Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII days

The progression of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is divided in days. A day lasts 24 in-game hours, an hour and twelve minutes in real time, although the time stands still in battles and menus, during cut-scenes and while in the Ark). Depending on the day and time of the day, different events may happen: shops and venues may have opening times, some people are around only on certain days, Chaos infusions appear at certain times, and storyline bosses' stats and form may change the later the player battles them in the game. Also when arriving at the Ark, the end of each day may include a cutscene in the Ark.

Day 1
Lightning is awakened by Bhunivelze from her crystal sleep and tasked with the mission of savior. She arrives at Yusnaan with task of comforting Snow and leading his soul with the world. Unable to do so, she retreats to Ark.

Later, she teleports to Luxerion and stumbles upon a recent mystery of murdering young pink-haired women. She decides to investigate the case.

From this day, the bosses for Luxerion, Yusnaan, and Dead Dunes are: Noel Kreiss, Snow Villiers, and Grendel, respectively.

Day 2
At the start of the second day, a garb, a weapon, and a shield appear in the Ark.

Day 3
At the start of the third day, a treasure cube with Raise EP ability appears in the Ark.

Day 4
At the start of the fourth day, treasure cubes with White Mage and Black Mage garbs appear in the Ark.

Day 5
At the start of the fifth day, a treasure cube with the Esunada EP ability appears in the Ark.

Day 6
At the start of the sixth day, a treasure cube with five pieces of an ability upgrade material appears in the Ark.

From the sixth day, Snow is more powerful than during the five previous days and is encountered under the name "Snow Villiers+". From the sixth day, all monsters' stats will increase, as well as every day from this one. It will also cause all ability drops to increase by one level, for example, Attack level 1 from a Rafflesia on Day 5 will become Attack level 2 from Day 6. This can make for a troublesome problem if one intends to farm monsters for specific ability level drops to enhance through sorcery, but has already exterminated a particular species on that playthrough.

Day 7
From the seventh day, Noel is more powerful than during the six previous days and is encountered under the name "Noel Kreiss+".

Day 8
At the start of the eighth day, a treasure cube with Army of One EP ability appears in the Ark.

Day 9
At the start of the ninth day, a treasure cube with the Heartstealer garb appears in the Ark.

Day 10
At the start of the tenth day, a treasure cube with Decoy EP ability appears in the Ark. From day 10, all monster ability drops will increase by one level rank. Meaning for a standard Normal difficulty play through, all abilities obtained from enemies will become level 3, except for monsters slain in a Chaos infusion. This can raise problems, as it is likely by this stage the player will have eliminated certain species of enemies from Nova Chrysalia, making it impossible to improve some abilities any further through sorcery.

Day 11
At the start of the eleventh day, a treasure cube with the Fatal Monk garb appears in the Ark.

From the eleventh day, Snow is even more powerful that during the five previous days and is encountered under the name "Snow Villiers++". When he absorbs the Chaos infusion he already becomes shirtless.

Day 12
At the start of the twelfth day, a treasure cube with Quake EP ability appears in the Ark.

Day 13
The player must have completed the five main quests to allow the story to progress beyond the twelfth day.

At the start of the thirteenth day, a treasure cube with graded up Equilibrium, Dark Muse, and Misty Wizard appears in the Ark. On this day, a secret dungeon opens up filled with Last Ones and a Cie'th superboss. If the player does not complete fifty quests or more, the events of the fourteenth day will take place on the thirteenth, and the secret dungeon does not open. There is a hidden calculation the game uses to determine if enough quests are completed to unlock the secret day: One star quests are given a value of 0.02, two star quests are given a value of 0.04 and three star quests are given a value of 0.06. If the value of all completed quests is greater than 1, the secret day occurs. Canvas of Prayers quests do not contribute to this value.

Day 14
At the start of the fourteenth day, a treasure cube with five pieces of an ability upgrade material appears in the Ark.

The fourteenth day is Nova Chrysalia's final day. On the evening Vanille is to perform a ritual meant to remove the souls of the dead from memories giving people blank start into the new world. Lightning and her companions stop the ritual, but her friends are absorbed by Bhunivelze. Lightning decides to fight the god to cut divine ties of the divine plane with the human plane, and together with her friends and sister slays the god. Lightning and her companions arrive to a new world.