Square Enix Developers Explain Lightning’s New Look

Some fans voiced their concern over Lightning's new look in Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy VIII. The developers explain why Lightning looks the way she does, as well as getting into some more details on the story.

[Kratoscar2008]

LR: FFVIII?

Please dont even joke to taint FFVIII legacy with Lightning garbage.

@j-blaze
I dont like Lightning so whatever she wears i dont for the life of me care.

[Kevin ButIer]

u sir made my day. bubbles for u

[Kratoscar2008]

I loved FF8 and its very hard to find people that love it we indeed are a rare breed.

[Myst]

Yeah the people who seem to love FF8 are few and far between I rather enjoyed it and would love to go through it once more.

[Blastoise]

The whole game reminds me of an assassins creed RPG, with a Final fantasy title

[DragonKnight]

I would rather they explain why this game takes precedence over Versus XIII when no one asked for that.

[yaz288]

versus seem to be a hack and slash game .. so why is it that the ff fans are so exited about it? (since it doesn't look like a traditional ff rpg )

[DragonKnight]

It's quite simple. The combat may be very Kingdom Hearts like, but everything else about it seems very Final Fantasy. MUCH more than the FFXIII Trilogy. Plus, it's a spin-off so that gives it some leeway to try out new things without people expecting it to be attached to the main series. It's not like a sequel or a reboot that's trying to cash-in on the name. People see Versus XIII and they actually see Final Fantasy. People look at 13-3 and... well they don't.

[DragonKnight]

Gee, an open world, airships, towns to visit, people to talk to, staples like chocobos and Cid, yeah that's not at ALL like Final Fantasy. But a linear corridor, time travel, and auto-battle is soooooo Final Fantasy. /s

AdmiralSnake, seriously you need to stop and really take a look at Final Fantasy. Completely, in-depth. Frickin' emulate the games if you have to but really play them. Final Fantasy XIII and its two sequels are not Final Fantasy. Versus XIII may have Kingdom Hearts combat but it seems to be what FFVII would be like if it were created this gen instead of during the PS1 era. FF Versus XIII has the same visual feel to it that FFVII does, in FFVII you have submarine fights and motorcycle fights, Versus XIII has so much about it that's like Final Fantasy. FFXIII doesn't look like ANY FF game ever made, none of them do. FFXIII-2 is a patchwork of other games, and so far Lightning Returns looks to be the same thing. Of course, Versus XIII has had no information in so long that it could either not exist or turn out completely different, but that video you linked looks like a better game than the entire FFXIII trilogy, and you can clearly see how FFVII and Nomura's link with that game influenced the design.

[ayabrea93]

final fantasy has always been about reinvention, whether it be a medieval setting like the first 5 or steam punk like 6 and 7. What's really exciting people about versus is its tone, noir setting, world map, characters and the promise of a tragic and dark story.The type of gameplay pretty much doesn't matter when it comes to these things.

[ayabrea93]

final fantasy has always been about reinvention, whether it be a medieval setting like the first 5 or steam punk like 6 and 7. What's really exciting people about versus is its tone, noir setting, world map, characters and the promise of a tragic and dark story.The type of gameplay doesn't matter as much when it comes to these things in a final fantasy.
(sorry about the double post)

[yaz288]

I ve never played kh but I played crisis core ff7 and it is what I think versus is going to be like ..but more open in the combat.

by looking to the trailers of versus I am just amazed how fancy.. or ambitious it feels. the music, the cgi , story and setting ..etc (the game looks perfect already )

the only ff games I ve played are crisi core, ff7 and ff13 (I didn't like 13 mainly because I was expecting allot from a game which took 5 year in development. Also how bad the voice acting was + moving in linear lines like a racing game was annoying )
13-3 feels like AC more than ff .. but I still think its cool but are those the guys that are working on versus? if so then that is different story.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

I don't know, Versus looks very final fantasy to me. The setting reminds me of something FF7-ish. Yeah there's 3rd person shooting in it, but the game still looks good. That is the fine line difference at the end of the day. Versus looks promising while Lightning Returns does not, in my opinion of course.

[baodeus]

@ dragonknight

1. So FF13 isn't anything like FF10? I don't think you play FF10 then, which i though was one of the top highly regarded FF title. Go ahead and describe the difference in summoning (and how they are used) gameplay and leveling, mode of locomotion, the exploration aspect of it, level design, iconic characters, etc..

2. If FFVS13 doesn't want to cap on FF name, it should take on a different name then(kingdom heart for example) because right now it doesn't look anything like previous FF. It is hack and slash gameplay ( even have 3rd person perspective for shooting). If it is just about open world, towns, npc, mode of locomotion, then many open world game can also be considered as an FFGame including WRPG. And with that said, FF13-2 have everything you mentioned as what make a game FF (town, npc, open, iconic characters like chocoho, cactuar, moogle, etctcc..minisidegames, etc...). Again, go ahead and describe why FF13 isn't like FF10, or how FF13-2, which have everything u mentioned beside a slightly faster turn base battle mechanism, isn't FF but a game which only have some description, trailers that doesnt resemble any previous FF, and even regard as "spin off" by you is a traditional FF game? You have nothing to back you up except your consistent bashing out of ignorances like many wounded PS fan after FF13 becomes multiplatform.
Submarines, bike fight are small side games, not the actual signature battle system of the the entire FF game which should be turn base turn base. FF13 is a faster battle system but still turn base. FFvs13 is a full on hack and slash even have 3rd person shooter element (and here you and many others complaining about FF13 trying to be westernized?). It sure looks more like COD then the FF13 trilogy. The only example that you come up with is that it "LOOKS LIKE" FF7, when all FF games have their own story and Fantasy-ish settings?

so one series slightly alter the traditional FF series and it consider not FF, but a game that totally change the game play is?

I don't think you even play FF13 after hearing it lost EXCLUSIVE. U just go on ape shi&%$, with the hate band wagon, and showing that you just a fanboy and a hypocrite while u are at it.

[Irishguy95]

Ok Admiral snake lemme explain to you.

FF versus has

Most importantly
-A world map
-Vehicles/Airships/Chocobo&am p;am p;am p;#3 9;s to travel this map
-It has Summon hunting, one of the best things about FF8
----------------------------
- Characters - From what we've seen, they are very normal. Nothing over the top like FFXiii, Nomura was not lying when he said Noctis is not an Emo.

Compare Versus dialogue to FFXIII and you'll see a shocking lack of melodrama that ruined the characters of FFXIII for me.

-Story, can't comment much on this we don't know a whole lot, but from what we do know it seems awesome atm

-Art direction, dear god ~ Beautiful, the only issue I have is character design and even then it is better than 13
------------------------
-Combat
It's KH, KH with some new tricks including third person shooting, and what is seemingly epic limit breaks + Teleportation. Noctis in the original trailer when his eyes turn red? Nomura said that's what you do when Noct activates his Limit break(known as EX arts) Everyone likes this. So there is no problem. Combat system is not the problem with FFXIII no matter how any cuts it, the problem is they did not utilize the combat system till 25-30 hours in the game. It ended up boring and ****/

Edit---oh also, you can use EVERY character in your party. They also all play differently. And switch which one you are using on the fly(so much so that you can get a chain combo by using them all to help each other attack)

If you read up on the games info from some site, you will see why people are excited about it. Even this wiki has a decent amount of info on it

I'll explain the difference between X and 13.

FF13 had nothing but combat the entire time. Nothing else. And never any breaks from combat

FFX had lots of breaks from combat, be it towns, Blitzball, Temples.

FFX had a way way better story and characters, and way way better music. The comabt system was miles better too, the sphere grid was horribly downgraded for FFXIII. FFX also had area's to return to that you previously didn't explore.

[Omnislash]

@Baodeus

After reading your comment I have become thoroughly convinced that you were either a) born with an extra chromosome. b) were dropped on your head as a baby. c) Your mother smoked crack while she was pregnant with you. d) you smoked crack prior to writing your comment e) or all of the above.

Anyone that believes FFX is the same as FF13 is seriously a retard and deserves a Darwin award.

[aHong]

My apologies to everyone. Having written the article, I will make sure to fix the Roman numerals ASAP. I never was good at those :P (Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII)

[Wintersun616]

I'd rather hear why this game is even being made. Who asked for this? Anyone else but jblaze?

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

I did I want closure.

[Wintersun616]

Well let's just hope that this game does bring closure then.

[El_Assenso]

Don't think we'll get closure. Not with Toriyama and Wada pulling the strings. These men have tarnished the Final Fantasy franchise. Each entry into the FF series is unique, something completely different, new story, new characters etc. For some stupid reason they decied to go emo this gen and ruin everything.

The only good thing about Square Enix is Tetsuya Nomura. Why doesn't he just leave and set-up his own JRPG making game company. I'm pretty sure he'll have more pull than the 20th sequel to Final Fantasy 13.

Fans want FF Versus 13 but they ignore the fans and make 2 sequels that a lot of FF fans don't care about. Square Enix have followed Crapcom's model of how to fail...don't listen to fans!

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

Red is my favorite color.