There was a time when laughter and mockery ensued at the mere name drop of Final Fantasy XIV. When initially released, gamers were treated to a broken mess of what I think was supposed to be a video game, and as a result, Square-Enix was bombarded with letters of hate, written in blood, because of it. While that last part may not be entirely true, the first part is: Final Fantasy XIV of 2010 was a terrible monstrosity of a game. Square certainly recognized this, and in time, the game’s development team underwent a drastic reshuffling. Gone was the previous director, and in his place was the game’s new head man and savior, Naoki Yoshida, also known as Yoshi-P to those who rabidly follow the game and its community. Upon arrival, Yoshi-P promised to resuscitate the title, stating that it would be much different under his tutelage. He wasn’t kidding.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a vastly different game than its predecessor. (Even that might be an understatement.) Because of this, it’s been garnering high praise from fans and critics alike over the past few months. As we inch closer to the game going live, more and more footage is leaking out from the alpha testing which is currently taking place. The latest media to hit the interwebs comes to us in the form of a jaw-droppingly fantastic trailer of one of the game’s new dungeons. I’ll spare you anymore words and just let you get on with the viewing. Before I do that though, let me quickly add that if you have ever considered yourself a fan of MMOs, or have been waiting for the right one to start with, or have been waiting for XIV to become the game it should have been two years ago, then this may be the time to get on the band wagon.

A Realm Reborn’s beta commences in February. Be on the lookout for it.