The advent of has generated a lot of conversation this year about whether we're going to see a resurgence in the popularity of turn-based JRPG gameplay—conversations that have admittedly felt a little confusing to anyone who, for example, has played an Atlus game in the last decade. Even Final Fantasy 14 director and FF16 producer Naoki "YoshiP" Yoshida has been drawn under the discourse spotlight.
In an interview with , Yoshida was asked whether Square Enix was considering a return to Final Fantasy's turn-based roots for its next mainline entry, given that and other classic JRPGs as key inspirations. According to Yoshida, that's a question that's too narrow in scope.
Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if we see Final Fantasy return to form sometime in the next decade or two. But ultimately, Yoshida says the design and direction of the next mainline Final Fantasy will be determined by—you might want to sit down for this one—what its designers and directors choose to make.