Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth's director Naoki Hamaguchi is clearly a man of good taste if his own games are anything to go by, but if there was ever any doubt, he's also declared that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is his personal game of the year pick. Get in line, buddy. Of course, he called out Expedition 33's JRPG-style turn-based combat and the "new spin" that's put onto the genre with its quick-time parrying, but Hamaguchi also argued that combat "shouldn't be focused on too much," because "what makes that game so good is the fact it gets all of the elements in it right, and it balances them all at such a high level of quality. " Sandfall says Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 winning GOTY "isn't something we aim for," and even though it would be a "nice little bonus," it's rooting for Megabonk "We received a lot of 'JRPGs are back' comments," says Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director, but the success of a turn-based game like Clair Obscur: Expeditition 33 isn't going to warp Square Enix's plans Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 devs say "being recognized in Japan" is "very personal to us" after making a game "inspired by so many incredible JRPGs we grew up with" "So for example, the setting, the world, the characters, and the storyline, those are all really well done as well, in addition to the gameplay," Hamaguchi explained. "And I think it all comes together, and that's why it's such a well-regarded game, why the fans like it so much, why it sold as well as it had." Hamaguchi also took the time to mention how some of the Clair Obscur developers actually visited the Final Fantasy head office, "and it was really inspiring... So you can see they've got a lot of respect as well. Not only have they made a really great game, but they showed that respect to the traditional turn-based style of JRPGs. Obviously, as Japanese games creators, we're really delighted to see people taking that and doing something with that." Now someone just needs to ask Hamaguchi what he thinks about the real 2025 GOTY, Megabonk. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth director says "however much AI might try and intrude and take part in the creative side of things," his team would want to be "good enough creators" that "we could do better than AI"