Fans of Square Enix may be in for a treat in the near future, as it has recently submitted a patent detailing what appears to be a new mobile game in the works. As with most patents, the information is a bit difficult to parse through and it is by no means an official indicator of anything, but it's interesting nonetheless.
Though it is best known for the Final Fantasy franchise, Square Enix has several other IPs that this new mobile game could be based off as well. The imagery shown in the patent does seem to show a party-based RPG adventure, however.
A lot of what's shown is fairly generic for the genre. There's turn timers that seem to be based off of Square Enix's AP system, attack and defense show up as stats that characters have, and there's even reference to spell casting in the form of casting time modifiers. While none of this is very groundbreaking, the game seems as though it will be unique in the way it handles relationships. It should be said that this is all speculation and should be taken as such.
Throughout the patent, references to characters' relationships with one another pop up as a prevalent theme. It seems that characters can be assigned the role of master and take on one or more students. The students may then be able to increase their own capabilities and learn skills and abilities from the master character. For each character there seem to be at least three separate trainings that they can undergo before they attain mastery. The concept of Mastery also shows up throughout the patent.
One particularly interesting image shows what looks to be a main menu screen of sorts, with players having three or four options. The buttons on the screen say "Mission," "Party Organization," and "Mastery," with a fourth button saying "***" likely to indicate that there will be more options. The first two options are self explanatory, but Mastery leaves fans scratching their heads. It's likely this has to do with the master/student relationship, but again, all of this is purely speculation. The concept of Mastery isn't common in Square Enix games, but it has shown up in the form of mastering skills or materia.
Finally, it seems as though there will be lots of characters available in this game, and they are sometimes referred to as cards instead. This could hint at this being a gacha style game similar to Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, or it could just be a large party in a new game. Regardless, it will likely be a long time before fans hear anything official about this, so it's best to wait for now. Click the source link below to see the full patent.