Expedition 33 isn’t Final Fantasy – And That’s It’s Strength

It’s been a common comment over the last couple of months. “Those Expedition 33 guys, they’ve done good. They should work on the next Final Fantasy. It’s better than Final Fantasy.” I’m here to say that’s madness.

Final Fantasy is one of my favourite franchises. I spoke last year about how it had finally rediscovered its identity in Final Fantasy XVI and more so in Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth. It took a long, long time to get there. You can see the compromises in older games right there on screen. XVI and Rebirth aren’t for everyone, of course, but something doesn’t need to be for everybody to be good.

Expedition 33 came basically out of nowhere and has blown people away. The comparisons to Final Fantasy have done them a world of good. They’re a young developer, and they’ll have lots to prove going forward. Expedition 33 is just that good.

Would it be better with all the baggage that comes with a Final Fantasy game? No. If Expedition was a Final Fantasy game, people would have hated it. That’s what’s in a name.

There wouldn’t have been enough characters. There wouldn’t have been enough fantasy. The music wouldn’t have been as good or as iconic as VII or X.

None of these things are necessarily true, but the benefit of being a small developer taking on the big boys is that you can smash conventions and people will applaud you for it. Nobody will ever thank Square for taking risks.

People swear they’re desperate for a return to turn-based games, and Expedition proves that’s true. They had an excellent hook, a decent first trailer – that trailer sold me on the game without me knowing a single thing about it. Starting it for the first time did the rest.

An Unburdened Expedition

It’s a fair complaint that Final Fantasy hasn’t had that kind of hook in a long time. XVI had the Game of Thrones thing, until we saw it at 200 events and it wore thin. Rebirth’s existence is its hook. There hasn’t been a concept so instantly appreciable that it makes you sit up straight. I don’t believe that’s a Final Fantasy thing. It just hasn’t happened for them.

Expedition could be a welcome surprise. It could build its entire battle system around parries. You know how many people have complained they can’t do the parries? Now imagine the rants about “I’VE BEEN A FAN SINCE 1995” if it had been a Final Fantasy game.

Every Final Fantasy game since the early 2000s has had to tiptoe between nostalgia and innovation. It has had to live up to the best games of all time while pushing visuals and gameplay to the limits. It is the AAA RPG. That’s why it’s special. It’s USP isn’t chocobos and kinky villains, it’s being the JRPG with the production values. Those days can’t continue.

Expedition shows a different way forward. It’s made by a small team. It’s clever – it’s innovative. It doesn’t need to be Final Fantasy – it shouldn’t be.

Square doesn’t need to hire the people behind Expedition. They do need to take notes. No doubt they are.

Meanwhile, Final Fantasy doesn’t need new creatives. It needs support. It needs old fans to let go.