Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII DEMO - OUT NOW* -

Impressions time!

Finally, I got a chance to test the new battle system. It's hectic, but quite good, and encourages a lot of experimentation, mixing/matching, and cycling between the three presets. Biggest complaint: the new Stagger system isn't as good. I thought there wasn't one at first until I staggered a mob. Took me a while to realize there is still a gauge for it - it's those little wavelength-like patterns you see behind an enemy HP bar when you attack.

Outerworld is annoying, but I'm a sucker for free stuff from demos (and have throwaway accounts besides), so it doesn't bother me much. I hope it doesn't ever become an integral part of gameplay, though. It needs to remain a nice little harmless, meaningless thing you can do on the side.

So, wait, Hope has somehow gone back to his 14-year-old form? That's...strange.
And more than a little suspicious.

Amazing CG cutscenes as always. Square's right up there with Blizzard, in that no matter what other aspects of their big games turn to crap, you can always at least count on some excellent cinematics.

A short but sweet demo, overall. Very curious to see where things go from here. Now to 5-star the boss...
 
Demo is fun.

But it looks as unpolished as XIII-2.
 
The new battle system is pretty cool. I liked the schema changing. Lightning walks way too slow though, I was hoping for some more speed. The demo was too short for me to form an opinion on the story though. Overall I had a pretty good time, so I'm looking forward to release.
 
I just found out that in order to get the Siegfried Garb since a few people asked how to get it is that you need to enable Outerworld Services which can be found in Settings and then submit your score.

That is all you need to do. You do not need to link your Facebook or Twitter account.

Also another thing is if you have Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 saves, you will unlock Lightning costumes from these games.

Once you get the full complete game. You can retrieve them from Reward Menu.
 
Mitochondrion said:
I just found out that in order to get the Siegfried Garb since a few people asked how to get it is that you need to enable Outerworld Services which can be found in Settings and then submit your score.

That is all you need to do. You do not need to link your Facebook or Twitter account..
Click to expand...
Do you receive a notification that you unlocked a costume?
 
Dragmire666 said:
if you guys buy this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804162867/?tag=neogaf0e-20

you get this
lightning_returns_final_fantasy_13_art_of_war_1.jpg
Click to expand...
Sooo the samurai outfit on the PS3 demo, but red? Is that the only difference or do the stats actually differ as well?
 
I have a quick question and I apologize if it has been brought up in the thread already.

Are there any sorts of bonuses for having save data from XIII and XIII-2 in Lightning Returns?

I played XIII and XIII-2 on my 360 but finally got a PS3 the past holiday with the Persona 5 announcement. I was looking to play this on PS3 because the past 2 titles have apparently run better on PS3 and I'd rather not pay for online to access social features in game. However, if there are any cool/worthy save bonuses, I'll heavily consider finishing the trilogy on 360.

Anyone have any insight into this?
 
Tirod said:
I have a quick question and I apologize if it has been brought up in the thread already.

Are there any sorts of bonuses for having save data from XIII and XIII-2 in Lightning Returns?

I played XIII and XIII-2 on my 360 but finally got a PS3 the past holiday with the Persona 5 announcement. I was looking to play this on PS3 because the past 2 titles have apparently run better on PS3 and I'd rather not pay for online to access social features in game. However, if there are any cool/worthy save bonuses, I'll heavily consider finishing the trilogy on 360.

Anyone have any insight into this?
Click to expand...

Mitochondrion said:
I just found out that in order to get the Siegfried Garb since a few people asked how to get it is that you need to enable Outerworld Services which can be found in Settings and then submit your score.

That is all you need to do. You do not need to link your Facebook or Twitter account.

Also another thing is if you have Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 saves, you will unlock Lightning costumes from these games.

Once you get the full complete game. You can retrieve them from Reward Menu.
Click to expand...
.
 
Just finished the demo, and it went from a maybe purchase before, to "definitely at $30 or $40 and maybe even $60" although Donkey Kong and Bravely Default are already on my purchases list for Feb.
 
That opening cutscene is possibly the most visually stunning thing I've seen in gaming.

I really enjoyed the demo as well. I'm a massive Final Fantasy nooblet but I liked what I saw.
 
Does the ATB recharge after each battle?
Does every set have it's own ATB during battle?
Do each set recharge even when you are using a different one?


There are like 5 bars in battle & all of the recharging at once & stuff, so confusing. I just kept using one attack & it got me through the demo.
 
See You Next Wednesday said:
Does the ATB recharge after each battle?
Does every set have it's own ATB during battle?
Do each set recharge even when you are using a different one?


There are like 5 bars in battle & all of the recharging at once & stuff, so confusing. I just kept using one attack & it got me through the demo.
Click to expand...
It seems like 'yes' to all from what I played of the demo.
 
See You Next Wednesday said:
Does the ATB recharge after each battle?
Does every set have it's own ATB during battle?
Do each set recharge even when you are using a different one?


There are like 5 bars in battle & all of the recharging at once & stuff, so confusing. I just kept using one attack & it got me through the demo.
Click to expand...

Did you not read what was happening?

Or even attempt to experiment?
 
Does ATB for a schema charge faster when it's not your currently equipped one? I tried to test it, it seems to recharge faster but I'm not sure.
 
Heavy's Sandvich said:
That opening cutscene is possibly the most visually stunning thing I've seen in gaming.

I really enjoyed the demo as well. I'm a massive Final Fantasy nooblet but I liked what I saw.
Click to expand...

Final Fantasy 13 Chapter 12. That racing cutscene is amazing.

Sooo what happened to all the snap shots I took? I activated the online thing but didn't link my twitter account until after I beat the demo
 
I don't know why, but linking my Twitter account to a Final Fantasy game felt....weird. Oh well, my boss fight stats is now up.

Oooohhhhh right, there was that character that looks like Serah, but...isn't...& is more annoying. I just know I feel rather lost even with playing & beating both 13 & 13-2.

The battle system is....interesting. It seems weird the stagger meter is gone, which is now replayed by....I THINK that wavelength behind an enemy's health bar? Not sure why they got rid of the easier way to tell how close you were to staggering an enemy. I also find the idea of the different clothing or "schema" intriguing as well, considering each have their own set of moves & abilities and having to switch between them in order to keep the flow of attacks going, and it makes me more interested in each outfit, especially the cameo based ones. & you no longer heal after each battle, which'll take some time to get used to. Wonder why they changed that. Though why in the world do I have a freakin' stamina bar outside of battle just to run.

I feel kind of conflicted. I feel like there's some potential here, but....I'm not fully convinced either to get it day one with the pre-order bonuses. I think I'm gonna wait until it's $30 or so. & damn if the demo wasn't short, especially compared to 13-2.
 
BrokenIcarus said:
Yeah. i'm wondering too, the demo wasn't really indicative of any strategic use.
It was mostly spamming a few attack without using the analog sticks at all.
Click to expand...

Seems no one is answering, so I guess the response it: Absolutely nothing. Button mash away like you did smashing "auto battle" in FF13/13-2.
 
TheSeks said:
Seems no one is answering, so I guess the response it: Absolutely nothing. Button mash away like you did smashing "auto battle" in FF13/13-2.
Click to expand...
I've noticed that if you keep backing away from the dragon thing, it's fire breath attack misses completely. Though I suppose its easier to just block and take a tiny bit of damage.
 
I hate real-time battle systems in JRPGs. I basically wrote this game off because of it. Being open-minded enough to at least try everything to make sure, I downloaded the demo.

Just when I thought Square-Enix couldn't be any dumber, they go and do something like this... And totally redeem themselves!

The combat was fun and engaging. I paid off a copy today.
 
Is there a lot of areas in the game? I saw in the end trailer a desert, forest and iceland type zones? I'm guessing just one town. Also, does time stop in town and in menus?
 
TheSeks said:
Seems no one is answering, so I guess the response it: Absolutely nothing. Button mash away like you did smashing "auto battle" in FF13/13-2.
Click to expand...

If the demo is indicative about the rest of the game it's not really about character movement and it's certainly not about button mashing. Just go back a page and look at the dude's 17 second kill of the demo boss. You really think he did that with button mashing? Assuming other bosses are like the one in the demo it gives you a lot of opportunity to think strategically about what attacks to use and the timing on using them.

Of course you don't have to do that, but, it's completely your fault if you choose to button mash. It's funny you mention 13 and 13-2 though since those games had the same concept of either going slowly through a battle by spamming auto battle or using manual input + repeat commands to do battles much faster and more efficiently (and in those games be rewarded with a better chance of obtaining items, though no clue if they translated that concept into LR somehow).
 
Odd, tiny aspect that sold me on the game: Ladders.

I always expect the feel of movement in games like this (and to be honest, most Japanese games period as of late) to be stilted and awkward. Running around in this demo, trying to jump in areas where I'm clearly not supposed to go and finding it's not a straight vertical invisible wall and instead an invisible slope that at least gives you the illusion of being able to moves slightly out-of-bounds, all this felt surprisingly great. It didn't feel like just running on the x-axis of sharp-edged boxed corridors.

But then I approached the first ladder. Even in western games ladders tend to be clunky and weird. But here, you just swoop up it, do a little flip and move on without feeling like you've broken the 'flow' of moment in the slightest. So good. And yeah, the battle system is fun as hell and all, but man, that ladder.
 
I really enjoyed the new battle system - made me think of an evolved Crisis Core, which I'm a big fan of. I like the pacing of it and feeling of diverse and effective moveset for the most part. I can see how it would go places.

However the plot setting, characters, just don't care. I can't convince myself to buy this until the price is lower like I did with XIII-2 (glad I did, wish I did with XIII). If it were an original IP, or just an independent Final Fantasy, sure.. but I'm really not interested in Lightning and Friends® round three.

And can we step away from Nomura? I never missed Amano so much.
 
crush said:
I don't understand why Square thinks I would want to share the fact that I'm playing Lightning Returns with anyone I know.
Click to expand...

Honestly it's a pretty smart marketing move. Dangle free DLC over players heads if they help market their game.

Edit:
DownLikeBCPowder said:
I really enjoyed the new battle system - made me think of an evolved Crisis Core, which I'm a big fan of. I like the pacing of it and feeling of diverse and effective moveset for the most part. I can see how it would go places.

However the plot setting, characters, just don't care. I can't convince myself to buy this until the price is lower like I did with XIII-2 (glad I did, wish I did with XIII). If it were an original IP, or just an independent Final Fantasy, sure.. but I'm really not interested in Lightning and Friends® round three.

And can we step away from Nomura? I never missed Amano so much.
Click to expand...

What does Nomura have to do with the bolded?
 
ZenaxPure said:
Of course you don't have to do that, but, it's completely your fault if you choose to button mash. It's funny you mention 13 and 13-2 though since those games had the same concept of either going slowly through a battle by spamming auto battle or using manual input + repeat commands to do battles much faster and more efficiently (and in those games be rewarded with a better chance of obtaining items, though no clue if they translated that concept into LR somehow).
Click to expand...

And yet, outside of Hunts I was able to get 5-stars easily dive-bombing my HP to suicidial levels in FF13/13-2, your point?

You can dress a pig up to be an action game, but it's still a pig underneath the action-game clothes. So, I ask: What is the point of movement for Lighting in combat? From what I see, the "auto-battle" mindset of the previous two 13 titles still holds here. So I don't get why they changed the entire combat system when they could've just continued to use that ATB system and let people smash X for 12 hours.

ZenaxPure said:
If the demo is indicative about the rest of the game it's not really about character movement and it's certainly not about button mashing. Just go back a page and look at the dude's 17 second kill of the demo boss. You really think he did that with button mashing? Assuming other bosses are like the one in the demo it gives you a lot of opportunity to think strategically about what attacks to use and the timing on using them.
Click to expand...

So, the only thing is faster kill-times from doing non-button mashing/auto-battle-lite. Okay.

Because:

Bel1bR9CUAE0mFS.jpg


2 mins and 28 seconds of smashing "deprotect"->Blizzard, Blizzard, Thundara->Mediguard if being attacked to absorb some of the damage->Go back to Deprotect redebuff->Blizzard, Blizzard, Thundara... Button smashing between three outfits still gave me 5 stars. So... what is the point?
 
Toth said:
There's a couple of towns in the Wildlands and one in the Dunes, aren't there? Not huge places of course but still considered settlements.
Click to expand...

I don't think I would classify those as towns. They are just small areas you can walk in and out of.
 
DownLikeBCPowder said:
Thought the comment might have been given context with reference to Amano.. I'm sick of his style.
Click to expand...

Oh. That's fine.

Personally I feel there's a pretty good balance at SE between his style, Yoshida's style and Amanos style.

I - V: Amano
VI: Amano and Nomura
VII & VIII: Nomura
IX: Minaba
X: Nomura
XI: Nomura, Yoshida, Mihara
XII: Yoshida
XIII: Nomura
XIV: Yoshida
XV: Nomura
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Karma: The Dark World Demo Out Now
7
641
DirtyBast8rd replied
Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series has sold over 5M copies | Final Fantasy franchise sales now at 200M copies sold
Sales-Age 
32
2K
Paltheos replied
  • Locked
The demo for The First Berserker: Khazan is out now
1
315
CyberCali replied
DEMO: The Precinct out on Steam now!
30
2K
StueyDuck replied
Star Overdrive (Switch/PC Exclusive) Demo out now | Releases April 10th, 2025
13
1K
Blank Space Invader replied
Top Bottom