XV: why CAN'T we finally have a return to the old flavor?

[Bastian]

Well the games seem to really mix the two. Even in FFVIII, you're still slaying dragons and summoning phantom beasts.

But I don't want a "mix of the two" . . . FF1-FF5 wasn't a mix of the two. They were utter fantasy. VI pushed the envelope of that a bit . . . and then the floodgates opened. I want a return to pre VI days in in-game technology and setting. IX gave it to us, but with a cutesy art direction that was acceptable, but . . . I would REALLY love to see a more realistic art style. Or even something unique like a cel-shaded 2.5D style based on Yoaka Amano art.

And I think FFXII seemed a lot like the game you're looking for.

I've never given it much of a look because I remember thinking the gameplay looked weird. I'll have a look at some youtube clips.

And some of us like the settings of games like FFVIII.

Sure. And I'm sure some people would love to see a Final Fantasy game take place in the setting of a set of intestines. I'm just saying that FF1-5 had a similar setting and I haven't really liked any FF game since (apart from IX) and so would like a return to that style of setting.

Besides FFX/X-2 and FFXII were hardly completely futuristic in tone.

I'm not familiar with XII just yet, but as far as X/X-2 goes . . . I forgot to specify "Eurocentric" in my "medieval fantasy" descriptor. :P

At the moment futuristic stuff sells. Look at Mass Effect 2. When a game comes out and blows away critics and sells ridiculously that appears to be approaching that old school fantasy feel (no, Dragon Age was not that game) Square will decide whether Old Skool Fantasy sells again.

WarCrack isn't an RPG per se, but it is super commercially popular and takes place in such a setting.