14 DAY TRIAL // One of the main developers working on the newly announced Final Fantasy XIII-2 has offered a series of details on the new Japanese role-playing game, saying that requests from players have been one of the main reasons for the new game set in the same world.
Motomu Toriyama, who is the director at Square Enix working on XIII-2, has told Japanese magazine Famitsu that, “The first impetus for this project was all the requests for a sequel from people worldwide who purchased FFXIII.”
He added, “On a personal level, though, I also wanted some more space to portray the character of Lightning with. One of the questions left open in the previous game's ending is whether Lightning really found true happiness or not. I want to conclude things for good with this game.”
It seems that the new game will begin exactly after the end of the original Final Fantasy XIII, with a novella included in the release of the game in Japan, called Episode i, offering a few clues linked to the plot.
Characters from the first game will be back, including Lightning, and Toriyama says that her look will be pretty different and that she will have access to a new array of weapons to wield and new abilities.
The developer also says that Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be more open than the game it follows, with players able to move freely around from the start of the game, addressing one of the main issues players have reported with the initial release.
Players are also warned to expect a darker, more complex story.
At the moment Final Fantasy XIII-2 is planned for a winter 2011 launch date on the Japanese market, on the PlayStation 3 and on the Xbox 360, with Western gamers probably getting at some point during spring of 2012.