Last month, a quietly-missed Dengeki interview revealed some interesting new information about Lightning Returns- Including some restrictions on what shops are available to you. It was planned from the start of development that shops would have schedules. Based on the time of day a particular shop would close its doors or the owner would wander away, taking his or her merchandise with them. Now, it seems, some shops will be unavailable from the beginning of the game no matter what time it is. These shops will open up as you progress, although no specific criteria or examples were cited.

Alongside this came the revelation that you could interact with your Map in Lightning Returns beyond zooming in or out. As a matter of fact, Dengeki reports that you are able to freely mark up Lightning’s map in order to denote areas of interest. If a door or particular area looks suspicious or seems to be hiding something, you can slap a little mark on the map to find the location more easily at a later date. The depth of these markings hasn’t been revealed, but they mentioned checking back to a shop that was previously closed.

Directly from our translator (TensaiShojo), here are summaries of the Wildlands and Dead Dunes sections of the interview.

THE DEAD DUNES: In this area, enemies specialize in status ailments, so players will need to prepare for such. The shops will carry helpful equipment to strengthen Lightning’s tolerance against status ailments, so check them out in-game. Below the sands, a winding dungeon is available for exploration. Combine this area with the upper desert, and the Dead Dunes will become nearly as vast as the Wildlands. Chocobos are unavailable in the Dead Dunes, but warp-points (most likely the red cactuar stones) will be scattered around the desert to save travelling time. In the daylight, monsters will roam and appear freely. Some enemies will even persistently chase Lightning down. But at night, encounters will become less frequent. The local treasure-hunters have been digging for centuries without any luck, and many of them have lost the spirit to continue. Players can rekindle their motivation by finding unique treasures in the desert.

THE WILDLANDS: When the sun goes down, residents will retire and lights will radiate from their homes. Also, some rocks are embedded with crystals and they will glow and beautiful blue color in the dark. There are about 4-5 villages that Lightning can visit. The creators worked especially hard on making almost any visible landmark reachable. However, unreachable locations will be made obvious. Some locations may seem impossible for Lightning, but easy for a chocobo. The chocobos will jump slightly higher than they did in FFXIII-2. The forest area in the Wildlands is almost as big as the open field. Also, it is very easy to get lost among the tall trees without a map, and sometimes, even the creators get lost while testing. The Moogle Village exists deep within the forest and only becomes visible at night. Creators have made it so players will become very attached to their chocobo. The Angel of Valhalla, once saved, will gradually recover as Lightning tends to it. First, it will only be able to walk before it regains the strength to run and, lastly, jump. Players can level-up the chocobo and it will become a strong companion in battle. Players can rename the chocobo as well.

Lightning Returns releases in Japan on November 21st 2013, in North America on February 11th 2014, and in Europe on February 14th 2014. You can pre-order the game and receive the Cloud Strife DLC equipment set from any retailer, and pre-ordering from Gamestop nets you the Samurai-inspired “Flower of Battle” and “Dark Samurai” sets. All pre-order sets come with a garb, weapon, and shield.