2023-07-27
The Super Famicom trilogy
The second part of the Final Fantasy 35th Anniversary Special Interview has been shared today on the official Final Fantasy YouTube, and this nostalgia-filled interview focuses on the Super Famicom / SNES trilogy that was recently rereleased in the Pixel Remaster series on Switch — Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI.
Hosted once again by Final Fantasy fan, voice actor, and announcer Matsuzawa Chikai, this chat follows Part 1's discussion a few weeks ago. Returning to discuss the series' legacy is the creator of Final Fantasy Hironobu Sakaguchi, pixel artist and video game artist Kazuko Shibuya, and current Final Fantasy brand manager Yoshinori Kitase, the latter of whom joined Square in 1991 and began work on Final Fantasy Adventure — or Seiken Densetsu, the first Mana game.
The SNES games hold a special place in the hearts of many Final Fantasy fans — Final Fantasy IV came with a robust story, Final Fantasy V has a fantastic job system, and Final Fantasy VI is a true epic. And the same is true for the creators.
Chat around Final Fantasy IV focuses on that shift to a more story-focused game, along with the addition of the Active Time Battle system and the designs of the Four Fiends. Final Fantasy V brings Kitase into the team (this was the first Final Fantasy game he worked on), and the trio share fun memories of their time despite the economic bubble bursting in Japan.
With Final Fantasy VI, however, the trio looks at the changes between the first two SNES games and the final — such as the increased size of the characters on the world map, the larger scope, the more cinematic scenes, and how many of the game's biggest ideas — such as the large cast, the big mid-game twist, and certain character deaths — weren't initially planned. Talk of a Final Fantasy VI remake has been echoing among the halls of Square Enix for a while — which we covered previously — but Kitase and Sakaguchi admit here that it's "more difficult" than you'd think:
Source: Nintendolife.com
