Square Enix explains why each Final Fantasy game is completely different

The Final Fantasy franchise has never been known for maintaining continuity. Each game features new worlds, storylines, and unique gameplay systems. So, what was behind the decision to feature new elements in each addition to the series? Square Enix Executive Producer Akitoshi Kawazu explained in issue 258 of Nintendo Power:

“It wasn’t so much a personal decision as it was driven by the fact that the entire team had the mentality of wanting to challenge something new. Mr. [Hironobu] Sakaguchi who was leading development on Final Fantasy II, he said himself, ‘there’s no point in doing the same thing.” That was intended to mean we should keep trying to create new things, but the other side to it was that he was not completely satisfied with the first Final Fantasy.

Also, because we had developed the first Final Fantasy, our skills had advanced significantly. So we felt that we could greatly improve the graphics, story, and game systems for our next project, and would be able to surprise and entertain players even more.

When Final Fantasy II was released, some people offered opinions like, ‘as long as you change scenario for RPGs, you don’t have to change the rest of the system.’ But I don’t think that the Final Fantasy series would be where it is today if we had followed that advice.”