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Last week, we reported that Square Enix had confirmed Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. We didn't know much more than that at the time, but here we are now, a week later, sporting the proper logo for the newspost image and a whole boatload of facts for your cranium (courtesy of a famitsu interview).

First off, the game is already 30% done; this isn't just concept stuff being thrown around (no offense to concept stuff). It will be the final entry in the Lightning-FFXIII saga, and it will have only one, happy, not-ambiguous ending. So that's refreshing. Lightning's character will continue her evolution into an increasingly refined individual. They just grow up so fast *sniffle*.

The developers of Lightning Returns have a very clear idea of where the game sits in relation to its two predecessors. FFXIII was, as its detractors have frequently brought to attention, story driven; FFXIII-2 was player driven (the path of the story was directed by the player). Lightning Returns, however, will be 'world driven', or driven based on the character's interactions in time with the changing world.

Time is the key concept in Lightning Returns. Everything revolves around it: gameplay time has a roughly direct relation to in-game time (two hours equals one day), people have stopped aging, and clocks will be found frequently throughout the world as an environmental symbol of the constant progress of time. There are only thirteen days' worth of life remaining in the world (or should I say, XIII days' worth) - reminiscent of Majora's Mask though without repeating the sequence, or the use of thirteen as the number of days over which the events concerning FFXIII took place - but players can lengthen or shorten this window of time by defeating enemies, clearing quests, helping people or even not helping people.

In FFXIII, players were restricted by time: the plot had its characters working against the clock, and as a result players were unable to 'stop and smell the roses' in the ways that they are usually able to do in . In FFXIII-2, players had (relative) freedom over time, traveling forwards and backwards across it. In another example of the theoretical continuity linking the three games, Lightning Returns once again puts the player at the mercy of time.

The battle system will feature only Lightning, going from three characters in FFXIII to two characters in FFXIII-2 to this, a final and full focus on the central figure of the trilogy (yet another way in which the game's developers see the progression of the Lightning-FFXIII saga). As mentioned in our previous post, the player will have free control over Lightning's movement in battle; what we've learned since then is that, while the game will still feature some form of ATB gauge, Lightning's actions in-battle will not be selected via menu commands but rather assigned to controller buttons, moving this latest title even closer towards live active battle.

It certainly seems from the information above that Lightning Returns will not only be distinguishing itself from its two predecessors but from the previous entries in the Final Fantasy series as a whole.

That's all we have on Lightning for now - be sure to scroll down a bit for the Final Fantasy anniversary news Josh posted earlier this morning.

Source: Andriasang

Sorry for the general lack of tidbits over the last month. It's been a crazy time in Rangersville. Let's catch up a bit, knowing that some of these things might not actually be news to some of you any more. Again, sorry!

The 25th Anniversary showcase that Squenix threw for the Final Fantasy franchise has now come and gone, and it definitely seemed to be quite the to-do in celebration of one of the longest-running and biggest-selling franchises in gaming history. Big names from each of the big three console makers spoke to talk about how Final Fantasy has impacted their own companies and gaming as a whole; no word on if Microsoft was mocked by the other two for not having much to contribute on that score. Shinji Hashimoto took the stage to announce the big bundle, a collection of every one of the first thirteen main-line Final Fantasy games either for PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, or PSP. The package also includes a video disc, an artbook, a two-disc music compilation, a special Amano piece, and even a code for a Final Fantasy XIV item (which obviously will be the thing that really moves units). It's on sale on 18 December for about $450 US/350 Euro/280 GBP. If you have that kind of cash laying about - and who doesn't? - there's probably nothing stopping you from ordering from the Square Enix store. You just probably won't be able to play most of the games. Now, if they'd just offer a lesser version of the package without the games, I'd order one right now, I think. I have most of the games in the package already and these new releases don't appear to actually contain anything new.

Also coming from the celebration was the announcement of three new Ultimania books, called "Final Fantasy Memorial." These, too, release on 18 December Each of the three books covers an era of Final Fantasy games, from I - VI, VII - IX, and X - XIV. They can be ordered from the Square Enix shop as well, and there will apparently be a bonus gift for buying all three together. Of course, to do that will set you back another $120 or so. They do promise some new, never-before-seen artwork, and the implied promise of lots of words in Japanese that you probably can't read. Continuing the trend of 25th Anniversary merchandise, there will be novelizations released in Japan sometime later this year of the first three Final Fantasy games. You know, in case you wanted to read hundreds of pages to find out what happens in a game you probably played more than a decade ago. These will cost you a lot less, so maybe they're easier trinkets to pick up for collectors!

The Tokyo Game Show is coming up soon, and that's always a big deal for Squenix. However, and this should not shock you, but there will be no Versus at TGS this year. According to a member of the Japanese Square Enix Members site, Hashimoto has said that XIV and Lightning Returns will be the priorities this year on the Final Fantasy front. However, if you want to see Dragon Quest X in HD, TGS will have a stage demo at the show, running the game on Wii U. With regards to what is playable at TGS, it's not yet known. However, it appears that Bravely Default, Final Fantasy III for PSP, and the rebooted Final Fantasy XIV will be represented along with a variety of other games either developed or published by the many-headed Squenix behemoth.

There's more new news about Lightning Returns coming up, as well, which Death Penalty will be writing up hot on my heels!

Source: andriasang, SiliconEra

In a newspost two months ago, we mentioned a few comments from FFXIII and FFXIII-2 director Motomu Toriyama that sounded an awful lot like a third FFXIII game. Well, at a recent presentation, Toriyama confirmed our suspicions with the announcement of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. That's right, it's FFXIII-3.

You'll notice just from the name that some odd things are going on here. As was a case withthe rebranding for FFXIV A Realm Reborn, the name "Lightning Returns" as well as its very non-FF logo (included in source) seem to be distancing the title from the main Final Fantasy series. While many potential motivations could account for this distancing policy, I find it a bit odd given that the second FFXIII title was simply called FFXIII-2.

Toriyama mentioned a few additional details regarding the game. Player customization of Lightning will play a major role, not merely as aesthetic guise (which seems to be the case for FFXIII-2's variety of outfits) but as a relevant contribution to her gameplay abilities. Could this be something as pronounced as FFX-2's Dress Spheres? Unlikely, but who knows.

In addition to being able to control what Lightning wears, players will have much more control of what Lightning does on area maps: players will be able to interact with the environment via ducking, hanging, jumping, etc, in contrast to the automatic jumping of the original FFXIII. Players will even be able to control Lightning's movement in-battle, something that has been done successfully in several other RPG series but never attempted in a Final Fantasy game. Clearly, the third entry in Lightning's story is straying from traditional territory in more ways than mere nomenclature.

In addition, screenshots were released depicting cities and natural landscapes very much in the art style of the previous two FFXIII titles, as well as concept art for smaller objects and buildings.

Source: Kotaku

While CoN turned 15 this week, the slightly bigger news for the year remains that the Final Fantasy series itself turns 25 this year. We discussed back in March the special website set up for the Japanese Squenix audience, but on Wednesday (again, the day after the massively more important news), the company released an English-language celebration site as well.

So far, there's not a lot of information on the English site; however, along with the launch of the overall site there is a teaser article advertising a pending series on the history of every numbered game in the series. There's no indication on when the individual game articles will be published, but no matter when that is, there should be some very interesting information contained therein.

Happy birthday again, Final Fantasy, and thanks.

Source: Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary

Another year, another birthday message (last year not withstanding, during which time I was far too preoccupied with the impending presence of my flesh-and-blood baby to actually write much for this baby I've had fifteen years now). That's right, scorekeepers at home, this birthday is our fifteenth, and you might have noticed we've given the site - and we hope you - a present in the form of a shiny new revision. We've taken the liberty of generously forcing all of you to see it, though all of our classic skins are still available for you to switch back if you don't think the new skin, called "Skyglade," is the fanciest thing we've ever done. If you want to switch back, though, you can; the way to do it on the site is on our style selector, and the way for the forums is in your control panel. And, if you're not seeing it on the site but think you should be, try to reset your CoN skin selection entirely.

Skyglade represents years (on-and-off) of design work on the part of Tiddles and myself to make sure we could bring you something that freshens things up without losing the qualities people enjoyed most in Persona (fanart in particular, which you'll have seen before if you're a forum regular, designed especially for this theme by Rujuken). Not only that, you'll notice that all our themes are carrying a special anniversary version of our logo. As I've said before, the Caves of Narshe is a hobby run by professionals, so if you want to know more about why Skyglade is the best thing we've ever done for the site and its users (like it or not!) check out our freshly-updated CoNHistory.

Fifteen years is a long time. I've said this before, but it's worth repeating: over that kind of time, a lot of things change for all of us. It's made it mostly impossible to churn out content at the
rate we once could, which makes all the more proud of our accomplishments so far this year. It's among our greatest sources of pride that we can still be here presenting you this site, a site which we're still excited to improve. A site which we hope, and indeed know, is still useful and relevant to players of the old games, and can continue to be over time. We owe a great debt to every single human, animal and robot who has helped us along the way, including Climhazzard, from the patient staff who've tirelessly trawled through game data, to the fanfic writers and fanartists, to every single forum poster and chatter who's stopped by and chatted with us along the way.

I've mentioned before that our fifteen-year mark predates just about every Final Fantasy site that still exists, but thinking of fifteen years made me wonder what other sites on which CoN has seniority. Here's a few: Livejournal. Myspace. Facebook. Twitter. Flickr. Photobucket. Microsoft. (At least Microsoft was almost as ugly back then as CoN.) CoN is even older than Wikipedia! Anyway, listing those is certainly just a conceit - we'd never be considered to be in the ballpark of any of those sites, but it's worth noting that you don't just start a site and keep it going that long unless you have at least some of the dedication required to build a sustainable project from the ground up, and we do have that in common with those web Illuminati.

The sites in that list, even the ones spiraling into oblivion, are an interesting part of CoN's evolution, particularly as it relates to our slowing community growth. We know that we can never supplant Facebook or Twitter. We know that the way we operate the informational sections of our site is no longer trendy in the face of crowdsourced content. We're cool with it, because we're not looking to be everything to everyone. We are looking to remain the best source of gameplay information for the games we cover, and we are looking to keep you reading this interested in talking to all your fellow CoN members. Of course, we want you all to stay involved, and we'll do everything we can to help. We know that we're a niche, and we're thrilled that you choose to spend some of your attention and time with us - we know firsthand that the supply of both is finite and more and more splintered every year. So, if you don't have the time to come here and post or chat the way you used to, that's alright. We understand. Try to do us a favor, though - if you're on your social network of choice, why not share or retweet our posts and content? The more people we expose to CoN, the better off we are as a community. If you don't think your friends will care, then you're hanging out with the wrong folks online and need to spend more time here, anyway. Of course.

Some things don't change. We're here, and so far in 2012 we've done a pretty bang-up job of new content. Our Final Fantasy V Advance project was a bit of a shambles in 2011, but we stepped up and really got it done in 2012. Skyglade was two completely separate projects for years before now, and it's just in the last few months that we got together and really made it happen. There's still life in this site, and that means there's still something for you to contribute. Among Square Enix fans, you guys are pretty much the best of the best, and that's why we're here. We want to hear from you, and we want to continue to create the content that creates more of you. You can say what you will about the state of Square Enix and the Final Fantasy franchise, and you should. But what CoN has is the kind of Final Fantasy that gamers everywhere should experience, and that's why we're all here. We want to continue to be the best portal on the internet to evangelize some of the finest games yet made, and the best way to do that is for all of us to be here and continue to do what we've done for one, two, five, or even fifteen years.

Insert "Challenge Accepted" meme here. Except, please, totally don't. You know that we don't roll that way. But take today to get back in touch with us - we've got small tokens of appreciation for those who do!

A Realm Reborn may be the subtitle to the completely re-done version of Final Fantasy XIV, but looking at the new logo you'd be more inclined to think it was the other way around. It's an apt name for what is now being revealed as a complete overhaul of a game which was criticized in just about every way imaginable when it first came out last year.

The branding is just the beginning of what's new about this incarnation of the game. Originally referred to as Version 2.0, A Realm Reborn isn't just an update of the existing FFXIV (though Square Enix has also been busy working in that regard as well); the game has been entirely rebuilt from the ground up with an intended winter release. While it certainly reflects a willingness on Square Enix's part to listen to their fans and admit their mistakes, it remains as yet unclear what and how much will be different.

Naoki Yoshida, producer and director of the project, went on to add in a press release that "this new title not only becomes a symbol of a completely new Final Fantasy XIV, but also marks the beginning of a new stage as the latest title in the Final Fantasy series." Now, I'm not sure whether Yoshida's original comments were this foggy or if ambiguity was added in the process of translation, but depending on how you read it the second half of this statement could be either an exercise in redundancy or - a bit frighteningly given the absolute mess surrounding SE's most recent foray into online gaming - a comment on the direction of future titles in the Final Fantasy series.

Source: Kotaku