Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has been one of many breakout hits of 2025. It is also a classically styled turn-based role-playing recreation, taking cues from many in style sequence, together with Closing Fantasy. These two elements have each led to many questions on whether or not Closing Fantasy would possibly return to its personal roots, and now the query’s been posed to one in all Closing Fantasy’s front-facing leads.
Naoki Yoshida, the director/producer of Closing Fantasy 14 and producer of Closing Fantasy 16, was requested in an interview with AnimeNewsNetwork whether or not mainline Closing Fantasy video games might return to being turn-based, within the wake of Clair Obscur’s success.
“With this query of turn-based versus motion, it tends to isolate the gameplay to simply the battle system,” stated Yoshida. “That does not take into consideration what sort of recreation the creators need to ship to gamers. For instance, primarily based on a sure graphical high quality we need to current to our gamers, or the narrative we need to ship to our gamers, it pertains to how we arrange the sport’s methods round it. This contains the battle system, recreation design, and gameplay really feel. It is not a clear-cut reply, whether or not it should develop into all turn-based, or if it will develop into extra action-based.
“[I’m] not essentially going to be on Closing Fantasy 17, so we additionally do not need to impede or restrict our future director or whomever might be producing the video games like 17 and even 18,” Yoshida continued. “We do not need to put them on a rail.”
The reply, primarily, continues to be up within the air. Closing Fantasy adjustments with every entry, in spite of everything; apart from creating new tales and casts for every mainline numbered entry, every recreation can vary from extremely iterative to full-on evolutions or change-ups. Wanting on the gameplay shifts from, say, Closing Fantasy 9 on via 12 and 13 emphasizes how the sequence usually shakes issues up for every successive installment.
Greatest Mainline Closing Fantasy Video games
Greatest Mainline Closing Fantasy Video games
Yoshida has talked about this up to now, throughout the context of Closing Fantasy 16 choosing a really action-oriented system. That entry tried to attraction to a distinct crowd, due to the “anticipated” gross sales and impression of a mainline Closing Fantasy.
We have had these conversations earlier than, round the way forward for Closing Fantasy, and can in all probability have them once more. In any case, merely judging by the event timelines of the previous few mainline video games, it may be a bit till we begin listening to about Closing Fantasy 17, a lot much less 18 or past.
In the meantime, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and its improvement workforce at Sandfall Interactive have definitely struck success by honing in on their targets and passions, so possibly that’s the true goal to attempt in direction of.
Eric is a contract author for IGN.
