Hello everyone, my name is Kazuhiko Aoki and I was the event designer for Final Fantasy IX. I was responsible for bringing the characters in the game to life, as well as the different scenarios that the players would experience.
In honor of the release of Final Fantasy IX on PlayStation Now, I thought I’d share some of my personal memories of game development.
Beginning
I was assigned to the Final Fantasy IX team from the start. I had worked on Final Fantasy III, IV, and VII before, so I was no stranger to working on the series, but one thing in particular was going to be different this time around: the game was going to be made in Hawaii.
It was a big step for me – I wondered what the development environment would be like there, for example.
However, I didn’t start working on Final Fantasy IX right away. Just before development started, Hironobu Sakaguchi, the game’s director (and original creator of the Final Fantasy series!), Asked me, “How about doing Chocobo’s Dungeon 2?”
As a result, I ended up taking the development team for this game to Hawaii and we also made Chocobo’s Dungeon 2 there. Maybe some of you played it on the original PlayStation!
After this game was over, I joined the Final Fantasy IX team and we started working on the game together.
Look back while walking
From the start, Mr. Sakaguchi said he wanted Final Fantasy IX to be a throwback to our roots. Final Fantasy VII and VIII had been set in sci-fi inspired worlds, and we wanted to go back to the fantasy style established in previous Final Fantasy games.
This did give us some problems, however. For example, we had accumulated a lot of experience portraying larger characters with the previous two games, but in order to better support the fantastic atmosphere of Final Fantasy IX, we needed more stylized designs.
This meant we couldn’t trust the techniques we had learned – we basically had to start from scratch!
Characters who control their own destiny
It was important to get the designs right because the characters are really the heart of Final Fantasy IX. People who have played the game are very attached to Zidane, Vivi, Dagger and Steiner.
It’s something rewarding to hear because I’ve worked the hardest to create them all. One of the themes of Final Fantasy IX is that there is no immortality in the world. The way you live your life is not determined by fate – it is determined the instant you make your own decision on how you are going to live.
We wanted to stage characters who still lived according to the lifestyle they had decided for themselves, even in their last moments. By making each of them have their own unique charm, we thought people would be immersed in the gaming world.
Sure, I might have thought about all of this at the start of the project, but once development started all I remember is worrying about a lot of different things – like needing to clarify a certain part or add additional episodes.
However, I think we were successful in achieving our original goal – I think people were able to relate to the characters and the way they lived their lives.
Time limits and data limits
Perhaps the biggest issues we encountered while creating Final Fantasy IX were due to data limits. Working on the original PlayStation we were limited by the amount of information we could fit on a CD-ROM, and even with four discs we were at the limit of that storage.
Towards the end of development, we were calculating the data on each of the drives every day. If we ended up going over the amount of storage, we’d be wondering how to change the way history was distributed across disks.
It meant we had to make cuts. For example, at one point in history the group split up to take care of four shrines. We originally planned to have the player use each group of characters to fight, but due to data limitations, we ended up only including Zidane and Quina’s battle.
Adding to the problem was the fact that we had three months less than originally planned to be the game master. The final polish was incredibly hard!
A satisfying scene
Despite all our difficulties, I am proud of the game over. I get asked sometimes what is my favorite scene and, strange as it sounds, it’s the credits.
My definition of a fun game is when the closer you get to the end, the more you feel like you don’t want it to end again – you still want to keep playing in this world! Then once the ending begins you’re all excited for the story’s finale, and once the end credits roll you’re just dazed, brimming with a sense of accomplishment.
When I played Final Fantasy IX to test it out, I had that feeling myself when I reached the end – I felt like I had accomplished what I needed to do.
Memories of life
I have many fond memories of my time working on Final Fantasy IX, especially being able to work under the Hawaiian sun.
When I first started living there I saw people looking at the sea and the sky with relaxed expressions and felt like time itself was moving at a more relaxed pace. I had been so busy before – it was a good opportunity for me to stop thinking about the kind of life that would make me happy.
Beyond that, I’m glad the game has had such a profound impact on the lives of its fans. Right after the game released, I got a letter from a player who was going through an extremely difficult time in their life, but playing Final Fantasy IX got them through that time. Knowing that all of our hard work helped someone overcome such a challenge… this was the first time I felt happy playing games.
Even today, the fans continue to inspire me. For example, I still watch Let’s Play videos on YouTube from time to time. People’s reactions when they play still teach me things that I use in my current development work (my account is Kazuhiko Aoi by the way… but I never say anything).
Final thoughts
Our work on the development of Final Fantasy IX ended a long time ago, but I think its continued popularity is due to the fans. In fact, I now consider them to be the “creators”.
Anyone who responds to Final Fantasy IX when asked to recommend a game, anyone who feels happy to hear people say they enjoyed parts of the game … these fans, like us, continue to develop the game.
If you are playing Final Fantasy IX for the first time on PlayStation Now and find it fun, I would love to join us and keep making Final Fantasy IX in the future.
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