[01/09] Lightning Returns: FFXIII Makes Major Changes to the Series’ Formula, Ends Trilogy

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http://kotaku.com/5939779/the-next-final-fantasy


"Final Fantasy XIII heroine Lightning will be back in a new game, Square-Enix announced today. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII...

Character control will be more dynamic. She'll be able to hang off ledges, pull herself up, jump, duck behind corners. You'll be able to move her around in battle, a first, they said, for the series...

The game world is composed off four islands and touches on three themes: gothic, mechanical and fantasy. When the game begins, the world is 13 days away from the end. She has 13 days and 13 nights to save humanity. The game runs on a doomsday clock...

The game will be out for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2013."


Screen shots in link above.
 



THE NEW LOGO!
- Concept is “world-driven”
- The world will end in 13 days
- Lightning’s customization will have a big role
- Players will be able to experience actions that are symbolic of Lightning – speed, etc. - — Game is set to are called Navus Partus
- They showed the biggest city in the region, Lexerion.
- The game will have some sort of connectivity with the real world, apparently through Facebook. Details will be announced later.



- Players will be able to select from a variety of Lightning costumes
- They’re developing the game with button response in mind, although they won’t necessarily go so far as to call it an action game.
- They show monorails which connect the islands of the world.
- They are showing some design of the residents and monster.



- Isamu’s new artwork he has made to represent the image of Lightning’s return.



- This is his first painting in 10 years. That’s showing how important this game is for him!
- The game will be for XBOX 360 & PS3!
- Will be out next year!





SOURCE: http://squareportal.net/2012/09/01/next-ffxiii-game-is-called-lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii/
 
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:| Words will not begin to express my disappointment. Are they serious about the title? Ick.

Anyway, yada yada, more Lightning, blah blah. Oh, wait. Is the XIII/Lightning saga finally ending with this one? Great. Seriously, they're expanding to different areas/lands that shouldn't even exist anyway, just to make this title. (Valhalla should not have existed, either.) Wasn't it enough with Cocoon and Gran Pulse? I'd like to think so, quite honestly.

I'm sure this title will sell like hotcakes upon its release, but honestly, it's completely unnecessary. Kitase and co. needed to move it on to something else, rather than milking the "Lightning cow."
 
This is like that kid in school you used to be good friends with but started drifting apart and is now suddenly trying to brute force his way back into your inner circle is telling a joke. He's told the joke a million times and keeps adding on to it and he's trying to make it funny. But it's not funny. You're still not laughing. You just want him to stop telling the same joke over and over again.

However, I'm not going to be a complete downer here. From what I've read, they're making it an open world. This is a step in the right direction. World ending in 13 days? Time mechanic kind of like Majora's Mask? Sounds good. But at the end of the day, it's still set in the world of FFXIII, a world I care nothing for. It features Lightning, a character I care nothing for. (She is the female version of Cloud... a character I also care nothing for from a game I care nothing for.)

I'm not going to bother with it, but I do hope it's a step in the right direction.
 
There really isn't a lot of info given in their presentations. Although some of it is specific- sounds like a time cycle akin to radiata stories or xenoblade. No info on where/when this is supposed to take place relative to ff13 or ff3-2. Sounds like they made up a new place but did not say how it fits in. No other characters mentioned.

The presentations had this sort of immature feel- like a kid's presentation would, and what was with the 'painting I can't reveal' gag?
 
Cyberdelius said:
However, I'm not going to be a complete downer here. From what I've read, they're making it an open world. This is a step in the right direction. World ending in 13 days? Time mechanic kind of like Majora's Mask? Sounds good.
Click to expand...


I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Majora's Mask.

Only 13 days instead of three. Which is kinda sad because the fact that you Only had Three days to save the world was the best part of MM. 13 days doesn't seem to have the same kind of Pressure MM had.

Aside from that, I'm going to admit this peaks my interest. Open world is always(usually) fun. And by the looks of it The XIII saga is ending, which means people won't whine as much anymore! I haven't watched the Videos yet, but it seems like SE is trying to make the Final Entry in the XIII Saga blow everyone away. With as much hate as XIII gets, One can only hope they do things right.

Also: What happened to the monster system? Did they replace it? That was the best part of XIII-2! D:
 
Good News - It's the last Final Fantasy XIII game ! Hopefully for those who enjoy the series can enjoy the ending to the series and those who don't enjoy the FF XIII games don't have to suffer anymore. It's good for both sides of the Final Fantasy Fandoms.

Bad News- It looks like it's only Lightning playable and there's no parties which is a bit of a more. Also Lightning is going to be ten time stronger like a god. Mary- Sue much ? :ffs:

Hey Kefka and Sephiroth you had to work really hard and come with some really dirty schemes to become a god, froggin Lighting just had to be Lightning !-__-
 
Nightfade said:
I'm sure this title will sell like hotcakes upon its release, but honestly, it's completely unnecessary. Kitase and co. needed to move it on to something else, rather than milking the "Lightning cow."
Click to expand...

Well they won't have any incentive to move on to something else or change their approach if people flock to buy the game and the revenue pours in.
 
charliepanayi said:
Well they won't have any incentive to move on to something else or change their approach if people flock to buy the game and the revenue pours in.
Click to expand...
Of course they have incentive to move on. The rest of the Final Fantasy series, beyond XIII, for example; they can "quit while they're (questionably) ahead" with this saga, which isn't a shameful move.
 
There is very little info here and what they've said so far is disappointing. -_- The game sounds interesting in and of itself (I guess) but how on earth is it going to develop on the plot of FFXIII? Are you telling me there's no Serah, Noel, Sahz, Hope, Caius or Yeul? :gasp:

If this game ONLY focuses on Lightning and does what it says on the tin, I may actually wait for a price drop on this one. :lew: The open world sounds interesting... but I don't really care about customising Lightning, powerful attacks, action sequences or using Facebook!!! That sounds absolutely terrible!!!!

The only thing that intrigues me is the monorails, which remind me of the trains used to exile people in FFXIII. Is Lightning left in an alternative universe? Is the timeline unstable. Does she only have 13 days to save it?

I feel quite trolled by the lack of information. :lew: I was prepared to be disappointed, but didn't think I would be disappointed by a lack of information. There isn't even a public trailer!!!!

:hmph:



Edit:
'she was the face of Square Enix. You can even say she was an icon of Japanese games at that time.'

Are you kidding me Toriyama?
 
Koromaru
In his presentation. -_-

He makes Lightning sound like a bigger, better character than she is. I can see there are many ideas behind her, but they failed to communicate these in game. He says she represents courage. She's willing to give up things to pursue the truth. He tells us she's a hero and compares her to the figures we admire.

Lightning was...okay as a character, but I didn't really get that in either game. :/ Serah was braver! :lew: I suppose this one could flesh her out... Perhaps her personality in the other games will fall into place after this one.
 
It also releases BEFORE Versus.... These spin off sequels sure doesnt take long to develop. I wonder why?
Im so disappointed. How many discs will it be on xbox, if its going to be one disc on both systems its another failure.

About party well duh perhaps you should wait till theres more info... :ffs:
I give up. SE sucks imo.
 
tumblr_m3zd76tWCs1r0db83.gif


Can I just call this Final Fantasy Rising: Revengeance, because looking at that incongruously awful logo, and the more action-orientated nature of the game, it may as well be Toriyama trying to troll Kojima? And as expected, they're making up for the lack of Lightning in the second game by crafting a game entirely dedicated to her. You wanted parties? Tough shit, you're getting Lightning - and Lightning only - a ridiculously overhyped character that was conceived merely to be Cloud with tits. You wanted Caius, Noel, Hope, Sazh, Fang, etc.? Nah, you're getting Lightning only and perhaps some late-to-the-party NPCs and random new villainous arseholes suddenly coming out of the woodwork now.

You know how I barked about how FFXIII-2 seems like one big incoherent mess that takes the retconning of an ending of the previous game and tosses everything around a totally different direction? In retrospect, that seemed like nothing compared to this. A totally new unheard-of location, set centuries later...somehow (and here I was thinking the concept of time was moot by the end of FFXIII-2, but hey, what do I know?) and Lightning's going after some murderers or various criminals judging by some of the vague online descriptions? I mean, what the heck? Are we sure they didn't just take an unrelated unannounced project they were working on in secret and slapped Lightning on it? I'm sure there are people who have had acid trips that made more sense and didn't randomly jump around as much as the Lightning Saga.

...and yet, this doesn't sound as tragic and bad as I imagined it would. This actually sounds like the most interesting of the three games. Action-orientated combat? Majora's Mask-style impending doomsday? A game world that should be more interesting to explore this time round? Actual day-night cycle?

This probably means Square-Enix barely did/or are doing any of the development and that this is a massive outsourcing job to someone like Tri-Ace (which would explain why Tri-Ace haven't announced any new game projects of their own for a while - they're probably stuck doing chores for daddy Toriyama). That would explain how they can make something with such a short development time that supposedly has towns and a city. Although I still predict a short game that can be done in around 30-40 hours or so, with torrents of DLC coming later.

If they don't end up showing me crap whenever they do show the actual trailer and disclose further information, they may even get some of my money. All £15 of it after a wait of...a half year? Would that be enough for the price to dip to £15? I would think so.

/I still can't get over how AWFUL the name is. Batman, Lightning ain't. And that awful logo. It's like a Michael Bay Transformers logo. Are you telling me that even Amano refused to take part in this tomfoolery?
 
More information:

[01/09] Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII stage event demo impressions

Concept presentation aside, Square Enix hosted a gameplay presentation shortly after their public revealing of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII.


Of course, all attendees and press were asked to silence all recording devices meaning only a select few got to arguably see the best part.


Famitsu provided a brief summary of the event continuation, which included a trailer and a gameplay demo.


The trailer touched on Novus Partus and the time progression system. The sequence 00/02:54:23 was shown in particular. A second scene showed off Lightning sporting a new outfit, chasing a criminal accused of murder. Lightning can make use of cover mechanics, including crouching, sneaking and hiding by walls – think Metal Gear Solid.


The demo segment was shown running on a PlayStation 3. It was based off an alpha build, which could explain why Square Enix didn’t feel it appropriate to show to the rest of the world. As such, textures and voice acting was still in a placeholder state.


In battle, Lightning’s weapon, shield, costume and abilities can be altered. Customizations can be switched and stored to be interchanged before battle, with commands mapped to separate face buttons. Similar to FFX-2 there seems to be some sort of transformation sequence for each change, and include names such as Blast Witch and Holy Liberator.


The battle system in Lightning Returns is a modified ATB system with a gauge that fills up over time. In addition to assigning moves to the face buttons, you’ll also be able to input various normal actions such as evasion.


Much as in XIII, the enemies in the game have some sort of Break system attached to them. The earliest stage of Break for the larger enemies is called Knockdown and allows Lightning to steal once its down. The final Break stage is called Overclock – not to dissimilar from the original FFXIII E3 2006 trailer – it allows her to freeze time. In the demo, Lightning used Overclock to freeze a behemoth in min-launch and then strike it repeatedly.


It doesn’t seem like we’ll have to wait long until the next update. Famitsu promises an exclusive interview with the developers in its September 6th issue, which typically leaks on Tuesdays.

Source: Novacrystallis
 
So instead of coming up with new and fresh ideas they knock off

Zelda
Metal Gear Solid

And now Prince of Persia

"chasing a person accused of murder "

And looks like Assassins Creed also.

This is not Final Fantasy this is Zemetalprince Assassins with Lightning. :amg:


EDIT- OHHH so this is why the end is going to end in Dec. Makes sense now. :gasp:
 
I have to say that I am probably in the minority here in saying that I am looking forward to this next title. It may be dratically different comparred to the past but I will still accept it. Its not an MMO or anything like that so that doesn't bother me.

I am all for change, this has quite some change. I like concept of metal gear style gameplay but only in like 'designated quests like actually sneaking somewhere'. The doomsday clock sounds interesting as its also affected by moral decisions.

People are moaning at this open world but it sounds incredibly similar to that of FFXII and apply moves to face buttons is a big improvement over pressing attack and paradigm swap in its predecessors. Yes it may not have a menu but the linearity of the combat in them games honestly wouldn't have changed if they took a menu off. You can still apply moves via ATB which it says. Until you see it don't complain.

The biggest problem is just being Lightning. Yes I like her but then I would have rather had more than one person. They haven't gave any details about people in it. It could incorporate FFXII guest system and the story could intertwine we don't know. Were making silly assumptions over stuff we haven't visually seen.

You can slam me all you want but I am looking forward to how this turns out and besides this is the last one so soon enough you can all moan at other projects.

I have just seen pictures from the concept presentation and the monster design looks lovely. The amount of customizing is a plus for me and the fact we can see the new cocoon in the distance in one picture which looks nice. New information on September 4th-6th!
 
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Seriously, I have been dying of laughter of all those wonderful gif's and images people have posted. Like, I seriously couldn't contain myself!

But still, very much looking forward to this release, and admitively Lightning is my favorite character, she's an "Independant woman taking charge of her own life". I hope there is an extensive amount of customization that we can do for her, Lightning will be my Final Fantasy barbie doll in this case :awesome:.
 
THANK YOU, @.Mosh !

I don't quite get how when one game that's not even a self-proclaimed main entry to the Final Fantasy series uses different game mechanics, everybody freaks out. This isn't the direction that all Final Fantasy games from here on out are going, this is just a sideshow on the route to the main event. Dissidia was fantastic for an action-oriented change of pace, yet it still felt like part of the Final Fantasy universe, albeit a very different one. I've got no reason to doubt that SE can make a good semi-action game of this, too. It won't be what we're used to, but is that really a new thing?

After previous open worlds, Final Fantasy IV was extremely linear. After predominantly European Medieval themes, Final Fantasy VI and to a greater extent VII went sci-fi. Yet these games are all highly regarded as great examples of the series despite their 'departures' from the established norm. Why is it that suddenly change is a horrible, awful thing, especially considering it's not here to stay?

Would I have preferred to get Versus XIII instead of Lightning Returns? You bet I would. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to give this game the chance to prove itself, bearing in mind it is intentionally a unique entry to the series.

EDIT: I would also advise everyone to read through the Final Fantasy Wiki article about this game. I think it does a great job of summarizing what we've heard so far and reveals the game to not be as bad of a change as some are thinking it will be.
 
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