Final Fantasy XIII is far from the most popular entry in Square Enix's long-running RPG franchise, but it's definitely got a dedicated fanbase. Truth be told, the fact that the Final Fantasy XIII games were even ported over to the PC in the first place is likely due to the fans themselves ... but just because Square promised PC ports doesn't mean the studio would push them out quickly.
For those who haven't followed the games' trip to PC: back in 2014, Square announced that all three games in the "Lightning Trilogy" would be making their way to PC via Steam. The first game, simply titled Final Fantasy XIII, was released back on Oct. 9 — its sequel, the bizarrely-named Final Fantasy XIII-2, was released roughly two months later on Dec. 11. As for the final game in the trilogy, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, well ... fans are still waiting on it.
Thankfully, they won't be waiting much longer: Square Enix has just announced the game's new PC release date: Lightning Returns will launch via Steam on Dec. 10 ... and there's even a new trailer to celebrate!
Square Enix has yet to reveal why Lightning Returns took a full extra year to make its way to PCs, but either way, fans of the trilogy should be excited that the game is finally making its way to the platform. As an added bonus, most of Lightning Returns' extra DLC, such as costumes, weapons and voiceover packs, will be included as well. The only notable omission is the Final Fantasy VII Aerith costume, which won't be making its way to the PC version for unspecified reasons.
Additionally, for anyone wondering what sort of hardware Lighting Returns requires, Square released the game's system specs as well:
Minimum:
• OS: Windows® XP SP2 or later
• Processor: 2 GHz Dual-Core CPU
• Memory: 1500 MB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia® Geforce® 8800GT / ATI Radeon™ HD 4770 VRAM 512 MB or later
• DirectX: Version 9.0c
• Hard Drive: 22 GB available space
• Sound Card: Sound card compatible with DirectX® 9.0c
Recommended:
• OS: Windows® Vista / 7 / 8
• Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Quad (2.66 GHz) / AMD Phenom™ II X4 (2.8 GHz) processor
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia® Geforce® GTX™ 460 / ATI Radeon™ HD 5770
• DirectX: Version 9.0c
• Hard Drive: 22 GB available space
• Sound Card: Sound card compatible with DirectX® 9.0c
All things considered, it won't take too much to hit Lightning Returns' recommended specs ... then again, given how long ago the original game came out, it's not all that surprising, either.
So, was the extra year of waiting worth it? Only time will tell — but at the very least, it should help fans pass the time until Final Fantasy XV launches.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII hits PCs on Dec. 10.
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