Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 released to immediate acclaim, so “normal” fans decided to celebrate by dunking on Final Fantasy. Many gamers are still mad that Square Enix made the series more action-oriented, even though the company has published other turn-based RPGs since.
While it’s understandable why fans miss FF’s old turn-based battles, they need to let it go. Expedition 33 and modern Final Fantasy are different animals, so they can co-exist with each other.
The fact that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is already a huge success should be celebrated. Seeing such a high-quality turn-based RPG from a Western company is astonishing. Even if there are various indie games that play similarly to JRPGs, seeing one at this scale and quality is worth celebrating.
Instantly comparing it to another company’s flagship series diminishes that success a bit.
Expedition 33 is clearly inspired by classic Final Fantasy, and that’s not a bad thing. But the game also has some pretty original ideas that set it apart from Square’s series. Those praiseworthy concepts might feel less if fans just use them to dunk on another property. Both games are allowed to be different from each other, because those creative teams don’t think alike.
Modern Final Fantasy games aren’t exempt from criticism, not at all. We’ve had plenty to say about Final Fantasy 16 being a spectacle that sacrifices substance, but there are people who enjoy that game’s combat and story. It’s still a beautiful game with some combat, and fans have to accept that it’s not really a traditional RPG anymore.
Fans have also complained about the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, which is expanding on the PS1 game and adding new material to it. Some of these criticisms are understandable, since it’s almost an entirely different game that happens to have a similar story. These games still have plenty of fans, and anyone who doesn’t like them can readily buy the original JRPG on numerous platforms.
Seeing fans obsess over Final Fantasy not being turn-based like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is insane, because there are more of these games now. Dragon Quest 11 is one of the best classic JRPGs available right now and is arguably better than most classic Final Fantasy games. The mainline Persona games are also incredibly addictive, with great combat and plenty of side content. Yakuza: Like a Dragon is also of high quality and gives fans plenty of wacky situations to play through.
You can enjoy the turn-based battles of Expedition 33 and the real-time combat of modern Final Fantasy. Two kings can co-exist.