The Final Fantasy XIII trilogy is set up like this: the first installment is story-driven, the second is player-driven, and the third - Lightning Returns - will be world-driven. It seems a little strange at first, but Motomu Toriyama, the director for Lightning Returns spoke with 4gamer and has given us a little more clarity and some fresh info to boot.
The concept behind the game is that Lightning, our heroine once more, has just 13 days to save the world. From what evil force, we're not sure yet, but with each "day" working out to be something like 1-2 hours real time, it seems like a hasty adventure. Except not so much. Or potentially. Lightning's actions can slow down the impending doom, or actually speed it up. It's going to be the core component; managing your time effectively is the only way to succeed. And what happens if you run out of time? Game over, man, game over.
Part of the world that will play such a vital part in Lightning Returns.
The world will run to its schedule though, with NPCs going about their business during the day and retreating to their homes of an evening. Lightning will have to work around this or find herself trapped and out of time. It seems like the kind of game where it might be easy to shoot yourself in the foot, but that's all part of the experience. There's a whole bunch of cutscenes and exposition in Lightning Returns, and not all of it can be viewed in the one play through, giving every player their own experience based on their individual actions.
Toriyama gave us a traditional Japanese game as an analogy: it's just like a Daruma otoshi toy. Each section of the world in Lightning Returns is like a block, and you have to hit them out in order without causing everything to collapse. Confusing, I know! Fortunately, Toriyama said he will reveal more at the Game Developer's Conference, except that it isn't until March 2013. We'll be lapping up any further details between now and then though!
[Sources: Kotaku, siliconera]
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