The action combat of Devil May Cry in the PS2 era offers a completely different level of spectacle compared to what it does today.
What? The action combat in Devil May Cry during the PS2 era is absolutely comparable to its present-day iteration. In fact, Dante's move set in Devil May Cry 3 is almost identical to the one he possesses in Devil May Cry 4 & 5. Sure, there have been improvements in particle effects, resolution, textures, and lighting (which is true for every genre), but to suggest that Square Enix was specifically waiting for particle effects to improve is ridiculous. No sane person would look at combat systems like those in DMC, Ninja Gaiden, or God of War and say, “You know what? This combat system would work great in our game, but let's stick with turn-based combat because the particle effects aren't good enough.”
That's an utterly absurd perspective.
Moreover, they did create Action RPGs during that era. In fact, they made several.
You don't have the slightest idea on what the decision to make Final Fantasy initially turn-based depended.
I do. Anyone who has put in even a minimal effort to explore the history of RPGs understands the reasons.
It is a *fact* that action combat at that time was much less attractive due to technical limitations than it is now. It was clunky and much more expensive and challenging to develop. The fact that it was *possible* is irrelevant. Possible doesn't mean attractive or fitting.
EVERYTHING looked less attractive. What kind of utterly insane argument is that? Final Fantasy and DQs combat looked like trash compared to today standards as well.
Gameplay development trends are fluid, and "possible" and "impossible" are not the only two variables.
It is fitting now according to its developers, so that's what they do. You may want to give it a rest.
Why? This conversation has been incredibly entertaining. It's very enjoyable to watch you come up with the most bizarre explanations to try to justify how the decision to move towards action combat is entirely due to technical limitations.
Well, that, or you could just accept the logical explanation that the audience that Final Fantasy once appealed to has shrunk, which forced the developers to appeal to a more global audience that prefers action combat over turn-based combat. But perhaps that's just a bit too sensible for you.