A couple of months ago Square Enix announced plans for a third instalment in the Nova Crystallis series with Final Fantasy: Lightning Returns XIII.
Since then a few trailers and screenshots have been released but we still have no concrete release date or many details on the up and coming RPG/adventure title, so lets run down what we know about the game.
Firstly and most noticeably Lighting will be the only playable character in the game. Hope Estheim will help her by giving her guidance over her mobile but unlike the previous titles in the series you’ll have no support in battles. Although it has been confirmed that Snow will indeed make an appearance and you’ll be able customise Lightning’s costumes far more than in previous games.
The game features the same battle system but because you can only control Lightning the battle system has been adapted to give you more freedom. Lighting can be moved around freely in battles and unlike in the previous installments where you had to to queue up attacks you can select abilities and map them to specific buttons on the controller.
The second major change to the series is that in Lightning Returns Lightning will have to save the world over a set number of 13 days. Each action that Lightning takes will have an effect on the time flow. Some actions will add days or slow time where as others can speed up time. It is even possible to complete the game before the 13 day deadline or extend the 13 days depending on your actions taken throughout. However details on this haven’t been revealed.
No details as to how long each in game day will last but it has been revealed that days will be split into morning, afternoon, evening and night. Unlike Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 where the storyline was pretty narrow and streamlined; Lightning Returns will be “World Driven” meaning every action has a reaction. Something we’re excited to see more of. However don’t worry about running out of time as clocks have been placed all over the game world to remind you just how much time is left.
Speaking in an interview director Motomu Toriyama said that it will not be possible to see every cutscene or in-game event from a single playthrough. Thus encouraging multiple playthroughs in order to see everything. Final Fantasy XIII-2 had something similar but separate playthroughs were not necessary to see everything.
We have no exact confirmed release dates as of yet, some sources previously believed the title was originally coming in March, but it has been confirmed for a Q3 2013 release.
Check out some of the trailers and screenshots below for a look at the game in action: