We already knew that Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will have a costume themed on the gear of the Miqo'te race from  Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and FFXIV Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida promised that he'd think about a way to "return the favor". Today, during a special stage event at Japan Expo in Paris he did just that, announcing that the upcoming MMORPG will include a special questline that will star Lightning herself.

That's not all, as female characters will be able to wear Lightning's costume, while males will get their hands on Snow's. Several weapons from Final Fantasy XIII will also make an appearance.

The funny part  of this all is that a vocal area of the Final Fantasy XIV community started rioting at the idea, and there are currently two rather massive threads on the official beta forums (already counting 26 and 16 pages despite the fact that people are allowed to post only once every 15 minutes to keep things manageable) with players bickering back and forth on how the announced costumes break their immersion and what not.

Personally, I'm amused. And I'm especially amused considering just how much fanservice from other Final Fantasy games is already in Final Fantasy XIV. If Lightning's ouftit (or her gunblade, in a world in which gunblades do exist and always did) really breaks your immersion more than the Scholar's schoolgirl outfit... well, I guess the joke is on you.

Below you can check out a few screenshots showing our pink haired heroine, the costumes and the weapons.

Update: While a vocal part of the western community rages, creative Japanese fans are already putting their creativity to good juse. Just check the lovely drawing above by Twitter user Kirizu. It's so adorable that I couldn't avoid including it.