Cognition Dissemination: Square Enix Should Make Another Game Like Final Fantasy IX

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Final Fantasy IX’s release in North America, one of the more unique numbered installments in the mainline series. Final Fantasy games have a habit of reinventing the wheel in terms of either their themes or gameplay elements between numbered installments, some of which were innovative enough to set the tones for other Japanese RPGs to follow; well, when JRPGs were still common on consoles and handhelds. FFIX bucked this trend by intentionally channeling the older games in the series, following two games that pushed the formula forward, so to speak. Going against the trend established before and continued after this game was its innovation, and it was a treat for anyone who wanted an old school-style FF game with then-modern production values.

It’s a shame they haven’t made an installment like it since. I recently played through the lengthy Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age — Definitive Edition demo, the newest installment in a franchise that rarely if ever changes. The demo is long enough to get a feel for a title that’s very much a classic JRPG with a modern sheen bereft of many compromises, welcome in a time where other titles in the genre are either low-or-mid-budget titles that cut back on features compared to predecessors from previous generations. DQ is one of the few franchises with the luxury to do this thanks to its popularity, primarily in Japan. Another franchise that could and should do this? Final Fantasy.

FF installments are still released on a regular basis, the frequency of new installments has been reduced due to modern production values. But that’s not the only issue the non-direct sequel FF games have faced in more than the last decade: They’ve all suffered development woes since Final Fantasy XII. It’s been just under four years since Final Fantasy XV released, a game with a beautiful-though-barren open world with an extremely linear second half, and that fully dropped turn-based battles for real-time combat. Fortunately, Final Fantasy XVI looks to be coming along better development-wise, though it’s continuing the direction established in FFXV by having action-based combat.

Another installment like FFIX would be nice, one that channels the older games in the franchise by having a breezier story, character designs and art direction that channels the older games, and a classic-style version of the Active Time Battle system. By “classic-style,” they should reused the fast and stylish combat from Final Fantasy X-2, which contained the snazziest turn-based-ish battles in any FF game. It’s a shame they haven’t reused it since, even in titles that inherited the ATB system like World of Final Fantasy.

In fairness, Square Enix has published classic-style FF games and titles channeling older FF games over the years since FFIX, but they haven’t quite nailed the feel of the older titles. Not that all of them intended to. Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light was a bit too archaic, by, for instance, not even allowing for players to target party members and enemies with spells. The Bravely Default titles were partial successors to the 4 Heroes of Light through inheriting FF-style art direction, but the games do their own thing in terms of gameplay and progression. Octopath Traveler has an FF-ish art style, though it fuses elements from the FF games and SaGa titles. The aforementioned WoFF was an effort clearly targeted towards kids, but didn’t quite nail the appeal. No game has channeled old school FF games like FFIX since, but one should.

They wouldn’t have to stop at one installment. Word has it that FFIX wasn’t originally planned to be the ninth installment in the numbered series, but as the first in a subseries of classic-style FF games. A new series could serve as a lower-budget (though not low budget per se) alternative to the mainline installments going forward.

I’m getting farfetched here, but I’d love it if they could get creator and director Hironobu Sakaguchi, composer Nobuo Uematsu, and character designer and artist Yoshitaka Amano back for significant input in a new game. All three worked together on several older FF games, but haven’t all significantly contributed to an installment since FFIX. These days, Uematsu only contributes a few tracks to individual games like FFXV and Final Fantasy VII: Remake, while Amano provides logo artwork and assorted promotional material.

It might be difficult to get all of them to provide serious work for a new title again. Sakaguchi is living in Hawaii these days, and hasn’t seriously contributed to a game since The Last Story nearly a decade ago. Uematsu is only lightly contributing to projects since his recent health scare. Amano is the most active of the three, but there wouldn’t be any need for him to heavily contribute without the other two.

It’s more likely that a classic-style FF game would retain some older talent who remain at Square Enix, like Takashi Tokita, but alongside newer talent. (They could also use Hiroyuki Ito, who directed FFIX and FFXII for something, but that’s apparently crazy talk.) This won’t be a problem if they can nail the feel of a classic game, but I’d personally like to see the above trio for the nostalgia involved.

There is no guarantee that any of this will happen, and I wouldn’t say the chances of this happening are high. It’s more likely that Square Enix will continue their current path, by making new franchises inspired by older FF games like Bravely Default and, in a way, Octopath Traveler instead of another spinoff FF franchise. Even so, I still think this would be a good idea and I hope Square Enix pursues it.