When it’s a long running series, it is IMPOSSIBLE for people to not have certain expectations. We are human. It is impossible; I don’t care what anyone says. And even Yoshi-P said it himself, that the FF series kind of lost its foundation after Sakaguchi left.
To me, the only FF team that still speaks to me is CBU1, in charge of VII/VIII/X/XIII/VIIR. Their games have the aesthetic and gameplay that I’m looking for with FF and their games still feel like the older era FF’s. Personally. And I respect this team more for coming up with a unique battle system that, despite some flaws, is largely very praised, while respecting traditional elements of prior FF’s. That is the right way to go, IMO.
I’m happy for people who are excited for FFXVI but I can’t shake how utterly Western it feels and I don’t like that at all. The combat being more DMC-like is fine, but it’s the overall product that feels incredibly Western, from the muted color palette, to the more generic-looking fantasy world, to the lack of gorgeous CG cutscenes the series is known for, etc. It’s disappointing to me. Like at this point absolutely nothing is safe when it comes to mainline FF’s. That’s not a good thing. Every entry can be fresh, but just having chocobos, spell names, and some monsters being the same is not nearly enough for a long running franchise. And unlike, say, BOTW/TOTK, XVI doesn’t do anything revolutionary to make up for omitting some beloved series traits; it’s rather derivative, much like the MMO that this team has worked on. But it’s clear that CBU1 is basically Final Fantasy’s “Western-oriented” team that’s inspired by Western media + Matsuno (who is also heavily inspired by Western media).
Also, while Tabata had a point about “FF disease,” he has no room to talk. He made the story and story content/presentation, which is always the the top priority in FF games, the last priority, all for a boring and subpar open world.