Whether something to be cherished or scorned, Nomura changed Final Fantasy forever. Personally, I don't know what it is, but something is making me a little timid or fearful of how this will turn out. I've usually been the first to defend anything SE does, but for the first time, I'm only tentatively anxious. Quite possibly it's because I've seen so much of Nomura's work, and it all seems to be the same, so it kind of feels like FFXIII's just going to be a rehash of everything he's done so far. It's really early to say that, but I can't let go of it. I really was hoping FFXIII would be as much a revamp of the series as FFVII was, but it doesn't look to be that way. Obviously it's going to be huge and beautiful, but...will it blow my mind...I can only hope.
OFF-TOPIC: I'm anxious to see what the next fresh upstart's going to produce. So far there's been 3 main character designers involved in the series, Amano, Nomura, and Yoshida, each with very different stylistic qualities. I still think Amano's work could be explored more, and Yoshida has barely broken into the main FF series(he also worked on Tactics, Ogre and FF, the FFIII remake, the gorgeous Vagrant Story, and the upcoming FFT) so his work can be explored too. I just wonder what the next artist will bring to the table. Amano is just an artistic genius. His characters are ethereal and are hard to translate into game characters, which I think is one of the main reasons Nomura has become the dominate artist. Nomura brought a futuristic Toriyama-esque feel to the games that translated into the actual characters rather easily. Yoshida now brings a grittier, more tangible and realistic feel to the characters, which is evidenced in FFXII(he's also got a butt fetish). So will we see anything new, or is FF destined to fade into cookie-cutter Nomura games, sputtering out its life with mediocre games and characters? Maybe there's more to Nomura than meets the eye, and if not hopefully square will continue to bring in fresh meat to revamp the series.

I don't have anything wrong with the Lightning name itself. If he follows through with the symbolism, Lightning will be a very dynamic and altogether un-emo character, which I assume we'll all agree is a nice change. The "She has been chosen to bring an end to the world." is intriguing despite its possibly stereotypical plot. At least it's a departure from the norm to an extent. A true antihero would be great.

Personal rant: I am kind of sick of Nomura and the sides of buildings. Repelling, wall-walking...it's just not fun anymore.