Final Fantasy’s Future Hinges on 4 Pillars

What is a franchise?

In the gaming world, is a franchise defined by its core gameplay mechanics? The characters? A connected story? A shared universe across the games?

Looking at Final Fantasy as a whole, it has traditionally said no to all of the above. Sure, a couple mainline entries have received direct sequels – but if you look at the entire “franchise,” each main entry stands alone, with new characters, new stories, new settings, and often, entirely new gameplay systems.

When given the choice to iterate gradually or evolve radically, FF has often opted for the latter, cultivating a reputation as a franchise that pushes boundaries. In the 80s and 90s, this approach to challenge what came before and never settle kept the series on the precipice of gaming.

But in recent years, what once made FF an innovator in the genre and the wider gaming industry may have turned against the franchise by muddying its identity. Especially in the most recent decade, FF games have divided audiences and made it increasingly difficult to answer a seemingly innocuous question: what even is a Final Fantasy game?

Sure, there are certain common elements like your Chocobos and your Firagas and your Cid Highwinds and your Ifrits, but is that enough? “Final Fantasy games are JRPGs that feature a heroic journey in a fantasy world full of magical creatures like Cactuars, Behemoths, and Leviathans, pitting the player character(s) against potentially world-ending villainous foes.”

Is that all a Final Fantasy is?

Once upon a time, FF games were pixel-art turn-based JRPGs. Nowadays, there’s arguably less and less “RPG” elements in them, and the main entries have long since abandoned the pixelated graphics and turn-based combat. The mainline stories have never been continuous, and while some games have been confirmed to occur in the same universe, the setting can vary greatly from high fantasy to steam/cyberpunk.

I think it’s fair to say that the series’ core thesis centered on “innovation” has at times served the games incredibly well. But it has also undermined its essential sense of identity – especially as the franchise has grown, not just in its number of entries but in the generational and geographic distribution of its audience.

In many ways, Final Fantasy has at least struggled – if not sometimes outright failed – to modernize. Sure, the visuals have gotten incredibly polished and flashy, standing side-by-side with the best AAAs on modern hardware. And sure, games like FFXVI have reviewed incredibly well, pleasing some old fans while bringing in entirely new audiences too with its fast-paced action combat, full of big set piece spectacles.

But even in saying what I just said, “pleasing some old fans while bringing in entirely new audiences too,” you can hear the whispers of where this argument is going next: over time, FF has increasingly fractured and divided its audience. Some players prefer the older style, pixel-art turn-based games, and others never would have fired up their first FF if the series hadn’t leaned increasingly into action gameplay elements.

And that’s making no mention of how clumsily the series has adopted things like open world game design or increasingly fallen behind in how it builds narratively impactful yet fun and engaging side quests.

I’m not here to argue how successful or not the specific elements of FFXII – XVI have been or anything like that, but if you’re at all familiar with the franchise, its development over the past 2 decades, and the breadth of opinions within its fandom, you know where I’m coming from.

And I say all this as a massive fan mind you, eating my own personal bias like a bitter taste of gaming medicine. FFX is my favorite game of all time. Full stop, no questions asked. And FFVII and FFVIIR are not far behind it.

I’ve been meaning to write this article for a long time – since well before FFXVI even released. For one reason or another I’ve put it off, but with the recent Shuhei Yoshida & Naoki Yoshida interview making the rounds, I got the nudge I needed to finally put virtual pen to virtual paper.

(For reference, Yoshida was asked if he would direct Final Fantasy XVII and the sound bites that have been popping up on social media have pointed to the role of the franchise’s veteran developers vs. potential new talent, how the different generations want to pay homage to or iterate on the established FF formula, and the role that real-time vs. turn-based battles could play in the series’ future.)

So: while I have no idea if this is the direction that Square Enix will actually end up taking for Final Fantasy, here are the 4 pillars that I think would serve as a rock-solid foundation for the franchise. Ideally, these pillars would set up the series to meet the demands of all the different slices of its audience, while creating opportunities for both the existing and upcoming talent at Square’s studios to bring their passion to FF projects, continuing to innovate and push those boundaries they’ve always set their ambitious sights on.

4 Pillars of Final Fantasy

1.       AAA, action/hybrid RPGs

2.       Pixel-art, turn-based RPGs

3.       Remakes, remasters, & reimaginings

4.       Spin-offs and side games

AAA, action/hybrid RPGs

Recent entries like FFXV and FFXVI exemplify this pillar. They’re big, exciting, flashy and focus on real-time action and exploring sprawling worlds. And whether you’re an old school fan whose mindset is “these aren’t for me” or even “I love the turn-based roots, but I enjoyed these new games too!” – one thing you can’t deny is that these entries (especially the critically acclaimed XVI) brought in a ton of new fans who had never delved into the series before.

So even if you’d love to see a strict return to the turn-based or even ATB FFs of old, I don’t think that would be the best move for the franchise, at least not in isolation. The point of this 4-pillar structure I’m proposing is to address the many facets of the fandom (which you could call a divided audience on the one hand, or a diversified audience on the other).

Plus, if FF’s identity still hinges on innovation, you need to foster a space for that innovation. Does that mean FFXVII, XVIII and so on need to get bigger and bigger and zero in on all action all the time? No – in fact, I think mainline entries are primed for experimentation with hybrid combat systems a la FFVIIR’s or even the upcoming Metaphor: ReFantazio’s from Atlus.

The point is: I think no matter what, at the end of the day, experimenting with different types of gameplay, art direction, world design, etc. will still play a major role in carving out “what a Final Fantasy is,” and that includes real-time action elements, open world designs, and all the other tenets that go into AAA RPGs.

Pixel-art, turn-based RPGs

If the success of the recent FFI-VI pixel remasters are anything to go by (reportedly 3+ million sales worldwide), it’s not just the grumblings of old gamers and classic FF fans like myself showing that there’s a healthy demand for turn-based FF RPGs.

And while yes, there are still other Square Enix games like Octopath Traveler creating absolutely amazing turn-based, pixel-art experiences, they lack the power of the Final Fantasy brand and identity – especially for reaching mainstream audiences. It goes back to the questions I started this article with: what is a franchise? What is a Final Fantasy?

It’s so much more than just an amalgamation of gameplay mechanics. My favorite FF games, while they do speak to my fervent love of strategic turn-based battles and RPG party management and all that jazz, they also ground the experience with core narrative tenets and highly memorable characters that come together in these moments that become memories for a lifetime.

What I’d love to see are new “modern classic” FFs that answer fan demands for turn-based, foundationally RPG-centric experiences that take us on new journeys that only FF worlds, stories, and characters can create.

And while I’d love to see these turn-based experiences return to pixel art styles (either 2D or HD-2D/2.5D), they don’t even all have to go that route. I’m even thinking of what Dragon Quest XI S did with a pixel art version/option that ran alongside the more modern visual art style. Basically, my point here again is: experimentation. Pushing boundaries. Inviting developer passion – all the ingredients to make heartfelt, creative, and engaging new games.

Remakes, remasters, & reimaginings

Square has been doing remakes/remasters of their games – including in the FF franchise – since before it was even the popular thing to do. But of course, I’ve already mentioned their recent history with the pixel remasters and the massive elephant in the room: FFVII Remake. And at the time of writing, we’re just weeks away from the next entry with FFVII Rebirth.

Final Fantasy still has an entire catalogue of games to pull from for remasters or full remakes or even reimaginings like the FFVII remake trilogy. I could simply say “FF Tactics” and walk away – job done. People would clamor for any sort of re-release of a game like that.

But while I’m at it, why don’t I stir the pot a little more and drop another massive name: Final Fantasy IX. Whether pixel art or modern graphical style, any sort of FFIX remake would absolutely obliterate social media timelines – and I’m talking about a pretty faithful remake, no need to go massive in scope and redirect the whole thing like they’ve done with FFVIIR, which is less remake and more sequel to the entire VII compilation.

And while I’m on the subject, the Memoria Project is a thing that exists. It’s a fan-made FFIX remake conceptual project and if you’ve never heard of it, I highly, highly recommend checking it out for yourself. It’s absolutely gorgeous.

And you know what, Square? Yeah, I’m talking to you now. Why not leverage your community, and work with these passionate, creative people who have already donated their time to something like the Memoria Project?

While I don’t know what the logistics or legality or whatnot of crowdsourcing a project like that would entail, a girl can certainly dream. And tangents aside, my point here is pretty well made: the appetite for remasters, remakes, etc. is strong – and only getting stronger.

Spin-offs and side games

I won’t spend too much time on this, but of course there will always be a place for smaller games, side titles and spin-offs in the FF franchise. And no, I’m not even talking about things like FFX-2 (or dare I say it, X-3), nor am I trying to categorize the MMOs (XI and XIV) out of the mainline FFs. Especially with the popular, critical, and financial success of FFXIV, I’d put that and any future MMO release squarely in the AAA, mainline pillar.

Rather, this pillar is for all of the spin-off games and franchises like your World of Final Fantasy’s or your Theatrhythm’s or your Chocobo GP’s or even your Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin type games. From Crystal Chronicles to Dissidia and beyond, FF has no shortage of side series to pull from within their IP.

And whether you like it or not, this pillar does and will continue to include: the mobile games. Dun dun DUNNNNN.

Jokes aside, the mobile gaming market is massive. And while the business practices (MTX, gatcha, etc.) aren’t the greatest things we core gamers like to talk about, mobile games reach huge global audiences and can sustain a large source of revenue for developers/publishers.

So while I would like to see less predatory business practices and less copy n’ paste mobile game churn, I do believe that games like Brave Exvius/War of the Visions and whatnot can, will, and should still play some sort of role in the franchise’s future.

But enough of that – let’s bring all this to a conclusion.

Final Thoughts

Going back to the question from the beginning: what is FF as a franchise? Is it pixel art, turn-based RPGs? Is it AAA action games? Is it high fantasy? Is it steampunk? Is it a single hero’s journey, or the adventure of a rag-tag group characters who complement each other’s skills and personalities? Is the franchise connected by iconic creatures and monsters, recurring characters and summons, stellar original music and spectacular set piece battles? Is there a shared universe or a set of underlying narrative themes that ties the games together?

The answer is: all of the above, and more. Can it tick every single one of these boxes all at once in each successive entry? No. But can it strive to create a diverse portfolio of games that encapsulates all these elements across the breadth of an ever-expanding, ever-evolving franchise that pushes all boundaries of narrative and gameplay design – not just those of graphical fidelity or high-octane combat?

Yes, I truly believe so.

But it’s up to Square to figure out how to reach this future. They need to find the right mix between what the “old guard” of FF directors and developers still have to offer, while also inviting in new talent and perspectives with the creative freedom to breathe new life into the series in perhaps unexpected ways.

And it’s not just the creatives, but the line of business minds that need to reassess how the franchise is managed as an intellectual property and financial asset. Not just for Final Fantasy, but for pretty much all games – especially in the AAA space – it’s time to adjust budgets and ROI projections. Game development costs are getting out of hand, all while macroeconomic conditions are shrinking players’ spending money the world over.

But I’m no Wall Street brain trust or even a game developer. I can’t prescribe any quick fixes that will prevent headlines like, “FFXVI sells 3 million copies, financial flop for Square Enix,” from ever happening again.

But I do think diversifying the portfolio of FF games will achieve a lot of goals: Appealing to more slices of the audience. Capitalizing on nostalgia while also creating new fans who’ve never touched an FF. Attracting new developer talent and inviting passion to drive the games’ direction. Mixing in some smaller budget titles that don’t take as much time or capital to make. Sustaining a more regular cadence of hype releases.

I’ll end things on a personal note. Almost exactly 6 years ago, I wrote one of my first big – and to this day still most personally impactful – video game articles. It was called, “The State of Turn-Based RPGs and the Future of Final Fantasy.”

At the time, we were still fresh off the heels of FFXV and were waiting for details about how combat would work in the then-upcoming FFVIIR (side note: I low key successfully predicted the move to hybrid combat in a major FF game).

And while the end of that article ultimately posed the question of whether turn-based combat could still return to the franchise, it left the answer fairly open. In the years since, I’ve increasingly considered something like this 4-pillar system I’ve proposed here.

But at the end of the day, I’m still just that same fan who loves Final Fantasy and turn-based games, but also loves a lot of the new experiences the franchise has created by refusing to settle into one concrete mold. I want to see the series succeed, and so in regards to pushing new boundaries and growing the games’ reach, I’ll wrap things up by repeating what I said in January of 2018:

“It can be done, Square. I have faith in you.”