This could've been a good idea I feel as not only would a game built to Switch spec be cheaper to make than an AAA PS4/5 title, but you could easily and affordably give it a 60fps/4K port to PS/Xbox/PC.

Such a title could help reinvigorate interest in FF in Japan where it has lost a great deal of the sway it once held.

That's kind of what Ever Crisis is. Also the rumored remake of FF9.

Beyond that unfortunately SE  has said they're going to cut down on AA releases if anything. Like the rest of the industry, they're going to be leaning more on safe AAA multiplatform releases of known franchises instead of experimenting.

That’s like the opposite of what they should do…

It seems they always want to be 'top' in their design and style for the main titles. FF7, 8 and 9 looked and played the best in that era. Even 10, X-2 and 12 have amazing gameplay and graphics of their era. They are trying to continue doing that still and I think the FF brand is what they want that to be, the 'top' (while releasing weird shit mobile games), yet it is odd that they havent' tried a spin off of more classic style of game, right?

But then they did, The Toyko RPG Factory was trying to do that. I Am Setsuna is a good game and even has ATB gameplay but I guess had less of a backing from SquEnix as it was a side project (had the chibi style you mentioned). I have not played their follow ups and their last was in 2019 and an action game. It didn't make the same kind of impact prehaps a Final Fantasy titled game might have.

They have now been absorbed by SquEnix, so doubt we will get anything of the kind you are talking about from them.

It would be good to see them (SquEnix) try their hand at what you are suggesting. An indepth RPG like FF 9 just in the modern era.

Ever Crisis is milking in all it's purest form. It's not a full new game with news characters and story just same in the style of 7-9. 

Not just some weird retelling of FF7 with gatcha mechanics. God I remember when the trailer first game out on this website, most comments where just people asking what it even was.

Make games, not money laundering services.

SquareEnix did a fair bit of experimentation and variety latey and released a ton of A and AA titles... that bombed terribly. Their only big "recent-ish" success story was NieR Automata (which was something of a mircale for it to even exist in a AA -almost AAA- form, but they didn't develop it anyway). Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy were successful too, but OT2 underperformed even though it was superior to the first and released on all major platforms, as opposed to OT1 skipping Playstation entirely.

DragonQuest is stagnant and is yet to find its big moment in the west. Final Fantasy spinoffs like World of FF pretty much bombed despite being a good and charming little game and a return to classic ATB. Tokyo RPG Factory stuff were lowbudget and apparently extremely forgettable. The Diofield Chronicle and Babylon's Fall were major bombas. Valkyrie Elysium (still love how this game feels and I plan to get it), NEO TWEWY, and Stranger of Paradise bombed or underperformed too.

The (J)RPG community as a whole is very limited. It's easier for less popular titles like Xenoblade, or Persona, or NieR (barely an RPG) to find growth vs Final Fantasy which was already close to the cap and needs a miracle to break it. I guess FF16 being virtually an action "non-RPG" was their idea to breakthrough, and it didn't really go well. Perhaps they should go with an improved Rebirth formula for the next mainline entry and hope their writers don't screw up! Curious what they're going to do with DQ12.

I could be the odd man out but square makes their games way to fricking big and lost a number of sales from me.  I liked Octo and was going to get the sequel until I read it was 60 hours....  I don't have time for more than one 60+ hour game a year, and that is saved for stuff like Tears. 

Again, it could just be me, but I'd square would do more 15 to 30 hour games, I would buy them.  

I loved Automata and Triangle.

Unpopular opinion, I think SE desperately needs a new successful IP more than a successful FF title. Square needs something like what Dragons Dogma (2) did for Capcom. A breakout IO thats succesful. DD 1 sold over 7.5 million units and the new one sold 2.5 million units in 11 days and its performing well enough for Capcom to call it a big success.

FF has dried up, another title might sell 5-7 million units or 0.5 million units more if it releases on Xbox as well, but the IP simply isn't as relevant anymore. So if Square continues to make FF titles, they should opt for making one that's profitable when selling 3.5 million units.

SquareEnix made plenty of those shorter games that you desire, but nobody bought them. They had decent ratings too.

I may be misreading the point of a couple of posters here but SE's experimental bombs did not happen in a vacuum.

SE had a big hand in fumbling the marketing and the timing of some of these releases, NEO TEWEY being a good example. OT1 had a much better marketing push than OT2 when Nintendo was the publisher outside Japan and, while there is no way measure the exact effect, it seems to have payed off, comparatively.

My point is that, while giving publishing chances to games that experiment is good, SE did not go all the way in properly supporting a lot of these releases.

There was Forspoken. It flopped to the point it stung SE enough for them not to try again for some time, which circles back to the point that making a successful game is hard...

...and making successful AA games even more so. Whether SE was to blame or not, the fact is that this sort of game (AA titles) is bombing all across the industry despite internet claims for smaller budgets and shorter development cycles.