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Wow, did you see that new Final Fantasy XV gameplay? If you didn't, I suggest that you go ahead and give it a watch through here, otherwise this particular soapbox won't hold much weight. Doesn't look too shabby, does it? Even editor Sammy Barker seems reasonably impressed by it, and we all know that he usually hates anything that doesn't feature cheap pop music.

I have to say, though, that I'm not of the mindset that Final Fantasy XV's newest gameplay clip makes it look like the best game ever made – far from it, in fact. The fresh footage still looks unfinished – which makes sense, seeing as it's taken from last year's build – and there are elements of it that don't look great. The implementation of stealth, for example, is something that I'm pretty sure no one asked for in their Final Fantasy title, and the indoors environment looks like a big empty warehouse that gets used for conventions – except there are no conventions, only robots. It's certainly not the best level design I've ever seen, put it that way.

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I'm not convinced that it'll be Game of the Year 2016 based on what we've seen, then, but there's no escaping the fact that I'm reasonably excited for Final Fantasy XV again. Why? Because for the first time in about a decade, it looks like a real game – a tangible, playable, realised game. Not CG concept footage, not a wonky demo that comes with Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, but an actual game that looks like it might release this year.

Okay, so "it actually looks like a game" generally isn't the best reason to get excited, but you have to understand that I've been following Final Fantasy XV for all of my adult life. Aside from being a horrible realisation, that truth nugget allows me to find a strange appreciation in that the journey is almost over. Or maybe it's relief. Either way, I'm sure that a lot of you reading this are in the exact same spot.

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I think to some extent, I'm just happy that we'll all be able to move on once this bloody game releases. To put this into context, I'd like to share some official Push Square statistics with you lot. Back on the 16th April 2009, Sammy wrote this site's first ever story on a certain title called Final Fantasy Versus XIII. We went on to write 34 more articles about Final Fantasy Versus XIII over the course of four years. After that, the project was renamed Final Fantasy XV, and to date, we've written a staggering 95 articles about it. In total, that means we've penned 130 articles based upon Square Enix's upcoming game, and that's ridiculous.

In a way, it feels weird to be writing this very Soapbox. A few years ago I was fairly convinced that, as it was called back then, Versus XIII would never see the light of day. I suppose I was right to some degree, but to think that we're getting a new mainline Final Fantasy title at some point within the next 11 months conjures an old kind of excitement – the same excitement that I last felt when I was anxiously waiting for Final Fantasy XII to launch in Europe.

At this point, I just hope that the game lives up to its now legendary name, because if it doesn't, we'll probably still be reading and writing articles about it well into 2017, only this time, they'll describe how Final Fantasy XV was one of the the biggest flops in gaming history. That's a glimpse into a potentially grim future, but right now, I'm somewhat enthusiastic about Noctis and the gang's adventure for the first time in what seems like an eternity, and that's something worthy of mild celebration.

Are you excited for Final Fantasy XV, or are you weary of these immaculately dressed pretty boys? Tell us all about how you've changed over the last ten years in the comments section below.