Possibility of a Final Fantasy first-person shooter

In Destructoid’s interview with Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama, two of the most influential figures behind the Final Fantasy series, an unexpected possibility was brought up. Final Fantasy XIII was supposedly inspired by first-person shooters, so Kitase was questioned if he has ever considered developing another Final Fantasy shooter similar to Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII.

“No one can be that certain of the future of any game or IP, so there is always a possibility that we may end up with a first-person shooter FF. Having said that, XIII and XIII-2 are much faster action-adventure-inspired games. RPG elements, such as strategical actions, still need to be there, so we’d need to create a good fusion between these opposite elements. We can’t predict how the FF experience will seek out such a fusion in the future. I can’t visualize it being completely an FPS shooting game. The strategic element needs to be maintained in any future project, because otherwise, it wouldn’t be FF anymore.”

It seems like a shooter is possible, but Kitase doesn’t want fork over the soul of the Final Fantasy series in the process. A shooter would be a nice change of pace for the series, but at the same time it would be out of place. In fact, I’m not sure if there would even be a market for a Final Fantasy FPS. If Square Enix does decide to make a shooter-RPG hybrid then I’d rather it be an all new IP rather than stamping Final Fantasy on the title just to make a quick buck.

Via Destructoid