Considering that Final Fantasy gave us the interesting worlds of Pulse and Cocoon and the usual rich narrative and over-the-top cutscenes we expect in a Final Fantasy game, but married that to a boring battle system, lame RPG elements, and a frustratingly linear experience that took out much of the freedom to explore that marked previous outings, then I don’t think I’m the only fan of the franchise who’s eager to see if Square Enix can fix the gameplay problems with the newly announced Final Fantasy XIII-2. Only the second direct sequel in the storied history of the franchise, XIII-2 doesn’t come with many more details than the name, but the logo above suggests our battle-armored and feathered heroine Lighting will join or compete with a mysterious female friend or enemy. Since this does have the -2 name too it, let’s perhaps hope that Square doesn’t follow X-2 and give us an off-puttingly girly game filled with dress options and musical performances.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 will arrive for PS3 and Xbox 360 next winter.