Doesn’t that hold up for XIII and XV too though? I mean, they’ve been on this track for such a long time now. I don’t think it’s just the experimental action combat systems that are the core of the issue with the franchise, FFVIII’s combat system was turn based and that turned me off at the time too. I think it’s more the series has a wider identity crisis at this point, scattered across so many sub-series and ideas, but you’ve also got this AAA game trend of big series all wanting to be a big action game with rpg elements, no matter whether it started as an rpg or an action game. So it’s kinda torn between FF being all over the place (when the series has a history of experimentation, which is cool), but also the money being at a particular junction point between so many genres. I don’t know if that makes any sense. Sorry if not. I’m kinda having trouble getting my head around my own point
I brought up Octopath as sure, it’s a different IP. But as someone who loved the older FF games it’s exactly what I want out of FF, lots of wonderful characters, scenarios, crazy steampunk vehicles and cities side-by-side with raw fantasy, the melodrama alongside the humour and the camraderie. I just don’t really need FF any more when Octopath II is the older FF games with a great battle system in all but name. I guess that’s why 2DHD exists, to serve people like me who just find that’s exactly what they want as a mix of the old and the new, rather than whatever the latest game with the FF branding on the box is.