I'm looking forward especially to the second part of the FFXV "Epic", where Nomura has finally decided, after the commercial success of the first game, and the stronger position he has attained, to finally pursue his secret desire to make a musical out of FFXV. FFXV-2: Les Miserables (tentative title) will be something unforgettably fresh from the man, and it help soothe his weary soul as he dually struggles to get Kingdom Hearts III properly off the runway.
Shimomura's soundtrack is definitely something for me to look forward to. Whether or not she actually did most of the work for Xenoblade's OST (there has been a small debate about this), going through the sample tracks that we have heard of - ever since 2006 - I certainly don't think we're in any choppy waters when it comes to the music whatsoever. Plus, I'd love to hear Somnus being belted out in the context of an in-game "cutscene(?)" that's not in an unvoiced trailer of a PS3 game that no longer exists from a few years ago.
Despite the heavy inspirations and undertones from the Elizabethan playwright's works, I'm not expecting Shakespeare from the story and general writing (hur hur!), but I am optimistic that I will have fewer uhh, annoyances, shall we say, from this than previous games. I think the synopsis so far is rather elegantly straightforward. A nation wants a crystal and will do whatever it can to get them, even if it means catching a victim nation unaware with a bogus peace treaty. I like that. Classic power-hungry, political manoeuvres and hopefully happy backstabbings going around. But Nomura either wants to, or is compelled to by his bosses, to stretch out this tale into an "epic". And I don't know about you, but the Kingdom Hearts overarching story as a whole so far isn't quite an inspiring beacon of storytelling genius.
I think looking at it, I'm particularly excited about the sense of scale and scope that the game will hopefully offer. A world map would be a nice bonus, but I've never genuinely mourned for it. I was very happy with something like FFXII's Ivalice, that compartmentalised the world into maps, but each were large enough to feel grand. I'm eager to see what FFXV's take on this will be, and how it manages to achieve it. FFXIII made me dearly miss getting to know a world at my own pace, looking at its society and idiosyncracies through my own eyes, without having to pretend that I was dually reading a book and watching a film. And it was Xenoblade that solidified to me as to what I really would like in an RPG.
Man, if Alexander O'Smith decides to dominate the localisation team for this game, say no more. I'll be there.