Final Fantasy 14's Yoshi-P gets trolled in his own MMO by JRPG series creator Sakaguchi, all in front of a roaring live audience

Final Fantasy 14 producer Yoshi-P interview's the series' founding father Hironobu Sakaguchi
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 14’s was hilariously griefed in-game by none other than the series’ creator himself. 

During this weekend’s Final Fantasy 14 Fan Fest in London, the MMO’s director and producer, Naoki Yoshida, sat down to livestream the game with the series’ legendary progenitor, Hironobu Sakaguchi. What ensued was some hilarious (and classic) MMO trolling from Sakaguchi, live on stage for an entire audience to witness.

Twitterer redlopz reshared the clip above, highlighting the irony of such events: “Creator and Father of FF series griefing Producer of FFXIV in his own game during live play. Amazing.” I particularly enjoy how “Yoshida-saaan” adds a good, dramatic final note. 

For those who haven’t ventured into the game and can’t see through all the visual noise on-screen, let’s break down what happened. Yoshida and Sakaguchi appear to be fighting a big boss who’s raining down the battlefield with meteors. This would normally be a tank-busting move (a powerful ability that aims to take down a party’s bulky damage sponge), but instead of trying to absorb the damage like a good team mate, Sakaguchi instead chases Yoshida and puts him in grave danger.

That’s definitely a unique way to pass the torch - if passing the torch involved handing over a series of relentless and apocalyptic meteors - to the next generation of Final Fantasy talent. Either way, the developer’s giggles on stage are contagious and it’s nice to know that the team also finds joy in bullying friends online. 

Elsewhere at the fan event, Sakaguchi said he adores the MMO, which is also why he has no desire to work on it professionally. Yoshida then revealed he’d love to plan a crossover event with Diablo 4, although he had worries about how its “hardcore” trappings would fit. And we finally received more details about the upcoming expansion, Dawntrail.

One player finally became the first to unlock every achievement in Final Fantasy 14.

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.