Pro tip for life: after a certain age, stop asking younger people what their favorite game, movie, TV show or anything else was growing up. You're just inflicting existential dread upon yourself. Naoki Hamaguchi, director of the Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy, suffers a little bit from this hearing how newer Square Enix staffers became fans of the iconic JRPG series through the 13th mainline installment, rather than any of the PS1 classics.
"The company has been growing and changing as new employees come in and the company just keeps going on," he explains to GamerBraves (below, in a interview that's been further translated by GamesRadar+). "The younger folk who come in don't say Final Fantasy 6 anymore, like when talking about the games they played growing up, they say, 'Oh yeah, Final Fantasy 13 was my favorite.' So it really does feel like a generational shift."
Considering Final Fantasy 7 was my first, you and me both, Hamaguchi-san. But then, this stands to reason. Final Fantasy 13 arrived in 2009, long enough ago to be a staple for any fresh-faced college graduates entering the games industry.
Though somewhat controversial for being more linear than usual and not having as many side-quests or as wide a cast of characters, much of that would've been inconsequential to younger players for whom it may have been their first blockbuster JRPG. To them, it would've been a spectacular adventure that sparked an obsession with role-playing games of such depth and vibrancy.
To Hamaguchi's point, the sixth mainline game is very much a standout that's always worth going back to. Final Fantasies 6 through 10 bookend an incredible era for the franchise and Square Enix generally, each one offering a brand new adventure to immerse yourself in. But 6 itself is over 30 years old, and the others aren't far behind, making them distinctly vintage to newer players.
One day, someone will be working on a Final Fantasy who jumped on the bandwagon with 15. Such is the way of things. Tragically, 13 and its sequels aren't readily available on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S yet (though you can find them on Steam). Perhaps that should be Hamaguchi's next mission, once he's done with Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3.
