[17/12] Lightning’s new look to be revealed in Japanese magazines, first details emerge

[C i d]

Motomu Toriyama promised that Lightning would be receiving a new look for her final outing in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. The first details of that design are finally here.


Set to be revealed through Japanese magazines this week, a source who got an early look at the magazine has appeared online with some fresh details.


The outfit, designed by Tetsuya Nomura, is said to be a mixture of several styles. Similar to her outfit in FFXIII-2, her upper body is covered in a black armor, while the lower part features a body suit. Lightning is also wearing elements of a classic white mage’s outfit, including a white cape and red gloves. On her left arm is a shield that looks like something you might see in Mobile Suit Gundam. Her sword is also different, now a reddish and yellow color.


A fan has created their own impression of Lightning’s new look using LittleBigPlanet art. You can see it here.


With Lightning Returns set to resurface at Jump Festa, we should be seeing even more news shortly. Stay tuned.


Source: Nova Crystallis

 

[Razberry Knight]

I personally dont like the description, looks likenthe simple design she used to have is getting revamp but i starting tobget a bad feeling.

 

[Linnaete]

First game has a distinct sci-fi theme. You can tell in Lightning's design by the glowing things on her shoulder...whatever they are.

Second game uhh, tries to do this Norse theme with a valkyrie Lightning. You can tell with that cumbersome warrior maiden armour and all those feathers that are there for some symbolic reason that I'm not aware of and neither do I care.

Third game, uhh, I have no fucking clue anymore. Not even they do. The description pretty much confirms that they have no coherent theme and are just slapping shit together. It sounds like the trilogy in a nutshell. Just slapping shit together and hope something sticks. And the LBP mockup of the design is wonderful. I actually do hope she looks like that, because she really does look like a Gundam unit.

In fact, I just hope the third game is just an exercise of self-parodying and taking the piss out of itself. That's what it's got to. Am I supposed to take any of this shit seriously anymore? They can easily get my support for the third game if they straight-up admit that this was all a parody of themselves.

 

[Steve-O]

sorry but from what I read on twitter, it sounds horrible

 

[d2punkrock4thisw]

I personally dont like the description, looks likenthe simple design she used to have is getting revamp but i starting tobget a bad feeling.

I agree, I don't see Lightning being the kind of person to walk around in a leotard... But they showed a lot more skin in XIII-2 then in XIII.
I was completely turned off by the XIII-2 costume until the game came out, But now I prefer it over her XIII attire. But the sound of this new design just sounds awful... If by body suit they mean like the DLC mass effect costumes from XIII-2 then maybe it would be functional.. I messed around in photoshop a little and made my interpretation of the outfit from the details we have. I got the render from Deviantart, I unfortunately cannot remember who's it was so if you're a member here and it's yours let me know so I can put in some credits: But I did a little re-color, and eliminated the feather skirt. I whipped this up in only a few minutes so it's really messy, and actually incomplete... and I completely just gave up when it came to the sword haha.

But I am hoping her old outfits will be available to use in game, I know from the early concept video they showed Lightning in her XIII-2 attire, but I'm not sure if it was just to have a model to use since her design wasn't finished by Nomura yet...

 

[Steve-O]

her look has just leaked on twitter

EDIT: After looking at in in a game designer concept, ewwwww, 1, that collor thing, why the hell it look vampire like, it don't match, 2, the sword..... it toooo orange, like orange orange and 3, that thing on her right arm, is she carrying a spacechip??

 

[Nocturne]

I may be in the minority, but while I dont think it looks amazing, it doesnt look terrible. There may be a little too much stuff flowing off of the core outfit, but I think the core looks really good. Plus, isnt what she is wearing completely customizable anyways?

 

[Rapture]

her look has just leaked on twitter

That is whack. She looks like she raided Noct's closet and made something that's a cross between his outfit and the knights that wear armor in his game. It looks sheerly awful.

Watch the sales of this game plummet with the male fans unless they instantly annouce beach volleyball costume dlc in the not-so distant future.

Also...I don't even want to know how she moves with that leotard being so tight in the crotchal area

 

[The Welsh Paddy]

You know, I fail to see the importance in this. Doesn't any of this seem very shallow to you? And besides, I find it worrying when a character's appearance becomes such an important issue as this seems to be.

 

[.Mosh]

You know, I fail to see the importance in this. Doesn't any of this seem very shallow to you? And besides, I find it worrying when a character's appearance becomes such an important issue as this seems to be.

And I feel the same way, as long as the story is good I don't care about how they bloody look. Caius had a weird outfit for example, I mean can you not remember the commander Shepard outfit in 2 that made him a bloody gangster that was terrible (Yet people liked it) some hate, some like it will always be that way. End of

 

[Razberry Knight]

I may be in the minority, but while I dont think it looks amazing, it doesnt look terrible. There may be a little too much stuff flowing off of the core outfit, but I think the core looks really good. Plus, isnt what she is wearing completely customizable anyways?

She looks even closer to Cloud's design only, she has two sleeves and that sash goes around her back completely.

The problem is more than what it looks like but if it fits with the character. They feminized her in XIII-2 and even more in LR, it doesn't really fit her personality.

 

[Linnaete]

Famitsu's version. It comes with colour!

-------

Thoughts:

1) Why does she need the long half-and-half skirt(s) AND what looks like two capes? And I find the pocket pouches on the skirt wings kind of funny, like they just really, really don't belong there.

2) Hahaha, her right boob looks like a mutant in size compared to the other one.

3) Aww, she doesn't look very Gundam-y here. But the description is right; the shield definitely looks like something taken from Gundam. Why does it look like it's FLOATING in thin air by her left arm?

4) Why does she have to change her sword in every game? What is that sword anyway? It looks like something a Megazord would use in Power Rangers.

5) Why is she trying to look like a vampire with those collars, the black scheme and...what the heck are those long half-glove-things? Spikes? If she tries to fold her arms, would she grate her arms like cheese?

6) They weren't kidding when they said this would be a mish-mash clusterfuck thing. A weird Gothic black (with blue accents?) contrasting with the white, as if they want to keep that valkyrie/Goddess look, but then those reds look weird. The sword and shield look like they're from Gundam or a Toku show, and Lightning's head on top of all that doesn't seem to work for me at all.

7) I would barely be able to move in that, let alone fight with the agility and speed that Lightning is known for. And here I was thinking that her valkyrie getup was cumbersome.

Overall: I think it's a laughable mess. It's a good incentive for the player to give her a new getup though, because this looks awful. And while nothing remarkable, her outfit in the first game is still the best. Sure, her tiny skirt and the cape are a bit silly there for someone in the military, but at least I never nagged or really nitpicked it back in the day. And it's the least cumbersome outfit, so it's at least kind of practical.

 

[AddleBoy]

I think that Lightning is just going through a phase. You see, before she always wore her uniform, and never developed a sense of style. Now, she's trying out a few different styles and now she's in her goth phase.

I'd probably have to see her moving in the costume at all angles before I could make a decision on how I like it.

 

[Tmoo]

I think it matches the look of Novus Partus and the style of clothing we've seen the residents wear. The style she wore in XIII would not fit at all in this setting, and XIII-2 would be redundant considering this is her finale. I'm not fond of the half-skirts and half-capes, I would have preferred they be one cape and one skirt respectively, but that aside she looks fine to me. The chest 'plate' looks to be rubbery-leather-like and not a hard material.

 

[The Master]

Is that SERIOUSLY what she is going to look like?

Listen, if I'm EVER to get this game now, it better be free roam and BILLIONS of sidequests... Or I'm honestly not sold... Her outfit doesn't fit and XIII-3 is starting to look like a joke...

 

[Tyler Breeze]

It's a bit messy, but overall not too bad IMO. It's a visually nice looking clusterfudge of an outfit. Ehh I guess I'll have to wait until I play the game to make full judgment, but for now I like it.

 

[Tmoo]

Is that SERIOUSLY what she is going to look like?

Listen, if I'm EVER to get this game now, it better be free roam and BILLIONS of sidequests... Or I'm honestly not sold... Her outfit doesn't fit and XIII-3 is starting to look like a joke...

This is just one of the outfits she can wear, perhaps the default one. Since LR is said to tie wardrobe into gameplay, there will doubtless be other outfits the player can customize her with, so don't worry too much about the outfit. Knowing this, it seems Nomura let loose a bit in his design.

 

[The Master]

This is just one of the outfits she can wear, perhaps the default one. Since LR is said to tie wardrobe into gameplay, there will doubtless be other outfits the player can customize her with, so don't worry too much about the outfit. Knowing this, it seems Nomura let loose a bit in his design.

I can see that too

It's cool and all but it's very... UN-Lightning if you can see what I mean....

 

[Steve-O]

even after seeing that image, that shild still bugs me, lightnings carrys a spaceship on her arm

 

[AuronX]

Wow...

I have a free night, so after a month of inactivity I finally get to finish up Final Fantasy XIII clocking in right at 60 hours spanning four months, and then I remember it ends so well I don't think I want to bother with XIII-2, since I know how that one ends as well, but I decide I'll get on the forums and see if there's any word on LR, and I find this. (How's that for one, single sentence?)

And I laughed.

I'm sorry, but I did.

The screenshots actually look pretty ok, so I'm not discounting this just yet, but the "look at me being serious in my goofy outfit" pose is just...how shall I say? I don't even know. Obviously this is one of the ways they're trying to demonstrate the stronger Lightning that was promised in September. The new look is bold and dangerous, no doubt, but...well, it hardly seems like Lightning at all. Of course XIII Lightning felt like Lightning, that being her first appearance, but XIII-2 Lightning also felt like Lightning despite the strong differences because the design spoke strongly of a dedicated purpose--and what's more Lightning than that sort of attitude--plus it was a step up in overall beauty, which matched the improvement in Lightning's attitude over the course of XIII. This, though...this doesn't speak of purpose. This just speaks of not knowing what the heck to do. And the attitude is a definite regression.

That being said, since customization is going to be a big deal here, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Still, it doesn't seem like there should be this much motivation to change the default outfit.