SoA release trailer...

[Sotek]

You know what this trailer is lacking? Final Fantasy tropes. None of the new mobs are particularly memorable from past titles (unlike ToAU which was built off such mobs). There's no sign of any avatars anywhere (and at this point there shouldn't really be any new avatars anyway). No particularly interesting landmarks. Even the new jobs aren't particularly well displayed in the trailer (though I don't care to see them in trailers since SCH looked good in trailers but was utter trash, release them on the test server instead). "XI is getting actual new zones" is pretty much the peak of excitement for this trailer.

Seriously, from a design aspect it's no different from any of the trailers, go back and watch them. The only thing this trailer is really lacking is any connection to the rest of the franchise. RotZ had all the basic avatars, the Crystal Warriors and even drop Gilgamesh in there (though that didn't end well). CoP had a strong connection to RotZ, Diabolos and Brohamut. ToAU had no real connection to anything, but plenty of classic Final Fantasy monster and Odin right at the end. WotG had a strong connection to XIs lore, plenty of classic mobs (Sandworm anyone?) and Atomos and Cait Sith. In comparison SoA has... Nothing...

Not saying that's bad, just makes it hard to get excited over.

[Yrusama]

The only thing this trailer is really lacking is any connection to the rest of the franchise.

Just looked at the website. There's mention of a "Big Bridge", a nod to FFV, but Gilgamesh is already in the game. I wonder if he'll go to Adoulin and "have a moment", if that makes sense.

SE isn't really running out of things it can pull from previous games to XI. Technically Rune Fencer is a nod to Rune Knight (Celes Chere from VI, Dycedarg from Tactics) and GEO is... well... old school . Besides those, only the Matamata reminds me of some of the older versions of Adamantoise.

As a player of both XI and XIV I can tell you this: Yoshida is certainly making a much bigger effort to draw from previous games. On one hand it gets my fanboy heart pounding, while on the other hand I'm worried that the things that make XIV unique will be buried under the fan service.

It's a bit better than what XI has done for a long time, though. Either they recycled old content/characters (ACP/MKD/ASA), or slap a Moogle/Chocobo/Goblin on a filler mini-game (Maze Mongers, Magian trials) and pretend we're satisfied. I hope this new expansion will bring back that sense of wonder I'd lost with Abyssea and Voidwatch. And I definitely hope we see something to connect it to the mainlands story. It's a bit geocentric to believe that ALL of the main stuff happens in the middlelands.