Final Fantasy XIII-2 director Motomu Toriyama and producer Yoshinori Kitase recently shared some previously unknown details about the sequel to Final Fantasy XIII with Dengeki PlayStation. Some of the details are Final Fantasy firsts, with a kind of New Game Plus and Save Anywhere being among them.
Indeed, Final Fantasy XIII-2 seems to have quite a few features which aren’t typical for Final Fantasy games. For instance, Toriyama said that each of the game’s episodes are at most three hours in length, so that busy gamers will be able to play the game. Final Fantasy games usually are lengthy 60+ hour adventures.
Also, gamers who have saves (not cleared saves per se, just save data) from Final Fantasy XIII will receive bonuses, including special monster decorations, better success in the game’s casino, and some kind of bonus pertaining to the game’s title screen.
The game has the option for Auto Save as well as Save Anywhere. Auto Save was said to have been added to the game due to its popularity in games released overseas.
After beating the game, players will return to the opening. Should they choose to close the Historia Crux gate there, they’ll be able to experience a “New Game Plus” type of experience. Some items will only be able to be picked up by playing through the game for a second time, such as monster decorations available from certain Live Trigger conversation selections.
Popular Final Fantasy summon character Odin will be featured in the game as a boss, but will be able to be made into an ally monster.
Also, the coliseum for facing downloadable monsters will have some small story elements and the game world will have some kind of area for DLC updates.
Finally, the game’s review in Dengeki PlayStation said the title has selectable difficulties and a large amount of extra content, but also has load times for switching areas described as a bit long.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be released in North America on PS3 and Xbox 360 on January 31, 2012.
[Via]