Why Final Fantasy Can't be Turn-Based Anymore

Since this video decided to take off recently, i need to note. I adore turn based combat. I love it in Final Fantasy and in many of the games i highlighted here. This video is meant to speak on why the Devs have not gone that direction in a very long time. If they ever want to try Turn based again ill be there day 1. But when you are telling a story this grand. in this visual fidelity. Action combat is better suited to flow from cutscene to gameplay. You really need to imagine the cutscene before the Eikon battles where massive set pieces are going on and Clive is being grabbed by Garuda, to then transition into stationary turn based combat? it defeats the entire vision and impact. It would not land and deflate the entire sequence. Again that's not to say it couldn't work in other games. Its not not meant for what FF currently is striving for. Lastly saying the Devs are doing it only because its popular is insane. give the people some credit for achieving their vision with a hellish Dev cycle this time. Its cool

It Can and It SHould be Turn Based lol wtf is this Video? Divinity Original Sin 2 is now more famous than any recent FF game. Hack and Slash killed the FF games becasue there is too much competition on that genre. Turn Based games was FF Domain.

I refuse to believe they have to switch to action based combat.

Lmao persona proves you wrong

I would pay $10,000 to play a FFVII REMAKE with a turn based combat system

Final Fantasy getting rid of turn based gameplay is why I've migrated to games like the Octopath Traveler series.

Still doesn’t explain why FF16 sucks

baldurs gate 3 is turn based.

I feel like gamers and devs lost track of style and original/unique game experiences. The PBR open world movie like action experience looks to me like adding extra sugar or salt to make something taste better. It can be definitely cool but there is more details to what makes something fun. I'm happy that it looks at least to me that we are having some creativity surge again. Some crazy fun games released this years that are everything but following the movie like formula and many among then are turn based rpg games .The main issue with turn based games nowdays IMO is as fun and good as it may be its not streaming friendly and gaming nowdays relys alot on it.

I love the combat system in FF13/FF13-2 and I honestly think it is one of my favorite in all of gaming. It was a hybrid between turnbased and real-time action and I think they nailed it. The earlier sections were easy but that was to ease players into it, however as you keep playing it becomes very complex yet intuitive. There's a lot of strategy to it and because you have to think and act somewhat fast each encounter was engaging.

'It hasn't been done yet', it was done by the time this video came out a year ago (Yakuza 7 for example), and has been done again with Baldur's Gate 3. A CRPG with turn based combat despite it's 'realistic' graphics is not only more succesful than a main entry in the FF series but it's also one of the best games in a year full of incredible titles.

I find this whole notion to be ridiculous, to close ourselves in a box of what games can be a certain genre because of their graphics...

As reading through the comments of the video there are a lot of people whining about how final fantasy should go back to turn based. I personally believe that square enix isn't making turn based final fantasys because they already have lots of different IPs (Dragon Quest, Octopath) with turn based and dont want to be known as the turn based guys.

We can all agree that turn based is not as visually striking as action combat (I know Persona 5 did it but that doesn't automatically mean that that it is perfect) with spectacles such as the fight against Bahamut in FFXVI.

Even if Final Fantasy never returns to turn based just remember that there are still so many great games that have been out for years that are turn based and every single previously released turn based Final Fantasy is already avalable for you to play again

And then Baldurs Gate 3 was released and proved Yoshi.P wrong

Thumbs up if you wish FF was turn based still.

I'm all for not turn based JRPGS it legit ruins the fun of a very good game by being turn based

I like both turn-based and action-based.

pokemons success and existence nullifies your video

In a nutshell I'm STRONGLY of the opinion that the reason we are not seeing turn based FF and KH games is simply because Uematsu doesn't like them.

ATB system FF7 Remake implemented is the happy medium for me

I can't stand turn based combat. So ff15 and up will really be the only ones that ill be playing.

With the leak of ff9 and 10 itll suck if they make them arpgs

never liked the turn based,standing in a row battle system,to my mind its the only genre like this.....and i mean whats the point,you dont line up in a fight and politely take your turn to attack,at least in say x-com style games you get to hide behind objects,i for 1 am glad they changed the formula

Moronic

I hate turn based its boring watching characters do action instead of controlling the action with action combat

Active Time Battle shouldn't be called turn based... There are no turns!

They're kind of misleading final fantasy 7 remake sold 5 million copies on brand recognition not because of his combat and a lot of people stated that FFR was super easy. Like pokémon final fantasy is very well known

People forgot Yakuza like a dragon it's the most realistic turn base game so there is no excuse

Yakuza like a dragon My favorite turn-based game My favorite turn-based game

I'm just glad FF16 isn't a shitty souls like I hate the stamina bar

While square enix abandons turn base I'm going to continue playing pokémon in persona and the Legends of heroes

What bothers me the most is when someone says turn based is dead, unrealistic or boring as fxxk. Well I could say the same with action combat.. spamming and mashing buttons or flicking the enemy into the air and attacking him for 5 plus seconds is pretty unrealistic in my opinion. But hey everyone enjoys different things, kids these days aren't smart enough or have the attention spam to sit and think how to beat a boss encounter with turn base.

Also action rpgs are repetitive mainly due to scaling levels. The gameplay never gets more challenging or different because enemies seem to scale to you find yourself doing the same thing, like youre just doing 1000 damage rather than 100. But your still doing the same exact thing. This is diablos biggest enemie and any game like diablo. You do the saaaaaaaame thing allllllll game.

Nah final fantasy cant be action rpg games. It works for Skyrim, Borderlands, fallout, elden ring etc. because you control one character and the game focus on you being the one character and to loot and explore the world in first person. Turn based rpg allows you to control as many party members as you like. Its the foundation of D&D which is the oldest turn based rpg game that still grows more popular everyday. Ff7 remake gameplay is a perfect example of why new final fantasys gamellay is "annoying" having to switch characters cause barret has a gun for range. Its not hard or action packed. Its just annoying. Sure final fantasy turn based games had range and close attacks but it was stil confined in a clever way to turn based rpg. It challenge devs to design new turn base systems and explore different puzzle styles of combat. Allowing you to enjoyng easier gameplay and turn the atb to active and up the speed for more of a challenge. Its sad final fantasy 7 is my all time favorite final fantasy but cant even finish the first reactor mission because its not fun. I didnt die, its easy to beat but its boring. Its hard to exllain but it just doesnt fit with final fantasy. Having job systems, junction systems, materia, gambits systems. It fit and was fun and still felt like final fantasy. Now it just feels like any other action game out there. Why even show numbers? Just show a health bar. Numbers dont matter anymore in action rpg. It all happens too fast and not enjoyable. I know that going to be an unpopular opinion.

It could be turn based still.
Square could make 2 series
Final fantasy, still turn based.

And their action rpg crap could have another name instead of soiling final fantasy

If i want ro play a action jrpg i dont play final fantasy, i play the much better tales of series

This yoshi p tslikng about realism in a final fantasy game shows how much he misses the point

It all went south when sakaguchi left.

If final fantasy 7 remake would have been what fans had wished for, it would have sold 10x more

"our game will be realistic so it cant be turn based"

combat in the background is a guy doing flips and shit

makes sense /s

If FF games returned to turn based combat then I would be way more likely to try them out.

Glad newer players can get i to final fantasy, while I have zero desire to play action rpgs, (carpel tunnel is brutal with too much movement) ill just move on to replaying the old titles or playing dq till they ruin it

Modern final fantasy games are dead, the older titles are better. I'm glad we have great turn based games like persona etc.

This is 2023. We don’t turn base anymore bruh. What are u? Living in ancient times? 🤣

There's nothing "notable" about the Pokemon franchise other than it's popularity being utterly perplexing. I could say the same thing about games like Minecraft as well. Sold a bunch of copies (for some reason) and people like me just shrug my shoulders wondering what the appeal is...

I predict that if FF XVI sales fall short and the next Persona game, assuming it's turn based, does better than P5, you can bet the next FF is going back to turn based or something similar.

i dont mind the removal of turn based combat, its their obsession with action games that bothers me, because action mechanics interferes on the rpg aspects, even the term "action rpg" is an oxymoron, an action rpg is like a flying submarine who can fly under water

the thing is, they are not abandoning turn based, they are abandoning the rpg as a whole
my favorite final fantasies are 12, 13 LR and 14, not turn based at all, but they are top quality rpgs
16 is a desperated attemp to suck in some of that juicy mainstream action games sales

Starting with FF 11, there should have been subseries:

single-player JRPGs: the mainline FF series with their roman numbers: FFI-II-III-IV-V-VI-VII-VIII-IX-X-XII-XIII
MMORPGs: Final Fantasy Online (FF11) and Final Fantasy Online 2 (FF14)

Then, in 2006, when the Fabula Nova Crystallis compilation was announced, a new action subseries could have seen the day, Final Fantasy Agito (or whatever other name): Final Fantasy Agito 1 (FF versus XIII/FF15) Final Fantasy Agito 2 (Agito XIII/Type-0), Final Fantasy Agito 3 (FF16)

That way, all fans in the fanbase get what they like. You like turn-based, ATB or hybrid systems? Stay with the mainline series. You prefer MMOs? Go with the Online subseries. Maybe Action is more to your liking? Go with the Agito (or whatever name chosen) subseries!

As for developpers, you make sure to always have a title in development for each branch.

Add to that spin-offs, (Dirge of Cerberus, Strangers of Paradise, Crystal Chronicles, etc.) and you get a major variety for your franchise without hindering anything.

Now that would be what I call efficient Creative Business Units, rather than never knowing what your next FF should be.

“Realistic graphics with an immersive setting and turn based combat has never been done”

Yakuza 7 quietly sitting in the corner

Once the leader is now the follower rip FF

I can't stand Action Based Combat. I would prefer FFXIII combat over it.

If 15 was turn based I would enjoy it.

Very poor argumentation all around resulting in a bad essay, especially as it relates to turn-based as consession of cinematic experience.
The way turn-based has historically functioned was a digitalization of table-top games, where rounds in fights were time-scaled to the remainder of the "real-time" story or player progression. Games like Divinity 2 handle this seemlessly by applying this same rigerous timed downscaling for its battle resolutions never letting there be a discontinuity. FF as a series struggles with this in general because the games are incredibly poor at interweaving the impact of combat with the remaining non-combat gameplay, relying heavily on instancing fights, or breaking up combat zones with "story" zones.

Id rather have my games be turn based and a great story but with worst graphics or diferent graphics final fantasy used to be my favorites games and now i think they are trash 😂