14 DAY TRIAL // The developers of the long running Final Fantasy series have acknowledged that gamers seem to be moving away from the turn based structure to what is called the action role playing game genre but they are sure that their games still have plenty of appeal for the fan base.
Yoshinori Kitase, who is one of the main designers behind the Final Fantasy series, told EDGE that, “In the global market we see many players moving away from games that used turn-based systems toward what you might term an action-RPG. That’s a trend, and you ignore things like that at your peril.”
The developer says that Square Enix is not getting complacent and plans to add something new to the mechanics of the series with every release.
Kitase added, “FFXIII and FFXIII-2′s battle systems have those elements of speed and action that are the key words for us, though that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to stick to the same route in our next game. That’s something only time can tell. I think the nature of the franchise is to present something new each time.”
Square Enix is hard at work on the finishing touches of Final Fantasy XIII-2, the second full fledged sequel in the history of the series, which will be launched on December 15 in Japan and in late January in both Europe and the United States.
The game will feature some of the same characters seen in the previous single player game in the franchise but will have a more streamlined combat system, designed to make it easier for player to understand and use.
Square Enix is also working on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, which is part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis universe, but no release date has been given for the game and the PlayStation Portable based Final Fantasy Type-0 is out in Japan but at the moment there are no plans to launch in on Western markets.