Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Sounds A Lot Like Zelda: Majora’s Mask

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is just a few weeks from release in North America and Europe, and Square Enix have shared another making-of video for the game. This one focuses on the game’s doomsday clock feature, whereby the end of the world is approaching, and Lighting must manipulate time to save it.

In the video, the game’s developers discuss how the countdown clock will influence gameplay. Additionally, they promise a more exploratory game than the prior two Final Fantasy XIII games.

“With the previous games, you didn’t really get the chance to look around the world, interact with people’s lifestyles and observe what’s going on,” Square Enix’s staff say. “Now you can interact with what you see around you. There is hardly anywhere you can’t go anymore.”

“It’s easy to get around,” they add. “The best way may be on foot. If you can see something, you can walk to it. If you find a village in the wilderness, you can explore it seamlessly.

The idea, says Square Enix’s Yoshinori Kitase, was to go into people’s lives and embrace the ways in which you can save them. Hmm… that sounds an awful lot like the concept behind The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will be available on February 11th in North America and February 14th in Europe for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.