(click here to watch after the jump)

There was a countdown timer on Square’s website for awhile, and everyone was wondering what it was for. Final Fantasy XIV announced? New Kingdom Hearts sequel? FF XIII for the Wii??? I’m sorry, that last one is just too laughable to even think about.

And no, it was none of the above, but what we did get was a brand new trailer featuring a surprising amount of gameplay footage and an unusually large amount of machine gun fire for a game series based mostly on magic mechanical swords. I also realized for the first time that protagonist is indeed a girl, after speculating for a while that Square was just taking male androgyny to an entirely new level.

Even though it feels like it’s coming out next century, FFXIII is looking like it’s going to be more than worth the wait, that is if you can avoid dying from seizures while playing.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6lgxjDqVYU