Final Fantasy XIII-2 won’t be linear

Final Fantasy XIII-2 was announced last week during a Square Enix event in Tokyo, Japan. Not much was said about this sequel to Final Fantasy XIII, but a trailer was released showing the cast of the first game. Lightning also appears to have a rival with a much larger sword. The trailer did its job by shrouding everything in mystery, but Japanese magazine Dengeki has brand new details that should make many players happy.

According to a Siliconera translation, FFXIII-2 won’t follow the design forged by the series’ last sequel Final Fantasy X-2. FFX-2 was very different from FFX. Instead of having Tidus as a main character, players took control of Yuna. It also had a combat system that involved changing clothes. FFXIII-2 won’t have the J-Pop feel FFX-2 had. Instead, FFXIII-2 is said to be darker and have a branching storyline.

FFXIII‘s biggest criticism was the incredibly linear nature of the game for the first 20 or so hours. Square Enix has listened to the opinions of people from all over and will try to address their concerns.

FFXIII-2 will start from where the original game left off. The story will revolve around the party looking for an invisible world called Bunibelle. Though characters from the first game will return, they may be different from how we remember them. A goddess named Etro will also play a big role in the story, but it isn’t known if she’ll be in Lightning’s party.

Square Enix isn’t talking about the battle system at this time. It was actually one of the high points of FFXIII. The paradigm system was a great way to make up for the lack of direct interaction with other characters during combat.

FFXIII-2 is expected to be released this winter for PS3 and Xbox 360.

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