The recent resurgence of turn-based combat games like Baldur's Gate 3, Metaphor: ReFantazio and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has people wondering whether Square Enix will consider a return to a turn-based combat system for future Final Fantasy games.
Final Fantasy has had a long history, emplyoing a diverse range of combat systems over the years. However, the series began with a pure turn-based system, before switching to an active time battle (ATB) system in Final Fantasy 4. Since then, the series has been gradually moving towards more dynamic combat, except Final Fantasy 10, which was also purely turn-based.
Recently, in an interview with AnimeNewsNetwork, Final Fantasy producer Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida was asked whether the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, itself inspired by Final Fantasy, has influenced the combat system of future mainline Final Fantasy games, i.e. Final Fantasy 17.
Yoshi-P was diplomatic, saying, "The question of turn-based versus action, it tends to isolate gameplay to just the battle system. That doesn't take into account what kind of game creators want to deliver to players. For example, based on a certain graphical quality we want to present to our players, or the narrative we want...
