Is Anyone Else Worried About the Countdown?

[Skyblade]

So, I started up the gameplay video, and what's one of the first things I notice? The Countdown timer. Yeah, I'm not really a huge fan of this idea. Granted, I don't know much about it, but I do know that I hate speed running RPGs. I want to take my time, talk to every NPC, get to know everyone in the world. I like to do sidequests and enjoy the immersive world. Having a timer constantly ticking giving me the time until game over is not how to endear a game to me.

What's more, I simply cringe when I think of how many ways they could take this further and make it worse. Different side missions only available at certain times, things being lost forever just because you're too slow.

Countdowns can have potential for theming, atmosphere, and even story. But there's a reason why you could always turn time back in Majora's Mask.

[Formalhaut]

I'll see how it plays out. While I do share your sentiments, I am nonetheless cautiously optimistic. I guess it does give you that incentive to try and 'budget' your time. Sure, you can power-level all you want, but ultimately you've ran out of time. So in that sense, it's definitely going to be an interesting challenge to try and juggle levelling (in whatever form it is in this game), sidequesting AND mainquesting under a ticking clock.

We can extend the time, however, through various things. We'll see how that goes.

I'd like to know the story behind the countdown. Why is there a doomsday anyway? What caused this? I'd love to know that in-game.

[Jinx]

Nah, I'm sure the game mechanics work in such away that it's not super easy to just run out of time.

[Pumpkin]

I don't like the idea either, but Majora's Mask had a countdown and it's my second favorite game of all time. If it's done well, I'll have no problem with it.

[Skyblade]

I'd like to know the story behind the countdown. Why is there a doomsday anyway? What caused this? I'd love to know that in-game.

There's a doomsday because XIII-2's events opened the door to chaos and unleashed the vast darkness that is consuming the world.


Nah, I'm sure the game mechanics work in such away that it's not super easy to just run out of time.

For normal, sane people, sure. But that demographic is not one I've ever been a part of.

13 days, at about a minute every three seconds (going by the video). That's an hour ever three minutes, or a day in an hour and a quarter. That's about fifteen and a half hours for the entire thing. Even if you add in extensions, or the clock pausing during battle or things like that, if this runs anywhere near the average game time of forty to sixty hours, it's going to go by way, way too fast for me.

I play most RPGs like this for around three hundred hours of straight game time (not counting reloads or rewinds). I'd run through that limit in no time, and I wouldn't particularly enjoy it.

[Del Murder]

I think the idea is for you to play multiple times to experience everything.

[Skyblade]

I think the idea is for you to play multiple times to experience everything.

That was the idea with Persona 4 as well. That didn't mean that they forced you to play that way.

Besides, that only works for me if they give the game a New Game+ feature, and for some reason, that still doesn't come standard on even most Square Enix games.

[Del Murder]

For this game it will have New Game+ or there will be hell to pay. I think they mentioned NG+ at the thing I went to a while back but that was months ago.

[Raistlin]

I'm not thrilled about the idea either, but I'm willing to keep an open mind about it; I think it's at least possible that they could pull it off well. I'm ok with needing to play a game multiple times to experience everything as long as there is something to replay for (as in, not FFXIII).

[Aulayna]

I'm not worried. The whole 3 days thing worked fine in Majora's Mask and as far as I can recall the devs have stated that in LR you can manipulate time, rewind the clock etc and that it's designed for multiple playthroughs. Sure this probably means you'll only be able to do certain things at certain times - Majora's Mask did this and one of the best quest lines in the entire game (the Anju and Kafei one) played heavily into that. It's not conventional, but it works. So yeah I'm not worried, I'll wait and see how they play it out first.

[DMKA]

I've been concerned about it when they first announced it but then they said that a day in the game is actually 24 hours. That's 312 hours you start out with. I've never played an FF game that long in a single file (well except possibly FFVII, but I have no way of telling since that clock stops at 99:99:59 :p) I know there will be some mechanic where you can gain and lose time, so we'll see how much time that shaves off.

[Skyblade]

I've been concerned about it when they first announced it but then they said that a day in the game is actually 24 hours. That's 312 hours you start out with. I've never played an FF game that long in a single file (well except possibly FFVII, but I have no way of telling since that clock stops at 99:99:59 :p) I know there will be some mechanic where you can gain and lose time, so we'll see how much time that shaves off.

A quick look at the gameplay videos shows that this isn't the case, as we see a minute ticking away about every three seconds.

Honestly, though, if Square tried to make 312 hours full of content, I'd probably be playing it for about five times that.

312 is still short of my totals for FFVII (estimated: 330) and Persona 3 Portable (350).


If it has any sort of rewind mechanic like Majora's Mask, or enough time savers to actually allow you to drag the game out if you'd like, I'll be happy. If it has New Game+, I'll be ecstatic. But just from the video, I'm a little worried right now.

[DMKA]

A quick look at the gameplay videos shows that this isn't the case, as we see a minute ticking away about every three seconds.

This article (http://www.siliconera.com/2012/12/26/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii-can-be-extended-beyond-13-days/) specifically says the days are 24 hours. So I can only guess whatever gameplay video you saw was a result of the players actions, since it's been confirmed that different actions will speed up or slow down time.