Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

Okay so nobody else made the thread and I got the honor I'm gonna cut and paste from the updates of various people in the XIII-2 thread and the 25th Anniversary event thing thread:

Prince Lex said:

(...)Sorry, I should have included this link to the blog it all came from. Someone watched it and translated what was happening.

EDIT: Posting these here too because relevant:

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Hito makes a good point on the name:

Claudia Wolf said:

the logo is "lightning returns: final fantasy xiii", and they took that direction (reversing the order of the title) with the compilation of ffvii (dirge of cerberus/crisis core/before crisis: final fantasy vii)? i don't see why it would change

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So guess it's not strange to refer to it as just "Lightning Returns". Which is so strange when I was so sure the title would be XIII-3. Anyway that makes me think there might actually be a XIII-3. ahaha


This image I found on this unofficial FB page:



Think that's just concept art, but still. (Edit: It's from here, it's a painting?) She shows up in more of the concept art which can be seen on that Facebook page.

A trailer was screened on the event, but filming and photos was prohibited. Sure someone did film it, we'll just have to wait and see Though I guess it's worth waiting for the quality one from SE.

I'll copy here what I said before, because of relevance reasons


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Isn't it lovely how they avoided calling it FFXIII-3? Anyway, two quick comments.

The Facebook thing scares me. I don't want it to become too much of a social game. Everyone thinks it's the way to go, but I think it's hideous. If I want a multiplayer game, I'll buy a multiplayer game. If I buy a Final Fantasy game, I want to play it on my own, not necessarily sharing stuff with the whole world. Next thing you know, you'll be forced to use Facebook in order to achieve stuff within the game.

And while I know a lot of peple like Majora's Mask, the time concept is something I'm not fond of. Yeah, for sure, the concept is cool and all that, but it gives a feeling of rush that I don't like (I suppose it's exactly that feeling they're aiming for. After all, they say the "rush feeling" is the reason why the original FFXIII was only about moving forward, and this feeling was lost on FFXIII-2, so I guess they're trying to replicate the feeling of rush while giving the player the chance to explore).

I mean, I like taking it easy, and calmly exploring places, and if they're so well designed as they say they are, I like to take a good look at it, etc. I don't want to be thinking of the time... all the time.

It's basically a point of "While I'm playing the game, I'm 'wasting' my real time, and at the same time I have to worry about wasting the in-game time! Yo dawg, I herd you liek wasting time so I put time in yo game so you can waste time while you waste time" Right?

I know I'm just being sceptical. Don't get me wrong, I get the feeling I'll enjoy this, they seem to have put a lot of thought on the game and everything, but I'm worried the time thing will be too unmanageable, OR repetitive (ie being able to go back in time, but days happening in the same exact way).

One cool way to implement time, however (I don't know if they're doing it like that, but I get the concept from Apocalypse Clock) is, instead of saying "World will end on the 13th day", they were to say "World will end in 13 days", therefore allowing you to do stuff to "delay" that end. Sounds reasonable? Plausible even?

I don't know, I just didn't like the way Majora's Mask implemented time, although I confess I haven't played it too much. Again, I guess we'll see.
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Also, that artwork Fangu posted, her clothes remind me of Fang? (Random stuff. In my language, "Fang" means "Mud" )

If you look closely, this guy kinda resembles Noel:



Serah?



I really hope some of the characters will return. Don't get me wrong, I like Lightning and all, but I hope everyone will get to appear in the game in some shape or form, with at least one of them being playable alongside Lightning (preferably).

Maybe there'll be more details shared at TGS? *fingers crossed*

^ I sure hope so!

Also, as far as the name goes. Why should it be strange? I mean, there was "Batman Returns", so why not "Lightning Returns"?

Good articles on the gameplay that was shown:

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII sees a new spin on an old engine (Gamespot)

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII stage event demo impressions

That cloak does look a bit like Fangs, indeed. Also mud, lol
I wont even get into my hopes and wishes for this game regarding other characters... I'm gonna wait and see, but obv I would like some Fang.

concept art looks like Gravity Rush

I'm happy that the focus is finally on Lightning (because let's be real, although she was supposed to be the main character in XIII there was kinda a lot of other stuff going on) and she was barely in XIII-2.

I'm also pleasantly surprised that they don't seem to be sticking to the formula of either of the previous two games. Having liked them, I wouldn't have minded if that was the case but it seems that this isn't just going to be a cash grab. Good thing IMO.

I like almost everything I've heard about it so far, but I'm not so sure how it's all going to work. I suppose time will tell? I'm worrying that it's going to be just Lightning, it seems they're going in that direction. I like that it's about her but I won't like it if they gloss over Fang and Vanille like they did in XIII-2. For two characters who played maybe the most important role in the plot of the original game to be slightly ignored would annoy me. I don't want a 2 minute cutscene with them in it, I want all of the characters to return in an important way, preferably controllable.

I'm terrible at wasting time in RPGs, to the point I let people die in DeusEx because I wasted so much time talking to people, so I know how you feel. But if the game will let us reset time it will allow for more exploration. It'll be interesting to see it play it out, especially since time is actually used as a resource during this game.

I'm interested in the way this game will play out, open world, more customization, and the art suggests it will be less recycled. A part of me was wondering if Lightning would go solo since the last dlc since it seemed like a lot of effort to create the XIII system with just one character, but I really wanted the entire party back. It only seems right if it's the last game. Also XIII has my favorite battle system and it's sad to see it go.

I'm more cautious about the story. The game ends with reality pretty much being destroyed and then Lightning wakes up much later... and the world is being destroyed again? I'm not sure how that works, and why there are people still around. I'm going to guess that either this is a warped vision of the world which could make sense, or Hope's Cocoon managed to actually make a difference. And wondering if any of the gods will make an appearance and Lightning will have to go punch some bitches.

And I want my fucking party. I want to see Sazh, and Hope, and Noel, and even Snow, and even though I have issues with Fang and Vanille coming back to life because I thought their sacrifice into a lesbian crystal paradise was moving, I would like them to somehow have a bigger role.

I just don't know how the story is going to flow into the next one comfortably. But I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Just finished watching that 3rd video. I want that Cocoon globe.

Splintered said:

And wondering if any of the gods will make an appearance and Lightning will have to go punch some bitches.

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Splintered said:

their sacrifice into a lesbian crystal

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I love you

Captain Highwind said:

Just finished watching that 3rd video. I want that Cocoon globe.

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Those were my thoughts exactly!!

"Solo Lightning, set in a completely different world, new world, new characters ... so yeah basically it's Lightning but not related to the original FFXIII at all really. Yeeah. Solo Lightning I might have been able to live with even if all of the old gang were back and with prominent roles in the story and the world but wow talk about an interest plummet

Talk about crapping over the rest of the cast, their voice actors and the true heroines of the original game Fang and Vanille " - Me

As you can see I was completely devastated last night, it felt like I had my heart ripped out and the rug pulled out from under me. I was like Square Enix whhhhhhy, this hurt. Not being completely serious here, really dramatic I know but I actually kind of felt some physical pain over this! After some sleep and rest I'm kind of feeling better some about the new game and am hoping the other characters might at least appear in some alternate world forms. After I'd calmed down some I remembered an article or something that said some of the new characters would seem strangely familar and that a while back Fang/Vanille's VA hinted at doing some new voice work for the FFXIII verse. I would still prefer if they were playable and weren't being glossed over so much though!

If the old characters do appear in new forms and have a significant role in the story and the story is kind of about Lightning returning them back to who they really are and where they are really belong/Lightning fixing this whole mess I might be interested. Hopefully any alt universe versions of the characters would get to be guest fighters as well!

If they are just cameos/glossed over/Lightning fights alone at all times

Has it been confirmed that this is an AU game?

Wait, what?

During the presentation (watched ALL of it) they said this is Lightning's final battle. I SHOULD NOT be AU, but actually a sequel.

Well this is what I was thinking too. But Maidenofwar isn't the first person I've seen on the web saying it's not going to be directly related to XIII and XIII-2. I find it hard to believe it won't be.

The way I 'read' the videos, were like 'the last time we saw lightning, she had slept in crystal for several hundred years... blah blah... now she's prepared to yet again' etc.

The way they set up the last DLC of XIII-2 resembles a lot the way they've described the game so far. To me, it make sense that they used that DLC to experiment their way of how single player Lightning would be in a game. Of course this is just me thinking out loud. But for the story to not be related to XIII and XIII-2, that just makes no sense to me.

I mean, even the title, 'Lightning Returns', suggests she's returning to something, meaning there has to have been that something in the first place.

I hear it's a direct sequel too. Also I would be mad as hell if they didn't add on the story- making me wait more years to resolve the to be continued...

. To me, it make sense that they used that DLC to experiment their way of how single player Lightning would be in a game.

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Yeah,I keep wondering if there are going to incorporate that style or just scrap it entirely, but I see Lightning having different roles that sound similar to the dlc, but the entire dying->reviving->getting stronger could be used as a foundation for the actual game, where it probably would require dying a few times to get strong enough to do things eitherway.

This actually sounds rather cool. I hope Lightning's final story lives up to its hype. I was expecting to wait another 102932u40293 billion years to see the next game.

Well ...

The game
Here's a couple of articles (spoilers?) -

http://www.1up.com/previews/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii-first-looks

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/09/01/lightning-returns-final-fantasy-xiii-announced

I don't know if this confirms AU or what but for sure it looks/seems like the world has changed beyond all recognision from before, no longer the old/loved/familar FFXIII. It is early days yet though so I still have at least some hope left.

Well of course the world is going to be different though. The entire planet of Pulse and Cocoon/New Cocoon was sucked into oblivion at the end of XIII-2?

I'm pretty sure this new world is the crazy product of where it all "went".

It might be akin to something Serendipity, a world outside of the world, some of the concept art for some reason reminds me of that place. Or the Coliseum. But if that's the case why would Lightning be worried about saving the world considering the world has already gone under.

Unless there's a new extreme of everything is destroyed and all your favorite characters are dead that this game can achieve after XIII-2.

Yeah I think Lex is right!

Moar stuffs!

http://www.the-magicbox.com/1208/game120831d.shtml




I feel a lot better. For some reason I thought they were done with all the mythos, etc, Etro, the other gods/goddesses, Chaos, etc but apparently not Yeah it's more like FFXIII worlds within FFXIII worlds Or kind of outside as Splintered put it, FFXIII worlds outside FFXIII worlds but also insides!

I'll say that I'm not happy with only Lightning being playable. Yeah. I said it. I mean I like Lightning as much as the next person, but uhm, sounds odd.

The story will have to be related, but to be honest, if they change it as much as they changed it from FFXIII to FFXIII-2, I'll be disappointed, as it'll be showing they have no sense of direction and they just ramble. Actually, even if there's an explanation for them using "Novus Partus" here, it will sound silly, and it's just an excuse for them to have cities.

It's almost as if they went:

Climatic ending to FFXIII-2? Check.
Creating excuse so that the climatic ending doesn't matter because we'll have an "entirely normal" city in the next game? Check.

I was expecting to see something terrible in the sequel to FFXIII-2, like a devastated world, or even something like an "alive Valhalla" after it sucked the whole of Pulse. Hell, if they wanted to play with time, they could have made it so that Valhalla had all sorts of eras intertwined because it sucked all time and space out of Pulse.

But no, they had to create a new world that, as cool as it may look like, will feel so not connected to the other two games.

What was cool about the first two games is that they felt connected even if FFXIII-2 was a step forward into a very different direction from the original. Try re-visiting the familiar locations in FFXIII, after playing FFXIII-2!!

Now I'm the one who's rambling and has lost all sense of direction in the point I was trying to make.

And to finish on a great note, I'll state the name "Novus Partus" sounds silly. It's "New Part". *Claps hands* good job, Square. Honestly, they need to fire the person in charge of names.

I have no idea what's going on here but it looks awesome.

Also I love FF concept art. It's always gorgeous.

Cloche Leythal Pastalia said:

What was cool about the first two games is that they felt connected even if FFXIII-2 was a step forward into a very different direction from the original. Try re-visiting the familiar locations in FFXIII, after playing FFXIII-2!!

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I know what you're saying, but the thing is - they already did that; the recognizing part. If they just make a new game out of stuff we've already seen, it'll be like the first Super Mario Bros 2, the one that never got out of Japan because it looked exactly like the first game, it just had new levels. They need to progress, somehow. Make something new and interesting. For me, XIII-2 was very different from XIII, and I hope Lightning Returns (OMG it's happening!! sorry, fan squee) will be different as well.

Sorry for being overly optimistic here

And to finish on a great note, I'll state the name "Novus Partus" sounds silly. It's "New Part". *Claps hands* good job, Square. Honestly, they need to fire the person in charge of names.

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Well, the games are made primarily for a Japanese speaking audience, secondarily for the English speakers. This is not the first time they fiddle with other languages - a lot of the time they use weird combination of words, like German, to create names. I mean, "Estheim", a combination of Latin and German, is it? It's meant to sound exotic to the Japanese and English speaking audience.

The funniest example of SE being exotic in their name giving is when they chose a French name they couldn't use in the English version because apparently it reminds the English speaking audience of a pastry...

Éclaire. Those are delicious.