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Final Fantasy XVI is almost upon us, whose heavy action gameplay will begin a whole new era for the nearly 35-year-old franchise. As such, various Square Enix heads and creators have been hitting the PR circuit lately to discuss the franchise and its constant evolution. One of those speaking about the series has been Square Enix vice president Yoshinori Kitase, who directed Final Fantasy VI and VII, among myriad other career highlights, and he had something pretty eye-opening to say today about the franchise's commitment to experimentation. Speaking with Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, Kitase casually confirmed that Square Enix would even be open to making a mainline Final Fantasy game that plays like Call of Duty.
Bloomberg did not quote Kitase directly on the question, but Schreier wrote, "But when it comes to evolution, how far could Final Fantasy go? Could the next version leave behind its role-playing roots and turn into, say, a first-person military shooter? Yes, Kitase says, he'd be open to a Final Fantasy game in the style of Call of Duty, as preposterous as it may sound." Kitase then elaborated that new and boundary-pushing ideas like this are likely to come from the younger staff they've accumulated, as he said: "My imagination really has its limits, so it's really great to have a new generation of creators on board."
Even Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida agreed that Call of Duty already has some elements in common with Final Fantasy, saying with a laugh that "when you think about it, it's this small group of people going around saving the world-that's very Final Fantasy."
All of this isn't to say that Final Fantasy XVII is suddenly going to become a first-person shooter, but it is to say that Square Enix would consider it if the team came up with a really terrific concept. Yoshida explained while talking to Bloomberg that Square Enix had offered no direction or mandates about what Final Fantasy XVI should be - it was simply up to his Creative Business Unit III team to figure it out. And they did! Impressions of the demo have been extremely positive overall, so we'll see how the rest of the 30ish-hour game plays out when it launches this week.