Industry legend Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, revealed in an interview with Inverse that he sees Final Fantasy VI as the “most complete” of all the Final Fantasy games, especially since it was the last major entry to use pixel art.
This puts him at odds with Final Fantasy producer and character designer Tetsuya Nomura, who said earlier this year that he personally “could have done a better job” on it, while also noting that he felt FFVI was about as far as pixel art Final Fantasy games could go. go.
Both seem to agree that the pixel art of Final Fantasy Vi plays in his legacy, but Nomura laments, while Sakaguchi looks back on the game with pride.
Continuing his interview with Inverse, Sakaguchi also shared what he considered the “DNA” of the Final Fantasy series:
“If I had to give some sort of key ingredient, I would say it’s the story and the world. These two are mandatory for every Final Fantasy and are the common denominator for all of them. The world environment must contain some kind of thematic element that is loosely related to current events. I think the world itself needs to have some sort of thematic backbone or message that gives a different perspective, or food for thought for the players.”
After hearing this, fans of the series will naturally draw parallels to Final Fantasy VII’s commentary on global warming, among other examples throughout the history of the JPRG Juggernaut.
As for what Sakaguchi plans next, he left that up to himself and the future of his company, Mistwalker, noting:
“I’m so closely associated with Mistwalker that if and when I decide to retire, I’d say Mistwalker will probably be largely inactive. [But] I’m a very capricious person, so after Mistwalker goes into that state for two years, I might say, ‘You know what, I want to do something again.'”
