So, I have something to say about FF12 and the FF series in general, because it came at a very interesting time and it's really indicative of why the series ended up stagnating.

Katano, who worked on FFXII, shared this quote, and it is a sentiment that Sakaguchi echoed too.

Sakaguchi himself wanted variety and diversity in FF because his approach to the series was Disney-like. This is why he wanted different development teams on Final Fantasy.

FF9, FF10, FF11 and FF12 were all made by different development teams.

His ambition was to have a plurality of visions going into the series instead of one. People often chalk up FFXII as a "Square Enix" game derisively, but Sakaguchi was the one who put the FF Tactics and Vagrant Story team on FFXII, years before the merger.

A recent interview even indicates that Sakaguchi had a lot of respect for Yasumi Matsuno, the creator of these games. Final Fantasy XII was a game that was approved & sanctioned by Sakaguchi himself, because of his love of their previous game, Vagrant Story.

This entire string of games from FF9 to 12 was supposed to realize Sakaguchi's vision of putting creativity and a plurality of new experiences at the forefront.

Even if FF9 can be seen as a return to the roots, it was still a very unique and novel experience.

What he did not anticipate is that Final Fantasy ended up in a predictable formula, out of his control.

The advent of sequels (FFX-2) and compilations (FF7), which weren't his decision, shifted the entire approach from delivering new experiences to recapturing past nostalgia.

This had HUGE ramifications, because this approach shifted the entire way the fandom and a huge chunk of the audience reacted to the future of the series. Instead of looking forward to the new, it expected the old to come back in some form.

Final Fantasy X-2 set the biggest precedent in this regard. This game, produced by Yoshinari Kitase who previously directed FFX, had sold 5 million copies.

The success of this game, made in a year and a half, and largely reusing assets from FFX, was a hugely profitable venture.

This led Squaresoft, now Square Enix, to capitalize on nostalgia. For this, they brought back their most successful game ever: FF7.

A entire new compilation was added, taking advantage of FF7's reputation to sell lower-budget but profitable games. Crisis Core, Dirge, etc.

With the exception of Dirge of Cerberus, it worked. Crisis Core sold 3 million copies, Before Crisis was the most successful mobile game ever. The FF7 audience showed up.

But the most important catalyst was the FF7 Tech demo for the PS3 in 2005, it indicated that remakes were a reality. It became one of the most awaited game in the gaming sphere, fueling endless speculation for a decade.

By 2005, this shift was entirely in place, but this ran counter to what Sakaguchi had originally envisioned.

Sakaguchi hated sequels. He also didn't believe in remakes.

"I’d rather people focus their energy into creating something new"

The question to ask then is: What did this shift bring and what was the result? And I think this question is very important to understand what Final Fantasy ended up being.

Coming back to FF12. Keep in mind the game was released in 2006. The company went into an upheaval, distanced themselves from Sakaguchi.

They also did the FF7 Tech demo and announced FFXIII and its compilation. By that point, the expectations of fans couldn't be more different.

Final Fantasy XII had by that point become a relic of a previous era that had no reason to exist anymore.

It was the last project that was started under Sakaguchi's decision and it lasted five years. Square was a different company by then.

So FF12 was the next huge step in the series. Totally different from what came before. Much more complex, mature and forward-looking. Open world! No random encounters! An ambitious user-controlled AI system! It was an entirely new experience!

Who cared by that point?

For this, Tim Rogers brought up an interesting anecdote, where the first customer in line for FF12 had the opportunity to talk on the mic to Square's CEO, and the only thing he asked for was for a remake of Final Fantasy VII before leaving.

Tim Rogers joked that this customer had FFXII still shrink wrapped in his bag and he already forgot about it. He was more interested in a game that did not exist than the one that he was about to play.

By 2006, this was the audience that the series had started to cultivate.

By that point, new experiences were not just frowned upon but rejected outright. Fans weren't interested in playing new games as much as they were interested into re-experiencing old ones. But this all came to a head with the release of Final Fantasy 13.

Final Fantasy 13 was made by the same people who worked on FF10, and were also involved in FF7.

An entire machine oiled up to recapture FF7 and FF10's massive success. It had an entire compilation of games, which only replicated what they did on FF7's compilation too.

FF13 was the culmination of all the work they put capitalizing old experiences into a new one. They were the people who set up this entire shift in fans expectations. It was simply too big to fail because it was set to replicate FF7 and FF10's DNA, which FF13 has in spades.

It cannot fail, right? A game inspired by both two of the most successful FF games they had worked on. The FF10 team couldn't fail because they never failed before.

They ended up being undone by the very audience they cultivated ever since Sakaguchi's departure.

It backfired immensely as they put the cart before the horse. FFXIII's conservative approach failed to convince and it brought a decade+ where they are still failing to bring in new players to the series.

They were left with a compilation around a game that wasn't well received.

They had an entire compilation of games. FF13, Versus 13, Agito 13, Haeresis 13.

They distanced from FF13 with Versus XIII, now FF15, and Agito 13, now Type-0. Haeresis vanished.

As for FF13, they recouped the costs with what they had done with FFX-2, i.e more sequels.

Now the FF7 team, turned FF10 team, turned FF13 team, is now working within the confines of the corner they put themselves into. They are now working on Final Fantasy VII Remake, which could take as much as three parts, and will probably take 10 whole years since 2015's reveal.

So ever since FF10, that team leadership helmed by Kitase has only made one single new experience in the Final Fantasy franchise. It was FF13. Otherwise, it was sequels or remakes.

Do you understand how dire it is that one of the most creative team in the world turned this way?

FF15 was helmed by a different team, but even the specter of FF13 hung above them. Recreating a game from the ashes of an old one (Versus 13), and only having 3.5 years to make it. Much less time than needed. They were set up to fail cleaning the mess of other people.

Even FFXIV's first version had run into the same issue. The FFXI team almost entirely ignored the advancement in the MMO genre, thinking the brand name is enough to carry it. It failed spectacularly.

I don't hail Sakaguchi as an all-seeing genius, but I do think that in this case, he was right, and he was hugely vindicated by the actual state of the series. He didn't like the direction that FF13 was going, and regardless of quality, it was representative of the issue.

The only glimmer of hope came in the form of a second version of FFXIV, brought by a new leadership with Naoki Yoshida at its helm. The game had to be redone a second time through massive effort to become the great experience it is today.

And what a great experience it is, right? This new, restructured team has now released their latest MMO expansion sitting at a 91 metacritic. Final Fantasy has never had that since FF12! A brand new, exciting experience! And it paid off!! Who would have thought?

So, coming back to FF12, the lost child that dared to be different in a world that didn't want something new. Well, about the new FFXIV team...it was composed of a lot of people who worked on FF12. Naoki Yoshida himself is a huge fan of the Ivalice games and Matsuno's work.

They were literally the "task force" set to identify FF14's issues and find a way to fix them. The writer of FFXIV up until the (excellent) Heavensward also worked on FFXII.

They turned a ship emblematic of Final Fantasy's stagnation into a vibrant game.

Ironically, but not surprisingly, FFXII is the one game that was ignored in the reshuffle of the brand and the company, but those who made it are now the architects behind FF14, one of the most acclaimed titles in the series. A feat that was not replicated in 15 years.

FFXII was a game that tried to push the genre forward, offering a new experience that was representative of the changing times. Instead of replicating past successes, this game allowed himself to become that new experience.

It wasn't bound by expectations of Final Fantasy.

So it comes back to the original quote in the OP: "Final Fantasy is what you make of it."

Its differences is what makes the series, but the series has spent almost two decades recapturing the past, instead of creating something TRULY new as it once was.

This is why Final Fantasy 16 is so exciting, because it is truly a new title. The people who worked on FF14 are now working on FF16, unshackled by the past.

It will be the first Final Fantasy since 2006's FF12 to be truly allowed to be its own thing.

All of this to say, I have a lot of hope for the future of the Final Fantasy now. FF14 constantly outdoes itself and announced the beginning of a new era that FF16 will hopefully manage to be the flag-bearer of.

The past will finally be left behind after so long.