Final Fantasy Doesn’t Need More Action gameplay

For decades, Final Fantasy wasn’t just another JRPG series. It was THE turn-based JRPG series. From Final Fantasy I to Final Fantasy X, the franchise defined what strategic, party-based combat could look like at a AAA level.

Today, that identity is fractured.

After the full action pivot of Final Fantasy XV, and especially Final Fantasy XVI, the series is no longer leading the genre. It’s chasing it. And the numbers — and numbers don’t lie — suggest that chase isn’t working.

Action Didn’t Save Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy XV

Final Fantasy XV surpassed 10 million copies lifetime. Impressive — but context matters. FF15 started as Versus XIII and had years of hype behind it. After development slowed down in 2012, it was rebranded as Final Fantasy XV and skipped the PS3 generation entirely.

There was also a massive media push — the film Kingsglaive, the anime Brotherhood — and you had to watch both to fully understand the story and care about its characters and world. That was a terrible decision. You should push the game first, then expand the universe. It was the first FF mainline game on PS4/Xbox One, backed by enormous marketing. That wasn’t proof that action combat sells.
It was proof that anticipation and marketing sell.

Final Fantasy XVI

Final Fantasy XVI launched at around 3 million copies shortly after release. Respectable — but far from the explosive cross-generation dominance many expected from such a bold reinvention. For a game that went all-in on character-action combat — even bringing in talent associated with Devil May Cry 5 — the commercial ceiling didn’t dramatically expand. The pivot to action did not suddenly turn Final Fantasy into a God of War–sized juggernaut.

The MMO-ification of Final Fantasy XVI

Final Fantasy XVI often feels structurally closer to an MMO than a classic single-player RPG. You reach a hub town, and the fetch quests begin. I hated this. The desert area — I can’t even remember its name and I’m not going to Google it — but I hated that place. So many fetch quests. A boring desert. NPCs that sound like they belong in a PS2 game.

Another major sin: giant telegraphed AoE floor circles.

Those glowing red circles on the ground? That’s raid design language. And we know the director, Yoshi-P, comes from Final Fantasy XIV. And that’s fine in a multiplayer game, where raid coordination creates tension. But in a single-player game, it becomes mechanical choreography. Instead of managing a party and planning layered strategies, you optimize cooldown efficiency and dodge zones. That’s a philosophical shift away from what made Final Fantasy distinct. The combat boiled down to one-button mashing, dodging circles on the ground, no elemental damage, no resistances — just press the damn button. Don’t think.

The “Serious” Problem

FF16 leans heavily into grimdark medieval politics, clearly influenced by prestige fantasy like Game of Thrones. But replacing nuance with frequent uses of “fuck” doesn’t automatically create maturity.

Swearing isn’t depth.
Brutality isn’t complexity.

It often feels like the game is trying to signal seriousness instead of earning it. If you took a drink every time they said “fuck,” you’d end up in the hospital or dead. That’s not mature tone — that’s mature signaling.

“Look how edgy we are.”

Like saying “fuck” is going to hide bad pacing, weak writing, and shallow combat.

Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth: Momentum Lost

Final Fantasy VII Remake surpassed 7 million copies across PS4 and PS5. Strong performance. But Final Fantasy VII Rebirth showed noticeably softer physical launch momentum in major markets like Japan and the UK compared to Remake’s debut. Digital sales complicate the picture — but early signals suggested slower uptake.

Why?

One plausible factor: divided trust after Remake. Remake took a three-hour portion of the original game and turned it into a full release.

Again — why?

Don’t get me wrong. It was my childhood dream to explore Midgar. But not like this. Linear, boring levels that dragged on. Boring side quests. And of course, Chadley — why?

And the biggest mistake: putting Sephiroth in every scene.

The greatest strength of Sephiroth in the original game was the fear of someone you barely saw — only hearing about him or glimpsing the aftermath of his power. Now Sephiroth is everywhere. He’s here, he’s there — next thing you know, he’s in your fridge. As FF16 characters would say: “FUCK.”

Then there are the narrative changes, turning it into a meta-sequel rather than a remake. By the time Rebirth arrived, part of the audience had cooled.

And here’s the twist:

The Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series — faithful, turn-based restorations of classic titles — quietly surpassed 3 million copies in cumulative sales. That means straightforward turn-based re-releases of decades-old games are performing at levels comparable to modern AAA reinterpretations of the franchise’s biggest icon.

That’s not nostalgia.

That’s signal.

The Rebirth Tone Whiplash

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth swings in the opposite direction of FF16. It’s a globe-spanning adventure with a comical and whimsical tone. More anime humor. More cringe. Cat-catching side quests. Musical spectacle sequences while you’re trying to save the world.

I’ll admit — the world looks beautiful. But using Ubisoft towers in 2025?

Barret and Dyne’s story was changed because we apparently can’t show or talk about suicide — even though it had far stronger emotional impact in the original.

Then there’s Cid. Where is the smoking? The swearing? You had endless “fuck” in FF16, but here a character known for foul language is suddenly sanitized.

Why?

Some of these moments are charming — maybe in an anime. But not in a game that tries to balance epic stakes like saving the world, loosing loved ones and mental problems. When tonal coherence fractures, emotional stakes weaken.

Twitch Numbers Tell an Even Clearer Story

Sales are one metric. Engagement is another.

On Twitch, new releases like Rebirth spike during launch week — then rapidly settle into modest long-term viewership. Meanwhile, classic FF titles, speedruns, challenge runs of Final Fantasy X, and retro marathons of Final Fantasy VII consistently generate enduring engagement. People replay those games. The newer ones? They fade.

Expedition 33 Proves Turn-Based Isn’t the Problem

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 demonstrates something critical:

Turn-based combat can look modern.
Turn-based combat can feel cinematic.
Turn-based combat can generate mainstream hype.

The market did not reject strategic turn-based systems. Final Fantasy walked away from them — and from the fans who built the franchise during the PS1 and PS2 era.

The Counter-Argument

This opinion always gets me in trouble online. And yes, there are arguments for real-time combat. Real-time combat creates urgency and physical involvement. Players are constantly reacting, dodging, attacking, repositioning. It feels kinetic and visceral.

For many players, that immediacy creates adrenaline. Boss fights feel cinematic because you execute every move yourself. It lowers the barrier for players who prefer reflex-based gameplay over menu-driven systems. Hybrid systems like Final Fantasy VII Remake show evolution is possible. But not necessarily desirable. The issue isn’t action itself. The issue is abandoning core identity instead of modernizing it.

We have Souls-like games. We have God of War–like games. But there are no FF15-likes. No FF12-likes.

Why?

Final Fantasy Should Lead Again

Right now, the franchise competes directly with games like Elden Ring and God of War — juggernauts built from the ground up around action-first design. And Square decided to compete in that market — one you can’t just casually walk into.

But in the AAA turn-based space?

There’s demand.
There’s proof.
There’s room to dominate.

Turn-based isn’t nostalgia. It’s strategic differentiation.

And if Final Fantasy wants generational dominance again, it may need to stop chasing trends — and start remembering why it once defined them. It needs to return to its fans — not run away from them.

Does a new Call of Duty stop being an FPS and become a cozy game like Pokémon?

No.

So why did Square abandon its foundation?

I don’t know.

But I hope Expedition 33 shows them how wrong they are.

Let’s make Final Fantasy great again.

Or as Clive would say - Fuck it.