I like Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.

I enjoy the ability to explore towns, cities, shop and open areas. I appreciate the game’s battle system more than the former. And the new characters interacted in an interesting way with each other.

But I would’ve liked to see how the original gang responded to a follow up of the story. I think it would’ve been interesting to see how they would’ve interacted with this battle system. I really wanted the freedom to explore post-apocalyptic Cocoon and Gran Pulse.

The lore of Final Fantasy XIII was pretty rich from what we read from the Datalog. So why didn’t Square Enix simply build on it? It would’ve been nice to actually see a lot of the information play out than just read about it. I understand the “no sequel rule” Final Fantasy has maintained and how it actually keeps the series fresh.

But Final Fantasy XIII-2 reuses character models, characters, music and even put “2” in the title. I think the rule is moot. Final Fantasy has made a lot of creative strides by limiting themselves to this rule. Yet…but they’re also missing a lot of great opportunities. Tradition for tradition sake has the ability to kill as well.

What of the plot? Maybe Lightning and company tried to Fang and Vanille from their fate, taking out certain fal’Cie to accomplish this goal? A team of Sazh, Hope, Snow, and Lighting would have started the game. I mostly wish Lightning and Hope were the main characters of Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Perhaps Serah and Noel would join them later with a plan to free Fang and Vanille from their crystal stasis. Why not make Caius a fal’Cie with the same ambitions he has in Final Fantasy XIII-2. I guess some time travel would occur, Chrono Trigger style. Maybe even the characters could build their attacks off of enough other.

But instead, we got the spin-off:

Final Fantasy XIII: Trouble in Time…

What do you all think?