As celebrated as Final Fantasy VII Remake is, there are some fans wondering about the future. One, how many parts are there going to be in the collection? Two, how long before each new release and in-turn when will this series of remakes be done? Three, where is Final Fantasy XVI?
Again, Final Fantasy VII Remake is great and all, but Final Fantasy XV released in 2016. It is now 2020 without a peep mentioned by Square Enix about a proper sequel for the franchise. Is it time for a reboot? Whatever the case may be this list will go through some things this game should and should not do.
10 Learn: Action Combat
What started in Final Fantasy XV was only made better in Final Fantasy VII Remake. While it would be interesting to see what a PS5, turn-based RPG would look like, its hard to say no to this style of RPG combat. It gets better and better every time. That said, if Persona 5 can still wow players with this classic battle style, maybe Square Enix shouldn’t throw out the idea.
9 Classic: Job Classes
Final Fantasy XIV has job classes and is still widely supported. So it’s not like the series has been without them for ages. That said, the last main entry to allow players to do this was Final Fantasy X-2 in 2003 or to be even more on the straight timeline, Final Fantasy V in 1992. Final Fantasy XIII could count to, but their class system was hardly the classic style. Needless to say it has been a long time for a single-player entry to do this.
8 Learn: Open-World
Entries before Final Fantasy XV could be considered open-world games. That said, they were on a smaller scale. The last real one to do this, that wasn’t an online entry, was Final Fantasy IX in 2000.
There were wide areas to explore in the games that came after, but they were connected in odd ways and weren’t represented as one big world to explore. It is time to bring that feeling back to fans.
7 Classic: Crystals
The crystals come and go in the narratives. Sometimes they are there in the background while other times they are a core piece of the narrative like the early entries. In Final Fantasy V, they were what bestowed the group new classes to equip.
So that previous entry could be combined with this as well. Creating a plot to protect crystals would hopefully simplify the narrative to something more adventurous rather than something convoluted, teetering on the heavy side of anime.
6 Learn: Don’t Create A Multimedia Bonanza
Side projects can be great. They can help flesh out the world one is trying to create. However, releasing too much at once can make a property feel cluttered which was the case for Final Fantasy XV.
In the case of Final Fantasy VII, Square Enix waited almost a decade after the initial game release to celebrate it with a series of spinoffs. All fans really want is one complete game at launch.
5 Classic: Create Your Party
What if the next game has no central protagonist? Can a PS5 RPG with a narrative really support three to four unnamed party members? That may be a bit too old school. Square Enix could instead make it like Mass Effect wherein they give the main character a last name, like Shepard, and allow players to customize their look and gender. It would blend modern RPG storytelling with some classic bits as well. The rest of the party then could be named, fully realized characters.
4 Learn: Photo Mode
This may be an easy and obvious one for most. That is to say typical AAA games ship with a Photo Mode as an option. However, even though Final Fantasy XV got it, Final Fantasy VII Remake did not. That’s not to say it will never get it, but the point is to get this mode up and running at launch for Final Fantasy XVI.
3 Classic: Real Towns
Final Fantasy XV had a few big locations, but most of them were delegated to truck stops. The game was clearly influenced by Midwest North America in aspects like this. This goes along with the open-world segment, but along the way there should be more towns.
They don’t all have to feel like a Midgar, but they should at least add some flavor to the journey. A more recent Square Enix example that did this well was Dragon Quest XI.
2 Learn: Don’t Rush But Also Don't Drag
This is the most important lesson to learn, but do not announce this too early and delay it. Let’s remember that Final Fantasy XV was announced as a spinoff to Final Fantasy XIII in 2006. After many delays with suspicions of cancellation, it was rebranded as Final Fantasy XV in 2013 and launched in 2016. So yeah, do not do that again Square Enix. Even Final Fantasy VII Remake had a bumpy road.
1 Classic: Bring Back Airships
It has been ages since a real airship was able to be piloted in a Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy XV had the car, but it wasn’t the same feeling. The last one was, again, Final Fantasy IX in 2000. The rest of the entries that weren’t online either didn’t have them or used them as fast-travel options which does not feel as adventurous as piloting an airship by oneself.