Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

[TWOxACROSS]

Lightning Returns, I grow tired of these Sequels, althought I must admit that I am curious about this, nevertheless Square should Give us some new material to try out, I am still waiting for Type-0, and as far as I know there has not been any word on Versus XIII either, How much longer will Square keep us waiting?

You ask for "new material," and here is Square giving you an RPG based around a totally scheduled and living world with doomsday looming on the horizon. I'd say that's pretty new

Type-0 probably isn't coming here, considering the amount of pirating of Square's other PSP games, and the nearly dead PSP market in the West. Plus, the amount of stuff to localize in that game is immense, and probably too costly to bother with trying. They'd be losing a lot of money if they invested in a localization :s

As for versusXIII, it's in development as we speak. They'd rather just keep working on it instead of making demos and videos to show off at conventions. Those things actually take time and money away from the normal development cycle.

[Cor Leonis]

Not like we have an option.

Well, we could easily not purchase their products. Like that will happen, though.

I think Game Grumps put it best when talking about the current state of the Mario franchise. We as consumers should not support a game company's mediocrity. Unfortunately, people will still support them, even if it is the most horrid, piece-of-garbage game ever conceived.

This is a hit at Square Enix in general, not just the sequel-sequel to a mediocre game.

[ultima espio]

Lightning only makes it pretty boring tbh. The other characters could have done with some light.

Lately Square have been pushing Lightning on people in an effort to make more people like her. While I like her, and think she's badass, she's getting a bit tiresome.

Back when Cloud was everywhere, it felt right, like it was natural. It just feels like Lightning is being pushed really hard.

[Khell]

As for versusXIII, it's in development as we speak. They'd rather just keep working on it instead of making demos and videos to show off at conventions. Those things actually take time and money away from the normal development cycle.

Advertisement and marketing usually also come near the end of the development process... Not the middle. The fact that they advertised it so early probably created a huge sense of entitlement in consumers, allowing them to expect progress reports and more information all the time.

That's somewhat off topic though, since this is focused on "XIII-3" and not SE's marketing and developing strategies. :P

Think of it this way: They could just check out mentally and issue you a "new" game with the same gameplay as XIII and XIII-2, which most people would probably just get bought and supported anyway, but they're trying something new. They do deserve some credit for that, in my opinion.

On the other hand, the fact that they're pushing a SECOND sequel definitely means that they kind of left themselves open for this based on how XIII-2 ended. They took a risk when releasing XIII-2, and they're going to reap whatever results come of it.

Yes, this does kind of feel like SE's developed sequelitis syndrome for XIII like they did for VII, but in this case it actually makes sense. The decision to create prequels and supporting games for VII was entirely due to their own desire to flesh out the universe. In this case, a cliffhanger ending kind of forces their hand (which was probably decided long before, of course).

[Farron]

Lightning only makes it pretty boring tbh. The other characters could have done with some light.

Lately Square have been pushing Lightning on people in an effort to make more people like her. While I like her, and think she's badass, she's getting a bit tiresome.

Back when Cloud was everywhere, it felt right, like it was natural. It just feels like Lightning is being pushed really hard.

yeah I can somewhat understand but at the same time it's them pushing this character unto you that you realize whom that person is. If they did little like Zack Fair people would be..you know?

---------- Post added at 07:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:17 PM ----------

Wait, can you illustrate to me, what exactly they lied about.

I think because of the leak of information only on like the other guy said, she got the impressions that after some years of waiting versus would probally be out, imo i'm guessing it might be out in 2018 or they'll just up and quit considering how much time and development their consuming on this project just like capcom and *cough* megaman.

[kewldude475]

yeah I can somewhat understand but at the same time it's them pushing this character unto you that you realize whom that person is. If they did little like Zack Fair people would be..you know?

---------- Post added at 07:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:17 PM ----------



I think because of the leak of information only on like the other guy said, she got the impressions that after some years of waiting versus would probally be out, imo i'm guessing it might be out in 2018 or they'll just up and quit considering how much time and development their consuming on this project just like capcom and *cough* megaman.

So basically, someone falsely assumed something, and that means SE lied.

Herp a derp.

[ultima espio]

I'd imagine there'd be some story involving the others somewhere, they can't just leave Noel, Hope, Snow and Sazh out. There's bound to be some story of them working hard to get rid of the Chaos.

[TWOxACROSS]

Well, it's supposed to take place like several hundred years after XIII-2's ending.

Spoiler:

From what I'd imagine, the setting is somewhere in the realm of Chaos, the same place as Valhalla (you can even see it in the background). It sorta seems like what happened at the end of XIII-2, where the world, and the second Cocoon Bhunivelze, were engulfed by Chaos, but it seems like whoever may have survived(?) established a civilization within the realm Chaos, and Lightning appears later on in that civilization's history, where everything is about end.

[Blaze]

Wasn't the ending supposed to be dlc. I thought there was a debate about it on the last thread and it ended with the story ending as dlc

[TWOxACROSS]

I think that was all an assumption on our part, actually :x

---------- Post added 09-05-2012 at 01:36 PM ---------- Previous post was 09-04-2012 at 02:39 PM ----------

The oil painting that was teased at in the announcement videos seems to have been released.

Spoiler:

I like how they positioned her so that they didn't put too much focus on what she's wearing. Although she's got a some somewhat armored boots, and a sleeveless duster. Fairly nondescript there. Good to see she's still got her gunblades

---------- Post added at 01:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 PM ----------

Also, here's some of the basic information of the game from Andriasang (that rhymed!)

Spoiler:

• The game is currently 30% complete
• This will be Lightning's last game and will end with a happy ending. The game has just one ending.
• The first FFXIII was story driven, meaning that the story pulled the player along. FFXIII-2 was player driven, meaning players selected the story. Lightning Returns is World Driven, meaning players have to consider how they interact with the changing world.
• The game's in-game time works out to one day being the equivalent of one to two hours of real time. There will be increases and decreases in time.
• The game is meant to be played and cleared multiple times. The volume is not such that it will take many tens of hours to clear once.
• People from XIII-2 haven't died. Because of the effects of the chaos (I'm not sure if this is the proper English word), people have stopped aging and don't get old.
• The Novus world has four continents, two natural and two city-type.
• Depending on your actions, the remaining life of the world could decrease, and the game could end before the 13 day limit.
• There are some times when helping someone will decrease the life of the world.
• Defeating some enemies and clearing some quests will increase the life of the world.
• Lightning is all by herself in battle, allowing you to concentrate more than when you had to control a party.
• Lightning has become a considerably more refined person.
• You can freely move around during battle. Some elements of the battle system are timing-based.
• The battle system is close to action. There's an ATB gauge.
• During battle, you don't select menu commands. Instead, you select abilities which have been assigned to buttons.
• Hope will give guidance to Lightning via wireless com.
• The city has clocks everywhere showing the constant progression of time.

Sounds A LOT closer to combat a la Parasite Eve 1, which I'm totally fine with, but it also explains why this isn't called "XIII-3," it's such a departure gameplay-wise from the first two. Makes sense.

--------

Oh sweet, also looks like they'll be implementing the Overclock that was featured in the original XIII trailer. It'll slow time and stuff, but it will also cost time, taking away from the thirteen days till armageddon.

http://andriasang.com/con2jo/lightni...o_impressions/