During its first week on sale in Japan, it sold 277,000 units, and by the end of 2013 become the 17th best-selling game of the year selling over 400,000 copies. It has sold 800,000 copies as of May 2014. It has received mixed reviews: while the main praise went to the game's battle system, opinions were more mixed for the graphics, time limit and other aspects of gameplay, while the story and characters were criticized for being weak or poorly developed.
The player directly controls the character Lightning through a third-person perspective to interact with people, objects, and enemies throughout the game. The player can also turn the camera around the character, which allows for a 360° view of the surroundings. The world of Lightning Returns, as with Final Fantasy XIII and its sequel XIII-2, is rendered to scale with the character, who navigates the world on foot. In one of the areas, the player can use chocobos, a recurring animal in the Final Fantasy series. The player is able to freely navigate the game's open world layout, explore towns and country areas, and accept quests from various non-playable characters (NPCs). Lightning is also able to sprint for limited periods, climb up ladders and jump freely. The game features three difficulty levels: Easy, Normal and Hard, the latter of which is unlocked after first completing the game. There is also a New Game+ option, whereby players can start a new game while carrying over their equipment and stats from a previous playthrough. The in-game clock runs continuously during normal navigation, with one in-game day equating to two to three hours in real time on Easy mode and one hour on Normal and Hard modes. The timer starts out at seven in-game days, but can be extended to a maximum of thirteen days. The timer stops during cutscenes, conversations and battles. Lightning can also pause time using an ability called Chronostasis. Quests are directly linked to Lightning's growth: as she completes quests, her stats are boosted, with the main story quests yielding the biggest boosts. Many side quests can only be obtained at certain times, since the real-time build of the world means NPCs are in constant movement, and only appear in certain places at a given time. Lightning can also accept quests from the Canvas of Prayers, a post board found in all the main locations. Upon completing NPC quests, Lightning is rewarded with a portion of Eradia, spiritual energy retrieved when a person's burden is lifted. Every day at 6 AM game-time, Lightning is drawn back into the Ark, a location where the in-game clock does not progress. Once there, Lightning gives her gathered Eradia to a tree called Yggdrasil: if she has gathered enough, the in-game clock is extended by a day.
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