What Square Enix Needs to Do for Final Fantasy 17 to Return to Glory

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Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy 15, Final Fantasy 7

Published May 7, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT

Adam Braunstein is a Staff Writer at DualShockers who has been covering games professionally since 2019. He primarily writes lists and features, with a focus on RPGs, JRPGs, action-adventure games, VR, long-running franchises, nostalgia, and the broader state of the gaming industry.

Before joining DualShockers, Adam contributed to gaming outlets including Venture 4th, GameSkinny, The Nerd Stash, Attack of the Fanboy, and Daily Gamer. He has also interviewed developers, written occasional guides and news articles, and reviewed games for previous publications. Adam holds a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing.

Final Fantasy has been a franchise that has been with me my entire life. It's been there since I could read. It's my favorite series of all time, and no matter what other games are out around them, when a new Final Fantasy drops, I'm there. I don't care about the reviews. I don't care about public opinion. I'm getting that game.

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Or at least, that's how it's usually been. In recent years, however, that feeling has lessened a bit. It's not because I'm getting older, it's because in my eyes, the series has fallen a bit. The magic that was once there has gone in favor of chasing trends, and in the process, losing the soul of the franchise. While I liked Final Fantasy 16, it didn't really feel like a Final Fantasy game to me.

It had some solid success for sure, but longtime fans of the series just weren't 100% on board with the new direction. Now, with Final Fantasy 17 supposedly in the works, we need Square Enix to remember what made the series special in the first place.

Remember the Magic Moments

Impossible to Describe, Immediate to Recognize

There is a moment in every Final Fantasy game that grabs me. Some examples of this are the moment Cloud jumps off the train in Final Fantasy 7, the storming of Dollet Town in Final Fantasy 8, and the wedding rescue from Final Fantasy 10. These are all moments that feel like an epic happening, and whether it's kicking the story off, or hitting an apex, there is always at least one moment that makes the game feel really special.

I never really felt that in Final Fantasy 13, 15, or 16. Final Fantasy 15 came the closest, I think, with the invasion of Insomnia happening early in the game, but unfortunately, they didn't show us that incredible sequence as the whole thing happened in a movie instead of being able to play through it.

16 had epic moments for sure, but the story was so disjointed and the time skips didn't exactly feel justified. All the momentum built up in the opening 10 hours of the game was ruined by killing off too many compelling characters before the first couple chapters of the game were even done.

For Final Fantasy 17, I think Square needs to study the moments from their Golden Era. They need to figure out why those moments are seared into mine and many others' memories for life. Is it the action? Is it the story being told? Is it the big group nature of a mission making everything feel bigger? Maybe it's all of the above, but I know the PS1 and PS2 games had them, and everything since has not.

Stop Following Trends

Be Yourself, Because You Once Were Kings

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At its best, Final Fantasy is a series that lives by its own rules. The best games never cared about the trends of the time, and were instead melting pots of so many different things, but still nothing that felt like anything else. The trend following started, in my opinion, with Final Fantasy 15. Open world was the Genre of the Moment, and Final Fantasy latched on and gave us an open world. And it sucked.

Sure, the game was okay, but the open world element... What was the point? There was absolutely nothing to do in that open world but fight monsters occasionally and drive around. In comparison, some games, like the recent Crimson Desert, feel like they couldn't be anything but an open world. Final Fantasy 15 could've easily been an old-styled Final Fantasy game and probably would've been much better because of it.

Then, Final Fantasy 16 decided to go full-on action game, but forgot to add any challenge whatsoever. The boss fights are visually incredible, but they lack the skill requirement that would make action games that it's trying to ape, like Devil May Cry, feel so compelling to play. Game of Thrones also felt like it was required homework when it came to the writers, and you can see it clear as day. Because of that trend following, it didn't feel like a Final Fantasy game.

To me, there is nothing that felt like Final Fantasy 6 through 12, or even 13. They lived on their own merit, their own systems, and their own ideas about what a game should feel like. That originality was what made the series for me. Since then, it's lost that sense of identity.

Party Up

It Takes a Village

Final Fantasy has always been a series with the best ensemble casts. From the multiple main characters of Final Fantasy 6 to the boys' trip in Final Fantasy 15, it's always had an identity with intriguing and complex party members. Final Fantasy 16, rather bafflingly, left that idea behind. The game was all about Clive, despite teasing earlier that Joshua would be a playable character throughout the game. Jill and Cid tag along on occasion, but you can't direct them in battle, alter their behavior, or do anything of the sort.

The combat was fine, but it would've been immeasurably better if we could play as Cid, Jill, Joshua, and Dion. I mean, it was right there. That would've been a sick party for a Final Fantasy game, but... Nope. The only thing close to it sort of directing our dog companion, Torgal, but that didn't do much for me, personally.

Look at the most iconic Final Fantasy game out there, Final Fantasy 7; Cloud, Tifa, Barret, Cait Sith, Cid, Vincent, Yuffie and Aerith. Every character adds so much to the story, making it feel like there was so much camaraderie not just during the story moments, but during the adventures themselves. Playing as Clive, you're often just forced to experience things alone. It makes things feel very isolated, in a series that has always had teammates at your side.

For Final Fantasy 17, there is little doubt we need a party where we can play as each member, and each one should be unique and have unique mechanics, so playing as them feels interesting compared to the others. We need that big group adventure feeling to come back in full form. It will make fans of old come back, and introduce new ones to what made the series feel so special in the first place.

Fantastic Worlds

A Fantasy Worth Saving

The worlds of Final Fantasy are always the star of the show. Think of stepping into Midgar for the first time, seeing this pseudo-futuristic city and then going to places like Cosmo Canyon to take in the Temple of the Ancients. Think of Final Fantasy 8, with its modern aesthetic, but infused with wild locations like Esthar, the Ragnarok, or Ultimecias Castle. Or Final Fantasy 10 with Spira, an island-filled world that seems stuck between the past and the present, with religion ruling its unique groups of people.

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These worlds were gripping, because they felt so new, bizarre, and interesting. But in the past 15 years, we've had the terribly plain open world of Final Fantasy 15, and the "TEMU Presents" Game of Thrones world of Final Fantasy 16. They just weren't worlds that felt special anymore. They just felt like any other video game world.

They didn't feel like what Final Fantasy should be. We need weird; we need "out there." You can have a realistic style if you want, but you have to infuse plenty of things that give it a feeling of not just being Earth. These Final Fantasy worlds have felt too sterile lately. Where is the fantasy? Where is the imagination? We know it's there somewhere, and we're waiting for the iconic Final Fantasy world to happen, because it's been too long since we've had one.

Learn From Your Students

Clair Obscur and the Lessons It Taught

Square Enix brought in Sandfall Studios to talk with them and basically take them under their wing. I think the reason is that they saw what they once were in Sandfall. In Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, I found the best "Final Fantasy" game I've played in over 20 years. From the exploration, to the amazing party members, to the incredible turn-based combat, it was everything I remember loving about the series.

That's because Sandfall were the biggest Final Fantasy fans imaginable, and they were fans of the right ones. Heck, they even took the voice actor for Clive in Ben Starr, because they were such huge fans of the franchise. But with Clair Obscur, they had this sense of wonder in the game, and this adult-focused attitude that I remember first being introduced in Final Fantasy 7. That used to be you, Square Enix. You used to be the game everyone waited for. You used to have the iconic characters, the shocking moments, and the plot twists that had everyone talking.

Final Fantasy used to be the series to set the standard, not follow the trend of the moment. With Final Fantasy 17, I think Square Enix should "follow the trend" set by Clair Obscur to throw it back to what FF used to be. This time, it would be following the blueprint that they originally wrote over 30 years ago. Reclaim that banner, because no matter how many slip-ups there are along the way, Final Fantasy is a series that will live forever.