Claire Obscure 33 is the most overrated game in history

[hex]

Honestly I hope it bodes well for future final fantasy games to be try being turn based again

Sandfall was at Square-Enix a few months ago and Yoshytaka Amano did art work of the "E33" characters.

https://www.ign.com/articles/clair-...mano-collaboration-now-available-on-ign-store

They're huge fans of the game. I'd be surprised if they didn't take cues from "E33" moving forward.

I highly doubt it changes Square's mindset in approaching the series. FF has always been the series that took risks, even when it was turn-based. While Dragon Quest stayed as their traditional series.

Square-Enix was saying turn based combat is a thing of the past back in 2022.

Final Fantasy XVI Producer Says Realistic Graphics and Turn-Based Combat Don't Fit

Final Fantasy XVI producer Naoki Yoshida said the increasingly realistic graphics are becoming a difficult fit with turn-based combat systems

wccftech.com

Fast forward to 2025 and two out of the last three Game Of The Year Awards went to turn based RPGs. One of them, "E33", being literally exactly what he was saying wouldn't work.

I realize they like to experiment with "Final Fantasy" but they look f*cking crazy right now.

Fred.

 

[winb83]

Honestly I hope it bodes well for future final fantasy games to be try being turn based again

Probably not in a mainline series game. A spinoff is likely to do it though.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Square-Enix was saying turn based combat is a thing of the past back in 2022.

They said it doesn’t fit the style of game Final Fantasy currently is. Square Enix puts out more turn based games than any other publisher

 

[hex]

They said it doesn’t fit the style of game Final Fantasy currently is. Square Enix puts out more turn based games than any other publisher

Read the posts in order. We (and the article) were specifically talking about "FF".

And what he said was 100% wrong.

"FFXVI" had realistic graphics so he said turn based combat wouldn't work. "What if a character has a gun?"

"E33" had realistic graphics, was turn based, and a character had a gun. Came out and sold 5 mil (so far) with a fraction of a "FF" budget and won Game Of The Year.

Square-Enix is out of touch. People shoot them an insane amount of bail because of nostalgia. I get it, I really do. But turning "Final Fantasy", a party based, turn based franchise into a "Devil May Cry" rip off is beyond just experimentation. It would be like if From Soft dropped "Dark Souls Volleyball" or "Elden Ring Kart". You've experimented so much it's not even the same genre of game any more.

Fred.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Read the posts in order. We (and the article) were specifically talking about "FF".

And what he said was 100% wrong.

"FFXVI" had realistic graphics so he said turn based combat wouldn't work. "What if a character has a gun?"

"E33" had realistic graphics, was turn based, and a character had a gun. Came out and sold 5 mil (so far) with a fraction of a "FF" budget and won Game Of The Year.

Square-Enix is out of touch. People shoot them an insane amount of bail because of nostalgia. I get it, I really do. But turning "Final Fantasy", a party based, turn based franchise into a "Devil May Cry" rip off is beyond just experimentation. It would be like if From Soft dropped "Dark Souls Volleyball" or "Elden Ring Kart". You've experimented so much it's not even the same genre of game any more.

Fred.

At the end of the day Rebirth has a higher metacritic so naw, im not rolling. Yall do this annoying shyt where you weaponize one game against another.

FF is fine, and E33 is good. SE don’t gotta do what they did. They need to keep putting out good releases like Rebirth

 

[Fatboi1]

Final Fantasy's problem isn't battle system. FFXIII had an amazing turn based battle system yet it was ass. FFXV went real time but the combat was a but janky and the world was boring. Going forward they can keep the battle system of Rebirth and tweak it but it does not need to be turn based.



There's literally nothing "wrong" with gameplay, they've found a good mix with Rebirth. XVI had a smooth battle system but it lacked the typical FF elements and felt like a spinoff.

 

[hex]

At the end of the day Rebirth has a higher metacritic so naw, im not rolling. Yall do this annoying shyt where you weaponize one game against another.

FF is fine, and E33 is good. SE don’t gotta do what they did. They need to keep putting out good releases like Rebirth

Their scores are the same.

"E33" is 92 on PS5, 91 on XBOX, and 91 on PC. User score is 9.6.

"Rebirth" is 92 on PS5 and 90 on PC. User score is 8.9.

And who even mentioned "Rebirth"?

The last new "FF" game was XVI. The article was about XVI. The next game will be XVII. I'm talking about the latest entry in the franchise, not a remake of a game that came out in 1997.

Fred.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Their scores are the same.

"E33" is 92 on PS5, 91 on XBOX, and 91 on PC. User score is 9.6.

"Rebirth" is 92 on PS5 and 90 on PC. User score is 8.9.

Ok, even more reason why they shouldn’t give a fukk

And who even mentioned "Rebirth"?

The last new "FF" game was XVI. The article was about XVI. The next game will be XVII. I'm talking about the latest entry in the franchise, not a remake of a game that came out in 1997.

Rebirth ain’t a simple remake, its a ground up retelling of a game from 97 with a completely new combat system, story, art style, etc. its literally the latest major Final Fantasy game release

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Like, i love the Expedition 33 combat but to ignore how good this is…

What Creative Business unit 3 needs to do is walk over to Creative Business Units 1’s floor and run them through how to implement this in the numbered series

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Told yall.

The cult will stan FF but call this overrated.

I wonder why

 

[hex]

Ok, even more reason why they shouldn’t give a fukk

You're saying they shouldn't give a f*ck about an upstart company's very first game scoring exactly the same as arguably the biggest (in terms of pop culture relevance) game they ever made, padded by nearly 30 years of nostalgia?

The same game that used the formula they said was outdated for the most recent numerical entry in the franchise?

Ok man. I guess they invited Sandfall out to play Blitzball.

Fred.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Told yall.

The cult will stan FF but call this overrated.

I wonder why

The cult, aka one person? Its almost like everyone has their own opinions

And we know the only reason you care at all is because you associate it with gamepass

 

[Fatboi1]

I honestly think the next FF game could come out, have real time combat and blow up simply because of aesthetics. The medieval/fantasy setting they love to use is a bit overused so I think it's time they do something a bit more colorful. Claire Obscure looked visually distinct when first revealed and was turn based so the first impression someone would say is "This looks like a next gen old school Final Fantasy game."

I'd think if the next FF game looks more like FF9 or X, but with the fluidity of Rebirth's combat system and has a really good plot+writing it can do numbers. Rebirth's lack of a sales number announcement has created this cloud(no pun intended) over it that it "flopped" and that the formula isn't working and they need to go back to the drawing board yadda yada. Nobody really knows that.

If Square revealed FFXVII tomorrow and it looked like this:

People would be like "we're soooo back!!!"

The problem is similar to the Halo problem. You have a fan base that has been divided into many parts so everyone will never be satisfied.

There's old school "purists" who want their games untouched and are vocal hence you see a lot of "Multiverse FUKKED IT UP Y'ALL!" and "OOOMG SO MUCH FILLLER and MInIgaMES!!" posts constantly mentioned online and then you have fans who don't quite care and love it but are drowned out by the vocal minority. I'm an "old school fan" and I couldn't care less that whispers exist and Sephiroth is trying to change the story of the original game's plot. To me if the game is engrossing, fun to play and feels like an RPG that's a great game to me.

FFXVI failed in that it hooked you at first with an epic prologue, first few hours seemed very promising then you realize you're playing a DMC game without the best parts and a FF game without anything that makes it FF(No status ailments, no point in stats other than equip strongers weapon/armor, no strategy besides just stagger and pummel enemies.) Make FFXVII with XV's scope(open world) but with the detail of Rebirth's overworld, Rebirth's or similar's battle system and writing similar to the previous FF titles and it would be interesting to see the reception from "True fans."

 

[cyndaquil]

At the end of the day Rebirth has a higher metacritic so naw, im not rolling. Yall do this annoying shyt where you weaponize one game against another.

FF is fine, and E33 is good. SE don’t gotta do what they did. They need to keep putting out good releases like Rebirth

I kinda like @winb83 suggestion that they'll do it in a spinoff game before (if ever) doing it in another mainline game. Kinda like how versus xiii was supposed to experiment with action rpg gameplay but ended up turning into final fantasy xv. Just hope a game like that doesnt get stuck in development hell or have a low budget

 

[The Mad Titan]

At the end of the day Rebirth has a higher metacritic so naw, im not rolling. Yall do this annoying shyt where you weaponize one game against another.

FF is fine, and E33 is good. SE don’t gotta do what they did. They need to keep putting out good releases like Rebirth

Nikkas

Your whole coli persona is weaponizing any and everything to do with PlayStation as superior or at the very least equivalent, while downplaying or trying to explain why everything that isn't PlayStation associated is inferior.