Call me a masochist, but I’m reasonably excited at the prospects of Final Fantasy XIII-2. There were certainly things I liked about Final Fantasy XIII, the design and visuals of the game was pretty great, as were (some) of the characters, but these adorable chiclets of happiness were crushed under the insufferable linearity and the agonisingly slow pace of the game.

I'm still willing to give SquareEnix the benefit of the doubt though, they provided me with some real gaming joy over the years, and they’ve unveiled two new important bits of info about Final Fantasy XIII-2. First, rideable chocobos! Yay! Second, and probably more important, is a new element called the Historia Crux, described by game director Motomu Toriyama in a Kotaku interview like this:

“The Historia Crux is a new gameplay system that functions like a compass for time travel. As the portal which allows the player to select areas and time periods to go to, it functions a bit like a home menu and is at the heart of the story and gameplay progression of FINAL FANTASY XIII-2. The player can enjoy travelling through time by freely choosing between all the time-space locations where gates have been opened up. Although these locations proceed onwards into the future, you also have the option of rewinding time so it will be possible to experience many different historical possibilities.”

You can read the whole interview here.

Right, at first it sounds like the Historia Crux is just a fancy in game element to replay previous game sections. Hardly innovative. But it’s actually a bit more complicated than that. It allows for players to go back to other sections they’ve played before and explore other choices and options and then leap back to the timeline they were originally playing, presumably with any experience or items they gained from following the optional timeline. There will be multiple endings and options hidden along different paths and decisions will affect the game as you play.

If I understand correctly Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a game that hosts multiple playthroughs running at the same time as your primary playthrough. It sounds interesting, but complex, two descriptors I’m delighted to apply to a Final Fantasy game.