Final Fantasy 17's Turn-Based Debate Misses the Forest for…

Square Enix hasn't so much as confirmed that Final Fantasy 17 is in development, and fans are already feverishly speculating what the next mainline entry in the series will be like. It's easy to see why, as the JRPG genre got a serious shot in the arm this year with the phenomenal Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and its near-universal acclaim and success seemingly run counter to the mixed fan reception to the modernity espoused by Final Fantasy 16. In particular, RPG fans seem to be honing in on Clair Obscur's use of turn-based combat as the biggest lesson the title has to impart on Final Fantasy 17, but that debate arguably misses the bigger issues that the Final Fantasy series has faced in the modern era.

Long before Final Fantasy 16, the Final Fantasy series had slowly but surely started to drift away from the staples that longtime fans had come to expect, and with the exception of the hugely successful Final Fantasy 14, the franchise has experienced diminishing returns as a result. Rather than focusing on whether the next mainline Final Fantasy should be turn-based, the bigger issues at play are the problems brought about by the series' emphasis on spectacle and removal of the RPG systems and mechanics that make each entry 'feel' like a Final Fantasy. Even if Final Fantasy 17 features real-time combat similar to its predecessor, it'll still be an improvement to see it learn from Clair Obscur in other, more important ways.

Final Fantasy 17: The Argument For and Against a Return to Turn-Based Combat

Final Fantasy 17 could take a major combat turn; both action and turn-based gameplay have strong cases.

Posts

By Jervon Perkins

Regardless of What Combat Looks Like, Final Fantasy 17 Needs to Fix the Series' Pacing Problem

The biggest problem that the Final Fantasy series has faced since Final Fantasy 13 is each entry's struggle to maintain solid pacing. Final Fantasy 13 starts as an extremely linear experience for two-thirds of the game, but then shifts to an open world in its final act once players make it to Gran Pulse. Final Fantasy 15 gave players a vast open world, but its cohesion and impact of larger narrative beats suffered as a result.

The Final Fantasy franchise's big-budget spectacle is at least partly to blame. Final Fantasy games cost significantly more to produce than just about any other AAA RPG series, which puts pressure on the developers at Square Enix to deliver visually stunning spectacles. In contrast, Sandfall Interactive was able to produce a cohesive and impressive experience in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 at a fraction of Final Fantasy's typical budget, and it did so while maintaining even pacing that balanced bigger story beats with intimate character moments.

Clair Obscur's RPG Systems, Party Management, and Character Development Should Influence Final Fantasy 17 More Than Its Combat

If Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has anything to impart on Square Enix for the development of Final Fantasy 17, combat is only one of the lessons, and perhaps its least pertinent. Instead, what Final Fantasy 17 should focus on cribbing from Clair Obscur is how the game implements smart and engaging RPG systems, party management, and regularly zooming in the lens to show how the game's characters interact and grow together in the context of the game's world. Even if Final Fantasy 17 has real-time combat, it can do all these other things and more to feel more like a traditional JRPG.

Coincidentally, Square Enix has already proven it can balance modernity and tradition with one of its own games: Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. If there's a perfect poster child for how a real-time combat model can strike a middle-ground between action and a traditional turn-based RPG, it's arguably Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and the next mainline game in the series would do well to use it as a foundation for its interactive elements. Clair Obscur can and should be a paradigm-shifting game, but that doesn't mean Final Fantasy 17 should borrow its combat wholesale while letting other, more important elements fall by the wayside.

Image