Unlocking The 3rd Birthday's hidden Lightning costume is a chore

by Griffin McElroy on Jan 8th 2011 12:30AM

A costume modeled after Final Fantasy XIII's surly heroine, Lightning, is hidden in fellow Square Enix offering The 3rd Birthday. To unlock it, all players have to do is sign up for the game's official members site after completing the game -- or, if you're a madman, by beating the game 30 times.

Obviously, linking up your game with the members site is the easier way to go, though this method still requires users to complete the game and earn several "stamps" (special awards earned for performing various social networking tasks) on the site. Still, 30 times is a lot of times. We're not sure there's any game we've ever beaten 30 times in our entire gaming careers -- especially not a big ol' Square Enix game.

Source: Andriasang

Tags: final-fantasy-xiii, lightning, playstation, psp, sony, square-enix, the-3rd-birthday

Reader Comments (48)

WOW! That's a lot of times!

@littlejay2o02

Oh baby jesus, imagine if they made you sit through FFXIII 30 times

or even 3 times

or just play 1/3 of the game OH GOD THE HUMANITY.

@littlejay2o02 I beat Infinity Blade hundreds of times.

Motherfu#$ers!

Wat da Fack?!

@KIDPLUS
I think you're breaking the RRRRRRUURRRRUUUU's of the JoyStiq blog by making off-topic anime references.

@mcnichoj I love you two.

the most times i beat a game is like 10 times and that was final fantasy 8. it was pretty boring after the 5th time but i wanted to get all the stuff i missed from the beginning.......

@Shadowjesse626yahoocom
So you repeated it five more times?

@zfallen
yes.....

I have to really like a game a lot to beat it more than three times. So far it's topping out with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6 at about 10 times each. Squenix is clearly insane.

Hmm the game i've beat a ton of times out of enjoyment and purpose is...Tales of Symphonia. Which was about five or seven times--to complete the collector's book and simply because I just loved that game.

Now to do that for one simple novelty costume?
Square-Enix seriously thinks their games are the top of the industry.

@Mr Esc is the namesarcasm is my
The female ones?

If you're playing an action game or a shooter, the more you repeat the game, the easier it gets. Something like 3rd Birthday or Bulletwitch or whatever gets simpler and speed runs actually become manageable.

@onlyk Except for the tedious parts you know are coming up. The tedious parts always suck all the fun out of replays.

I remember when Parasite Eve came out. I beat that game so many times. It got to the point where I could run through the game nonstop in less than 2 hours. I must of beat it 15-20 times.

Other than that other games I can play multiple times are Legend of Dragoon, Donkey Kong, Castle Crashers, and metroid games. Other than that it's one and done for me.

@Greendog You must have...

I'd say use a cheat. CWcheat or whatever you prefer would suffice. haha.

My record is seven times through Mass Effect. Never before and never since have I beaten a game through as many times.

30 friggin' times? That's clearly some kind of sick SAW-esque game they're playing with us.

@Grimcicle
My reasons for replaying Mass Effect seven times:
1% for all the romance options
12% because of DLC
12% because Garrus is a sexy beast
25% for the cheevos
50% Because it's a friggin' awesome game

From what I understand The Third Birthday is actually pretty short even by action game standards but the producers had this mind and loaded in a lot of extras for repeat players.

You know what would be awesome? If at the end of the 30th playthrough, they said "The princess is in another castle".

I've had to have played through FF: Tactics at least 30 times... but then again there is that shortcut to the ending in that game, and the game was released more than 10 years ago, so 3 plays-through a year isn't bad; but I doubt 3rd Birthday will have as much staying power as the older Square titles.

I've probably beaten Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 30 times easily. Certainly the only Square-Enix game anyone has probably comes close with is Chrono Trigger.

It's not on the Aya Brea Costume coupon code?

LMFAO wow... I cant recall any game I have beaten more than 3 times, and those were from the SNES era...

I've beaten King Kong: The Game at least five times, but that's a pretty short game. Sure is fun though.

If PSP games had trophies, one would hope that upon finishing it the 30th time, you would receive this message:

"You have earned a trophy. 'You Have No Life' "

I've beaten River City Ransom, Double Dragon II, and Super Dodge Ball over 30 times each, easy. Those are my go-to NES games when I need to turn off my brain for a while. Protect Me Knight and REZ on 360 have to be getting up there, too. I'd conservatively put myself near triple digits on Street Fighter II and Dragon's Lair.

I beat MGS4 about 10 times, I'm pretty sure that's the most I've done.

@MrAlex

When compared to other games, thats well above 30 times.

I mean...I've played through Pokemon Red well over a dozen times, but I think that's a special case

I've completed most of the final fantasy's more than once especially ffX and ffXII. I love final fantasy so much I still gave all of them from 8 on.

Does anyone know where the 30 times comes from? I tried looking for it but no luck. Just trying to see if they say why its 30 or if the developer is insane.

A more appropriate number would have been maybe...3 times

@Lerkero

30 is the number of Final Fantasy installments Square-Enix thinks it will take for the series to stop sucking and be good again.

@The Joy of Painting w Bob Ross
Considering the frequency of games released with the Final Fantasy name on them, that'd be next year.

Of course in the main series that would be closer to the year 2211.

chrono trigger, i can replay that game forever

Um, people do realize that you can just sign up on the game's site to get the costume, right? I realize that beating the game 30 times is ridiculous, but they did give people a much easier option. I don't see how Square-Enix is "insane" for giving people an EASY WAY to do this.

@Redeemer

There's no guarantee that this feature will be included in the North American release.

What a coincidence...playing through FFXIII was a chore as well.

Unlock a costume for a an ok character from a terrible game?

I dunno man.

I've beaten Resident Evil 4 on GameCube about 50 times. Do I get anything for that? (aside from the hand cannon)

FFXIII is a good game... but it's just not worth it.

@Mr Esc is the namesarcasm is my

You telling me there's other females besides Fran...?! Damn, I never noticed...!

But honestly, I think beating the game 30 times would be easier than trying to figure out what chests are and are not allowed to be open without avoiding nearly every chest in the game. Just imagine how horrific it would be if you didn't have the internet!

I don't usually repeat games, either for unlockables or acheivments. Sure, its neat, but i always get too frustrated, aand it doesent contribute to the main plot. Thirty times... wtf?

I'm pretty sure the only thing anyone has ever beaten more than thirty times is their ****!

Fire Emblem games have you beat the game several times to unlock certain characters to join you.

I beat the first contra 20 times in a row at the arcade but that games really short you can beat in less then 7min each time

The 3rd Birthday

Unlocking The 3rd Birthday's hidden Lightning costume is a chore

Reader Comments (48)

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 12:33AM littlejay2o02 said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 10:59AM Ghen said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 9:26PM kurian2z5 said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 12:36AM jsizzl said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 12:42AM KIDPLUS said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 7:50PM mcnichoj said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 8:06PM Extinction said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 12:50AM Shadowjesse626yahoocom said

Posted: Jan 9th 2011 12:23AM zfallen said

Posted: Jan 9th 2011 9:41PM Shadowjesse626yahoocom said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 1:40AM Faceless Troll said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 2:09AM The Only Girl said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 2:10AM The Only Girl said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 2:41AM onlyk said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 2:57AM Faceless Troll said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 3:02AM Greendog said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 3:25AM Flapjackal said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 3:27AM isotrex said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 3:29AM Mach2 said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 6:04AM Mach2 said

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Posted: Jan 8th 2011 3:57AM Sly C said

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Posted: Jan 8th 2011 9:56AM Red Runner said

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Posted: Jan 8th 2011 11:06AM hxczuner said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 11:11AM Rydog73 said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 11:24AM Lerkero said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 11:35AM The Joy of Painting w Bob Ross said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 11:40AM Lerkero said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 11:38AM lxromero said

Posted: Jan 8th 2011 11:53AM Redeemer said

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