>>718194043
Nothing will save FF.
People don't want to acklowedge this, but all decline began with FFX- when Sakaguchi stopped being nearly as involved with the games. FFX was already a preview for what XII and XIII would bring, but then his ultimate leaving basically sealed the state of FF.
The Sak was the sole reason FF games were always individual stories for one thing. He leaves, Square immediately needs money, so what happens? Fucking X-2. Compilation of VII. IV: The After Years & Interlude. Fabula Nova Crystallis.
Final Fantasy is no longer a franchise, it is many franchises. No longer is this cute stuff like "Oh, Final Fantasy 8 is probably in the same world as 3, isn't that neat" or "Final Fantasy 5 has a cool anime thing", instead it is direct "This is more of that past thing".

The four biggest projects talked about for Final Fantasy today really show why this is a complete shitshow:
>Final Fantasy VI Remake
>Final Fantasy VII Remake (Sequel) Part 3
>Final Fantasy IX Remake
>Final Fantasy X-3 OR X Remake
The series is done. Nobody will ever give a shit about the new games since every single one since X has been written by people who could not conceive of human emotions or struggle even with several lifetimes in their itinerary, and the combat system was never the issue. It was a symptom of SE's greater confusion over why people don't give a shit about FF anymore. Changing the combat system back will just lead to spergs deluding themselves into thinking "THIS WILL BE THE ONE!", like when XV showed off its "Roadtrip Vibes" or when XVI talked about how it had the DMC5 combat director. It's all noise distracting from the core that does not exist anymore.