According to this which was brought to my attention by @hailinel on twitter Lightning Returns both Dark Souls are Majora's Mask were both names evoked describing the systems surrounding Lightining Returns and how the 13 days mechanic works.

Kitase went into further detail when he was quoted in saying that, “If I were to describe the gameplay, I would say there are some elements with the severity ofDark Souls…” This along with the 13-days-to-complete-the-game mechanic really causes you to think more about your actions, and whether you want to buy certain items or not. Kitase and Toriyama also confirmed that the maximum amount of days you can get to complete the game is 13 days and this is only achievable by completing all of the missions. This is sure to increase the amount of pressure players will have to complete the game as quickly, efficiently, and wholly as possible. This will also add more replay ability as Square Enix stated that Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII has been built for multiple playthroughs. On different days, different events will occur, each NPC will follow individual schedules, and interactions will change day-by-day similar to the Nintendo 64 classic, The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. - SOURCE

Sounds really really cool. A smaller experience designed around replaying it over and over sound like something that is super appealing to me. I should really play through XIII again and try to finish up my Platinum trophy. This news excite anyone else? Between this and dress spheres I'm practically drooling with excitement here.

Knowing @hailinel's opinion of FF10-2, he must be absolutely pleased at this revelation.

So it's only the "severity" that's the Dark Souls part? Bummer. If it actually played like Dark Souls I'd consider giving it a shot, despite my disinterest in FF13 and Lightning.

I'm just shocked at how much better they've managed to make this game look than the last two. Granted that frame rate isn't exactly what I would call ideal at the moment, and hopefully that gets sorted out. But either way, February cannot come fast enough. After seeing the E3 demo footage making the rounds I am completely sold.

The way people talk, it doesn't sound like many people are even remotely into what these three games have been doing, but it could not be more up my alley. All they need to do is introduce some sort of parry mechanic with that block move that automatically puts enemies in stagger mode and it will be my game of the forever.

Anyway, with the whole Dark Souls thing, they show how you can cut off monsters tails in the boss battles in the last trailer. So that's definitely reminiscent of Dark Souls. I wonder if you get special weapon drops for doing that as well.

I can't wait.

I've had a ton of fun with both FF XIII and FFXIII-2, even with all their flaws.

I actually just got a hold of FFXIII for cheap and liked what I played (~2 hours, not enough to really come up with a good opinion but a good first impression), despite some of the backlash that game got, so I might be more interested in this if FFXIII holds my attention well.

@stubbleman: I hope so man. The frame rate for FFXIII-2 floundered all over the place getting down to the low twenties in the worst spots. Love that game to death but man the frame rate was hot garbage.

Yeah right!!!

@demoskinos: XIII-2 was my first Platinum trophy actually. I become completely smitten by that game, and the frame rate was one of the few niggling complaints I had. I guess it makes sense, given the fact that they put the game out in what, eight? nine months? It had a crazy short turn around for sure.

I never understood why they didn't patch in the ability to install your game on the PS3 though. I don't know if it would have fixed the frame rate, but it could have helped. But anyway, hopefully they have enough time to get that sorted out this time around.

IGN headline! @hailinel just cause.

I'm extremely skeptical of their high talk about the game, but they are certainly saying things which draw my interest more in their direction.

So you die a lot and it has an awful save system?

Kidding! Sounds pretty cool actually.

I hate X-2, but XIII-2 is a fantastic game and I'm really looking forward to Lightning Returns.

FF + Majora's Mask + Dark Souls

Sounds like Jeff's GOTY.

But it's also Final Fantasy, which is a bummer.

@thepickle: Basically right?

after the underwhelming ff13, I couldn't believe how legit 13-2 was. so i'm actually looking forward to lighting returns. i won't pick it up for full price but i will definitely get around to playing it.

Sounds accurate.

I am so excited about this game. That this game can exist is so crazy that it can only be the third sequel of a numbered final fantasy game

You've clearly mixed things up, I'm the one who thinks X-2 is art.

Everything they're saying about the way this game plays sounds pretty cool (aside from the battle system, which I'm not so sold on.) I only hope they manage to tell a better story than they have in a while. I found the narrative of 13-2 bewildering up until the last couple hours, and I don't think you should have to wait 20 hours for a story to get cool.

Oh I dunno, teh story clearly kicked off at Academia 400 AF (which was roughly halfway through the game probably?)

and i dunno, a story about time travel kinda should be bewildering at some point.

This game can't suck, right? I mean, XIII-2 was better than XIII, so the trend absolutely has to continue.

Like I said before, I really hope Square Enix can pull this one off; They need all the good vibes as they continue to work on FFXV, y'know?

If you aren't looking at it carefully, that box art makes Lightning's torso look super long and skinny.

Majora's Mask? Oh man And I wanted to buy that game.... I am totally fine with dark souls but Majora's Mask? No thank you.

I tried to put my thoughts into a picture, but failed, miserably. Still looking forward to it though.

Don't forget, it also parts of Assasin Creed and dressing game.

This will either be really good or really bad..

I see a lot of people praising XIII-2 around here. As a person that enjoyed the combat of XIII and the entire game in general mainly for its large departure from standard FF fiction, would you guys recommend XIII-2?

I saw the QuickLook a while back and gameplay and it seemed very FinalFantasy as in kinda silly and extremely Japanese. Is it a worthwhile trip or is this for diehard fans only?

On top of that, I've been reading some really amazing things about the battle system from E3. Like, really amazing things.

If you liked FFXIII, I see no reason why you wouldn't enjoy FFXIII-2. If you didn't like FFXIII, there's a chance you'll appreciate FFXIII-2 a bit more. Though, it sounds like you liked it, which means you are quite likely to enjoy FFXIII-2 as well. It should be pretty cheap now; so, why not?

If you liked XIII and have no issues with Serah, then go for it. XII-2 improves on XIII in just about every way. Just, uh, don't think too hard about the story. It's a wee bit on the crazy side of things.

That's actually a little off-putting to me. I like to explore and take my time, grind out my character... not rush from one task to another, if I want stress I can just turn my console off and live my real life ;D

So, do Hope and Lightning finally make babies in this one?

Please, please, please, please, please?

Still waiting on X-2-2

@zomgfruitbunnies: Im sure the fanfic community has you covered on that one.

@arbitrarywater: @hailinel:

Sarcasm doesn't carry over the Internet, does it?

No, no it doesn't.

Do these games have an interesting story?

What if I kinda liked FFXIII but loathed Serah? That's why I didn't buy XIII-2 in the first place.

The narrative should've stopped at XIII because XIII-2 had a pretty bad story I thought. I don't know. Maybe this game will be cool, but narratively everything after XIII's fantastic ending does not interest me one bit.

She got better in 13-2.

Literally because she has things to do unlike 13, but she's definitely better.

I don't know how to adequately phrase it but to put it simply the game looked kinda "dumb" - like the weird JROCK music in the battle scenes. I dunno. I appreciated the semi serious tone and world that XIII tried to portray. XIII-2 looks like it's going back to "silly" Final Fantasy.

For what humor it has, the game is actually quite dark.

There's a difference between introducing levity and being silly.

13-2 is super dark. and yes is also kinda dumb, but that makes it endearing but the dumb shit fades away by the end (though to be fair, it goes for dumb to crazy).

The more I hear about this game, the more interested I get.

This game could be completely nuts!

Not at all into that mechanic. Hated it in Majora's Mask, hated it in Dead Rising :/

If FF13 had issues, one of them wasn't "be more like Dark Souls".

ps. I didn't see frame rate issues in FF13-2 but was more annoyed by load times. When you get to the stage where you are world/time line hopping for specific things you spent a lot of looking at that "portal swirl".

Still need to give FF13-2 a try. FF13 was deeply flawed, but it had its good sides.