Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Collector’s Edition Announced – Now With More Aerith!

Square Enix is pulling out all the stops for its latest installment (and hopefully conclusion) of the Final Fantasy XIII saga, and has announced a new collector’s edition of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII available at stateside launch. It can be found exclusively on the Square Enix Online Store, and it doesn’t look like it will pop up anywhere else. 

This limited edition collector’s item will set you back $89.99 USD and it comes with the following:

• Premium packaging featuring artwork from the Japan release
• 80 page hardcover artbook containing Tetsuya Nomura’s original sketches of Lightning, a foreword from art director Isamu Kamikokuryo, and concept art from LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII
• Silver embossed pocket watch
• DLC code for FINAL FANTASY VII’s Aerith Gainsborough’s “Midgar’s Flower Girl” outfit
• LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII Game Disc

The included 80-page hardcover artbook also contains a look at Nova Chysalia and a nostalgia section that features moogles and chocobos.

Since the game’s launch in Japan, the game has received mixed reviews on quality. Certainly Square Enix has been even more heavy-handed than usual with its fanservice and appeal to classic Final Fantasy nostalgia with the inclusion of hyped-up preorder bonuses and iconic costumes from past games. 

(Square Enix released an interactive trailer last month that allows you to click through the outfits and check out its trailer. The video below lets you watch a spliced-together version.)

Hopefully, in spite of the ridiculous pandering, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Yuna’s booty-shorts in Final Fantasy X-2, the game will actually turn out to be quite decent.

The collector’s edition is available for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. For those of you who aren’t interested in ponying up for extra fancy packaging and would rather focus on the core gameplay sans extra dress-up shenanigans, the Square Enix store is also selling the standard editions for both platforms at $59.99.

The game will launch in North America on February 11, 2014.