Demo: Final Fantasy XIII-2

Now that I can - in confidence - say that I am completely done with Final Fantasy XIII, I decided to go a round with its sequel, for which a demo was available on the PSN.

The story takes place a few years after the events of Final Fantasy XIII, and you play as Serah (the sister of Lightning, FFXIII's version of Cloud) and a mysterious young man named Noel.  In the demo, you play in Chapter 2 - which is - you know - some stuff has already happened, so it's hard to really say, but Serah and Noel seem to be time travelers.

Anyway, in the demo you have to beat this weird, shifty giant thing - a paradox - who is struggling into this part of time.

The battle system is mostly the same as FF13.  Serah and Noel can enter one of six roles each for a series of paradigms that the player can change in battle.

The big new add is that while battling, you can collect monsters who join you as a third party member in battle.  They also level up and develop new abilities as you battle.

Just to clarify:

Story involving time travel?  Check.
Improved FF13 based paradigm shifty battle system?  Check.
Collecting monsters, Pokemon style to fight alongside you?  Check.

DRESSING UP SAID MONSTERS IN CUTE HATS?

Yeah, the game kind of has it all.

Moogles?  Wow - talk about a forgotten IP.

Like most FF sequels: it is certainly less serious than the original (see above hats), opting instead to spread its wings and give innovation a try.  It's also learned a lot from its predecessor and is decidedly not linear.  In the demo, I was given side quest missions from NPCs.  NPCs!

Anyway, for the low price of $19.95, buying the game seems like a no-brainer.  But I've got some travel coming up, and frankly, I nabbed Skyrim and I'm really itching to give it a try...