Final Fantasy XIII-2

Final Fantasy XIII-2​ (ファイナルファンタジーXIII-2 Fainaru Fantajī Sātīn Tsū?) is an upcoming console role-playing video game published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, and currently being developed by the company's 1st Production Department.[1] It is a direct sequel to Final Fantasy XIII. The game is due to be released in Japan in late 2011 and in North America and Europe in either late 2011 or early 2012.[5][6] Square Enix Europe has stated that the game "exceeds Final Fantasy XIII in every aspect" and that it has an evolved battle system of the original game.[7]
Contents [hide]
1 Gameplay
2 Story
3 Development
4 References
5 External links
[edit]Gameplay

The principal setting of the game will be different from the original game but the original game's world will still be in the game.[8] The game's battle system will be a further evolution of the "Command Synergy Battle" (CSB) system first used in the original game. It will fix and address issues and make areas that were already considered good even better.[2] There will be a feature that allows the player to control the difficulty of battles.[2]
The development team is also investigating the possibility of giving something to players who have save data from Final Fantasy XIII.[8]
[edit]Story

The story of the game takes place directly after Final Fantasy XIII and follows on from the -Episode i- novel which was released with the international version of Final Fantasy XIII.[2] Unlike Final Fantasy X-2, which had a more cheerful and humorous feel than Final Fantasy X, the overall tone of the story of Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be darker and more mysterious than the original.[2] Director Motomu Toriyama said that considering Vanille and Fang are gone and the world is in a state where Cocoon had fallen, there's no way for the new story to be totally peaceful. Yoshinori Kitase, the producer, has said the story will have the serious feel of a true numbered entry in the Final Fantasy series.[2]
The actual story will delve deeper into the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology and this time focus on the goddess Etro.[2] The game will once again feature Lightning as the protagonist.[2] The personality of Lightning will be the same as it was in the original game and not experience a change like Yuna had in Final Fantasy X-2. The game's story will continue to value the refined and noble qualities of Lightning's personality.[8] Other characters will also appear in the game but in new and unexpected forms and some of these returning characters will see major changes to their personality.[2] The game will also have a number of new characters, in addition to the mysterious man shown in the teaser trailer. The mystery man in the teaser trailer is in direct conflict with Lightning and equal to her in strength.[2] Lightning has a new mission this time, and as she attempts to fulfill this mission, she'll end up in a confrontation with this mystery man.[8]
The original game ended with a lingering question: "Is Lightning really happy?" The conclusion of the story in Final Fantasy XIII-2 will provide a clear answer to this question.[8]
[edit]Development

The director is Motomu Toriyama, who was also the director and scenario designer of the original game. The producer is Yoshinori Kitase, who was the producer of the original game. Tetsuya Nomura, who was the main character designer of the original game, is only designing the faces of the new and returning characters. The clothing of all new and returning characters is being designed by other artists.[4] The armor worn by Lightning is by Isamu Kamikokuryo, who is also the art director of both this game and the original.[4] The clothing of the male character shown in the teaser trailer was designed by Yusuke Naora, who was the character designer of The Last Remnant.[4]
The main reason for a sequel is that there was demand throughout the world and the development staff wanted to portray the Lightning character further.[8] For the development of the game, they've been running tests and listening to opinions from inside and outside Square Enix and even from overseas.[2]
The game was officially announced at the Square Enix 1st Production Department Premier in Tokyo on January 18, 2011. The teaser trailer showed Lightning, outfitted in armor, drawing her weapon and engaging a mysterious male warrior. The teaser was officially released on January 20, 2011, and can be viewed on the game's official websites.[3][9][10]
Talk of a sequel came as early as January 2010; the game's art director mentioned in an interview that the amount of working art assets that were cut from the final product was enough to make up an entire game.[11] In March 2010, during an interview with Kitase, producer for the game, he was asked about the possibility of a sequel. In response, he replied: “If we could do a XIII-2, we could direct all our attention to the story and refine what we have already built.”[12] On December 15, 2010, Tetsuya Nomura, main character designer for the original game, released a drawing of Lightning, along with the words “She must not be forgotten”.[13] On January 11, 2011, Square Enix registered the domain name FinalFantasy13-2game.com via a proxy company that it had used to register websites for several other unannounced games at the time, including MindJack and Nier.[14]