Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII announced

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By: Jonathan Toyad

New installment of FFXIII series out in 2013 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3; features open-world gameplay and tweaks to Paradigm system.

Square Enix announced a new entry in the Final Fantasy XIII series during today's Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary presentation in the Shibuya Hikarie building in Tokyo, Japan.

The role-playing game is called Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and will be the final entry in the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy. The game takes place within the world of Novus Partus, which contains four large islands and the game will chronicle the last thirteen days of the game's universe.

Players control Lightning as she finds a way to save the worlds from extinction. Players can customize Lightning's attire, including her armor and weapons, but there is no information on whether she can equip weapons other than shields and swords of various sizes. The game will still retain the Paradigm Shift combat system, except that players can move Lightning around the battlefield and swap weapons instantaneously.

Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase and director Motomu Toriyama also announced a Twitter and Facebook account for the game. Players can give their feedback and thoughts on past titles so that the design team may implement them during the game's development.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will be out in 2013 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The first batch of art from the game can be seen below.