14 DAY TRIAL // Motomu Toriyama, the director working on Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, says that the structure of the final piece in the trilogy does not allow for multiple ending and that players will get a final chapter designed to wrap up all the story threads of the series.
The developer tells VG247 that, “The concept behind the design of Lighting Returns is that it will be the concluding chapter of the Lightning Saga. Unlike in the previous title, there will not be multiple possible endings created from differently branching interpretations of history, but instead the story will lead to the one true ending.”
Square Enix created Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII in order to respond to all the criticism that the fan community has offered for the previous two titles in the single-player section of Fabula Nova Crystallis.
One of the most reported problems was that the wandering story never seemed to have a clear end point.
He adds, “Having said that, the game is structured so that time is constantly ticking away during gameplay and the world moving and changing with it, meaning that every time you play through you can have a new experience.”
The development team wants to make sure that the entire game is replayable and that gamers need to complete it multiple times in order to see all the content it has to offer.
Certain actions that the player performs will allow Lightning to gain or lose time as she progresses through the game.
The core battle game mechanics are also being modified in order to give players more control over the action and the way the protagonist handles herself in tough situations.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will be launched on the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PlayStation 3 from Sony, and an official date is expected for the fall.