“[I] had an extended conversation with Motomu Toriyama and Tetsuya Nomura about which character we must always use within the third instalment of the series.”

“They thought we were going to should have a feminine one because we hadn’t had a sole female protagonist within the franchise before.”

Director, Square Enix, Yoshinori Kitase

What we predict:

Of all of the female characters that Kitase and Toriyama decided to flesh out for the aim of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, she is essentially the mostsome of the most interesting.

In previous interviews Toriyama has said that she is so cool a personality of their minds that she can have come off as a little bit aloof.

For us, she lacked a certain quantity of depth, so it will likely be very interesting to determine if the team be ready to flesh her out enough so she will carry the sport. That right there’s without equal test.

“In XIII and XIII-2, you should set a task in your character and also you switch between those different roles, but in Lightning Returns you are going to set styles for Lightning so that you can combine different elements to set up a couple of different styles, that you may switch backward and forward between […] You can also make your personal original Lightning.”

Character Designer, Square Enix, Motumo Toriyama

What we expect:

It’s all well and good allowing players to customize their character, but will the supposed selection of variety dim the sense of repetitiveness we experienced with Final Fantasy XIII (see below)?

Every player likes variety, so we predict this fresh addition to certainly spice things up a bit.

However, we’re curious to peer how hardened Final Fantasy fans react to the numerous changes the team have made for Lightning Returns. Will it’s an excessive amount of? Or is something like this an essential evil to reel in gamers who lack an affinity for JRPGs? Our guess is slightly both.

“The strategic elements and command battle elements, which have been the case with Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2, [are] still there on this latest instalment.

In this game you’ll find three Active Time Battle bars at the screen and you’ll become costumes for the proper customisation possible, so it is not entirely an action game; it isn’t action-game enough to be solely intuitive.”

Character Designer, Square Enix, Motumo Toriyama

What we expect:

From the gameplay we have seen up to now the newfound Battle System doesn’t seem that far far from the only we became acquainted with in Final Fantasy XIII.

The strategies are the similar: switch between skills and exploit enemy weak points.

The biggest difference after all is that Lightning can now dodge, block and move during attacks. What we wish to know is how deep the brand new system should be. Are brawls going to be repetitive, or possibly too long?

This was a difficulty with XIII, so lets hope that issue was addressed by the point the sport ships.

“[I’m] unsure concerning the way forward for the general Fantasy franchise itself, but obviously there are many other studios under the umbrella, and that i myself was communicating with creators in those studios […] i have been very impressed that these developers are very keen on making great games sooner or later.”

Director, Square Enix, Yoshinori Kitase

What we predict:

Interesting that Toriyama brings up the belief of a US collaboration considering there was talk during the past of different studios dipping their toe within the realm of ultimate Fantasy – namely the now defunct studio, Grin.

At one point there has been talk that this title, a spin-off called Fortress, was being nurtured by another announced studio, but subsequently suspended.

If the title is not any longer in development but Toriyama is chatting with Square Enix’s Montreal studio and Crystal Dynamics, it makes us wonder, is that this the possibly mooted project, or are they mulling the basis of something entirely different?

Yeah, but…

The multitude of gameplay and design tweaks that Kitase and Toriyama have worked to implement has certainly piqued our interests. We’re titillated by the chances of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, however the biggest question is that this: can she carry a game all on her own? Only time will tell.