Square Enix’s Exploration of a New Final Fantasy Tactics Game: Balancing Storytelling and Technical Challenges

Square Enix is considering the possibility of developing a new Final Fantasy Tactics game, but they do not believe that the story from the most recent main installment, Final Fantasy 16, would be suitable for this purpose. The scale of combat between Eikons in Final Fantasy 16 would not lend itself well to a Tactics-style game.

Square Enix has been keeping fans of the series excited with two DLCs released for Final Fantasy 16: ‘The Rising Tide’ and ‘Echoes of the Fallen’. The first DLC was released on April 18 and introduced a quest to save the missing Leviathan Dominant, Eikon of the Water. The second DLC was released in December and led players to investigate smuggling of black crystals and explore a new location called the Tower of the Sages.

While these DLCs expand the adventure in Final Fantasy 16, Naoki Yoshida, director and producer of the game, has confirmed that it’s time to create a new installment in the series. In an interview at PAX East, Yoshida acknowledged that while Tactics games lend themselves well to storytelling within the Final Fantasy universe, adapting Eikon versus Eikon battles from Final Fantasy 16 to a grid-based format would be challenging. He raised concerns about technical aspects such as translating combat systems into turn-based strategy games.

Despite these challenges, Square Enix remains open to creating a new experience for fans of the series. They are exploring ways to overcome them and make a new addition to one of their most beloved franchises.