I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was that they decided to give the US a demo for this game this time around. They didn't give us one for XIII with which I was very disappointed.
But we got one this time around!!!
The demo begins in the Bresha Ruins on Cocoon, in the year 005 AF (after fall). With a narration from Lightning, talking about how sometimes when you search for the future you discover your past, and the pains in your past and how you deal with that pain can determine who you become in the future. In this narrative she is speaking directly to Serah.
The opening sequence we see PSICOM agents guarding a Giant Hand, the hand we know belongs to the creature Atlas. We are also introduced to Alyssa Zaidelle, a top scientist within the Academy, who is studying the ruins and Atlas. We are then taken to the time gate with Noel, Serah and Mog coming out of the gate. Upon arrival a Paradox is created and our three heroes face off against Atlas, although the focus is on his fist, as the rest of him is invisible. Upon defeat PSICOM war ships appear and lay fire upon Atlas causing him to run. At this point I am pretty sure that some other cut scene takes place cause we then get to control Noel and Serah who at some point must have agreed to take down Atlas.
From this point you are then able to wonder around the excavation site freely. It is at this point I went into the menu to see what the menu was like. When I first played through it I explored as Noel, who at first I wasn't quite sure about, but being a sucker for cute boys I fell in love with him. So exploring the site you first get to see the freedom of this game, its not as linear as its predecessor, which was not a problem for me but is still enjoyable to be able to explore. You can talk to random people walking around which is new to the game, also in using Mog and his abilities you can discover hidden treasure chests. You can speak with Alyssa and learn a little bit more about there mission here. And if you have Serah as the leader here, you almost sense that she has a grudge against Serah, for the events that took place 3 years ago. You also meet Chocolina, she is a wondering merchant who shows up in the different time periods, you can purchase items, weapons, accessories, monster items (used to upgrade your monsters in your party). There is in the demo two weapon upgrades one for Serah and one for Noel.
once you have explored the area in full, head further into the ruins, you pick up two side missions from two PSICOM soldiers, one to recover medicinal capsules and one to defeat a Cie'th wondering the ruins.
Here you face your first random encounters, the first being a tutorial of capturing monsters to use in your party. After we discover this ability Noel mentions that Lightning too had herds of monsters at her disposal. Mog also says something a little confusing here he calls Serah " a daughter of Chaos"? My brain is going round and around trying to hone in on what this statement could mean.
You are allowed to have up to 3 monsters in your party at one time, and each monster individually fits a specific role for the Paradigm system. I notice a couple things, while they have made it a little easier to work the crystarium and gain things faster, they have made it harder to stagger monsters, and a little harder to defeat. I noticed the even using Paradigm sets that were pretty effective in XIII, such as two Ravagers and one Comando, didn't really help with certain monsters, so I think this new system will take some getting used to and a little more strategy as well.
You explore and have random encounters, defeating the Cie'th and finding the missing capsules. Until you come across Atlas deeper in the ruins, you have two choices, a machine appears that will allow you to weaken Atlas, or you can face him dead on. If you face him dead on you will die from the first hit. So you go into the ruins further looking for the mysterious device, also to be noted, while exploring there are two other time gates within the area wondering how these gates will branch you off further into the story!? Upon finding the device, you are sucked into a time Paradox, this is an area in which Noel and Serah have to solve a Puzzle to escape the Paradox, I can only imagine that the puzzles get more difficult as the game progresses.
Once the puzzles are complete, you are taken back to the ruins and Atlas is weakened. From here you go and face Atlas, completing the battle with cinematic actions, of which to say if you complete these you get bonuses for doing these scenes perfectly.
This is the end of the demo, but it shows a short game play trailer of the fight at the beginning of the game between Lightning and Caius. Leaving you with the epic feeling of the game itself!
My initial thoughts of this game is I cant wait to get into the meat of it. I am a storyline kinda gamer and I want to know more!!
I cant wait to get into the characters of Noel and Serah too as she was only seen in a few scenes in the first game. I want to learn Lightnings true reason for being pulled through time and what Caius is really up to.
Mog, I am a little disappointed with the voice acting but I love him all the same!!!
I love the addition of the mog clock, makes it easy to get a preemptive attack almost every time!
All in all I think this game is going to be just as amazing to me as the first, I have my special edition already on hold and paid for I just have to go pic it up!!! I cant wait for the soundtrack, I cant wait for the special art book and more importantly I cant wait to play the game!! I am actually taking two days off work for this game, hahaha!
