 The music for the 2013 action role @-@ playing game Lightning Returns : Final Fantasy XIII , developed and published by Square Enix , was composed by Masashi Hamauzu , Naoshi Mizuta , and Mitsuto Suzuki . Hamauzu was the leader composer for XIII and XIII @-@ 2 , and Mizuta and Suzuki previously composed music for XIII @-@ 2 . Musicians who had previously worked with the composers on XIII @-@ 2 and The 3rd Birthday worked on the project in Japan , while the main soundtrack was performed and recorded in Boston by the Video Game Orchestra , conducted by Shota Nakama . Along with including more percussion and ethnic elements , the soundtrack used " Blinded by Light " , the main theme for main character Lightning , as a leitmotif . Unlike the previous XIII games , the soundtrack did not include a theme song , as the composers felt it would detract from the emotional impact of the ending . 
