Final Fantasy XIII-2

I'm in no way saying that this is a horrible game, I'm saying it is a horrible sequel and it does not feel like it belongs in the XIII series. My five main concerns are this: 1. The game is nearly completely devoid of the characters that graced the first, instead making the bold decision to put the spotlight on a secondary character and reducing all the main characters to small cameo roles. It unfortunately, was a move that didn't work for me. 2. The plot is one gigantic mess. Yes, XIII itself didn't tell the most linear and obvious of tales, but it was intriguing and the narrative and interaction between the 6 characters made up for the minor plot drawbacks and in the end, it was unlike anything I have experienced. This time around, it feels like the writers got drunk on their success and then came up with 200 ideas and just threw them all together without caring that they didn't really make sense or seemed interesting. 3. The battle screen looks dull and colorless, except of course when you take damage and that sickening red pops up on the edges of the screen. 4. The final boss is insanely easy, so easy in fact that I didn't even need to shift paradigms once. 5. The dialogue and voice acting is sub-par. All the voice actors seem bored or as if they're reciting their lines to a friend while they're sipping margharitas on the beach instead of in a sound-booth. All in all, this was a huge disappointment compared to the high standards set in FFXIII and should only be played for the sake of continuation and understanding Lightning Returns.