In an interview, Kitane told us
that the increasing popularity of action-RPGs compared to their turn-based
equivalents represented "a trend…you ignore at your peril."
"I think the nature of the
franchise is to present something new each time," Kitase said. "In
the global market we see many players moving away from games that used
turn-based systems toward what you might term an action-RPG.
"That's a trend, and you
ignore things like that at your peril."
Kitase went on to
say that changes introduced in Final Fantasy XIII showed
that the series was moving forward with each iteration - but left the door wide
open for more subtantial changes to be made in the next full game in the
series.
"FFXIII and FFXIII-2's battle systems have those elements of speed
and action that are the key words for us, though that doesn't necessarily mean
we're going to stick to the same route in our next game," he said.
"That's something only time can tell."
Despite its long
history as a turn-based RPG, it wouldn’t be too surprising were Square Enix to
take the Final Fantasy series in a new direction. While five million copies of 2009's Final Fantasy XIII were shipped worldwide, the online RPG Final Fantasy XIV has had a dismal time of it since its launch in September
2010.
Last December,
Square Enix announced a delay to the PS3 version of the game following the PC release's dismal reception.
CEO Yoichi Wada offered the company's "sincerest apologies"; producer
Hiromichi Tanaka stood down, and was replaced by Naoki Yoshida; the dev team
was reshuffled; and the free trial period was extended indefinitely.
In September,
Wada conceded: "The Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged,"
and confirmed that the team was "basically
fully redoing the game." Further evidence that the publisher recognizes
the need for change came from senior executive officer Koji Taguchi, who said
in June that Square Enix's "decline in Japanese titles [shown at E3] was almost humiliating." Just one game of Japanese origin was shown at the
conference: Final Fantasy XIII-2
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