Famitsu recently caught up with Square Enix’s Motomu Toriyama and pried some interesting details about Final Fantasy XIII-2 out of him, and Andriasang was able to bring us a translation on the finer points of the conversation. Perhaps of most interest to fans is the revelation that the RPG’s main quest can be barreled through in 30-40 hours of play time. Those hours are split up into individual chapters that are said to last two or three hours a piece and were designed with the intention of having them slide nicely into consumers’ daily schedules. How thoughtful of Square.
Don’t go thinking those 40 hours are all there is to the game. Motomu, who directed the game’s development, promises there will be plenty of replay value thanks to something known as the Historia Crux system. Historia Crux gives players the ability to move time backwards and send areas of the game world back to their original state. The dev team is hoping that gamers will then be inspired to basically screw around and try to unlock special events known as “Paradox Endings.”
A second playthrough is essentially created when players restart from the final Crux right before FFXIII-2’s final showdown. Players will then have the chance to replay previous areas with powered up characters and can track down Paradoxes that were previously locked.
Perhaps drawing some inspiration from the Kingdom Hearts series, the developers have granted player characters and Chocobos the ability to jump in this outing. And it also sounds like the difficulty has been toned down. Motomu-san cited both easier puzzles and an optional easy mode that tones down the combat difficulty for those who can’t get a handle on Paradigm Shifts. If you’re looking for more of a challenge, though, some of the optional puzzles will dial up the toughness meter significantly.
DLC is already in the works for Final Fantasy XIII-2, and it’s being handled by a separate team consisting of younger developers. The first downloadable content will feature a boss monster named Omega. Players will fight him in a coliseum setting and can insert him into their party once he is bested. Subsequent DLC packs will be in the same vein, but downloadable costumes and other trinkets are also planned.
Finally, anyone who has a save file from FFXIII will get some sort of bonus item or items and a free wallpaper when they boot up the sequel.
FFXIII-2 will reach North American shores on January 31, 2012.
[Source: Andriasang]
