Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

[Mistilteinn]

Indeed, this is FFXIII-3...kind of. I'll link to the IGN and 1UP preview articles, but a brief summary should do for the sparse details we have. Truth be told, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I only watched chunks of XIII-2, but it didn't seem all that good. Yeah, it made some improvements, but it stumbled a hell of a lot too. I'm kinda hoping SE does right with the third game (or whatever they consider this to be), but I'm completely skeptical all the same.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/01/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii-announced
http://www.1up.com/previews/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii-first-looks

-Takes place hundreds of years after FFXIII-2.
-The art style is based around "gothic, mechanical, and fantasy."
-The world is based around four islands connected by a monorail system.
-There's a constant timer going throughout the game: you have 13 days before the apocalypse (very Majora's Mask-esque). Traveling, fighting, even opening certain chests or choosing to be revived after losing in a fight will cost you precious time.
-Should time run out, you won't necessarily receive an ending--you may be forced to fight the final boss prematurely or even be able to reset time and retain all of your items and skills for another cycle.
-This game is supposed to be much more 'open-ended' than the previous titles, allowing you to go about it however you want (we heard that before with XIII-2, but maybe they'll get it right).
-Lightning is the only playable character.
-Battle system has been overhauled, playing more akin to an Action-RPG with various skills mapped to the face buttons, the use of which will take portions of a non-segmented ATB gauge. Less aerial-combat focused than KH, and involves timed button presses ala Super Mario RPG for parries, blocks, counters, etc.
-The camera sticks to Lightning; gone are the 'dramatic' camera angles (or drunken cameraman as I always thought of it)
-Many of the menus are gone, removing a lot of the clutter.
-The end result is a fast-paced combat system.
-No trailer yet. Maybe we'll see one at TGS?
-

Spoiler

For people looking forward to Versus XIII info, Nomura gave you a hand-drawn picture of Noctis' face, profile, with a message telling you to 'remain patient.' ...ugh

 

[Kopikatsu]

This actually sounds pretty interesting to me. On the other hand, I also enjoyed both XIII and XIII-2, so maybe I'm just a weird one. (Sidenote: Just because I like XIII-2 doesn't mean that I agree with the ending BS at all. Having a downer ending is fine. Great, even. But having a downer ending solely because you removed the real ending for DLC? Fuck you, SE. Fuck yoooooou)

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

I'm totally fine with this, and sounds pretty awesome.

I'm really curious to see how they design the world in the next game since everything went to shit at the end, so maybe this game will be much darker in that aspect...?

Whatever comes out of this, I will be getting this when it comes out, and paying attention when more details comes around.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

Hell, I'm gonna buy it, I'm not even gonna lie. Sounds pretty cool I guess.

 

[DirgeNovak]

My new rule for buying a new Final Fantasy product: Is it XV? No? Then get the fuck out.
I never liked the XIII universe or characters. Final Fantasy XIII was a nice experiment, trying to shake up a stagnating genre, but it just didn't work. Time to go back to basics.

And building a game around Lightning, one of the blandest characters in the series?

 

[Baralak]

Loved XIII-2, and as long as this provides closure after the giant cliffhanger in 13-2, I'm all in. Gonna be a day 1 buy.

 

[Jorec]

Never finished 13 and never played 13-2 so I'm not gonna make a judgement call on this lest I be labelled an asshat. It at least sounds interesting. I do wonder if it's 13 in game days or 13 actual days. Probably the former.

One negative thing I will say is, why Lightning? I mean I get it, she's the poster girl for the 13 series but why? Why not have a new character since this seems to be pulling away from the rest of the series, what with it being hundreds of years in the future and all. And not bring in one older character with the somewhat tired handwave of timey wimey bullshit.

"Oh she's in this game because she was... pulled into the future from a time portal! Yeah that sounds good. Someone write that down."

 

[Savo]

Looks like they're going the FFXIII-2 route and attempting to distance themselves from the last game. This is gonna be one hell of a weird trilogy when everything is said and done, seeing as how they already made significant changes to the style of the story in FFXIII-2.

It looks good, I really like the idea of the Doomsday Clock. I just wonder how they're going to resolve the ZOMGWTFHAX twist ending that the FFXIII-2 had. Square Enix usually pisses away half of the potential of these games with cheesy writing, but this is probably going to be a day one purchase or soon after.

 

[Manji187]

Couldn't care less. But I gotta hand it to SE, they sure are persistent.

 

[hazabaza1]

Never finished 13 and never played 13-2 so I'm not gonna make a judgement call on this lest I be labelled an asshat. It at least sounds interesting. I do wonder if it's 13 in game days or 13 actual days. Probably the former.

One negative thing I will say is, why Lightning? I mean I get it, she's the poster girl for the 13 series but why? Why not have a new character since this seems to be pulling away from the rest of the series, what with it being hundreds of years in the future and all. And not bring in one older character with the somewhat tired handwave of timey wimey bullshit.

"Oh she's in this game because she was... pulled into the future from a time portal! Yeah that sounds good. Someone write that down."

Maybe because in the end of the last game she was

Spoiler

frozen in crystal.

OT: Never played either, but I'm watching an LP of 13-2 where the LPers are just taking the piss out of it while close to 100%ing it. It looks bad, I'll admit, but this sounds alright.

 

[The_Waspman]

So they're finally going to get rid of the JRPG mechanics and make this an action rpg hack and slash? Wow, that sounds... Wow.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who found it hair tearingly frustrating in FF XIII-2 when you reach Academia and have to fight through waves and waves of one hit kill enemies (most of whom will die in a preemptive strike). Sorry, but I dont want gameplay to be interrupted every ten seconds for what amounts to an unskippable cutscene where I literally dont have to press any buttons.

So yeah, if FF XIII-3 is an open world hack and slash then I'll buy it. Especially if they throw in a Fang cameo...

Captcha: Saucy! You said it mate.

 

[Mistilteinn]

Looks like they're going the FFXIII-2 route and attempting to distance themselves from the last game. This is gonna be one hell of a weird trilogy when everything is said and done, seeing as how they already made significant changes to the style of the story in FFXIII-2.

It looks good, I really like the idea of the Doomsday Clock. I just wonder how they're going to resolve the ZOMGWTFHAX twist ending that the FFXIII-2 had. Square Enix usually pisses away half of the potential of these games with cheesy writing, but this is probably going to be a day one purchase or soon after.

That's the feeling I'm getting. And I guess I'll rephrase myself a little--I said the game didn't look all that good, but that's not really how I feel about FFXIII-2. It's an okay game, but its problem was that what it should have done well, it did okay in, and what it should've done better it didn't do so at all. For example, the story: they wanted to make it less character focused, but retain the grand FF story. I'm fine with that, but they didn't make the characters even somewhat interesting (at least XIII had a few), they retconned the previous game's perfectly fine ending, and they threw in time travel, which is hardly ever a good idea. It's one step forward, two steps back, and one to the left. But I digress--this isn't a topic about FFXIII-2's issues.

Back on topic, they actually have already set up this story:

Spoiler

At the end of Lightning's DLC, she encases herself in crystal so that she will always remember Sarah. At the end of the game, if you complete all of her DLC, you get an extra secret ending where she's woken up. So they haven't resolved the ending at all--they're rolling with it.

 

[Mirroga]

-The art style is based around "gothic, mechanical, and fantasy."

Remove "gothic" there and we're talking about almost every Final Fantasy setting ever. And yes I consider every single machine-like Deus Ex as well macguffin to be the "mechanical" part.

Oh, and if it's 1 century after, why pick the most boring character in FF13?

 

[SaetonChapelle]

I played both games, and although I didn't "like" them, they entertained me for a time. I'm not a huge Final Fantasy fan to begin with but I'm excited to see something new with the franchise, and I was happy they made an attempt, even if it was a failed one. I however find Lightning to be a very boring, bland main character. She just doesn't do anything for me. I liked all the others characters in 13, oddly even Hope, but Lightning was just way too dull.

I'll most probably check it out however. I'm curious to see the changes

 

[Kopikatsu]

So they're finally going to get rid of the JRPG mechanics and make this an action rpg hack and slash? Wow, that sounds... Wow.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who found it hair tearingly frustrating in FF XIII-2 when you reach Academia and have to fight through waves and waves of one hit kill enemies (most of whom will die in a preemptive strike). Sorry, but I dont want gameplay to be interrupted every ten seconds for what amounts to an unskippable cutscene where I literally dont have to press any buttons.

So yeah, if FF XIII-3 is an open world hack and slash then I'll buy it. Especially if they throw in a Fang cameo...

Captcha: Saucy! You said it mate.

Oy. Despite the fact that I liked both games, I have to agree with you about Academia 4XXX. On the other hand, I thought the cutscene that introduced those enemies was pretty cool. 'INTRUDERS? TIME TO KILL EVERYONE IN THE CITY FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES.'

 

[krazykidd]

I'm gonna buy it because i'm a collector and i have every FF game released in Canada, even though i didn't finish FFXIII-2 because i hated it ... WAIT hundreds of years after? And lighting is still alive?

 

[Innegativeion]

I'll be watching reception for this one. I've never played either XIII game, but I've heard bad things about both, though XIII-2 was supposedly an improvement.

The prospect of another action-esque RPG from SE perks my interest. 'Give everything a chance' is my philosophy, even if you're relying on second-hand information for that chance xP. But yeah, it seems that in their blind persistence Squeenix is at least trying to improve on their mistakes.

 

[recruit00]

It sounds interesting to say the least. I will wait to see more information. Besides, I have yet to beat XIII-2 because I'm waiting it to be cheaper and I have tons of other games to play.