Classic Final Fantasy Is Dead, But You Can Find Its Soul In New Franchises

As a video game franchise, it’s hard to pinpoint what Final Fantasy truly is. Is it just a name for a long-running RPG series? Is it an aesthetic that brings together giant, yellow chickens and witch hat-wearing mages? Is it something more? It's difficult to say, considering that the series' recent entries showcase an array of gameplay styles that veer far from the classic, turn-based, JRPG style that put Square Enix on the map.

Final Fantasy 14 is a World of Warcraft-like MMORPG. Final Fantasy 15 leans on action gameplay, and ditches the ability to directly control your party. Final Fantasy 7 Remake remixes the Active Time Battle system into something more free-flowing. The upcoming Final Fantasy 16 looks to lean even further in that direction, with Ryota Suzuki (the Devil May Cry 5 and Dragon’s Dogma developer) stepping in as the game's Battle Director.

So if you want classic Final Fantasy gameplay, you won't find it in the series that carries that name. Browsing a list of attacks and spells, as your party dances to a battle theme isn’t what Final Fantasy is now. Instead, you should take a look at Square Enix's other video game series for a taste of that old-school, JRPG flavor.

Looking Backward, Looking Forward

During last week’s Nintendo Direct, Square Enix signaled that it hasn’t forgotten its past by releasing the final teaser trailer for Bravely Default 2. Oddly enough, this is the third game in the Bravely series, a franchise that began life as a Final Fantasy spinoff. In fact, the first Bravely Default was intended to be a sequel to Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, a Nintendo DS release inspired by earlier series entries, such as Final Fantasy 3, Final Fantasy 5, and Final Fantasy 6.

With its Jobs system and turn-based combat, the Bravely Default series is as close as you can get to a new, classic-style Final Fantasy game, albeit with modern presentation elements that help them appeal to contemporary audiences. Thankfully, Bravely Default 2 wasn't the only Square Enix game on display that recalled the traditional Final Fantasy titles. 

The Nintendo Direct's major highlight—outside of the Splatoon 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD reveals—was Square Enix’s new game, an upcoming title currently code-named Project Triangle Strategy (PTS). At first glance, PTS is visually similar to Octopath Traveler, a throwback RPG from Square Enix producer Tomoya Asano. The games' resemblances are understandable, because Asano has a hand in PTS, too. Asano, along with his team and partnered studios, also worked on the Bravely games and Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light, so PTS has a strong Final Fantasy lineage.

What’s really intriguing and exciting, though, is Project Triangle Strategy’s genre: It’s a tactical RPG. The game’s grid-style, strategy-based gameplay recalls the beloved Final Fantasy Tactics. One of my favorite games of all-time, Final Fantasy Tactics was a follow-up to 1995’s Tactics Ogre, itself a successor to 1993’s Ogre Battle. It married Tactics Ogre's general play style with familiar, Final Fantasy aesthetics. Final Fantasy Tactics is one of those lost bits of Square Enix’s history; while it received two sequels, the spinoff series has been defunct since 2007. 

Project Triangle Strategy’s primary developer this time around is a studio called ArtDink. While that name may not ring any bells, the studio assisted in Tactics Ogre and Ogre Battle’s development. Combined with Asano and his staff, Project Triangle Strategy carries a wonderful pedigree. 

On the day of the Direct, Square Enix released a Project Triangle Strategy demo on the Nintendo Switch eShop that I eagerly downloaded. I expected PTS to play like a new Final Fantasy Tactics game, but it’s a bit closer to Tactics Ogre. Not only is it on the difficult side, PTS relies more on positioning. Height factors into damage, as does backstabbing and team attacks from enemy-adjacent party members. You want your archers up high, and your spies flanking your foes, shanking them with a hidden blade.

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Project Triangle Strategy’s environmental attacks are an important gameplay element, not unlike Larian Studios’ Divinity: Original Sin 2. You can create ice walls to funnel foes into the right position, or use an electric attack to shock enemies standing in water. You can even light certain structures ablaze with fire magic. There’s also no magic points system to be found here; special skills use turn points (TP) that are banked at a set rate with each turn. 

Project Triangle Strategy isn’t exactly Final Fantasy Tactics reborn, or even Tactics Ogre reborn, but it’s great to see Square Enix return to a genre and style that it ignored on consoles for years (War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius brought that tactical flavor to mobile last year). Kudos to Square Enix for looking at its catalog and using it to birth new titles, not just remasters and re-releases. 

Why You Should Game on a PC

Missing the Old Square Enix Charm

With Bravely Default 2 coming this year and Project Triangle Strategy aiming for a 2022 release, Square Enix has found the right balance between new and old. It can release massive new titles (Outriders, Final Fantasy XVI, and Project Athia), remasters (Legend of Mana), and new titles that harken back to older classics (Project Triangle Strategy).

There’s a host of Square Enix games also waiting for a second chance. Actraiser, Front Mission, Parasite Eve, Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve, Tobal No. 1, and Xenogears deserve new entries or spiritual successors in Bravely Default and Project Triangle Strategy's molds. Square Enix is a publisher and developer with a rich video game history. While it has gotten better at remembering its past, there’s still a gap between where it is now and where it should be.