I always thought it was a little weird that despite the fact that Lightning Farron, Final Fantasy XIII's pink-haired protagonist, was all over Final Fantasy XIII-2's box art and marketing, the lady stoic had little presence in the game itself, leaving the adventuring to her sister (and former main quest MacGuffin) Serrah and newcomer Noel. And though Serrah and Noel's escapades were much improved overall from Lightning and crew's, it came across as a bit of a weird point nonetheless.

Now it seems that Square Enix are about to rectify that oversight with the first ever direct three-quel in Final Fantasy history. Sadly for fans of consistent naming schemes, they're calling it Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII instead of Final Fantasy XIII-3, but hey, you get what you get. Who knows, this could really be a side story, with XIII-3 planned for the future.

In any case, they do intend for this game to be the end of Lightning's saga. The story will center around a place called Novus Partus, and a thirteen-day time limit Lightning has in which to save the world. The staff promises more customization, and more action-oriented controls and alterations to the battle system.

Check out a bevy of videos from the event below, showing such folks as Director Motomu Toriyama, Art Designer Isamu Kamikokuryou, Producer Yoshinori Kitase, and Designer Yuji Abe talk about the game.

Interested in a third game in the Final Fantasy XIII line? Or are you hoping this comes with some kind of demo for Versus XIII?