Kotaku Interview w/ Hironobu Sakaguchi

[Slickyslacker]

http://kotaku.com/things-are-much-different-for-the-creator-of-final-fant-1629514442

Here's a recent interview between Jason Schreier and Sakaguchi. Pretty interesting read.

They talk a lot about Puzzles and Dragons as well as Terra Battle - naturally though, there's quite a bit of FF discussion.

Sakaguchi's thoughts on the current state of the franchise:

"XV is taking too long. Congratulations, 10 years!"

Even I laughed.

 

[yeah_93]

He got that right!

 

[Jenova]

Sakaguchi still has a sense of humour, so he's got that going for him at least.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

Too bad Jason didn't ask about what he thought about FFXIII or if he had a dinner conversation with Toriyama.

 

[Nikolasvanitas]

Shots fired

Schreier: What do you think of the current state of Final Fantasy?

Sakaguchi: (laughter) 15 is taking too long.

Schreier: That's what everybody thinks.

Sakaguchi: [In English] Congratulations, ten years! (laughter)

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

I promise you that if FFXV does or doesn't show up at this unannounced stage event, this logo will be funny and perhaps ironic.

 

[StarNox70]

While I didn't like every single FF he was involved in (IX didn't really move me), there's no question to the impression he's forever made on the Role Playing genre.

"When I develop a game, I don't really think about regions or trends or the target audience, really. But I'm not deaf to what's going on in the industry, so I take that as a challenge. I looked at the landscape, and this is what I came up with. So it's not really looking at it, but actually just knowing what's going on." -Sakaguchi

This statement jumped out to me moreso than any other while reading the interview. Sakaguchi speaks like a open-minded visionary. He sounds very similar to one of the speeches Steve Jobs gave while showing off the iPhone. While I can't remember what he said verbatim, he said that he wants to create new things he believes people WOULD like, not necessarily what people TELL him they like. Great minds as such are hard to come by, & it's sad that it seems Sakaguchi doesn't have the resources to flex his creative muscles.

And that lack of innovation has left the gaming industry somewhat stagnant, which is luckily giving indie developers a chance to step out.

Sadly, Square's problem is not creativity, per se. Their internal management of big projects & PR have been atrocious this last generation, with XV being the perfect example.

"[Final Fantasy XV] is taking too long," -Sakaguchi

Sakaguchi: [In English] Congratulations, ten years! (laughter)

How ironic; the game touted as the most dark & mature FF we've ever seen is now synonymous with hilarity & disbelief. SMH...

 

[ScienceNonfiction]

Wow. I really liked that interview. I like that Sakaguchi is in a position to voice his opinions and speak his mind freely (for the most part). It just makes him feel so much more genuine and it's so much better than the usual PR junk you'd get from someone who works at a large company.

I was pretty confused about the 2 million download goal for Terra Battle though. Apparently it's a whole new game (possibly an MMO) based on the mobile version? I thought it was just a port of the mobile version to consoles. On the website it straight up says "console version of Terra Battle" under the 2 million download mark.

 

[StarNox70]

Wow. I really liked that interview. I like that Sakaguchi is in a position to voice his opinions and speak his mind freely (for the most part). It just makes him feel so much more genuine and it's so much better than the usual PR junk you'd get from someone who works at a large company.

Very refreshing indeed. Most developer-talk is just ego-stroking or flat-out marketing of their title; Square execs being one of the main culprits. Though it is fair to point out that Sakaguchi isn't tethered to big name publisher NDAs or anything like that. So it makes sense why he's able to talk so freely. It's just that people like Kitase, Hashimoto, & Toriyama at SE sometimes sound borderline insulting when addressing fans about their games; with their interviews littered with PR jargon or abstract verbiage. Feels artificial at times.

Nothing truly against those guys. They just lack a personable touch whenever they address the public. Sakaguchi seems like someone you won't feel pressured to talk to.

 

[Takoyaki]

@StarNox70 I know what you mean regarding how they sound like they're just blabbering on and on without any passion or meaning. However, if you read Kitase's previous interviews, Ito's or even Nomura's (back in the Square Soft days) they talked a lot like Sakaguchi regarding there games. Even when Kitase is asked about FFVII for example, it's clear he and the rest miss those days.

I don't blame it on the merger, but the corporate culture changing. So limited in what they can say nowadays and have to build on from PR buzzwords.

 

[Crystal Power]

I hope he makes a console game again. Hopefully not for Xbox, just speaking from my shoes since I most likely would never be able to play it then. Future consoles I plan to purchase are PS4 and Wii U.

Possibly a Vita for Tales of Hearts R...