Article: Lightning Returns Demo out now!

[radicaledward124]

They released the Demo for Lighting Returns today! You get an extra outfit for hooking up to the Outworld service called Siegfried. And Playstation owes will get another extra for the game. An outfit called Utsusemi Garb, when you download the demo!
http://sqex.to/lrffxiii_ps3demo
LRFF13 (Demo ver.) - Xbox.com (http://sqex.to/lrffxiii_xbox360demo)

Check it out today!
I've got mine downloading now, and i can't wait to see how this plays!
:squee:

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

Dang, I just wrote this too!

I'm going to submit it here anyway since I don't want it to go to waste.


Free DLC costume(s) for playing the Lightning Returns demo!



50881

The Lightning Returns demo is out now on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3!

Here's a description of the demo from Square Enix:


The demo puts players in control of Lightning as she traverses the chaos-infested Yusnaan palace of her old ally, Snow. Players will experience Lightning’s new customization options and master the game’s completely overhauled battle system. For those who activate the Outerworld services and submit their battle scores of the final fight against Zaltys, the ‘Siegfried’ outfit will be unlocked in the full retail game.

The "Outerworld" is social media related. Submit your score of the demo's final boss (share it with your Facebook friends!) and you'll receive the costume of Siegfried from Final Fantasy VI.

There's an additional DLC outfit exclusive to North American Playstation users called the Utsusemi Garb which can be acquired simply by playing the demo.

I don't believe there's any sort of confirmation that the outfits are unlocked at the time of playing the demo. Just wait until the game is released and they should be available in the "Rewards Barter Shop" in the main menu.

I've already pre-ordered the collector's edition for 360, so this demo will be a nice way to get an early look at the game as well as get a new costume right from the get go when the game is released. Are you going to play the demo?


Lightning Returns Demo Available Now + Download & Play for Exclusive DLC | SQUARE PORTAL (http://squareportal.net/2014/01/21/lightning-returns-demo-available-now-download-play-for-exclusive-dlc/)

[Freya]

Yay. Free stuff!

[Gzussaves]

Loved it but unfortunately a very short demo

[Shaibana]

ill get this game IF i can now play through XIII and XIII-2 without major problems..
if not then i wont bother

i dont think ill download the demo

[Loony BoB]

Ooh, I'll have to try to remember to get this when I'm home.

[Goldenboko]

Anyone know how long this demo is?

[Psychotic]

No, but I know it's about 1.1 GB :shobon: I'm downloading it.

[Carl the Llama]

No, but I know it's about 1.1 GB :shobon: I'm downloading it.

I assume you must be talking about the 360 demo, cause the PS3 demo (which is downloading as I write this) is 2063mb... I wonder if there is any difference between the 2 to make such a large difference?

[Endless]

Played the demo, and... meh. Is that it? Based on the demo, LR is a no-buy for me.

[Mirage]

No, but I know it's about 1.1 GB :shobon: I'm downloading it.

I assume you must be talking about the 360 demo, cause the PS3 demo (which is downloading as I write this) is 2063mb... I wonder if there is any difference between the 2 to make such a large difference?

Just 1080p videos with lower compression.

The demo was a bit underwhelming to me, not to mention way too easy. I know it's a demo and that there will probably be much harder fights later, but being able to win nearly in my sleep was a bit meh. I'll get the game when it gets a price drop, probably.

[Carl the Llama]

Wow... cant believe I'm going to say this, but the demo was kinda disappointing.

I didn't think much of the combat, but I am sure it will grow on me.

[Sephiroth]

From what I have read of the demo you just see the Prologue.

[Mirage]

It starts with some CG video then you fight some monsters in that club that got destroyed, then you enter a black void of chaos in search of snow or something, while the game tells you that the demo ends at 6 AM, but then the demo just ends itself right after that cutscene no matter how much is left on your clock.

[Sephiroth]

As said, it sounds like the prologue, just slightly different for the demo like the 6 AM thing. This is not in the Prologue but during the normal days, as you can actually see the running clock then. The prologue normally has no clock but ends after Saltys.

[Mirage]

Well the clock did tick when I played. I just described it to make it easier for you to tell for sure if it was the prologue or not

[Sephiroth]

I cannot say that for sure because you start the prologue with Snow in Yusnaan and end it with the dragon and later in the story you enter the same building to confront snow but the dragon only appears randomly then. I don't know what the demo is like but as said, it sounds like the Prologue with some slight changes.

My post before was actually as much of a try to confirm as possible. I could download it but I don't want to now as I am done with the story and probably will donwload the demo before the European release.

[Mirage]

Well, seeing as you know what do do you could probably clear the demo in... 5 minutes if you skipped all the cutscenes and tutorials. I think I used 3 minutes on the boss the first (and only) time I did it

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I'm pretty sure it's the prologue.

Honestly, I think the whole ending at 6am thing was meant to try to simulate how the clock in game works, but it wasn't really utilized in the demo. All it did was make you feel like you had a lot more time left in your demo just before you were at the end of it. That's kind of silly.

However, I liked this demo. Once I started grasping what was going on with the battle system somewhat, it seems like it will be pretty fun. The story seemed intriguing enough to make me know what will happen next. Yes, the battles were super easy... but it's the very beginning of the game. The only thing I would have asked for is to maybe have a couple of short sections to pick from rather than just the beginning to maybe give us a feel for a harder battle and to see a more open environment, but eh. I might buy this day 1 now.

[Sephiroth]

This demo needs over 2 hours to be downloaded. And I know the story already. I will download it but try it out when I want.

I checked it. It is the prologue.

[Vermachtnis]

Whelp, the demo did it's job. I really, really want this now. The Muse was my favorite class, I really liked that hat.

[DMKA]

I played it today. The new battle system is a lot of fun, and it's unbelievably amusing to see Lightning in mage outfits. I also really love Snow's new design. :D

It was extremely short though, especially considering the file size, and I'm guessing either the part of the game the demo takes place at is down the line, or the game is told out of chronological order, because nothing made any sense at all.

Also, is it just me, or does not automatically getting your HP back at the end of battle anymore feel odd now? :p

I'm very excited to get my hands on the full game in a few more weeks.

[Skyblade]

I can't believe no one has apparently figured this out yet. For all of the "it's ending early" complaints: Once you beat the boss, turn around and run back. Don't run forward. Running forward to the checkpoint finishes the demo. Running back through the areas you've been through lets you keep fighting mobs until 6:00 AM. I figured that out as soon as it ended early on my first run, and confirmed it on my second run.

After you beat the boss, it will show up as a random fight (an extremely common one in the room you fought it, and right by the vendor) so you can re-fight it. It will also rescore you on the five star system so you can see how well you did, or try to do better.


The demo is a little disappointing. There is an extremely heavy cutscene-to-content ratio, and it does seem to be a return to the hallway. Not the best aspects of XIII to start out with.

Then too, the customization you get to mess with is borderline useless. The normal enemies die extremely quickly to anything, but the boss is weak to ice and magic. Guess what, the magic and ice using setups you have are all in the default schemata, making using the others incredibly frustrating. They needed some enemy variety to reward using the other version.

That said, the more I use the battle system, the more I'm enjoying it. There is a lot of depth in there, and I can definitely see customizing and fleshing out my schemata to a huge degree. The controls take a little getting used to, and the timing takes quite a bit, due to the differing cast times, but overall, I think it's going to be fairly solid as I get the hang of it.

Also, I'm a little disappointed that you apparently can't recolor the equipment, only the outfits.

[Carl the Llama]

This demo needs over 2 hours to be downloaded. And I know the story already. I will download it but try it out when I want.

It only took me 11 minutes to download it :p


Also, is it just me, or does not automatically getting your HP back at the end of battle anymore feel odd now? :p

It did feel strange at first, but the more it happened the more I liked it, making you plan your visits between the item vendor and the hallway... I can see this becoming a semi decent strategy point during the harder points in the game (unless they include a healer type class >.>).

[Endless]

It did feel strange at first, but the more it happened the more I liked it, making you plan your visits between the item vendor and the hallway... I can see this becoming a semi decent strategy point during the harder points in the game (unless they include a healer type class >.>).

It's in the demo: Red Mage -> Mediguard.

[radicaledward124]

I really think that i'm going to enjoy this game! I was disappointed by the shortness of the demo but then again i understand that. Don't want to give away too much at once, but oh i had fun!

[Skyblade]

It did feel strange at first, but the more it happened the more I liked it, making you plan your visits between the item vendor and the hallway... I can see this becoming a semi decent strategy point during the harder points in the game (unless they include a healer type class >.>).

It's in the demo: Red Mage -> Mediguard.

Or Dragoon -> Lancet. :)

[Jessweeee♪]

I played the demo. I thought it was neat c:

[DMKA]

Also, I'm a little disappointed that you apparently can't recolor the equipment, only the outfits.

From what I can tell that's only in the demo; there are videos on Youtube of people changing their weapon's colors. Or maybe that's something you unlock later?

[jlenoconel]

Seems like much of the same thing as the original Final Fantasy XIII, from what I've played. Was hoping for much more of an open world environment. Didn't enjoy the demo if I'm honest.

[Mirage]

Giving you an open world in the demo would have required you to download like 20 GB.

[Skyblade]

Giving you an open world in the demo would have required you to download like 20 GB.

Also, an intro/prologue section (which is what we got) is one place where the strict linearity can be well used.

As a demo for the game, I think this is solid. It introduces characters, mechanics, and conflicts, while letting you play with the systems some. I'd knock it a bit for not allowing the customization to be used to its full potential (again, the schemata you start with are pretty much the best in the demo).

For someone coming from a dislike of XIII, the demo isn't great. It highlights several of the same problems that XIII had, including the linearity and the heavy use of cutscenes (which make up something like half the demo, if you just play straight through). Then too, the lack of any progression in the demo, while understandable, can be worrying. With no discernible rewards from combat outside of gil, we have no way of knowing how we will unlock new equipment or abilities, which brings back the fear of the restrictive Crystarium from XIII, and its incredibly gated progression.

I think the demo itself is pretty good, it just is designed to demo the game, rather than lay to rest concerns people had coming from XIII.

[jlenoconel]

Giving you an open world in the demo would have required you to download like 20 GB.

Well, we shall see how this game pans out then won't we? I won't buy it straight away like I did the other games. XIII has definitely been the worst installment(s) in the series. Can't think for the life of me why they keep on making sequels when the original was more or less universally panned. Reminds me of the title of Phoebe from Charmed's favorite movie, "Kill it Before it Dies."

[Sephiroth]

Probably fans will also complain about Lightning Returns being less linear and having some great areas where you need to work with the NPCs to get souls for Ygdrassil.

It is like this:

Give fans what they want. Boo fanservice.
Don't fulfill their expectations 100%. You don't care about them.

Lightning Returns is great, I say. But that is just me.

[jlenoconel]

Probably fans will also complain about Lightning Returns being less linear and having some great areas where you need to work with the NPCs to get souls for Ygdrassil.

It is like this:

Give fans what they want. Boo fanservice.
Don't fulfill their expectations 100%. You don't care about them.

Lightning Returns is great, I say. But that is just me.

I want an open world environment. I was hoping more for a radical departure from the gameplay of the first XIII game I played. It seems like much of the same thing as before though. I also think turn based combat is incredibly outdated and doesn't work on modern day consoles, but that's just me.