“In the global market we see many players moving away from games that used turn-based systems toward what you might term an action-RPG,\u201d he said, \u201cThat’s a trend, and you ignore things like that at your peril.”<\/p>\n
He notes things like how Final Fantasy 13\u2019s revamped battle system was built around action and speed \u2013 which he describes as \u201ckeywords for [the team]\u201d \u2013 but it\u2019s not something that will necessarily stick.<\/p>\n
Final Fantasy 13 was an entirely new direction for Square-Enix \u2013 and despite the linear story and closed-world, it did well enough as a stand-alone RPG \u2013 but a lot of fans felt it didn\u2019t feel like a Final Fantasy game.<\/p>\n
On one hand, new developments and new directions means that the brand is growing and not stagnating \u2013 but will that come at the cost of things that made the franchise so popular to begin with?<\/p>\n
According to Kitase, the future direction of the franchise is \u201c something only time can tell.”<\/p>\n
Perhaps Final Fantasy versus 13 will shed some light on what Squenix can do with the franchise – provided that game ever sees the light of day.<\/p>\n
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