LIGHTNING RETURNS: Final Fantasy XIII is the hottest new thing at Square Enix. The game is set to take place many years after the events of XIII-2 where the world is on on the break of death with Lightning having 13 days to save it. This game will conclude the trilogy and put to rest the Lightning saga.
While alpha game play footage was shown, it was unfortunately censored out. Luckily Andriasang was able to recite what was shown:
- The quests or missions seem to have lots of variety. The footage showed Lightning investigating a murder scene and trailing a group of people.
- Lightning will be able to interact with the environment a bit more by grabbing and jumping (Kingdom Hearts style?)
- Customization will play a pivotal role in giving Lightning different attributes and abilities. You can now customize different swords, shields, and costumes which can be switched in battle.
- The ATB guage is back and will feature additional button mapping such as evasion to give the game a more action feel.
- Enemies will have different break gauges that will open more strategies. For example, breaking the fist gauge will allow you to steal from the enemy.
Other things to note is a day/night cycle (a first for a single player FF game) and new monsters that aren’t recycled from XIII or XIII-2. The game will also feature a monorail that will allows players to traverse from one location to the other. Fans should also look forward to a “new” version Lightning that is promised to be more determined and serious. I would imagine Lightning getting very anxious or moody in this chapter. Being stuck in the future with all your friends & family dead and the end of the world looming on the horizon is not something I would take lightly.
The premise also feels very promising, especially the countdown to the end of the world thing. The darkest game I have ever played to date is Majoras Mask just because it made me feel like the world was ending. I may reserve my judgement for this until gameplay footage is shown, but if Lightning Returns is anything like Majoras Mask (maybe even more) then you can bet your biscuits I’ll be waiting for it.
LIGHTNING RETURNS: Final Fantasy XIII is due out 2013.
