The monster recruiting is the main issue for me, although it won't be a factor in whether I get the game.

Dude! what was you looking at the ending for anyway?? thats jusr madness man!

I agree its a 100 hour game, when the western reviews start coming next month in i will believe it!

Just read through a latest Hands-on preview from PSM3 (they gave FF13 81%)

They were given 14 hours of free-play from the beginning of the game, and managed to finish ACT 1, It was a writeup full of positives. Heres a few thing they mentioned.

- Explored at least 10 areas that were full of grind-heavy sidequests, aswell as storyline specific hubs.
-Side quests now exist, spent plenty of time diving into them. (feature missing from FF13)
-Bumped into a hatless Snow and a grown-up Hope
-Its three years since the finale of FF13
-Rode freely across the snow-covered architecture of Bresha ruins on Chocobos!
-Brought supplies to villagers stranded in grassy, windswept plains. (must of been sidequest?)
-it was genuinely exhilirating to explore at your own pace, as we were free to enjoy the beatiful world SE have created.
-had conversations with NPCs (feature missing from FF13)
- Purchased loot from eccentric merchant Chocolina (another feature missing from FF13)
- world seems more alive than FF13s
- the new antagonists Caius feels more like a proper enemy, already seems more meaningful and menacing than FF13s Barthandelous, his self infactuated sneer is the first thing you encounter upon the beginning of FF13-2s adventure.
- it's a relief to encounter a bad-ass warrior, when we squared up against him later there was a genuine feeling we were in over our heads.
-Only some converstion options will change the storyline( for instance you can choose to take on gigantic boss Atlus straight away when you meet him or choose to explore the nearby ruins for a way to bring down his sheilds)
-Most converstion options are just there for you to enjoy the way other character react to what you say
-it's nice to see Ff13-2 has a sense of humour

-they ended the hands-on write up by saying "Welcome home Final fantasy"

What have the overall reviews been like for this new game?

I'll have to kill you if you spoil something.

@Joker:

the only review's i know so far are Famitsu's 40/40 (10/10/10/10), and Dengeki's 120/100. (<- i guess we shall not take this one serious lol!^^)

I have three friends who didn't even finish the first one and that includes me

Damn that feels good!!!!

Amazon Japan users continue to pour praise on FFXIII-2. The amount of 5 stars its getting is surprising considering XIII's mixed reviews on there merely 2 years ago.

Dude!!!!! I'm jealous :)

Let us all know what you think of it!