Put around 16 hours into this game so far and from a gameplay perspective, like many said before, is much better. Diversity is what makes this game. Sadly I feel like some of the diverse gameplay stuff is padding or completely stupid. Temporal Rifts? Sorry, but line connecting and get all the jewels on the grid is really really dumb and doesn't even take skill. The clock one, holy hell, was hard. That's the only good thing. I like little changes I can make with my paradigms but having to choose from only 3 monsters in a pack makes me feel a bit limited in what I can do, not that I use all the paradigm slots anyway. Just go Triple Rav and Triple Com; watch the game win it for you. Normal battles are not fun and only the boss battles are interesting and enjoyable, though i'm sad it's a bit toned down from XIII. Story is a miss. I always feel like it's a hit when Noel and Serah says something really cool and heartfelt but then is ruined by some dumb one-liner/cheesy dialogue. I really don't understand it. Characters are really nice and the interactions between Noel and the world around him is really fascinating. This game is freaking bipolar though. It spoonfeeds you like crazy on the most obvious plot points and expects you to read about the points that you want answers about. I don't understand the logic in this. I get more story from the damn datalog than i do from actual cutscenes. Also, Live triggers are tacked on but too funny to say it's worthless. All in all, good game, definitely better than the first but suffers from certain lacking areas of the game