There’s a new trailer for Final fantasy XV, aka the game we waited and waited for. How long have we been waiting you ask? Well considering this game was originally called Final Fantasy 13 Versus and was announced back in 2006. . . a pretty long time ago. Since then the game was rebranded as Final Fantasy XV and moved from PS3 to PS4/Xbox One – though is still based in the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology.

So what has been accomplished in these 8+ years? Well – judging from this trailer – everything! From stunning scale to what appears to be the most fluid real time battle system yet, Final Fantasy XV might just be the game that puts the Final Fantasy series back on top in terms of ground breaking mechanics and beauty.

I’ll give you a moment to pick your jaw up the ground. This is quite possibly the best look we’ve gotten at the game thus far – and it’s STILL more development to be done apparently. Either way, here we see a thankfully much larger scale than initially revealed as well as many franchise elements that have been missing from the past few games.

Traversing This Great Land:

When we got out last look at Final Fantasy XV back in 2013, I was worried the entirety of the game would take place in the city. Well as this trailer shows, there is an enormous world out there to see and explore. Better yet, there is even progression of night and day, which will make exploring even more fun. So how will you traverse this land? Hint: Don’t forget your keys.

Whether sprawling deserts or country roads, your stylish car will serve as you most effective means of transport over large distances. This calls to mind the buggy, submarine and airship in Final Fantasy VII. Whether there will be other vehicles to add to your inventory remains to be seen; but I wouldn’t be surprised.

Another optional method of transport is the sword teleportation we learned of back in 2013. We’ll need to learn more before we can figure out how this mechanic works; but it seems to be usable both in battle and in some puzzle solving capabilities. Again, we can’t be sure if there are specific points that can allow this ability or if it can be free aimed; but either way it is a very impressive and fluid feature.

Monsters Large & Small:

Between tiny gremlins – cobalts?, medium soldiers and large bison-like animals, Final Fantasy XV has no shortage of enemies to fight against. Though even more impressive has to be the MASSIVE whatever-the-heck-that-is monster we saw in the opening sequence. In one of the initial trailers we saw a massive Leviathan monster. Could these be the same class of monsters or even eventual summons/eidolons? Considering the massive crystal structures and some talk that the Leviathan was the guardian of the city, possibly.

Real Time Combat:

 

To be fair, this isn’t Final Fantasy’s first foray into a Real Time Combat system; but it does seem to be the most advanced attempted yet. The seamless transitions from navigation to battle are astounding for this genre; as well as the apparent ability to dodge while fleeing. Additionally, it seems as though pinpoint targeting actions will play a role in the game as well as providing cover for your 4 party system.

New Direction:

One bit of news that you can’t get from this trailer is that series veteran Tetsuya Nomura will not be working on this game since he will be busy with Kingdom Hearts III. Instead, Hajime Tabata will taking the lead on this one. Personally, I’m sad Nomura won’t be working on this game since he worked on some of my personal favorites (Final Fantasy VIII, Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core, XIII, XII-2); but I am willing to give Tabata a try because this game looks awesome as it is. One man cannot make or break a game. It’s the team that decides that, and after everything we’ve seen in this trailer, this is one very impressive team.

 Final Fantasy XV is labeled as “Still in development” but will be out in March 2015. As the trailer ends, we are left with main character remarking “It’s been a long time coming …. Almost there” – while a very Final Fantasy VII-esque theme plays us out. The character is most likely talking about his personal journey – or whatever the plot will be – but these words are also a good note to leave off on for this trailer. This game HAS been a long time coming – again since 2006 – ; but thankfully we too are “almost there”.

And it’s about time. Do you realize that there will be people playing this game who weren’t even born yet when it was announced . . . . #AwkwardTurtleTonberry