Why Final Fantasy Resonance matters more than another Final Fantasy remake.

I grew up with the SNES era of RPGs and came of age with the PS1. I love retro games and have fond memories of Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI.

There is clearly still strong demand for remakes and remasters, and projects like Final Fantasy VII Remake do an impressive job of reinterpreting a classic while respecting the original, but the approach is starting to feel increasingly familiar. The risk is that Square Enix has repeatedly returned to classic content rather than expanding and moving Final Fantasy in a new direction. For a series that’s been at the forefront of innovation for decades, it risks plateauing.

That is why projects like Octopath Traveler and Resonance matter more than another remake or remaster. They serve as a possible path forward: not just reworking past successes, but building new games that understand why those SNES and PS1 titles worked so well.

Screenshot courtesy of Square Enix

It’s also important for younger players who never got to experience the classic NES, SNES, and PS1 RPGs. Resonance can serve as an accessible entry point to classic Squaresoft and allow younger gamers to get a taste for a game that pays homage to the past. New quality of life additions are the best way to help make the experience seamless. It's the best of both worlds, a modernized experience that still reflects older design philosophy.

How well Resonance performs will speak volumes for Square Enix moving forward, after all, it’s one of the most influential series in the RPG genre. There’s no doubt the developers will innovate, but there needs to be a solid balance of familiarity with forward momentum. Sometimes it seems like the genre is at a crossroads, especially regarding turn-based combat, and these are the types of games people should be paying attention to as indications of where it's headed.

Skeptics will likely mention that Resonance draws from Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, a mobile gacha game, which might not align with what some retro fans were expecting, but Square has maintained its commitment to rebuilding the game from the ground up, so this shouldn’t be a reason to dismiss it. On the other hand, if it underperforms, it could cast doubt on how similar projects are viewed in the future.

Resonance is Square going back to the basics, and RPG fans around the world will be watching closely. It will show everyone what might have been had Square continued to push the limits of pixel art and old-school design.