As director of the first five Final Fantasy games and an influential producer at Square in the company's golden era, there are few names more important in gaming history than Hironobu Sakaguchi. But while the industry focuses on remakes and remasters, the father of Final Fantasy would rather create something new - even as he acknowledges that the experiences old games evoked are valuable.
Sakaguchi tells Eurogamer that, as game preservation becomes an increasingly hot topic, it "makes sense to look back and talk about this so-called history of what this industry has done." Modern devs can find value by taking "ideas from the past and, in a way, interpret them so that modern audiences can feel closer to what emotions and experiences were evoked."
Creating the experiences of older games for modern players requires a bigger focus on "technical artistry" these days, Sakaguchi says. "I think there's something amazing to be said about that and the Final Fantasy 7 series is perhaps one of the best interpretations of how you take an experience and then bring the graphical expression into the present day."
Sakaguchi says that as far as a development team is concerned, "it's almost the same, in my opinion, to have a full remake versus making something brand new. So if at all possible, I would like to continue giving birth to something new and bringing these different worlds to life as much as possible before I perish."
The latest project from Sakaguchi is Fantasian, which just got an upgraded rerelease of its own in Fantasian Neo Dimension. It's a very old-school JRPG in its own way, true to Sakaguchi's own history, and he's once again reuniting with fellow Final Fantasy legend Nobuo Uematsu on a mysterious new project, too.
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