Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is at least 50 hours long

Lightning Returns, the action RPG spin-off from Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Final Fantasy XIII, won't be a mere morsel compared to the other games in the series, designer Yuji Abe has explained.

He made the announcement to IGN at a preview event for the game. The story picks up 500 years after the ending of Final Fantasy XII-2, with lead character Lightning awaking from a self-imposed hibernation to discover that there are only 13 days until the end of the world.

It's this countdown mechanism that led some fans to worry that the game would encourage players to rush through. Not so, says Abe. "The way the game moves, one period of 24 hours within the game world itself will take play time in the real world around two or three hours of actual, real time," Abe said. "Having said that, opening menus, customising your characters, talking to some people or just listening to certain things will cause time to stop. So it isn't quite as short as you'd think."

"Overall, when I did the test plays during the development period, I played through from start to finish trying to see almost all of the aspects of the game and it took roughly about 50 hours. I think this is one that'll take a good chunk of time, and people will be able to enjoy it for a good long while."

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is out for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 14th next year. How romantic.