Square Enix shares roundtable interview with key Final Fantasy developers, including Hironobu Sakaguchi
Square Enix uploaded an English-subtitled version of its Final Fantasy 35th Anniversary Special Interview to its YouTube channel. The first half of the two-part interview features a roundtable discussion with key Final Fantasy series creators like Hironobu Sakaguchi, Kazuko Shibuya, and Yoshinori Kitase.
Check it out below:
The interview traces the beginnings of the "2D era" of the Final Fantasy series - Final Fantasy through Final Fantasy VI, as well as the recent Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster releases. The interview is hosted by presenter Chiaki Matsuzawa, and dives deep into Final Fantasy's development, including some "origin stories" for Sakaguchi and Shibuya.
Among other topics, it also features Sakaguchi laying to rest some persistent myths about the birth of the franchise's name, "Final Fantasy". According to Sakaguchi, the team at then-Squaresoft wanted their game to be referred to using a Roman alphabet rather than the Japanese-style truncation that saw a title like Dragon Quest shortened to ドラクエ ("DraQue"). They settled on trying for "FF," but unfortunately, the Fighting Fantasy series of role-playing game books already had the word "Fighting" trademarked. So they went with another "F" word, "Final" as their last resort.
The Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster games are available on PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices. Check out RPG Site's reviews and guides for all six titles.