We've Played it, Ask Us Your Questions About Final Fantasy XIII-2!

[Monkey]

This past October, Square Enix hosted a special fan event to allow the fan sites to get an exclusive sneak peak of Final Fantasy XIII-2 before it hits stores in late January. FinalFantasy.net (Shamdeo and I) were fortunate enough to get an invite to the event, which consisted of a three hour session with what appeared to be a full build of the game as well as an interview with XIII-2 Producer Yoshinori Kitase and Art Director Isamu Kamikokuryo.

We'll have our previews and the interview going up some time today, but we also wanted to do a question/answer segment to address any questions you guys might have about the game.

Keep in mind there are some things, mostly story related, that we are unable to talk about. We'll do our best though. Opinion related questions might be better.

[Chrono Mizaki]

A relatively simple question:

Many previews, including one I read on Eurogamer, said that the game is a huge apology letter to the fans as they took many opinions (good and bad) on board when creating XIII-2. So in contrast to the original, how much open it is and how much it places on a player-driven narrative?

[Master Spockanort]

How did it feel having monsters in your party? Did you feel like it was a loss because there was no character as the third member or did it feel like that allowed for more freedom to customize? Would you personally rather a permanent third character member or the monsters?

When you start playing as Noel and Serah, did you feel as if there was a lot of freedom to do whatever you wanted? Too much freedom? Not enough?

[BlackBlitz7]

Besides the monster system, what's new/improved about the battle system?

[ghost013]

Two questions about characters.

1. Will only Serah and Noel be playable throughout the game? If so, why?

2. Will characters like Snow and Lightning be playable later in the game like in the original FF13. What about Hope? Are there any new characters playable?

[NotaHero21]

Did you get to play both the 360 and ps3 versions? And if so is there any comparable difference, graphically or otherwise?

[Bictorious]

How many dragons can you kill in XIII-2?

[Wastewander]

What aspect of the game did you enjoy the most?

[Master Spockanort]

How smooth does the game run? Is there any kind of load time when switching between areas, using the historia crux, or switching from between gameplay and cutscenes?

[oathkeeperriku09]

Who's the strongest: Noel or Serah when it comes to their standard roles?

[Ikkin]

Who's the strongest: Noel or Serah when it comes to their standard roles?

Piggybacking off this: what are Noel's starting roles? Serah's seem to be Com/Rav/Sen, but his Crystarium wasn't shown in screenshots.

[DPRFKI86]

I've noticed something extra in the paradigm names from three party paradigms in some of the screenshots. What is with the "-X"? What does it mean?

How are Serah and Noel able to use magic?

What are the revisitable areas from the previous game? How have they changed?



As the primary roles question, Serah and Noel will have access to all roles from the very start, but you'll be required to purchase role levels at the Crystarium before gaining anything from that role.

[Professor Ven]

How can this game convince non-Final Fantasy fans to buy and play it? What is it's best selling point besides being a Final Fantasy title?

[scubasteve]

are there towns @_@

[Shamdeo]

are there towns @_@

no towns