What would you like to see (differently) in the next Final Fantasy MMO?

[SamRF]

Since SE is currently working on FF7 remake, and most likely a FF8 remake afterwards, I just can’t see a single player FF16 coming anytime soon. I think 16 is the next mmo personally, but I could be wrong, could be 17. It’s just, usually brand new single player FFs pull a “Nomura” and never get released for years and years.

Off topic, but man I really want a FFVI remake first! Can you imagine having a huge remastered open World of Ruin to explore?

[dinnertime]

Since SE is currently working on FF7 remake, and most likely a FF8 remake afterwards, I just can’t see a single player FF16 coming anytime soon. I think 16 is the next mmo personally, but I could be wrong, could be 17. It’s just, usually brand new single player FFs pull a “Nomura” and never get released for years and years.

Either way, it'll be forever before we get a fresh and new FF title, single player or not. The next installments of FF7R will take a few more years and it doesn't seem likely they would release a new FF game alongside it.

[Backdrifter]

Let's get away from the old MMORPG tropes and have it be something unique. For instance, how many MMORPG rely on the dps, tank, and healer setup? Also, cooldowns in general just make me feel like I'm playing games that are clones of each other.

And before you say, it will never work! Remember, we're talking about making a new game here. It needs some creativity, and don't be someone not willing to think outside of the box due to fear of change.

[Anienai]

What should be done differently?

1. No lalafells
2. No male Veira
3. No fetch quest.

[Genz]

An actual MMORPG, maybe? so that the impressive work to make it run isn't wasted on a subpar solo game with some small multiplayer.

No trash quests. A battle system with some depth. An actual and pertinent use of the open areas.

(ppl still believe the "1.0 code" tinfoilhattery?...)

[Kalise]

Off topic, but man I really want a FFVI remake first! Can you imagine having a huge remastered open World of Ruin to explore?

Honestly, I'd just be happy with a PC port of VI that didn't suck

How should the game function?

I'm not entirely sure. I have many thoughts about "What if it was this?" but it's hard to say what would be ideal. Like, it could continue to be tab target gameplay, or it could become action orientated. Maybe it could even work in a similar way to Wildstar where every skill was a skillshot that put down a telegraphed AoE? Who knows...

I've been musing about this a little bit as I was doing my daily Roulettes/Hunts/Beast Tribes...

But a multiplayer game that I found mechanically fun to just play in was actually Monster Hunter: World.

No mounts or anything, just running around places, sliding down tree trunks, jumping off vines, climbing up and down walls covered in ivy etc.

With combat that was suitably enjoyable too, especially when you could "Mount" the big beasties and start stabbing them in the neck. Weapons that have weight to them and having an active style to combat (Manually blocking and swinging)

Of course, this also all functioned well on a controller as well as KB+M.

It wasn't without its flaws though, such as its item selection menu being utter trash...

However, a FF MMO that took inspiration from this could be pretty cool. Imagine parkouring your way through places like The Black Shroud and Rak'tika Greatwoods. With mobs that actually acted like living things (I.e. Roaming around the zone. Carnivores getting hungry and going to hunt the Herbivores). Hunt enemies patrolling the zones, making you sometimes need to dive through a crevice to hide/escape from them if you're not max level.

Then having an active combat, combined with FFXIV's hotbars for controllers, allowing skills to be used alongside various "Auto Attacks" (Which are manually input, with combos and what-not).

It could be really fun. Heck, personally, I just loved to do anything in MH:W. Running around a map was satisfying and fun. Combat was pretty good. Heck, the only reason I stopped playing is because I ran out of relevant loot to get as I'd crafted all the armour and weapons I wanted and so there was no reason to actually go and fight stuff any more...

[dinnertime]

I'd kill for a FF MMO with Monster Hunter gameplay honestly. It's action combat with weight on it. Other action combat MMOs feel too light as if I'm floating and it doesn't feel great, personally.
Dragon's Dogma is also another pretty good example, especially on the magic aspect. Imagine being able to summon a rain of giant meteors, giant icicle spires and tornadoes. The magic in that game feels calamitous and it's something Black Mages and Summoners need.

Also something FF MMOs can learn from MonHun is the gear system. It actually has flavor to it.

[SamRF]

Let's get away from the old MMORPG tropes and have it be something unique. For instance, how many MMORPG rely on the dps, tank, and healer setup? Also, cooldowns in general just make me feel like I'm playing games that are clones of each other.

And before you say, it will never work! Remember, we're talking about making a new game here. It needs some creativity, and don't be someone not willing to think outside of the box due to fear of change.

Blizzard and SE seem to be the only ones who manage to maintain a succesful non-niche trinity role based MMORPG. From what I read there is still a pretty big demand for such games (as is also evident with popularity of these games) and MMO market is very lacking right now when it comes to that. I kind of doubt SE will risk getting out of this position by creating a more niche type of MMORPG.

I'm sure there are many MMO players who play either FFXIV or WoW but would drop both in a heartbeat if a solid new "WoW clone" would come out, because they're unsatisfied with current market which may be lacking due to inability to compete with WoW and FFXIV. I don't think SE wants to give up that position.

Now I'm basing this purely from what've read in forums which tends to not always be representative of actual gaming communites so who knows. Personally, I think I would drop FFXIV at least momentarily if a good competitor "WoW like" MMO would come out. Biggest reason why I don't play WoW is because I don't want to support Blizzard anymore.

[Lauront]

You should read the comments from this interview, or this. I'm not sure I agree with him really, but if that's the mindset they're approaching it from, it would seem they do seem to think the current tab target type MMO is a dying breed. I do hope they stick to something based off the trinity. I don't like most MMOs which have tried to deviate from it.

I'd kill for a FF MMO with Monster Hunter gameplay honestly. It's action combat with weight on it. Other action combat MMOs feel too light as if I'm floating and it doesn't feel great, personally.
Dragon's Dogma is also another pretty good example, especially on the magic aspect. Imagine being able to summon a rain of giant meteors, giant icicle spires and tornadoes. The magic in that game feels calamitous and it's something Black Mages and Summoners need.

Also something FF MMOs can learn from MonHun is the gear system. It actually has flavor to it.

I'm not too familiar with MHW but from what I've seen of it, it looks good.

I often dislike action combat games for two reasons - 1) too much staggering, which makes the combat feel dull and little more than button mashing against target dummies and 2) spellcasting is poorly integrated into it. Tales of Berseria was an example of 2), and I absolutely hated its combat system for that reason, even if it was a deliberate design choice. I'm not too familiar with Dragon's Dogma, but from the limited amount I played of it, BDO seemed to handle spellcasting quite well. An action combat system could be more fun, but they'd need to re-think the design of several jobs if they were to follow through with it. From what I saw of the VII remake they seem to have the right idea. Spellcasters would need to focus on swift casts, teleports, dodging, shield spells and the like.

Also, the VII remake does show what even the PS4 is capable of outputing. Granted, we knew that from XV, and these are single player games in the end... but I would love to see an MMO with that level of graphical polish, especially as the next gen consoles and better PCs become the new baseline.

[Yencat]

Let's get away from the old MMORPG tropes and have it be something unique. For instance, how many MMORPG rely on the dps, tank, and healer setup? Also, cooldowns in general just make me feel like I'm playing games that are clones of each other.

And before you say, it will never work! Remember, we're talking about making a new game here. It needs some creativity, and don't be someone not willing to think outside of the box due to fear of change.

Games without the holy trinity have been done before, but the combat tends to quickly devolve into chaos without any sort of tanking or healing so sometimes they retrofit those in, in some capacity, later anyway. It can work without it, but usually the content isn't challenging enough to require it then.