I do think the action direction is affecting one of the main draws of the series and genre to me. Y'see one of the things I enjoy the most about RPGs is when it has a bunch of characters that not only feel distinct in terms of design and personality, but also the part they play in combat. 15s action forced them to focus your play on a single character, and any interactions you had with the rest of your team felt pretty weak as a result (It didn't help that, that combat also just felt like it lacked a lot of depth).
Now FF7R's combat I actually liked a lot, because it had this important part for me, where you felt like you had a team of characters that were strongly distinct from one another and you were able to control them all even in a faster-paced action gamestyle. It was really the best fusion of a modern take on old FF flavor that a fairweather fan like me could imagine.
Seeing FF16 I am interested, and it seems like they're committed to making it a better action game than 15, but also I'm worried it'll have the same issue as 15 if you're just playing one or two dudes throughout the whole thing. I'll likely give it a shot either way, I'm more into action games anyway, but I'd definitely mourn that party aspect of the series if it isn't there.
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