The story of Final Fantasy XIII has been a strange one. It started as a standalone game that was met with mixed reception, leading to a sequel last year (Final Fantasy XIII-2) that fixed many of the gameplay issues while turning the game’s backstory even further on its head – complete with a cliffhanger ending that left everything an even bigger mess than before. Now the final game in the saga, Lightning Returns, shakes things up even more dramatically by shifting genre gears, doing a complete 180 from the original FFXIII’s ultra-linear JRPG trappings into a free-roaming, sandbox-style adventure.
Things got quite hairy in the end of FFXIII-2: the chaos that controls the flow of time was severely disrupted, and the end result is a world where certain time concepts, like aging, don’t work quite how they’re supposed to. Nevertheless, the people have somehow adjusted to the bizarre new flow of continuity, even building new cities and outposts. But even this fragile existence isn’t going to last: all of existence is set to go kablooey within the next thirteen days. It’s up to our titular heroine to dive into the mysteries of the reformed world and attempt to finally set things right – but the way in which she will do that, as well as whether or not she succeeds – is in the hands of you, the player.
Square-Enix invited us to take a look at a very early build of Lightning Returns. While it was obvious that there were still some visual optimizations that needed to be done before its planned autumn 2013 release, we got a very good idea of the feel and flow of the game from our time with it.
Lightning is more than just the title character here – unlike the previous two games, she’s the only playable character. The freedom of movement she has is unlike any other Final Fantasy to date: we saw her running, jumping, climbing, and interacting with the structures and denizens of the new mega-city Luxerion in a manner more akin to a modern 3D action game. Luxerion has the vibe of a living, breathing city, which shows itself as in-game time passes: NPC characters have routines and schedules, and you’ll see them engaging in different activities at varying times of day. Shops and restaurants litter the streets, selling skills, clothing, and HP-restoring meals for Lightning. Townsfolk will potentially give information and side-quests when engaged – that is, when they’re not running from the monsters that seem to be stumbling into the city as of late.
Though control is more free-form, the combat is still grounded in Final Fantasy tradition. When enemies are engaged, combat will shift to a separate, enclosed arena. Here, you take direct control of Lightning, moving her around the arena, dodging and guarding as necessary and pressing the face buttons on the controller to execute various attacks you’ve assigned to her. Lightning can have up to three separate player-created arrays of attacks assigned to her, each with its own Active Time Battle bar, and can swap amongst them at any time during the fight. You’ll need to carefully manage these attack arrays, as when one bar runs out of ATB points, you’ll have to wait for it to refill before you can use any of its skills. It feels like an action-oriented evolution of FFXIII’s already fast-paced combat engine, though the focus is now less on staggering enemies and more on the traditional RPG conceit of exploiting elemental weaknesses.
Customization and playing through the game as you see fit is a central theme of Lightning Returns. The idea of a timed, open-world setting may remind some of titles like Dead Rising, and that’s not an entirely ludicrous comparison – you have thirteen in-game days to spend however you see fit, side-questing and going where you please while keeping in mind the ever-ticking clock. (Thankfully, it’s not a real-time clock, so don’t worry about taking two weeks off of work.) But the customization extends to Lightning herself: besides creating skill arrays with the techniques you’ve bought or earned (no more Crystarium, it seems), you can actually play dress-up by changing her clothes/armor, weapon, and shield. Each of these grants different effects and benefits, which can be used to complement certain skillset choices, but you can give each of Lightning’s crazy-stylish outfits (this is Final Fantasy) a distinct personal touch by crafting your own color schemes.
The demo we were shown served as a mere teaser for bigger reveals to follow – brief glimpses of footage showed Lightning battling FFXIII-2 co-protagonist Noel and unveiled a ruin-filled desert environment, amongst many other small teases. Rest assured that we’ll be hearing more about the final Final Fantasy XIII fantasy in the days to come. Hopefully before chaos swallows everything.
PUBLISHER: Square Enix • DEVELOPER: Square Enix • MULTIPLAYER: None • RELEASES: Fall 2013 • FOR FANS OF: Sandbox games, lone wolves, Dead Rising
