Final Fantasy XIII-3 Hints Explained

The Final Fantasy XIII-2 endings conclude with the message: “To Be Continued…” Immediately most fans who finished the game explained this as Square Enix hinting at Final Fantasy XIII-3!

The game’s director, Motomu Toriyama, was interviewed at the Taipei Game Show 2012 event in China and answered a press question whether or not Final Fantasy XIII-2’s ending leads into a sequel, tentatively called Final Fantasy XIII-3.

Obvious spoiler alert ahead!

To quote Mr. Toriyama’s answer: “There are a number of reasons the team displayed the message at the end of the game.
Reason 1. One is that the game has a number of Paradox Endings hidden away, and the team want players to first look for all these endings.
Reason 2. Another reason is that Final Fantasy XIII-2’s world will be extended through downloadable content, meaning players can expect a long play experience. The team plan on continually releasing download content.

For Final Fantasy XIII-2, downloadable content is continuing to be developed, so until the downloadable content ends I hope to continue working on the game. Note that Lightning and Amodar are being added to the game’s Coliseum Battle mode in upcoming DLC. Separate from this, we’re also preparing a large Lightning Episode.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC Lightning Coliseum Battle Screenshot

In the past the game’s producer Yoshinori Kitase made a similar statement in the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Ultimania guide, where he hinted that the game would also see Episodes for Snow and Sazh. However, he wasn’t specific if those Episodes would be download content, and even mentions it’s possible they’ll be released as novels and other media…

Or, you know, if their ideas are big enough maybe we’ll see another XIII sequel outside of Versus!

Here’s the “To Be Continued” sequence video:

Update July 6th: The July 2012 issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu has an interview with Final Fantasy XIII and XIII-2 director Motomu Toriyama, in which he hints at Final Fantasy XIII-3. To quote him: “The [FF XIII-2] Lightning download content had an ending that left a feeling of mystery and hope. The day when the meaning of this will come to light is not too far off.”

Translation from Japanese by Andriasang, video by XCV.

What would you like to see, XIII-2 DLC Episodes or a full-on XIII-3?