ファイナルファンタジーXIII-2

Just watched the trailers. ちょっと微妙。

Since it'll probably be a long time before I can get a copy of the Japanese version (almost got it for XIII, but it didn't work out), I'm not going to delve into the game play mechanics and stuff shown in the trailers. Just the characters.

Lightning's new design is pretty nice, but her beautiful features are cloaked with a thin veil of melancholy as she had failed to protect the future. Even though she's still a key character in XIII-2, I'm somewhat sad that she's not the protagonist.

The protagonist, Noel Kreiss, looks like he time-slipped from FF X with the costume and accessories, but better designed than the blitz ball uniforms. XD I patted myself on the back when I recognized him as being voice by Kishio Daisuke.

I can't determine who カイアス and ユール are, but I think I've heard their voices before, especially ユール's...

The heroine for XIII-2 seems to be Serah, whom I don't care much for. Serah appears to get help from a Moogle. Ah, how I miss them Moogles! :D

When Hope appeared, I had to wonder how many years it's been since XIII. Serah didn't seem to have grown at all. With the recent boom of Kaji playing lead roles in various series, I'm tired of hearing him again, to tell the truth. But to Kaji's credit, I think he did a good job transiting from the youth in XIII to young adult in XIII-2.

Snow... went from the hero leader of a group of rebel ヤンキー, to a wild ヤンキー himself with a really really bad hairdo. Put your hat back on, man! orz

Omake:
Since XIII-2 is a sequel, there's a special site that tells the story of XIII (with spoiler warnings everywhere for those who haven't finished the game). I was quite delighted when I saw the sprites in the character page, and squealed when I saw the XIII time line. The sprites move! Reminds me so much of Final Fantasy VI. Ah, the good old days. （つд｀）