Today Square Enix held a Premium Community Event in Tokyo showcasing Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII for a number of Square Enix Members and PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Want to check out what those privileged few got to see and hear?  We're here to help.

First of all  we get to learn quite a few new elements on the game:

  • We'll be able to purchase several kinds of accessories like glasses, earrings and pendants from several shops, in addition to the usual weapons and shields, and there's also a restaurant (while it's function isn't known yet). Initially the range of products available will be limited but it'll increase as the story progresses.
  • Lightning will be able to wear her own costumes from Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 and Yuna's costume from Final Fantasy X, explaining the presence of X|X-2 HD Remaster on the official crossover site. A super-cute decoration that puts Mog from Final Fantasy XIII-2  on her head is also present.
  • Inventory capacity is very limited (only six slots), but will increase as the story progresses.
  • There are four main areas in the game: Luxerion, Yusnan, the Wilderness and the Dead Dunes. Luxerion features mostly investigative gameplay. Yusnan is the city of pleasure, and features a lot of time-sensitive quests. The Wilderness are a big, open world area that encourages exploration even on the back of a Chocobo, while the Dead Dunes are a desert home to some of the most deadly monsters.
  • There are a lot of different weapons and shields: 70-80 swords and a bit fewer shields. Their color cannot be customized.
  • There's no card minigame this time around.
  • It's possible to change color to several parts of the costumes, and in addition to default colors it's also possible to make our own from Photoshop-like color picker, and to create presets.

Below you can see a gallery with 81 pictures from the event, courtesy of many Twitter users, Dengeki Online and  Game Watch. They show quite a lot of elements like costumes and costume customization, a large amount of artwork and a few glimpse of gameplay.

In addition to that you can also enjoy a lovely off screen video of costume customization courtesy of Famitsu.

Update: we also learn that Vanille from Final Fantasy XIII will make a comeback in the game. You can read more here.

//www.youtube.com/embed/f-v7CcBHAMc