The recent resurgence of turn-based combat games like Baldur’s Gate 3, Metaphor: ReFantazio andClair Obscur: Expedition 33has people wondering whether Square Enix will consider a return to a turn-based combat system for futureFinal Fantasygames.
Final Fantasy has had a long history, emplyoing a diverse range of combat systems over the years. However, the series began with a pure turn-based system, before switching to an active time battle (ATB) system in Final Fantasy 4. Since then, the series has been gradually moving towards more dynamic combat, except Final Fantasy 10, which was also purely turn-based.
There’s More To Gameplay Than Combat
Recently, in an interview withAnimeNewsNetwork, Final Fantasy producer Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida was asked whether the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, itself inspired by Final Fantasy, has influenced the combat system of future mainline Final Fantasy games, i.e. Final Fantasy 17.
Yoshi-P was diplomatic, saying, “The question of turn-based versus action, it tends to isolate gameplay to just the battle system. That doesn’t take into account what kind of game creators want to deliver to players. For example, based on a certain graphical quality we want to present to our players, or the narrative we want to deliver to our players, it relates to how we set up the game’s systems around it.”
The Final Fantasy 14 director said he can’t give a clear answer because the question is more nuanced than a game simply being turn-based or not.
“This includes the battle system, game design, and gameplay feel. It’s not a clear-cut answer, whether it will become all turn-based, or if it’s going to become more action-based. We also don’t want to obstruct or limit our future director or whoever will be producing the games like 17 or even 18. We don’t want to put them on a rail.”
Yoshida says he’s not “necessarily” working on future mainline games, so he doesn’t want to make any assertions on what those games will look like.
A modern turn-based game tends to have some kind of dynamic element, like Expedition 33’s parry system, and fans are eager to see what Square Enix could accomplish within these boundaries.
