Yoshi-P Gets Pressed On Final Fantasy’s Future After Clair Obscur’s Breakout Success

We’re seeing calls already online for Clair Obsucr: Expedition 33 to take home the Game of the Year award. In my opinion, it’s totally warranted. That game was a massive hit and a surprise for so many players worldwide. Those of you who don’t like turn-based games need to give this one a shot. That’s coming from someone who also wasn’t the most keen turn-based RPG player. Its immense success is also likely to prompt developers to reconsider their future projects, such as Square Enix and its take on Final Fantasy 17.

Who knows what the future might hold for some of our most beloved franchises? I’m already waiting with bated breath for what Sandfall Interactive delivers next after the hit Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. For you Final Fantasy fans out there, it’s a waiting game to see what Final Fantasy 17 brings. However, could it turn back to being a turn-based RPG franchise?

That’s the question on a lot of players’ minds right now. It was undoubtedly on the minds of Anime News Network, who had the chance to sit down with Final Fantasy XVI producer, Naoki Yoshida, better known as Yoshi-P. One of the first questions asked was about the incredible success that Sandfall Interactive had with their debut title and if it’s inspiring Square Enix.

More specifically, they asked if this game’s success could persuade Square Enix to bring the next mainline Final Fantasy games back to its roots with turn-based combat. Unfortunately, don’t expect a clear-cut answer here as Yoshi-P is keeping things subtle and noting that there’s more at work in a game than just putting developers on this rail of delivering turn-based combat.

With this question of turn-based versus action, it tends to isolate the gameplay to just the battle system. That doesn’t take into account what kind of game the 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. 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.

[I’m] not necessarily going to be on Final Fantasy 17, so we also don’t want to obstruct or limit our future director or whomever will be producing the games like 17 or even 18. We don’t want to put them on a rail.

So, from what it sounds like, this decision is going to land on the director of future games. The experience they want to deliver will ultimately determine the kind of combat players will get. That also plays a role in other attributes of a game, like how developers might want to tell their narrative. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what the team decides to run with.