Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is really on everybody’s mind this year, including Square Enix. On its own, this isn’t necessarily news. Members of Sandfall are currently in Japan and also visited Kojima Productions, which is always bringing in visitors. However, it’s what Final Fantasy VII Rebirth director Naoki Hamaguchi stated in his tweet above that stands out to us.
“Guillaume Broche, Francois Meurisse, Tom Guillermin from Sandfall, and Alexis Garavaryan from Kepler—creators of EXPEDITION 33—visited the Square Enix office for a creatively rich exchange of visions and ideas.”
Will Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Have an Impact on Final Fantasy?
Now, we are not going to go out and say that Square Enix and Sandfall will be collaborating on a game in the future, but we love the idea. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 had to have had some influence from the Final Fantasy games during its development. There have been a lot of comparisons between the two, with some hoping that the indie game’s success would push Square Enix to look into bringing Final Fantasy back to a turn-based model. Considering the series’ success with the recent Final Fantasy 7 Remake games and Final Fantasy 16, we can’t really see that happening for the next entry. That said, maybe they would look into a spin-off entry that experiments a little.
As things stand now, while there are people that prefer the classic turn-based approach for Final Fantasy, there are plenty of people that like the new more action focused approach as well. There could be a world where Clair Obscur’s successors, whether that’s direct sequels or other styles of game, can continue to iterate on the turn-based market. One of the reasons why the game is so beloved is because it does not have just basic turn-based combat. Players have to put in inputs to dodge, parry, or get the most out of their attacks. That could definitely work in a Final Fantasy setting, but it’s not like what Square Enix is doing now is bad.
No one knows exactly what the future holds for fans of various RPG games. There is always so much changing on a yearly scale that changes people’s expectations for what they want. For a long time, turn-based was considered overdone and tiring. Now that one game has revitalized it a little, people are interested again. It’s exciting to see what will happen going forward.
