>>715449415
It's not that much better, in my opinion because I don't prefer the party, the premise, nor the story events of the sequel. XIII-2 is only "better" than XIII as a designed "video game", on paper. But it fails to eclipse XIII as a completed "Final Fantasy" product. That's just how I feel about it. Monster catching is half baked, party is half baked. Caius is really great and instant classic, but he is only on screen for 10% of the whole game.
It's the same battle system, there's just no training wheels placed on you from the start. The slow drip of magic in XIII was thematically relevant. That's one of the big problems when discussing FFXIII, many of it's gameplay design shortcomings that many people have problems with were integrated with thematic storytelling decisions. Things like, there not being towns of NPC's that you spam conversations with to get information to get past progress flags. So while someone may say they really dislike these linear and strictly focused aspects to the game, someone else can say they really appreciate those same things.
That's what is very interesting about FF to me as an art piece, each game has many unique perspectives to be communicated.
>>715450214
XIII just did a bad job of hiding linearity, though. The mini map shows the empty straight line, it's just a crime. And the fact that there is next to zero interactivity in any of the stages to make your progress, it will make you feel like you're an automaton, just pushing forward and battling constantly.
Me personally, this once again feels like a thematic concept design that I embrace. Your party are on the run, there is no turning around and going backwards, there is no hanging around in towns or shops and asking grandpas about their missing cats like in a typical JRPG. There is only the endless fight that lay in front of you. Your cruel fate, to fight and die in a war you had no choice being a part of. The strict linearity is intentional, but it's boring.
