First: Paradigm switching. It isn't something I noticed until I compared the two games, but FF 13 has this annoying 2-second cutscene when you switch paradigms. It's juuuuust long enough to throw off your rhythm.

The sequel lets you do it more or less instantly, which is excellent for switching to Sentinel real quick to absorb those big attacks.


Second: Leader switching. You may have forgotten, but in FF 13, you CAN NOT switch your Leader midbattle (and since you can only control the Leader directly...). Additionally, if your Leader dies? You lose. Even if your two other teammates are both Medics with Raise, you LOSE.

It is... frustrating.

XIII-2 is great like that because if your leader dies, it just switches to the other guy.


I'm not so sure I like the whole Monster Rancher/Pokemon-esque aspect of it, though I might just not be good at it.



(Oh, and as for my original question, I'm not talking about having multiple roles for each character. I'm talking about "non-native" roles. For example, Lightning spends much of the game being able to level up Commando, Ravager, and Medic. However, once you hit a certain point, she can also unlock the others (Synergist, Saboteur, Sentinal). However, those three trees have extremely expensive nodes, and less abilities than someone who has Synergist "native," like Snow)