Final Fantasy 16 was announced

[linayar]

It's funny how 'meta' the linearity to that game is.
Spoilers:

You're start in a world where all is linearized, optimized, and what few people enjoy any real sense of freedom only do so because it helps maintain the illusion for everyone else while they go on enjoyably with preset, catered lives, as crafted by gods made by man to serve man who and who, since they've no freedom, only want to die.
Pulse, a world which doesn't give a damn about people, is by contrast one of the most open world experiences we've ever had in an FF.

It's likewise a top 3 for me, after 9 and alongside a split between 7 and 8.
That said, 4 and 6 were pretty great too, so... it's all real close, though, honestly.

I was saving exploring that zone in 13 for after I beat the game as I was more focused on continuing with the story (at least, I assumed I would be able to), but I never got around to it, unfortunately. Maybe in a future replay, I'll take a look at it.

In terms of my enjoyment of the various single-player FF games, it's largely affected by how much progress I was able to make due to various reasons (life situations and whatnot):

7, 8, 9, and 13 are the only ones I ever finished.

12, I made it near the end, but never actually finished.

Tactics, 10, and 13-2, I made it about half way.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10-2, Dirge of Cerberus, Lightning Returns, and Type 0, for these, I stopped near the beginning after trying them out for various reasons (Type 0 I just hated the controls playing on PC, so that's probably the only one I can't see myself trying again in the future).

I never even purchased 15 because I've stopped playing on console and my PC can barely handle 14 and 15 didn't seem interesting enough to motivate me to upgrade my PC. But if I ever get a new PC, I might try it out.

The rest of the existing games, I don't think I'll ever play, including 11.

I can definitely say that the four games I managed to finish plus 12 and Tactics are very enjoyable at around the same level of enjoyment, with 9 and 13 being at the top.

14, of course, is also very enjoyable to me, but it's kind of hard to rank it alongside the single-player games.

[Shurrikhan]

I was saving exploring that zone in 13 for after I beat the game as I was more focused on continuing with the story (at least, I assumed I would be able to), but I never got around to it, unfortunately. Maybe in a future replay, I'll take a look at it.

Ahh, shoot. I mean, if you still have a passion for that game (I realize it can be hard to get back into a story-centric single-player game way later), I'd recommend it.

I really enjoyed the mission systems, the back alleys, and just the sense of progression in general there. Heck, there are elements from that part of the game I wish XIV would take up.

And it's about the same here. I didn't quite finish 10, and, having lost my save, never will. Lightning Returns didn't click for me, so I stopped about half-way through. After having played a bit of XII, I didn't think I'd much notice the difference between playing it and watching a good playthrough of it, so I just finished it off with the latter. Pretty good story, though. I bought XV for my PC, which can run it fine, but it didn't quite click for me either. 11 I played when visiting friends, even raiding for them occasionally (quite a bit, now that I think about it), but I never had any desire to level through it myself past that early often nostalgia-laden period.

Oddly enough, though, XV had the least satisfying combat system of the whole lot to me. There were just too many Chekov's Gun issues, where something looked like it very clearly should be possible, but wasn't. For context, XIII was unsurprisingly the second worst, but went the opposite direction so to speak. There was certainly more I'd want XIII combat to have been capable of (and some more micro-AI QoL, such as healing targets in sequence until full instead of spamming 4 heals into the same character who needs just the one), but, like the turn based systems before it, the restrictions were at least apparent from the start. If anything, one just ended up pleasantly surprised that they could time hits and staggers or engagements and disengagements to the exact intended half-second in order to prevent certain attacks from completing or to dodge others. Both XV and XIII felt "floaty" and perhaps even unfinished, but one clearly had hand-on controls and the other made it clear you were just the tactician behind it all. The prior made it feel that bit less forgivable, especially atop the fact the game came out so much later and with so much more resources behind it.

[linayar]

It's been a longtime, but I think I remember just having fun with 13's combat system. 12 and 13 worried me at first, but they both turned out fine in their own ways as far as the combat is concerned for me. 13-2 was similar enough to 13, but I remember not liking Lightning Return's combat as much, which I think is a factor in me not finishing it. But I don't remember what changed, if any.

I don't know about 15, and especially 16, as I don't usually do well with action games, but as long as it's not like Type 0, I'm always willing to try (once I have the PC to run the games). Oh yeah, forgot about 7R. I haven't played that either, but having the option to wait sounds like a decent compromise.

[Endeleon]

I've played FF since 1999, and I'm happy turn based is gone. it's a niche market, if you like it, play games that are designed for that niche market.

Also some of you are really showing you don't understand WHY things took so long at all. This game is coming out in 2022, mark my words.

[ElazulHP]

I'm happy turn based is gone. it's a niche market

Except the Divinity and Persona franchises have sold millions of copies each and are lauded as some of the best games this decade. Divinity 2 in particular is considered one of the best turn-based RPG games every created with the developers now about to release Baldur's Gate 3 at the end of the month. Turn-based games are NOT niche nor is the market for them dead as some people believe.

[Amnmaat]

Except the Divinity and Persona franchises have sold millions of copies each and are lauded as some of the best games this decade. Divinity 2 in particular is considered one of the best turn-based RPG games every created with the developers now about to release Baldur's Gate 3 at the end of the month. Turn-based games are NOT niche nor is the market for them dead as some people believe.

Those terms are propaganda terms, the "this is dead" attack has deeper roots than most people understand or are willing to admit. Games like Octopath and the like prove that it's not really that turn based is dead, it's more to do with where these games are developed, WHO is saying that turn based is dead, and who it benefits. Notice how no one talks about the decline of the racing genre? Of course not, that would hurt the image of certain places as well as their money making potential/market.

[SamRF]

Except the Divinity and Persona franchises have sold millions of copies each and are lauded as some of the best games this decade. Divinity 2 in particular is considered one of the best turn-based RPG games every created with the developers now about to release Baldur's Gate 3 at the end of the month. Turn-based games are NOT niche nor is the market for them dead as some people believe.

Niche markets can and will still have big and successful games, sometimes even more than generic games if you manage to get the whole niche market you're targeting. Just genuinely thinking I don't see the average gamer nowadays have the patience for a turn based game. Action combat type of game will for sure look more attractive to the wider audience, especially for a game that's an epic adventure in Final Fantasy aesthetic and music. Obviously turn based market is nowhere near dead and it might indeed be to big to be called a niche.

Again, I know this is blasphemy according to FF fans but I honestly believe you can capture emotions better in the story as well as combat when you let the player immerse into 1 character. Final Fantasy specializes in being an emotional roller coaster and I believe this will benefit the game. Partly same reason why FFXIV's story feels as great as it does, and it's the same crew working on FFXVI apparently.

[Enla]

I'll be okay with turn based combat going away if they replace it with something compelling. From what I saw of FFXV I wasn't impressed - though on the flip side I heard general positive things about FF7R's combat once people actually got to play it.

[Tranquilmelody7]

Except the Divinity and Persona franchises have sold millions of copies each and are lauded as some of the best games this decade. Divinity 2 in particular is considered one of the best turn-based RPG games every created with the developers now about to release Baldur's Gate 3 at the end of the month. Turn-based games are NOT niche nor is the market for them dead as some people believe.

I don't think turn based is dead or niche but the Persona series is hardly a good example of turn based combat being popular.

Persona could be an action RPG series and would still sell just as much.

My case in point, the SMT franchise has been overshadowed by the Persona franchise for years now, despite the Persona franchise initially debuting as a spin-off of the former.

The social / high school setting of Persona just really resonates with people, regardless of the gameplay.

[ElazulHP]

I don't think turn based is dead or niche but the Persona series is hardly a good example of turn based combat being popular.

Persona could be an action RPG series and would still sell just as much.

My case in point, the SMT franchise has been overshadowed by the Persona franchise for years now, despite the Persona franchise initially debuting as a spin-off of the former.

The social / high school setting of Persona just really resonates with people, regardless of the gameplay.

Then replace Persona with games from the franchises of Dragon Quest, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, etc. My point is there is a LOT of very popular turn based games that do very well and it pains me to see that form of gameplay get written off as "niche" or "outdated" when the genre is still extremely popular amonst many people and has titles that are considered some of the best games the past decade.