For the true Final Fantasy fan, they have come to understand two truths. First, that the fantasy is never actually final. I mean damn we’re almost in the twenties for the mainline games. Secondly, fantasy is always changing. You see, with the recent drop of Final Fantasy XVI, I’ve temporarily lost access to most of my friends as they’re all trying to get through the game before spoilers circulate everywhere. And in this day and age I can’t blame them. Reviews of the game appear to be mostly positive from what I see, though I have noticed a repeating critical opinion circulating around. Some people claim that they’ve “left behind” the original fans of this series with the complete switch to action gameplay instead of turn-based combat. At first like a little dumbass who doesn’t play Final Fantasy games, I thought they had a point. “Oh yeah, Final Fantasy was about turn-based shit, I guess they did alienate the OGs”. However after seeing some counterpoints, I no longer hold that opinion.

Unlike Call of Duty, fans of the entire series pointed out that it has ALWAYS been an ever changing series. Each mainline game may offer new minigames, new environments, new game modes, new character writing styles, new atmosphere, etc. I mean compare Final Fantasy X to Final Fantasy XV and you could be drumming up a list of differences for over an hour. The series has never been afraid to innovate, even in the mainline games. Because of this, fans should always be prepared to see the devs introduce something new while saying goodbye to a previous feature. Sometimes it will pay off, sometimes it won’t, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that the new FF game is shit simply because it doesn’t offer Blitzball. I could understand the criticism way more if the series was known for having a specific style that never changed up during the mainline entries. For example, Persona has a bunch of spinoffs that attempt multiple genres, but the mainline games are always turn-based combat. If Persona 6 just threw away the turn-based combat and social links, I wouldn’t know how to feel. I do think the series is due for some innovation, but more so on the narrative side of things rather than the combat. Hell Persona 5 improved upon the combat enough to make it feel completely fresh in my mind.

Well, at least the lewd animators won't need to go looking for inspiration.

So all in all, I think the criticism that the new Final Fantasy has left fans behind due to the genre switch sounds like an uneducated take coming from people who haven’t really played much of the series. They either played the original Final Fantasy VII one time years ago and then picked up this new title last week, or they slept under a rock for the past several years as action game after action game was released in the mainline series. What’s really important to remember here is to play the games you enjoy, and let other people fuck with the ones you don’t. Oh, and more Benedikta porn please. That’s the lesson. Did you see this criticism circulating online? Do you agree or disagree that Final Fantasy has switched up on fans? Are you playing the new game? Grab your sword, cast some magic, and put on an English accent in the comments below!