In this week's Review Thursday, I will talk about my experience playing the Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII demo that was released on Tuesday. Let me first just say that I may possibly spoil what happens in the demo. However, as it's available for free, and people have been posting videos of the gameplay of it, it's a bit difficult to be spoiled at this point.
Well, because of my super slow Internet that day, the download took more than twelve hours. So while my friends were playing the heck out of Lightning, I was sitting on 7% downloaded. I began the download at 3pm, and at midnight it was only at 50%. When I woke up at 4am to stoke the fire, I saw that the download had completed. I installed it, and went back to sleep.
The next morning, it was the first thing I played. I think it may have been the only thing I played. No, no it wasn't. The demo was short, so I went and played other things as well. Anyway, I loved the demo!
First, the graphics are great. People look like people, objects look like objects, attacking looks like attacking. It was nice to be able to move in battle, and not stuck in one spot during battle. The music was fantastic, and I think it played well in the demo's gameplay.
The battles themselves were amazing. I think it is really nice to have the abilities be set as buttons on the controller. Especially in Active Time Battle games, if you have a lot of abilities in a menu, you lose a lot of time searching for a spell or ability which gives the enemy an advantage. And with job changing has been taken a step up from Final Fantasy X-2's job system, it is now only one button press away; whereas that of X-2 was more than one.
As I reported in this week's 3³ Gaming NEWSday, you play as Lightning as she looks for Snow, who is now the "leader" of the city. The opening scene is Lightning and Snow fighting the beings of Chaos, as well as each other. Then, Snow exits the same way the monsters entered, by some kind of space/time thing. Hope Estheim is there as well; but only as a voice, guiding Lightning through the building and analyzing the situation. From where, I don't know; the demo didn't offer that information.
After Snow leaves, Lightning has to fight her way passed monsters in order to locate Snow and "set him free". The boss of the demo is Zaltys. He looks like some kind of demon/dog/giraffe creature. I defeated him in 2 minutes and 16 seconds; making full use of the game's time-altering function. It slows time down for everyone except Lightning, giving her lightning speed (yeah, ha ha, I know). It isn't the best result out there, but I have only played through the demo once so far. I know someone was able to do it in less than twenty seconds.
The demo ends after you reach the end of the corridor that Zaltys is guarding. You can however also end the demo by continuing to explore the area until 6 o'clock. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is a time-based game, so spend your time wisely. You don't want to be left on the planet when the world ends.
Anyway, a plus to downloading the demo on PSN as I did is that you receive the Utsusemi Samurai garb for free. And if you post your battle score against Zaltys on the Outerworld, you will receive the Siegfried garb on release day.
Overall, I give the demo...
Well, because of my super slow Internet that day, the download took more than twelve hours. So while my friends were playing the heck out of Lightning, I was sitting on 7% downloaded. I began the download at 3pm, and at midnight it was only at 50%. When I woke up at 4am to stoke the fire, I saw that the download had completed. I installed it, and went back to sleep.
The next morning, it was the first thing I played. I think it may have been the only thing I played. No, no it wasn't. The demo was short, so I went and played other things as well. Anyway, I loved the demo!
First, the graphics are great. People look like people, objects look like objects, attacking looks like attacking. It was nice to be able to move in battle, and not stuck in one spot during battle. The music was fantastic, and I think it played well in the demo's gameplay.
The battles themselves were amazing. I think it is really nice to have the abilities be set as buttons on the controller. Especially in Active Time Battle games, if you have a lot of abilities in a menu, you lose a lot of time searching for a spell or ability which gives the enemy an advantage. And with job changing has been taken a step up from Final Fantasy X-2's job system, it is now only one button press away; whereas that of X-2 was more than one.
As I reported in this week's 3³ Gaming NEWSday, you play as Lightning as she looks for Snow, who is now the "leader" of the city. The opening scene is Lightning and Snow fighting the beings of Chaos, as well as each other. Then, Snow exits the same way the monsters entered, by some kind of space/time thing. Hope Estheim is there as well; but only as a voice, guiding Lightning through the building and analyzing the situation. From where, I don't know; the demo didn't offer that information.
The demo ends after you reach the end of the corridor that Zaltys is guarding. You can however also end the demo by continuing to explore the area until 6 o'clock. Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is a time-based game, so spend your time wisely. You don't want to be left on the planet when the world ends.
Anyway, a plus to downloading the demo on PSN as I did is that you receive the Utsusemi Samurai garb for free. And if you post your battle score against Zaltys on the Outerworld, you will receive the Siegfried garb on release day.
Overall, I give the demo...
It is a great demo, and it accomplished what it was made to do. And that was to build up hype and make those that play it want the game. I certainly do want it. Now I just have to wait until my copy arrives. Which won't be until after Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster comes out. You've got to love saving money by bundling purchases in order to get free shipping.
Make sure to stop back in on Saturday for the next edition of SaturPLAY! Until then, I hope that no Game Over Screens cross your gaze!
Michael, aka me3lingual
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