Lightning Returns Demo out now!

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.

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?

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

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.

Originally Posted by 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.

It only took me 11 minutes to download it

Originally Posted by DMKA

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

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 >.>).

Originally Posted by Carl the Llama

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.

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!

Originally Posted by Endless

Originally Posted by Carl the Llama

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.

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

Originally Posted by Skyblade

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?

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.

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

Originally Posted by Mirage

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.

Originally Posted by Mirage

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."

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.

Originally Posted by 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.

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.