Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s director weighs in on the real-time versus turn-based debate, saying that younger players ‘increasingly favour more real-time experiences in games’

Real-time or turn-based is a debate as unending as Coke vs Pepsi or Unreal Tournament vs Quake 3. Yet regardless of whether you prefer battering your enemies via free-flowing combat or tactical increments, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth‘s director reckons he knows which one is winning. And sorry to all you players who like taking time to think over your actions, but real-time is apparently where the cool kids are at.

Speaking to Game Informer (via GamesRadar) Naoki Hamaguchi said that RPGs and JRPGs are increasingly becoming viewed as “legacy genres” with action-centred games becoming more mainstream. This isn’t to say that he necessarily prefers action games, stating that “games where you evaluate the situation, contemplate your moves, and build upon the decisions you make are deeply universal, closely tied to the very nature of human thought.”

Nonetheless, he believes the tide is turning toward more reflexive, reactive experiences, stating that “when we look at younger players, they increasingly favour more real-time experiences in games. I believe they’re a generation that’s naturally accustomed to receiving instant feedback upon input.

As such, Hamaguchi isn’t at all surprised to see a game like Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 attempt to split the difference, offering a mix of turn-based tactics with real-time reactivity. “With that context in mind, it may have been inevitable for turn-based games that incorporate real-time decision-making through action elements to gain prominence. I think this reflects players’ desire for both the excitement of strategy and the immediacy of response.”

It’s also a shift that’s evident in Final Fantasy itself, though the newer FF games are more explicitly real-time than Clair Obscur. This doesn’t mean later Final Fantasy games will follow suit, but the adjustment has worked well for Rebirth as well as Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Hamaguchi says that “when something works well, we constantly think about ways we can carry those elements into our next title.”

It’s an argument that rings true, and Hamaguchi probably has access to data to back up. I’m not necessarily sure it’s a new phenomenon, however. I remember turn-based combat falling out of favour in CRPGs with Baldur’s Gate, a trend that continued throughout BioWare’s heyday, and only really returned with Larian’s rise to fame. Indeed, turn-based combat is probably bigger than it ever has been, if you look at the huge fandoms of games like Persona, as well as Yakuza’s incredibly successful pivot from real-time brawling to turn-based tactics. And in the Western sphere, we just saw Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era bring the veteran RPG series roaring back, which really demonstrates there’s an appetite for that style of RPG.

Personally, I wonder whether it’s less to do with demographics, and more to do with expectation. The modern Final Fantasy games are big, glossy AAA experiences, and those are generally associated with real-time action, whereas isometric or top-down RPGs tend more towards turn-based, certainly these days. Personally, I’ll take whatever best suits the game, and I wouldn’t like to see either approach go the ways of real-time with pause.