‘My Favorite Final Fantasy!’ Final Fantasy 16 Devs Give Their Top 3 – IGN First
Of course, the developers themselves are players and fans of the Final Fantasy series, and finding out their favorite Final Fantasy game may give us some hints as to the inspiration behind the new game. So when we visited Square Enix’s Tokyo headquarters, we asked his six members of the development team to tell us their top three fantasy games for Finals. Let’s see!
Naoki Yoshida (Producer)
“I’ve been a player since the Famicom days, so the original FINAL FANTASY was a big part of my life. I was fascinated by games with a strong sense of fantasy, partly due to the influence of Yoshitaka Amano’s illustrations. I was very impressed with the timing of the title logo appearing, it only appears after finishing the first part of the story, and it finally appears while the characters are crossing the bridge. The game’s cinematic approach to storytelling and presentation was very inspiring, and it’s still a huge milestone in what the series is aiming for. .
“The next title I’d like to mention is Final Fantasy III. Players control four warriors of light, whose names are yet to be determined. Thanks to the job system, you can customize your own character. This is , was also the first iteration of the active time battle system.For me, Final Fantasy III solidified the system of the series.The world was magnificent and the difficulty of the game was unforgettable.This title is , I think has shown me that Final Fantasy is a series that needs both a great story and a good system.
“I also love Final Fantasy VII. It’s not about your own role-playing experience, it’s about putting yourself in the shoes of Cloud and his friends, unique characters. The graphics are a big influence on me.” and the amount of content in the game was unbelievable for its time, with 3 discs and the amount of mini-games on it was reminiscent of the amount of content in an MMORPG. You can feel the incredible effort put into it with all the interesting ideas that the developers had.
“Final Fantasy XVI is being developed by Square Enix’s Creative Business Unit III. The Final Fantasy games that remain in the minds of the members of this team are often the titles they played when they were young. In terms of that, I think we can say that the world building of the classic FINAL FANTASY games up to FINAL FANTASY VI and VII is the strongest original experience for us.”
Hiroshi Takai (Director)
“I would like to choose ‘Final Fantasy X’ for 3rd place. I think it was a very well-made Final Fantasy with high quality.
“Final Fantasy VI came in second. It was the last Final Fantasy to use sprites. Considering that, it was very well done.
“My favorite is FINAL FANTASY V. It was also the first FINAL FANTASY I worked on as a developer, and I love its battle system. .
“As for whether these title traits carry over to Final Fantasy XVI, my best bet is that creating your own character build by choosing from an array of abilities is reminiscent of Final Fantasy V.” I think that’s the answer.”
Kazutoyo Maehiro (Creative Director)
“It’s strange to say this to Takai sitting next to me (since he worked on the games), but for me, FINAL FANTASY V is number one.
“I used to play it when I was in school. The combat system is great, and at the end of the game you have pigeons flying around a scrolling overworld. After watching , I thought, “I’m going to make games myself someday.” The whole game is very well done and really impressed me. It is exactly No. 1 immovable.
“It may sound a little self-praising, but my No. 2 is FINAL FANTASY TACTICS. Titles determined what kind of game developer I would become, and that still hasn’t changed.It’s a title that’s close and dear to my heart.FINAL FANTASY V IS A PIXEL REMASTERED SERIES. It’s included, but Final Fantasy Tactics can be difficult to play right now, hopefully it’ll come back at some point.
“My number three is Final Fantasy XII, which again sounds like a self-congratulations. I’ve worked on a number of Final Fantasy titles, and each time I’ve worked in a different position.” XII, I served as Combat Director, and creating a new type of combat while still staying true to my own vision of Final Fantasy is something I will never forget.”
Ryota Suzuki (Combat Director)
“My third place is Final Fantasy V. I really like the battle system. There is a job type called Freelancer, and you can inherit the characteristics and stats of other jobs. , you can bring your mastered abilities to other builds.In that sense, I think FINAL FANTASY V has been a great inspiration for the battle system.
“Final Fantasy X came in second. I was already working as a game developer when X was released, but I was completely immersed in the game world and lost track of time. I don’t think there has ever been a game that made me want to continue the story more than Final Fantasy X. I think the story of Final Fantasy XVI is just as compelling.
“Final Fantasy III is my No. 1. It was the first Final Fantasy I played, and it gained a lot of recognition for the RPG genre as a whole, and I started digging deeper into titles like Final Fantasy II. III’s job system allows you to change jobs.For me, this is the most iconic RPG.I think I was in elementary school at the time.I remember fondly wanting to play it as soon as I got home from school. ”
Hiroshi Minagawa (art director)
As a player, I like older titles like Final Fantasy III and V. I entered the game industry as soon as I moved to Tokyo, and the first Final Fantasy I played as a working adult was “Final Fantasy III”. As a young developer, I was amazed at what the team accomplished with the NES. Until then, I was a student, so I was just enjoying the game as a player, and didn’t really realize how amazing the technology was. In that sense, FINAL FANTASY III taught me what I lacked as a developer at the time. I bought it right away and played it late into the night in the studio where I worked.
“For me, FINAL FANTASY V established my idea of what the FINAL FANTASY series is all about with its job system and abilities.
“If I had to pick another title, it would be Final Fantasy XII, a game I developed myself. has many memories.”
Michael-Christopher Kouji Fox (Localization Director)
“My favorite Final Fantasy of all time is Final Fantasy V. It’s not the first time I’ve played it. I’ve been playing it ever since the first Final Fantasy came out in the US. That was the first thing that surprised me: growing up in America, there were a lot of violent cartoons, but no one died in them, at least in the media I was consuming in the 1980s when I was young. No, but in Final Fantasy V – spoilers – there is a point where the main character dies, so I thought, “Can we do this in a game?” thought.
“The next project for me is Final Fantasy XI. It is the game that got me to join Square Enix. I was playing XI.I started playing from the beta version and fell in love with it.When I was looking for hints for “FINAL FANTASY XI”, I learned that Square Enix was looking for localization staff, I was hired, they were looking for someone to translate, I was so excited as a gamer I was so intrigued by Final Fantasy XI that I was able to work on it.
“And from the beginning, working on FINAL FANTASY XI, and then XIV, I think the third title will be FINAL FANTASY XIV. I was very excited to be able to enjoy the game as a developer as well.
“We use a lot of the lore and terminology we developed for XI and XIV for XVI.”
As Yoshida points out, the team’s most popular Final Fantasy games are often the ones they grew up playing. It was also interesting to hear the memories some of them shared about the titles they brought to life.
Five of these six developers voted Final Fantasy V as the team’s most popular title. In Final Fantasy III he received three votes, while Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII tied for third place with two votes each.
According to Takai, there is one point worth noting when looking at this ranking.
“Final Fantasy XVI was clearly excluded from these rankings. If you put it in, it’s boring because everyone is No. 1, right?” says Takai with a laugh.
Final Fantasy XVI launches for PlayStation 5 on June 22nd.
Esra Crabbe Editor of IGN Japan. His favorite Final Fantasy game is Final Fantasy X.
