• Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII announced

    by
    Psychotic
    Published on 09-01-2012 10:10 AM
    28 Comments Comments
    Following on from a few weeks of rumours and speculation, Square Enix has announced Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII which as you may suspect from the title, stars none other than Lightning in a whole new quest.


    From what little we know, it sounds as though Lightning will be something of a lone wolf in this game, and it will be the final installment in her story. Players will have a lot more control to shape Lightning the way they want, in terms of appearance, fighting and movement style.

    This particular episode will take place several hundreds of years after what happened in FFXIII-2. The game is set in a world called Novus Partus, a Latin name which can be very roughly translated to "New Birth". It consists of four islands, all interlinked with a monorail system.


    Is there a chance the track could bend? Not on your life, my Moogle friend!

    A very intriguing gameplay element that has been made known is the Doomsday Countdown. The world of Novus Partus is destined to come to a screeching halt after 13 days (Final Fantasy THIRTEEN... see what they did there?) and presumably Lightning's role is to stop this. However, unlike the previous Final Fantasy games where you could merrily tootle about the world, racing chocobos and snowboarding while that big ol' Meteor hung lazily in the sky, the Doomsday Countdown means that the end is coming, whether you're done with all the mini games or not.

    The countdown is shown in the form of a rather large and glaring clock in the corner of the screen, always reminding you of what is to come and making you feel guilty. Worse yet, actions players take such as riding the monorail takes time and will see judgment day draw ever nearer.


    Checkerboard City. No word yet if you can travel in time using that phone booth.

    The clock also plays a part in the battle, with certain time-based attacks and skills draining the counter in exchange for dealing high levels of damage. Interestingly, if you die during a battle you can rewind your mistake... at the cost of precious time, of course!

    The game is scheduled to be released in 2013. You can find the site for it somewhere around here.


    Yoshinori Kitase talks about crystals in a rather fetching office.


    So, what do we think? Are we bored of Lightning and the Fabula Nova Crystallis saga? Do the gameplay elements excite you, particularly the Majora's Mask-esque Doomsday Counter? Does the an open world game see a shift for Square-Enix? Will you be getting it?
    1. Categories:
    2. Final Fantasy XIII,
    3. News
    Comments 28 Comments
    1. Depression Moon's Avatar
      Depression Moon - 09-05-2012, 10:54 PM
      Well at least the game is sounding interesting.
    1. J.D's Avatar
      J.D - 09-07-2012, 04:11 PM
      I wonder what they mean when they say the game is made to be replayed many times. I hope it doesn't mean it's too short.
      If a FF game main quest doesn't last more than 25 hours in your first run. I think that would be pretty lame.....
    1. ShinGundam's Avatar
      ShinGundam - 09-07-2012, 04:46 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by J.D View Post
      I wonder what they mean when they say the game is made to be replayed many times. I hope it doesn't mean it's too short.
      If a FF game main quest doesn't last more than 25 hours in your first run. I think that would be pretty lame.....
      Nearly all new FF games can be finished in 25~30 hours just like old JRPGs, SE doesn't make a 60+ hours long game in general or multi-disc games and this game is solo much like PE1/2/Crisis Core.
    1. Mercen-X's Avatar
      Mercen-X - 09-08-2012, 06:54 PM
      The concept of expiring time worked well in Majora's Mask and ephemeral Fantasia (although those games rewound time). Will this game force you to start over to do it right? Will you get a Game Over and be forced to choose between starting over or reloading a save and figuring out how to rush to the end despite having already wasted a bunch of time on that save file?
    1. Lamia's Avatar
      Lamia - 09-11-2012, 08:16 AM
      Quote Originally Posted by Mercen-X View Post
      The concept of expiring time worked well in Majora's Mask and ephemeral Fantasia (although those games rewound time). Will this game force you to start over to do it right? Will you get a Game Over and be forced to choose between starting over or reloading a save and figuring out how to rush to the end despite having already wasted a bunch of time on that save file?

      There is a rewinding mechanic. You can buy yourself more time through side quests (although some actually decrease your time) and defeating monsters.
    1. sosha_tL's Avatar
      sosha_tL - 09-15-2012, 01:02 PM
      I think the idea sounds really badass. Along with gems like 7 and 10, I think 13 was one of the best ones out. Good soundtrack, interesting characters, revolutionary gameplay and a pretty unique yet complicated storyline. So, needless to say that I liked the idea of 13-2 and now this one.

      I read somewhere that they were alrdy talking of making sequels to 13 or 13-2 and making almost expansion-pack type add-ons to the 13 universe, being DLC and featuring some of the characters that weren't in 13-2, like Sazh and a more detailed episode explaining what Snow was up to etc..
      It's also interesting to see what type of new feature they'll come up with to add a new twist on things, and well, this doomsday clock definitely seems interesting and should change up the gameplay and overall end results. I'm also glad to hear that they're trying to implement more RPG type dimensions, in saying that actions u make will actually influence gameplay results (unless they just solely mean the clock).

      So yea, really looking forward to this one as well, as I am with any new edition of the FF series.
    1. Formalhaut's Avatar
      Formalhaut - 09-16-2012, 07:45 PM
      I am excited, but like others, I'll hold off buying it until it comes out, and game play details are fully unleashed. The idea of a master game ending clock is interesting though. This sounds really weird, but it reminds me of Dead Rising somehow!
    1. Red Mage Coffman's Avatar
      Red Mage Coffman - 11-05-2012, 04:18 PM
      Majora's Mask + Final Fantasy = PURE EPIC ADVENTURE. I must play it.
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