TLDR: If you're looking at buying this and haven't played before, I don't recommend, not just because the port doesn't work on it's own and you need to find a mod to make it run, but also because I just don't think it's very good.
About a year ago I finally revisited the original FF13 after bouncing off of it when I first played it as a child. I really only made the effort to play through that game because I want to finish all mainline Final Fantasy games, and my playthrough of this game is no exception. In my review of FF13 I explained many of the reasons why I thoroughly disliked the experience, though the reasons were different than the overused and over said opinions I'd seen online (i.e. I didn't care it was linear, my favorite FF is X, an even more linear game, but the story, and combat system I did not like.) I feel it's necessary to explain this because playing this game feels like a half-response to the criticisms of the previous title.
Firstly, the story. FF 13 had a big problem with cutscenes that cut off at weird times for fake build ups (the whole Sazh thing early on is a good example), and the overall goal really didn't make sense (this guy wants us to kill him, and we'll defy him by killing him!?) and I feel like FF 13-2 actually does a lot better than the previous game in this department. That's saying a lot from me, who (if you couldn't tell) hated the story of the previous game, and heard that this one added time travel into the mix, but the cutscenes are a lot more fluid in this game, and the plot beats make sense even through moving through time (not that there aren't plot holes, but every time travel story has plot holes, and the ones here aren't too glaring.) I actually liked the ending quite a bit with it's twist right at the end nicely foreshadowed. HOWEVER, the story wasn't anything special, I wouldn't say it's worth going out of your way for, just mostly inoffensive, especially with how many obvious questions the characters repeat in response to learning new information. (I imagine this is a translation issue? I know that in Japanese it's common to repeat information as a sort of sign someone is paying close attention, but in English, it makes the characters look so dumb because they get stuck on each piece of new info for way too long, people don't talk like this.) And speaking of...
Second, the characters. This is the biggest downgrade between the two games. If you liked the cast of FF 13, imaging putting all of them on the side lines while putting three of the least interesting character's in their place. The entire game you are stuck with Serah, a girl with a supposed 'mean teacher' personality she shows exactly twice, while otherwise being a complete blank sponge whose sole point in dialogue is to remind you she is Lightning's sister in every single sentence. Next is Noel, someone's edgy time-traveling OC who reminds you that in the future, he had nothing, again, every single sentence, though at least he pushes the plot forward. Lastly is Mog, who reminds you they exist by saying Kupo a lot, and that's about it. I usually find mascot-like characters more appealing than other people do, (I'll still say I liked Morgana in Persona 5), but Mog did eventually grate on me.
Third, world design. This is where you most feel the developers actively trying to recoil from the response they had online from FF 13, making the levels more open and hiding secrets and side objectives everywhere. This comes down to preference from person to person. Like I said earlier, I had no problem with the linear way FF 13 was made, and I'm not the biggest open world fan, so for me this didn't feel any 'better', but I can see how other's would see this as a win. Not me though.
Fourthly, is the battle system. It's the exact same from FF 13. They really didn't change anything. I did the exact same strategies I used in FF 13, and at no point did I have any trouble defeating any bosses, or even the secret bosses in the paradox endings, or the fragment monsters. I didn't even have to obtain the best weapons or accessories like I did to clear the harder content in FF 13. So long as you set two paradigms for attacking, one for buffing, one for de-buffing, one for healing, and one all tanks to block the easily telegraphed hard attacks bosses use, you won't lose. The only real mechanic is STILL the hidden fact that all your characters receive a full ATB charge after switching paradigms for the first time in combat, as well as about every 8 seconds afterwards, so the only 'skill' you need to showcase is knowing something ahead of time the game never tells you, or just seeing it happen enough and figuring it out for yourself.
The last thing to touch on, adjacent to the battle system, is the monster capture system working inside it. Mog transforms into different monsters you defeat (only if you are lucky enough to obtain the monster's crystal of course), and you set three of these monsters for Mog before battle for Mog to choose from, each monster being assigned a role just like your characters. This system is really simple. I didn't have any problems with it, but I didn't have any fun with it either. Pretty early on, I found a RAV out on the plains that was far better than anything else, and I used that guy all the way through the end of the game. It can feel a bit limiting that since you only get three monsters, Mog is stuck only being able to use three roles in combat, but you never need a SEN monster, just put whichever monster has the highest HP it it's place, and for the most part, your party members are much better at buffing or debuffing than monsters are until you get the best ones at the end of the game. If that's your kind of thing, finding the best guys and building them up, you'll probably have fun here, but for me, I got the free Golden Chocobo near the end and was settled.
If you are like me, and you're playing through all the FF games to develop your own opinions, this port is 'fine'. Finding the mod isn't too hard, and when you level your characters, decide which character you want using each role and MAKE SURE their last level up (lighting up all their nodes) is put on the role you want so you can get bonuses there (I didn't know this and most level up bonuses ended up wasted on roles characters didn't really use. Also, know ahead of time that Serah is the better SAB while Noel is the better SYN) Otherwise, I'd just advise you to steer clear of this game, it wasn't fun.
