What's Next for Final Fantasy? MMO Edition!

And I ask this because, in all likelyhood, Square-Enix’s next big MMO project will probably be another Final Fantasy game. Anyways, according to our buddies over at Massively, it would seem that there is a tasty little rumour flying around: Square plans on announcing their next big MMO at GDC this year. Now I’m not going to delve into the where, what, why, etc of this matter. For all that kind of news you can go ahead and click on the link above. What I am going to be talking about here are the possibilities of what that MMO might be and how it pertains to the Final Fantasy world.

In the past couple of years Square has gone on record as saying two things (paraphrased of course):

1. They wish to expand the Final Fantasy VII universe and add more games to that legacy.
2. They are currently developing FFXIII to be the next “FFVII” and plan on making at least 3 games in the Novus Crystallis world.

So, what does this mean for MMO gamers? Well, while no details have really emerged as to what these expansions will be exactly, there could, very well, be a planned MMO in the works for either one.  Although, I will go on record as saying that an MMO based off of FFVII is highly unlikely. Most RPG gamers know the world, and also know that it isn’t really big enough to suit the needs of an MMORPG. Without extensive world reconstruction (perhaps making the game 500 years in the past or future) Final Fantasy VII would not work well in an MMO environment. That said, however, Square-Enix does see and understand that there are very real competitors out there who are using the power of branding to aid their games like Lord of the Rings and Warcraft. Square may want to pull out the big guns in order to reinforce their game which would mean reviving their most popular Final Fantasy franchise in MMO flavor. Still though, I find it to be highly unlikely, which leaves us with Final Fantasy XIII.

Now, we don’t know much about Final Fantasy XIII. We don’t really know the world, characters, or any of that mish-mash usually associated with RPGs. We don’t know these things because the game is still in development. This leads me to believe that a futuristic FF MMO could be in the works under this numerical “sequel”. It would make perfect sense:

1. The game’s world is supposed to be huge and epic.
2. Developing the game now means that they could be making it so that the game’s storyline and world are easily adaptable to MMO status.
3. Square-Enix really wants to make this series of games their stand-out titles, and what better way to do that than to allow you to mingle through it with thousands of other players at the same time.

There you have it. Those are my two predictions of what the next big MMORPG from Square-Enix will be. Of course, I have no insider information (I don’t speak Japanese :( ), so this is all based off of my own personal speculations and observations of the market. Square may completely throw me a curve ball and not make an MMORPG based off the Final Fantasy world at all. Maybe they will *gasp* make an MMORPG based off Dragon Quest! I love those games. :)

Thanks for reading.