Characters have voices, but they all speak in wordless vocalizations. The lack of spoken dialog is a conscious decision to let you interpret the story through visuals and sound. The scenes are all set against beautiful background music by Steven Wilson, as well.

All in all, I think the presentation is uniquely charming, in spite of a few potential readability problems.

Narrative

Note: I'll discuss the premise of the game and some parts of the plot, but won't spoil the ending or vital details. Use your own discretion to decide if you want to read this segment.

In The Last Day of June, you take on the role of Carl. The story kicks off with Carl going out with his wife June. A tragic car accident causes June to lose her life, leaving Carl all alone. 

Though it's hard for him to face now that she's no longer with him, one night Carl decides to look at the paintings June made. They're paintings of their various neighbors. As Carl looks at the paintings, he realizes they have some kind of magical quality which allows him to experience what the person depicted was doing on the day of the accident.

Thus starts his journey to prevent June's death, hoping the answer can be found in what one of his neighbors did or didn't do that day.

The narrative is simple and effective, and I mean simple in a good way. Feelings of loss and the desire to protect and save a loved one are very moving and relatable themes. You may want to bring some tissues if you decide to play this one through.

Gameplay

Last Day of June is a puzzle game that uses basic third person exploration. You can walk around, you can interact with the environment and you can carry a single item around in your hands. It is a fairly slow-paced game, so go into it with a relaxed mindset and don't expect things to happen too quickly.

Each of the neighbors you take control of through the magic paintings has a unique way of interacting with the environment - the Kid has his ball which can knock over certain obstacles, for example. The most interesting part of the puzzle solving process is that the puzzles affect each other and choosing one solution in a given puzzle may lock you out of solving another puzzle a certain way. In the interest of illustrating this concept without spoiling too much: One of the ways the Kid's segment can be solved is by having him fly a kite. However, you need to take the rope to let him fly his kite. This means that the next neighbor, the Best Friend, cannot use the rope to secure the luggage on her car. And paths opened by one neighbor can then be accessed by the other. I enjoyed that you had to consider the other puzzles as you solved each puzzle, though it never got very complicated.

My only major problem was that certain scenes were unskippable. For example, when you resolve a character's scenario one way or another, you always get a scene of how this affects the accident. If you made a mistake, that means you have to sit through the same accident multiple times, damaging the dramatic value of a serious scene and wasting a decent chunk of your time. Having unskippable scenes is a cardinal sin in a game where said scenes can repeat.

Aside from that, the game is a fun and inventive puzzle game that'll make you think but probably won't really make you wrack your brain to get through it.

Conclusion

With its charming presentation, moving story and simple-but-fun puzzle solving, The Last Day of June is well worth playing for any fan of puzzle or narrative games. The only caveat is that the game can easily be completed in around 3 hours, which some players may consider a tough sell for its 20 euro price tag. But if you're thinking of checking it out, you can find it right here or wishlist it if you want to wait for a sale: https://store.steampowered.com/app/635320/Last_Day_of_June/

Thank you for reading! If you give the game a shot, let me know what you think.

Parental Bonds in Ace Attorney - DGS Addendum (spoilers)

 Way back in 2018, I wrote two articles where I examined the Ace Attorney series. I specifically focused on the theme of parenthood, or more specifically, the bond between parents and their children and the profound impact this bond has on those children. Since then, the previously Japan-exclusive 'Great Ace Attorney' games have finally been localized in a 'Great Ace Attorney Chronicles' bundle. And now that I've had the opportunity to play them, I can tell you the theme of parenthood also plays a vital role here. Let's talk about it. This article will fully spoil The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (both games), so readers beware!

From Across the Sea

The Great Ace Attorney games are about Ryunosuke Naruhodo's adventures as a lawyer as he travels from Japan to Great Britain in the early days of an alliance between these empires. As Ace Attorney games do, they pose questions about the law and justice as you defend clients from false murder charges. But the universal, timeless theme of family is just as present here, even though it may initially not seem that way. Like Ace Attorney Investigations 2, the Great Ace Attorney games take some time to build up before they show the true extent of this theme in the narrative.

Fathers - The Great Ace Attorney 1

In the prior Ace Attorney games, both mothers and fathers played an important role, from Misty Fey to Gregory Edgeworth. In the Great Ace Attorney, the focus is mainly on fathers. Let's go through each example in order of appearance:

Ryunosuke's partner througout the game is Susato Mikotoba, and the first parent to become significant to the story is her father, Yujin Mikotoba. He is a kind and supportive father whose role in the story becomes more important in the second game.

In the third case we are introduced to Gina Lestrade, who is an orphan and a very endearing character with a great theme song. Her having no parents leads to an important and ultimately tragic development in the second game.

At around the same time, we meet Iris Wilson, believed to be the daughter of John H. Wilson. She hasn't ever met her father and Herlock Sholmes is taking care of her in his stead. Quite tragically, John H. Wilson actually died in the first case. Fortunately Iris doesn't find this out until she also discovers that John Wilson was not actually her father after all - more on her true parentage later.

Finally, the murderer in the final case, Ashley Graydon. A shocking relevation comes up in the final trial when it's revealed his last name is actually Milverton, and the victim in the third case - Mason Milverton - was his father. 

The Great Ace Attorney does a lot of setting up for the second game, which holds the true climax of the story. I haven't even mentioned some of the most critical characters yet, like Kazuma Asogi - mainly because he "dies" at the start of the 2nd case. But he and his parentage become a very important part of the story in the 2nd game as well.

Fathers (and a Mother) - The Great Ace Attorney 2

In TGAA2, Yujin Mikotoba continues the trend of being a good father, helping Susato defend her friend in court in spite of women not being allowed to work as defense lawyers at the time. 

Gina Lestrade makes her return, working for the police under Tobias Gregson. Gregson ends up taking on a parental role, helping this young orphan find a purpose for herself. This heartwarming development turns to tragedy when Gregson dies in the final stretch of TGAA2.

Courtney Sithe is the one mother in this group of parents, but has a similarly poignant place in the story. She was part of the plot to help the Professor escape, and to later hide the circumstances of his death. Her daughter Maria Gorey looks up to her skills as a coroner, but decides to assist Ryunosuke and Susato in finding out the truth behind that case, deciding to walk a different path from her mother. 

The next two parental figures are the most critical to the overarching story, with their influence reaching back as far as the first game, which is why it's so interesting that they are only truly introduced over halfway through the second game:

Genshin Asogi. At the end of the third case, it's revealed that Kazuma Asogi's father was convicted as a serial killer known as 'The Professor.' He's one of the reasons why Kazuma came to Great Britain in the first place - to find out the truth behind his father's death. He believes his father was unjustly executed, and he is completely correct, because the real serial killer was...

Klint van Zieks, brother of the games' prosecutor Barok van Zieks and the Professor's supposed last victim. The shocking revelation that he is the true serial killer proves that Genshin Asogi was completely innocent, aside from killing Klint van Zieks himself. But the final reveal that completes the circle is that after Klint's death, Yujin Mikotoba went to find Klint's wife, who was about to go into labor and gave birth to a child. She tragically died in the process. The child she gave birth to is the girl known as Iris Wilson. 

Gotts, a child who appears as a witness in the third case, could technically be seen as relevant because his father is the King of Bohemia. However, while this is another fun way the series shows how your parents can affect your status and attitude, it's mostly played as a joke and doesn't tie into the overarching story.

Legacy 

Ace Attorney is a series where both family and death are major themes. As a result, the series often looks at how the bonds between parent and child continue after death, for better or for worse. 

Kazuma and Ashley were both consumed by their fathers' deaths and it led them both down a dark path, with Kazuma only barely escaping his fate. I think it's very poignant that Karuma - Genshin Asogi's katana that Kazuma inherited - proves to be both the way Kazuma almost condemns himself and the tool that saves him from condemnation. Kazuma was very close to killing Tobias Gregson with his father's sword as an act of vengeance, but backed down at the very last moment. Then, during the trial, Ryunosuke discovers the vital clue to find the mastermind behind the Professor killings in the hilt of same sword, clearing the Asogi name once and for all. If Kazuma had committed to taking vengeance with Karuma, his father's legacy, he would have been arrested and convicted and the truth would've been lost forever. But because he held back, and with the help of Ryunosuke, his father's legacy saved him instead. 

Iris is consumed by the idea of finding out who her father is, obsessing over the stories of her father with Herlock Sholmes. The story plays along with this as well; initially we are made to believe John H. Wilson was her father, then it's implied Yujin Mikotoba might be her father and finally it's revealed to have been Klint van Zieks - a hated serial killer. Iris doesn't find out who her biological father is in the story, but her arc comes to a heartwarming end. She realizes that it is not blood that makes a father. She fully acknowledges Herlock Sholmes - who raised her and cared for her all these years - as her father in the end. And in some way, it's not entirely unreasonable to consider Yujin Mikotoba her father as well. He was the one who brought her into this world, named her and took care of her with Sholmes until he had to return to Japan. Ryunosuke says it all when he describes Sholmes, Iris, Yujin, Susato and himself as a family.

And Gina finally found a father figure, a person to look up to, only to tragically lose him again. She initially believes she has no reason to remain with the force anymore, until she's given Gregson's pocket watch that he used to diligently wind up every night, a symbol of his dedication, now stopped. She inherits the pocket watch from him, and with it, his legacy. She decides to become a fully fledged police detective in his honor. She's finally found her own place in the world. 

Conclusion & Some Thoughts

Like other games before it, The Great Ace Attorney has strong themes of parenthood being something more than just being related by blood. It also shows us that the memory of those who pass away can be a blessing and a curse, depending entirely on how you deal with it. Obsessing over their deaths to the point that vengefulness leads to more death and destruction is a path that leads to ruin. But learning from those who love you and carrying on their legacy can help you find your place and it might even save your life.

In my prior analyses of the 'parental bonds in Ace Attorney', I didn't really draw any particular conclusion beyond the premise of the articles. I just demonstrated how present the theme is throughout the franchise. I've tried to do better with this article and I also want to draw attention to how the more unique ways The Great Ace Attorney handles this theme.

Yujin Mikotoba is a kind, supportive father figure who is present, alive and does not get killed in the story. This is extremely unusual for the series, but also serves as some great misdirection. Depending on the clues and foreshadowing you pick up on, you may be led to the wrong conclusion that Yujin is the Professor or is at least involved with the conspiracy. It makes the real twist that he's Sholmes' true partner and an all around great person all the more surprising and delightful.

I also really like the literal double edged sword of Kazuma inheriting his father's sword and the role it plays in his story. We've seen a parent's legacy be helpful or harmful to characters in the series, but not in such a way that it was both the instrument of his (almost) doom and his redemption. It really reinforces what I said earlier; that the memory of those who are gone can affect us in completely opposite ways depending on how we handle it.

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Thank you for reading!

As a final note, it's been a long time since the series has seen a proper new game release. I'm very excited to share my thoughts with you again once Ace Attorney 7 comes out, although I might also just start on that article about siblings in the Ace Attorney series that I teased in... uh, 2018. It's been a while. On that note, it's also been a long time since I posted any article at all. Let's just say life's been busy and unpredictable. Here's hoping for more articles soon!

The Missing Heart of CONTROL

 In 2010, Remedy Entertained released Alan Wake, a horror game about a writer who sees a horror story he wrote become reality as he tries to find his missing wife. The game was well received and I personally enjoyed its compelling story and surprisingly addictive combat. I recently had the opportunity to try Remedy's most recent game, Control. Control is an action game in which Jesse Faden explores the Federal Bureau of Control, an organization dealing with paranormal threats, in search of her long-lost brother. In some ways it's a lot better than Alan Wake. But it's missing something at the core of its story, and I'd like to discuss that in this article. There will be spoilers.

Greater Control by Design

Horror games often hinge on a sense of helplessness or vulnerability. 

In the case of Alan Wake, the titular writer is always outnumbered by the monstrous Taken and only safe in the light. To make matters worse, he barely has any stamina, after months of indulging in alcohol and parties while frustrated with his inability to come up with a new book. But the game also went against this by making the combat "cool," and giving the player a wide arsenal of tools to defend themselves with. The game has cinematic dodges, enemies fall apart in thousands of sparks in slow motion when defeated and weapons like the flare gun and flash bang grenades decimate crowds of the Taken all at once. The player can be so loaded with powerful resources that the game resets your inventory at many points in the story to prevent it from becoming a cakewalk. Similar to Dead Space 2, the game struggles to find a balance between an empowering action game and being a disempowering horror game.

As its title implies, the developers commit to a certain path with Control. While it is still a game with horror themes and unsettling content, it is much more a third person action game than anything else. Throughout the game's story, Jesse Faden is empowered with a multitude of amazing weapons and abilities, none of which hinge on limited resources - even her ammunition regenerates automatically. And while both Alan Wake and Control have linear story progression, Control allows you to explore much more freely and includes many optional areas and sidequests as well, gaining more and more resources and claiming ever more of the Bureau's ground for yourself. 

The game's design fully ties back into the central theme of control, and that's something to be praised. It makes the game less of a horror game, but it has a more consistent vision than Alan Wake did in this regard.

A Reason to Control

Alan Wake and Jesse Faden have a similar goal, to save a missing person who is dear to them. The way these two games approach that goal is very different, however.

At the start of Alan Wake's story, he and his wife Alice get into a fight. He leaves her alone for a moment to cool off, but in that moment, a malicious being known as the Dark Presence captures her. This lends two important qualities to Alan's motivation as a character:

- Urgency. The Dark Presence makes people into its mindless, lifeless puppets. Every moment wasted feels like a moment you could lose Alice forever.

- Personal responsibility. Alan got angry with Alice and then left her alone in their cabin, giving the Dark Presence the opportunity to strike.

At the start of Control's story, Jesse finds the Federal Bureau of Control after years of searching for her brother Dylan, who was separated from her when the Bureau attempted to capture both of them because they were involved in a supernatural event.

While both stories share a central theme of trying to save a lost loved one, Jesse's story lacks the same sense of urgency and responsibility. On a gameplay level, this does make sense; Alan Wake follows a linear path to the end, but Control allows you to freely explore and do sidequests. If the story presented a sense of urgency but the game itself did not, some people would describe that as 'ludonarrative dissonance.' Regardless, this is a significant difference between the two games, and I think Alan Wake manages to involve the player more in the story. But there's more to it than just pushing the player forward with a time limit; I don't think the game necessarily needed urgency; it just needed something to motivate the player, something to allow a connection to form with Jesse. 

Throughout Alan Wake's story, we get a very clear idea of his relationship with Alice. Quite importantly, we see them interact and learn the dynamic of their relationship. This isn't limited to the opening cutscene, either, there are a few flashbacks that show just how much Alan needs Alice, and the events of the story are set in motion because Alice is trying to help him overcome his writer's block.

To contrast with this, in Control's story it doesn't seem like Jesse needs Dylan beyond just wanting to save him. While there is some lore material to read and listen to about Dylan Faden and how he views his sister, we see no actual interactions from their past. And what material there is doesn't hold any fondness; quite the contrary, in fact. Dylan expresses he feels abandoned by Jesse and has actually sided with the malicious Hiss, helping it take over the Bureau. And as for Jesse, beyond wanting to save him, it's hard to see what exactly she thinks about her brother. They were separated as children so it makes some amount of sense, but it feels like there's hardly a connection between the two by the time they meet again. There are a few optional conversations to go through, but Dylan is (albeit willingly) possessed by the Hiss and the conversations end up being strange, surreal and cold. 

In Control's defense, I believe the heart of the story wasn't meant to be derived from Dylan, but from a different character. Jesse Faden is accompanied by an unseen force, a supernatural being that established some kind of link or connection with her mind and communicates with her telepathically. She calls her Polaris, the guiding star. She came across Polaris during the supernatural events after which she and her brother got separated. Polaris' presence in Jesse's mind is the only reason she's safe from the Hiss, and it allows her to cleanse the Hiss' influence from the Bureau. As a neat detail, she quite literally guides Jesse in gameplay by indicating where your next objective is as well.

Polaris has been with Jesse for all those years, guiding and supporting her. These characters have a clear connection. There's just one problem, though - while Jesse hears Polaris, we, the player, do not. When Polaris speaks, this is indicated by a vignette of triangles around the screen, and we are meant to infer what she's saying based on how Jesse responds. Sometimes this works; one time, Jesse talks about Polaris to someone and initially refers to her as 'it' - a vignette briefly covers the screen to indicate Polaris is speaking and Jesse subsequently corrects herself and refers to Polaris as 'her' instead. It can be inferred that Polaris was unhappy being referred to as 'it.' Sadly not all interactions in the game are as clear cut, and there really aren't that many conversations to begin with. Jesse even opens the game apologizing to Polaris that she often ignores her. Not being able to see or hear Polaris at all stops us from forming the connection that we have with Jesse, or the connection we built with Alice. This doesn't serve to say that Jesse or Polaris are bad characters, just that we as the player can't easily form a connection with Polaris or understand their relationship. I don't want to be so presumptuous as to call it shallow, but we can only see the surface - that's the problem.

Of course, it might be unfair to compare these characters, as their roles in the story are wildly different. Alice is the motivation for Alan Wake's entire quest, while Polaris is a guiding force; more like a partner character. But in that case, we can look to Barry in Alan Wake. He's Alan's agent and best friend, and accompanies Alan in many parts of the game. Most importantly, because we can see and hear him, we get a much better feel for what kind of person he is and how he relates to Alan. The two don't just talk about the task at hand, they're two people who work together but disagree on a lot of things. Some people might even consider Barry's critical attitude towards Alan annoying, but it's undeniable that he has much more of a visible personality than Polaris does.

Throughout the story, Alan meets, and is accompanied by, many characters with whom he has aggressive or warm interactions - like punching Dr. Hartman in the face, or giving Barry a hug right before the end. He has a pretty short temper and expresses a lot of emotion; many of them negative. Jesse is accompanied by no one but Polaris, and while she has cordial interactions with characters like Emily Pope, her interactions rarely have any kind of emotional intensity. Jesse as a character is generally quite stoic and reserved. There's nothing wrong with that on principle, and it certainly suits the idea of a character gaining control over her life, but perhaps it would've been good as the endpoint of her arc. Perhaps initially Jesse could've had a very short temper or be more expressive but she learns to control that side of her. Again, I must stress that this doesn't mean Jesse is a bad character; she is mistrusting of everyone in the bureau initially and learns to trust people like Emily over the course of the story. There is depth and character development there. Sadly, I feel that the lack of emotional expression and the lack of emotional interactions lends a very sterile feel to the story. To come back to the title, the story is intelligent and interesting, but it lacks a heart.

Conclusion

As a videogame, purely looking at its mechanics, Control is Alan Wake's superior in many ways. It has a consistent vision, a great sense of progression and freedom, while Alan Wake seems unsure if it wants to be cool and empowering or scary and disempowering.

But when we examine the story, Control ends up being quite sterile or clinical. Very few of Jesse's relationships are built upon in a meaningful way, and those that are are either distant and cold or difficult to grasp because the characters involved are unseen and unheard. The game isn't completely lacking friendly interactions or emotional moments, but they are too few and far between to keep the player emotionally invested in its story. Said story revolves more around freely exploring the Bureau and learning about it than saving Dylan, who barely has a connection with Jesse in spite of being her brother. There are positive interactions with side characters, but those end up mainly being info dumps and side quest dispensers.

Alan Wake's distinctive personality, the personalities of the characters he interacts with, and the expressive and intense nature of those interactions lends something more human to the narrative. Alan Wake has an urgent goal to fulfill with a great emotional incentive. His connection with other characters drives him forward - namely, his love for his wife, his friendship with his agent Barry and so on. No characters just dispense info and there are no sidequests to distract from the main goal. 

All in all, Jesse Faden has a much better head on her shoulders, but she lacks the heart that Alan Wake has. Taking control is all well and good, but why is more important.

_

Whoa, it's been a while since I've posted anything, hasn't it? I hope the rust wasn't too apparent. I've started on several articles but just couldn't bring myself to finish any, but this particular critique of Control's story had been on my mind for a while. 

What do you think? Am I right, or way off base? Did you like Alan Wake? Did you like Control? All responses are appreciated, and as always, thanks for reading! 

Some Thoughts About Final Fantasy 13-2

After finishing Final Fantasy 13, I moved right along to its sequel, Final Fantasy 13-2. Direct sequels aren't very common in the Final Fantasy series and 13 is of particular note because it has two. Considering the ways in which FF13 deviated from the series' conventions I was excited to see how these direct sequels would learn from and iterate upon its predecessor. Today we're talking about Final Fantasy 13-2, a direct sequel that takes place two years after Final Fantasy 13.

Timeless Beauty (Presentation)

The environments in Final Fantasy 13 could really take your breath away, and 13-2 is no different. As a matter of fact, you visit so many locations at so many points in time that it has greater visual variety. You'll be exploring the usual valleys and fields, but highly technologically advanced locations as well - and just about anything in between. I found myself constantly distracted by the dozens of beautiful views this game has to offer.

A lot of the enemies and music are re-used from Final Fantasy 13. It makes sense, considering it takes place in the same world, but it's still something to consider. We'll get into the gameplay side of this later, but 13-2 has a lot more optional content and a lot more NPCs to talk to for sidequests. Their voice acting is generally fine, but there's a very limited amount of different models with very limited animation. It can be a little bit grating to watch the repetitive mouth flapping of the same face you've seen a few dozen times after watching the truly gorgeous cutscenes reserved for the game's important characters.

13-2's soundtrack can be described as having higher highs and lower lows than its predecessor. Most of the battle themes you'll hear are excellent, combining synth with orchestra to emphasize the game's journey through different time periods.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdframgnBVE

But some tracks have an almost 'grunge metal' feel to them, with screaming vocals that absolutely do not fit the beautiful landscapes and emotional story of a Final Fantasy game. The track that plays when you ride a red Chocobo, 'Crazy Chocobo' is infamous at this point. Listen at your own risk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEUOOgNzOv4

In short, FF13-2 offers more visual variety, especially in environments, but NPC and enemy designs are still regularly re-used and not particularly impressive in the former's case. The soundtrack recycles some tracks from 13, but the original pieces are mostly excellent. A few of the tracks are bad.

Time's Teachings (Gameplay)

Final Fantasy 13-2 is an evolution of Final Fantasy 13 in many ways. In this segment, I'll focus on the ways 13-2 differentiates itself in its exploration and battle system.

The endless complaints about Final Fantasy 13's overly linear nature were clearly heard and applied to 13-2.  While there are still linear segments, the game opens up almost immediately and many of its environments feature branching paths or are completely wide open. Not only that, there are many optional locations and time periods to visit for players who explore thoroughly. As free and open as the exploration is, though, the areas and time periods can feel a little disjointed because you access them from a somewhat disorganized level select screen referred to as the 'Historia Crux.' This is a small price to pay for the sheer amount of freedom and optional content, however.

Some small things were added to the exploration in 13-2 as well. You can now jump at will, and you can find secret treasures hidden in the environment by using your companion Moogle's special detecting ability or by throwing him to treasures out of your reach, an act that he very much doesn't appreciate. Enemy encounters have also been reworked; FF13 did away with random encounters entirely with enemies simply existing in the overworld. 13-2 partially returns to the traditional system, with enemy encounters appearing at random in the overworld, but not necessarily initiating a battle like the JRPGs of old. Once an enemy appears, the player can choose to try to run away, or deal a first strike on the enemy to gain an advantage in battle. This system allows you to grind certain types of enemy more easily, but can be frustrating in cramped areas when faster enemies that can actually chase you down spawn. 

In FF13's linear environments, there weren't many NPCs you could actually interact with. In 13-2, however, there are a boatload of NPCs with sidequests and lore, although most sidequests boil down to finding an item in the area or killing a specific enemy. The best sidequests play with the game's theme of time travel and have you visit an area in multiple different time periods to figure out what to do. The game even has a lot of dialogue options, but we'll discuss those in more detail under the story segment.

One final thing to mention about the exploration is that sometimes, to progress, you need to resolve a 'paradox' by solving a puzzle. These puzzles offer some welcome variation when done on occasion, but can often overstay their welcome by either being simple and repetitive or frustratingly hard. As an example of the former, there are puzzles where you just connect crystals of the same color over and over again. As an example of the latter, there are complex clock puzzles that would take more time to explain than they're really worth, but basically, you move the arms of a clock to numbers which then decide how many steps you can move the arms of the clock again, and using this method, you need to find a way to have the clock stop at every point without ever landing on the same point again. If that sounds confusing, that's because it is.

So, all in all, the exploration has changed a lot. But what about the battles?

Final Fantasy 13 shifted a lot of the focus in battles from actively choosing options to preparing and switching between 'paradigms,' where you assign each character a role like Commando or Medic. Final Fantasy 13-2 uses the same system but expands upon it in a few ways. For starters, your characters throughout the entire game are Serah and Noel, and you decide which Roles to teach them when as you level them up. This means that you not only need to think about which paradigms to use, you also need to choose between improving your current roles/paradigms or learning new ones. 

It is a little disappointing to only have 2 characters instead of Final Fantasy 13's six, but the other addition to the battle system makes up for it: monster taming. Most monsters you encounter can be tamed and acquired for use in battle. The third party member in any paradigm is a tamed monster of your choice and there are dozens upon dozens of monsters you can tame, level up, combine with each other for powerful passive abilities and even name and equip with cute cosmetics. 

Unlike Noel and Serah, tamed monsters only ever have one Role, but that makes sense considering the sheer amount of tameable monsters you can acquire.

Next to the major additions, there are also minor conveniences. A paradigm shift now happens without a small cutscene demonstrating to which role each character has switched, and if the character the player is controlling gets knocked out, you automatically switch to the other instead of getting an instant game over.

You'll notice that these additions do indeed expand on the system that was present 13, but don't fundamentally change it. I have a lot of respect for the decision to not throw the baby out with the bathwater here. A lot of people complained about the streamlined battle system in 13 because it was different, not because it was actually fundamentally flawed on a game design level. It's very satisfying to plan out some perfect paradigms and then watch your team destroy an enemy with little effort thanks to your thinking ahead, and this game pushes that system even further with added convenience and customization.

I think most of the changes made in 13-2 are for the better, but there are a few bad ideas mixed in. One of those is the quick time events in cutscenes. Usually the finishing blow against a boss is handled by awkwardly performing a series of timed button presses over a cutscene, which feels unnecessary and pretty tedious. It feels completely contradictory to how the battle system works - you've spent all this time planning ahead, setting up your Paradigms and switching between them - now watch an elaborate cutscene where Noel and Serah destroy the boss while you press the buttons it tells you to. Considering this only happens after major boss battles, though, it's not too much of a bother.

All in all, Final Fantasy 13-2 is a shining example of listening to feedback while maintaining your vision. Exploration was massively expanded, with huge open areas and optional content to explore. Random enemy encounters in the overworld generally allow for easier grinding and monster taming, but can be tedious if faster enemies spawn in enclosed areas. The 'paradox' puzzles add nice variety but outstay their welcome if you're trying for full completion.

13-2's battle system is fundamentally like 13's but with more customization. The quality of life improvements and extensive monster taming system make this one of the most fun and addictive JRPGs I've played, though the QTEs tacked at the end of some boss battles can sour the mood a little bit.

Broken Timeline (Story)

As its name implies, Final Fantasy 13-2 is a direct sequel to Final Fantasy 13. As such, there will be Final Fantasy 13 spoilers in this segment.

The Premise

The story of Final Fantasy 13-2 takes place a few years after Final Fantasy 13. It's immediately apparent that something is different from what we remember. Lightning survived the events of FF13, but when the story begins in 13-2, it's believed by everyone that she died in the battle to save Cocoon and disappeared alongside Vanille and Fang. The only person who remembers otherwise is her sister, Serah, who is one of the two main characters in this game. This premise is immediately quite interesting and it's hard not to feel sympathy for Serah. She's spent a few years knowing her sister ought to be alive because she actually remembers it happening, but almost everyone else thinks she's just been in denial all this time, incapable of accepting the simple truth.

She finally sees her memories validated when Lightning, who is now stuck in a place outside time known as Valhalla, sends a person called Noel her way. Noel is the second main character in FF13-2, a hunter from a horrific future where all of humanity has died out and he is the last remaining person. Noel brings Serah a message from Lighting; that the timeline has been messed with, leading to Lightning's disappearance and the existence of this awful future. Noel and Serah set off on a journey through time together to find Lightning and prevent this apocalyptic future from ever taking place. To help, Noel has also brought Mog to help Serah. Mog is a Moogle who can transform into a bowsword and be wielded as a weapon.

After Serah time travels for the first time the story structure goes on a little bit like this: Serah and Noel enter a new area and time period and discover there is a 'paradox' to resolve before they can move on. Paradoxes are things that don't belong in that specific time or location but have ended up there due to the damage the timeline has suffered. They resolve the paradox, open one of the 'time gates' in the area, move on to a new time/location and the cycle repeats. Along the way, they gather clues as to what caused the timeline to change the way it did in hopes of ultimately saving Lightning and the future itself.

The Characters

The protagonists of the story are Serah Farron and Noel Kreiss. Serah is a returning character from FF13, where she played a central role in the story as Lightning's sister and Snow's fiancée. A major goal in the story of FF13 was to save Serah from her crystallized state, which makes it interesting that the roles are reversed in this game, with Serah setting out to save her sister Lightning. Noel Kreiss is a new character, a time traveler from a distant future he wants to prevent from ever happening. They're accompanied by Mog, a Moogle sent by Lightning to help Serah. Serah is a very likeable and sympathetic character and we can empathize with her goal of reuniting with her sister. She does have some character flaws, like a dangerous temper, but this unfortunately doesn't come up very much in the story, which may lead some people to feel she's a bit too perfect as a person. Even though the premise of the story very much makes it look like this is all about Serah, I actually felt Noel was the real 'central' character. The journey to reunite with Lightning often feels like it takes a back seat to the journey to save the future he's from, and most character relations and interactions revolve around him. For example, Caius and Yeul (more on them later) have a connection to Noel, and when returning characters like Snow appear, they mostly clash with Noel while Serah stays in the background. To push this point further, the leitmotif that appears in all the battle themes comes from 'The Last Hunter,' which is Noel's theme. I'm conflicted about this because I think it's great they brought a new, well fleshed out character to the table but it's disappointing to see Serah fall into the background again after she spent most of the last game frozen as well. Mog is a cute character, but he's mostly there for comedy and doesn't have much to learn or achieve in the story outside of an optional quest about his home. But the victory animation where Serah hugs him is heart meltingly adorable, so at least there is that.

The antagonist of the story is a mysterious man called Caius Ballad. He fights with Lightning at the very beginning and follows the protagonists through their time travels, fighting them or hindering them at every opportunity, proclaiming that changing the timeline is a 'sin.' He's accompanied by a mysterious girl called Yeul. Caius is easily the most sympathetic and interesting villain from these three games. I can't fully explain why without getting into spoilers, but to give a brief overview: he's been made immortal to serve as Yeul's guardian, but Yeul is not immortal. She, instead, dies and is reborn as a new person time and time again. Witnessing this girl die over and over and over is what drives Caius to do the things he does in the story and paints his otherwise horrible actions in a sympathetic light. Yeul herself doesn't really have the opportunity to become an established character because every time you encounter Caius, he's with a different Yeul from a different timeline. As a result, who I'm calling 'Yeul' is actually a group of several different characters with the same voice and appearance, none of whom get very much time to be developed. It makes for an interesting character concept, though, and some Yeuls get more screentime than others.

The returning characters from FF13 are a mixed bag. Lightning provides a strong opening for the story but then passes the torch on to Noel and mostly stays in the background for the rest of the game. Characters like Fang, Sazh and Vanille barely appear at all. 

That leaves Snow and Hope, and I have a lot to say about both. I'm very disappointed in the way Snow is, or rather, isn't implemented in this story. After Serah confides in him that she remembers Lightning being alive, he proves himself the worthy fiancé by believing her without hesitation and going off to find Lightning, something that makes me like him even more than I already did. But then he just stayed away for 3 years, never coming back to Serah. When you run into him again, he's gained a stupid haircut and a new fal'Cie brand. Even weirder, there's barely any chemistry or interaction between him and Serah at this point. I really don't understand this, but the best I can think of is that the developers wanted to leave room for a Serah and Noel romance instead. Snow mostly just clashes with Noel and disappears from the story after you fight alongside him in one of the time periods, with much of what he did in the past years relegated to the data logs you can read. Most encounters afterwards are optional. Hope, on the other hand, plays a much better role in the story. He's grown up into a renowned scientist who is playing an important role in the recovery of society now that the fal'Cie are no longer functional. He believes Serah and Noel are indeed time travelers and is very eager to help them for the sake of the friends he fought alongside in FF13. He and his attempts to help facilitate a better future play a major part in the story across multiple time periods, and I only wish other characters from the first game had this kind of presence as well.

Thinking back on FF13-2 made me realize that the game's cast of important characters is pretty small. This might be a consequence of people complaining about how convoluted the story got in FF13. The only other significant side character I can think of is Alyssa, Hope's assistent. Because she's with Hope, she gets a lot of screentime, and she's actually an interesting character. The only other newcomer that sticks out to me is Chocolina, an enthusiastic Chocobo girl and trader, but she only really comments on the story rather than being part of it. Her origins aren't even explained in the main story. 

Pacing & Progression

FF13-2's story can often feel like many smaller stories stringed together. The overarching story has a strong presence near the beginning and end, but sometimes feels like it takes a backseat to the immediate threat or conflict in each given time and place. In a few words, the story feels episodic and disjointed. Many threats and enemies occur simply as a result of "meddling with the timeline," and don't really relate to Caius at all. Other conflicts do relate to Caius, but this is only explained if you happen to come across a specific bit of lore or an alternate ending. This problem only gets worse if you take the time to do all the optional content as it becomes available.

It should be said that just because parts of the story are disjointed, that doesn't mean each individual part is bad. I'll keep it vague to prevent spoilers, but at one point in the story, you enter a city in the future. This city is in a truly awful state, a miserable place to be for you and all its inhabitants. Due to some actions in the past, you then create an alternate 'good future' version of this city. Entering this 'good future' version was one of my favorite moments in the game because it communicates so clearly that the future can be changed. It's a hopeful thought that plays into the overarching story quite nicely and gives a clear sense of progression that most other areas lack. 

Quests & Optional Content

Due to the disjointed nature of the story we established earlier, it can sometimes be hard to follow. Many things are explained in the data logs, and a lot of lore is hidden within optional areas or quests. Some of the best character moments and interactions, especially between the FF13 original cast, are found in worlds that can be completely skipped over if you simply want to go straight to the end. This could've been a cool extra if the main story wasn't so starved of good interactions between the original FF13 cast to begin with. But with the caveat that some of the optional content probably should've been integrated in the main story, there is a lot of good optional content. Each unique location in the Historia Crux has its own story and its own problem to solve.

The Ending

This segment and article have already run on for much too long, so I can't fully do the discussion about FF13-2's ending justice here. But if you've heard anything about the game, you'll know that the way it ends is controversial and my opinion on it is very mixed as well. If people are interested, I may write an article just about the ending.

In Summary

FF13-2s story starts with a strong premise and characters with understandable and believable motivations, but the overarching story often falls into the background and ends up feeling disjointed in the middle. It may be disappointing to FF13 fans just how meager the presence of the original FF13 cast is and how few their interactions are. There are many highlights, however, like the antagonist Caius and several very compelling optional locations and quests.

After All (Conclusion)

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is, in most ways, a perfect example of how to make a sequel. It takes FF13's attempt at streamlining JRPG combat and makes it more involved, faster, more customizable and all-around more fun. The QTEs are a mistake, but they're rare enough that they don't ruin the experience. It allows for much more open exploration and has many hours of optional content to offer that doesn't just involve talking to a stone that asks you to kill some enemy.  Its presentation expands and experiments, and this is generally a success as well - I come back to its battle themes almost every day when I need something exciting to listen to. 

The only major disappointments the game presents are in its story. While its opening and arguably ending are strong, the main quest often falls into the background of only tangentially related conflicts. The cast from FF13 has a limited presence and many things are not well explained in actual dialogue and scenes, being resigned to data logs instead. That's not to say that the separate fragments of story are not good, but that they sometimes lack a proper connection to each other, and rarely ever connect back to Final Fantasy 13.

All in all, a great sequel - the story just wasn't what I hoped it would be.

_

Wow! It's been a few months since I wrote any articles. I've been stuck on this one for a while because I wanted to articulate how good 13-2 is, but also how many frustrations I have with the story. I hope it was a good read and I hope my next article won't take as long. Stayed tuned, and all feedback is appreciated!