Since square likes to boast sales especially when it reaches 5 million. Since they been quiet that the game didn't sell much more on PC and Xbox so it's probably less than e33

Expedition 33 tops 8 million units

I think it's likely that it outsold Final Fantasy XVI at this point. Square is still silent about FF16 sales, but I really don't think it's over 8 million.

Good. 33 is a fantastic game, one of the best this generation. 16 was meh, if I am being nice. I am glad someone showed Square how to make a great turn based rpg.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince

Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven 

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake

Octopath Traveler 0

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined

Those are just some of the turn based RPGs that Square released *since* FFXVI, which doesn't even include most games from Team Asano that came before it. I am so, so tired of Final Fantasy fans saying Square doesn't know how to make turn based RPGs anymore. Try literally any other recent game in their catalog, will ya?

I can rephrase, if that helps.  Expedition 33 is better than anything Square has done in decades.  It blasted game awards for a reason.  Expedition 33 is top shelf, must play and is easily one of the greatest turn based rpgs crafted.  A smaller studio out did Square on their first attempt.  

Edit

Also I did chortle, that over half your list are remakes...  

So what? The FFVII games are a remake, and a lot of people love complaining about the combat for not being turn based, doesn't those remakes deserve recognition for staying turn based?

And E33, as good as it is, was the most overrated game from last year, just because it was a JRPG made by Western devs, who also happened to be "darling indie devs", who also happened to be ex-Ubisoft employees when AC Shadows was brand new and hating Ubisoft was the coolest thing if you were a gamer.

Good game, but most of its praise happened because of a perfect storm of who the devs were, not because of the game itself.

So what?  A small developer, on their first attempt, made a better original game than Square has done in decades?  I mean, it feels like a huge deal.  I can't wait to see what they do next.  While FF17, maybe.  I don't think it is a secret Square is struggling to hit their sales targets.  There is a reason their entire corporate strategy is being re-thought.  Even Square knows they are losing traction within the industry.    

The remakes are very good to excellent, IMO.  The problem I have with Square is their original content, it is lacking.  There is a reason they are knee deep in making remakes, but they seem to struggle with original content.  Square has been disappointing, historically (SNES and ps1), they were my favorite developer.  

We will have to disagree about E33, the game was astounding.  The battle system was fantastic via parry and dodge system.  The character customization was excellent.  The story, world and characters -> top notch.  E33 was one the best games I have played in 10 years and was easily the best rpg I have played since the original FF7.  I can't praise the game enough.  

Edit

Sandfall making a game faster, cheaper, better that also sells more than Final Fantasy..  I honestly don't know how that isn't a big deal.  

People always want to make it about turn-based vs “action” combat, but, the thing is, if an action RPG had dominated the GOTY awards and gaming discourse for an entire year then it would have likely sold like 15m+ units. Elden ring sold like 13.4m in a month. Cyberpunk sold 13m at launch.

The relative lack of success for FF(and square in general) is nothing to do with turn-based or action combat. It’s a massive lack of wider brand appeal.

This is something I've often struggled with with a lot of RPGS.

Final Fantasy scratches such a specific itch regarding ambition, storytelling, creative direction and tone it's really hard for anything you've listed to compare. And it's not even down to budget or anything, simple stuff like battle animation (even of the PS1 games) to me just connect more in Final Fantasy compared to even modern games from other franchises. 

Take Saga for example. I dislike the way to battle animations unfold with every character and enemy teleporting to an immediate position, or dissapearing of screen instead of a cohesive, real-time scene where the camera dynamically cuts, repositions etc around the action. Sometimes taking a back seat and letting the animations do all the work.  Instead Saga has more repetitive "canned" animations. Characters immediately teleport to their destination, camera angles are always fixed and repeated, there's no natural flow.









This is before we get into art direction, character design, uniqueness etc