Japan, 1987-an aspiring game designer by the name of Hironobu Sakaguchi gains inspiration from playing The Legend Of Zelda and seeing the response to the Dragon Quest franchise in Japan, he decides to make his own video-game-Fighting Fantasy. The company he worked for which was known as Square at the time had been facing bankruptcy and had rejected many of his previous works because they felt that they wouldn't sell enough copies. Fighting Fantasy was renamed Final Fantasy because of 2 reasons
Square felt that this would be the end of them and so 'Final' Fantasy seemed fitting. Nobuo Uematsu linked it to their 'swan song'
If the original game had failed-Sakaguchi would have quit the industry and gone back to university.
Although the team was highly unpopular within the company, this motivated them to do their best. The music composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the art created by Yoshitaka Amano and the basic story done by a freelance writer called Kenji Terada which was based on Sakaguchi's idea. In 1987-the original Final Fantasy sold 400,000 copies and by 2003 it had sold 2 million copies worldwide. In 1996 the franchise had sold about 10 million copies and spawned many sequels.
Today it is the 4th highest selling videogame franchise of all time and the reason behind that is because of this one man.
Arguably the biggest JRPG legend in gaming history, the man who directed Final Fantasy's 1 through 5, creating the story for FF6 and FF7 (as well as producing FF7), the man behind FF tactics, producing for Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, FF8, FF9, Blue Dragon, FF10. FF10-2 and Kingdom Hearts.
After stepping down as vice president from Square in 2003 (before the merger with Enix), he went on to create his own company known as Mistwalker.
As for Kingdom Hearts, Sakaguchi once told Tetsuya Nomura that if the original game did not aim for a story with the depth of a Final Fantasy title, it would fail. This lead to Nomura developing the story further.
Master Eraqus is also made to resemble Sakaguchi. Whilst Yen Sid embodies the Disney side of the franchise and hence Walt Disney, Eraqus resembles Sakaguchi and the Final Fantasy side of the franchise.
Happy birthday Sakaguchi you legend. Live on! Now watch this funny video.
Japan, 1987-an aspiring game designer by the name of Hironobu Sakaguchi gains inspiration from playing The Legend Of Zelda and seeing the response to the Dragon Quest franchise in Japan, he decides to make his own video-game-Fighting Fantasy. The company he worked for which was known as Square at the time had been facing bankruptcy and had rejected many of his previous works because they felt that they wouldn't sell enough copies. Fighting Fantasy was renamed Final Fantasy because of 2 reasons
Although the team was highly unpopular within the company, this motivated them to do their best. The music composed by Nobuo Uematsu, the art created by Yoshitaka Amano and the basic story done by a freelance writer called Kenji Terada which was based on Sakaguchi's idea. In 1987-the original Final Fantasy sold 400,000 copies and by 2003 it had sold 2 million copies worldwide. In 1996 the franchise had sold about 10 million copies and spawned many sequels.
Today it is the 4th highest selling videogame franchise of all time and the reason behind that is because of this one man.
Arguably the biggest JRPG legend in gaming history, the man who directed Final Fantasy's 1 through 5, creating the story for FF6 and FF7 (as well as producing FF7), the man behind FF tactics, producing for Chrono Cross, Chrono Trigger, FF8, FF9, Blue Dragon, FF10. FF10-2 and Kingdom Hearts.
After stepping down as vice president from Square in 2003 (before the merger with Enix), he went on to create his own company known as Mistwalker.
As for Kingdom Hearts, Sakaguchi once told Tetsuya Nomura that if the original game did not aim for a story with the depth of a Final Fantasy title, it would fail. This lead to Nomura developing the story further.
Master Eraqus is also made to resemble Sakaguchi. Whilst Yen Sid embodies the Disney side of the franchise and hence Walt Disney, Eraqus resembles Sakaguchi and the Final Fantasy side of the franchise.
Happy birthday Sakaguchi you legend. Live on! Now watch this funny video.
Edited by Barry Bacon Allen