Final Fantasy XIII: Lightining Returns! - a podcast by J-Foo

This week we'll be show-casing a lovely little title called "I Ain't Telling You Yet, So just Keep Your Panties On: XIII" and I'll be providing you with some updates on some other titles that are going to be released in the next few weeks or so. 

Firstly for those of you who haven't been living in a gutter or under a rock for the last several months, you know that Lions Head Studios has decided to release an anniversary version of their crown jewel Fable, and it is set for a February 4th release date. So get excited about that, I know I am. Next we have Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2, which is scheduled to be release around February 22-24th, guess they haven't made up their minds that far yet. Lastly and update on an announcement brought to you originally by J-Foo, fans of the Tales Of Series will be excited to here that Tales of Symphonia Chronicles is set for a February 25th release date. 

Now on to why we are actually here. Fabula Nova Crystallis...bit of an odd name if you asked me...but the fellers over at Square Enix seem to like it and who am I to complain. A few of you, well most of you actually, are probably wondering "What the hell is this Nerd on about?" Well, in 2010, Square Enix released the next title in the highly credited Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy XIII. Which introduced us to the worlds of Gran Pulse and Cocoon, and thirteen of the mostly unlikely band of heroes imaginable, (Lightning Farron, Hope Esthiem, Snow Villiers, Sazh Katsroy, Oerba Dia Vanillie, and Oerba Yun Fang) and their quest to save the world and return to normal. 

A year later we were given Final Fantasy XIII-2 and now we are getting a third installment, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. LR:FFXIII takes place a whooping 500 yrs after the events of XIII-2, and places us once again in the shoes of Lightning Farron, 13 days before the end of the world. That's all I'm saying about the story, mainly cause I don't want to spoil anything for anybody, myself included. Now onto the real juicy bits, the game play. This new title will feature an entirely new combat stem that combines the ATB system from the first two games and the Dress Sphere system from FFX-2. Lighting will have access to several customizable outfits (garbs) and different power sets called Schemata or Schema in the singular sense. 

Each garb has its own ATB gauge, after it's gauge is depleted then the player can switch to another Garb to continue combat. At the end of a battle phase player will receive: Gil; fans of the series know this as the in-currency used to buy items and equipment at merchants and shops, and a slight replenishing of the Energy Points Gauge which is used for special in battle moves and abilities. one major change to the combat system is that the Health Gauge DOES NOT automatically recover like in the previous two titles. Instead the player has to relie upon recovery items found or bought throughout the game. This new title features an freely-to-navigate-open-world environment, allowing players access to the various country-sides and towns found through out the game. 

The game also features a continuously running in-game clock, where one in-game day is equivalent to 1 real-time hour, and only stops when player enter a cut scene, conversation, or a battle. The player can also stop time temporarily using an ability called Chronostasis. You will be given 7 days at the start of the game, but, it can be increased to a maximum of 13 days as the game progresses. The game will feature 4 difficulty settings, two of which are available at the start of the game with the latter two being obtained after completion of the game. The game will also feature a New Game+ after completion as well, allowing players to carry over items, abilities, and such from a previous play through into a new game. LR:FFXIII is scheduled for a February 11th released date, those of you who pre-order a copy from game stop can expect to receive Cloud Strife's Buster Sword, his Soldier 1st Class Uniform and his Soldier's Band accessory. 

This is StormWulf signing out saying stay frosty people.