As I've said in other threads, I think FF7R would still be a good game if it wasn't FF7. If this is a safe way of thinking for them, then I think maybe whatever road their brains lead them down would probably be good for FFXVI. And maybe limiting their scope like that would keep it from getting as bloated and off-the-rails as FFXV became. As long as it feels inspired by, and like a spiritual successor, and not just "Here's FF8 but all the names are changed". Which would just feel cheap and pointless

I still have trouble trusting Squeenix to come up with something wholly original that's actually good these days. I'm glad they're putting their training wheels back on. They've needed it