Final Fantasy Type-0 should have been the future of Final Fantasy

Long before Final Fantasy 16 launched to middling reviews, there has been ongoing talk about the future of Final Fantasy. I keep wondering why that future seems so uncertain when Square Enix came close to getting it right back in 2011. Final Fantasy Type-0, a spinoff set in the world of Final Fantasy 13, struck an almost perfect balance of following trends and innovating without losing sight of itself — an ideal pattern the company never used again.

After Final Fantasy 13 and Type-0, the series shifted from incorporating a popular element into its identity to making the trend the central focus. Final Fantasy 15 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth read as open-world games with bits of Final Fantasy wrapped around them, and Final Fantasy 16 aims for a prestige-TV scale rather than simply being a dark fantasy RPG.

When a game’s identity is shared with so many other things, a set change and franchise flavoring are no longer enough to make it feel distinct.

ff type-0, ff16, ff13, ff15, ff7 rebirth, square enix, spinoff, open-world, dark fantasy, game identity