Let's get something out of the way: I haven't played Final Fantasy XIII. Not one minute. That said, I'm fairly confident in saying that Final Fantasy XIII-2 doesn't dramatically alter the foundation laid down by XIII. I'm also very confident in saying that grasping the complexities of XIII-2's combat system during my brief play session at TGS was daunting, to say the least.

Thankfully, there are only a few new wrinkles for XIII vets to absorb. Namely, there's more to explore, more ways to fight and more ... uh, time rifts to discover.