Nothing has been decided regarding Final Fantasy XVII yet, but there’s a very good chance it will be a very different game from its predecessor, judging from some recent statements.
Speaking in a new episode of the Game Maker’s Notebook podcast, Naoki Yoshida, producer of both the fourteenth and sixteenth entries in the series by Square Enix, was asked about the next entry in the series. Being on the board of directors, Yoshi-P couldn’t really comment on the game, but he did say that nothing has been decided on it yet. Having had the chance to work on two entries in the series, he feels it’s time for a younger generation with more youthful sensibilities to work on the next entry in the series with challenges that would suit today’s world.
Asked about any advice he would give to this new generation that would have to develop Final Fantasy XVII, Yoshi-P said that the series is all about challenging what’s been done before, which is exactly what the father of the series, Hironobu Sakaguchi and the current series brand manager Yoshinori Kitase have done, suggesting that the next entry in the series may end up being a very different game from its immediate predecessors.
In many ways, Final Fantasy XVI challenged what had been done before. The latest entry in the series feels more like an action game than a role-playing game, as the RPG mechanics almost feel superfluous, as highlighted by Kai in his review. After the open-world and character-action experiments, it will be very interesting to see which direction the series will take with its next entry.
