Final Fantasy VI 25th Anniversary - Famitsu Interview With Sakaguchi, Kitase, Uematsu, Shibuya & Co.

DiipuSurotu · Apr 8, 2019

Guildenstern said:
Kitase and Sakaguchi remember who the codirector was? Poor Ito is not even named...

Ohh thanks for the heads up!

For example, I initially designed Terra with short hair, and quickly handed the data over to the programmers. And as she was actually implemented, I gradually brought her closer to the Terra that everyone knows now.

Here's the sprite sheet for that early version of Terra:

Amano also did his own illustration of that version:

Fun fact: That design was also used as Terra's main outfit in Dissidia 012 (as an agent of Chaos), although Terra keeps her long hair there:

And in Dissidia NT:

Lunaray · Apr 8, 2019

I'm really impressed the game took only a year to make. That's incredible.

DiipuSurotu · Apr 8, 2019

(Sakaguchi) So in the FF series, no matter how many members you have in your party, only one of them will be shown moving around on the map. You could think of it as something like the party combining into one character to represent everyone. So in the event that you rejected, the four party members tried to combine into one, and said "Huh? We can't combine!?". So the four of them were shown all lined up behind one another, very reminiscent of Dragon Quest (Laughs)

(Kitase) Ahh, I believe I rejected that one saying "This is too joke-y!" (Laughs)

LMAO, Motomu Toriyama reportedly suggested that same gag for FFVII, and it was also rejected by Kitase 😂😂

https://thelifestream.net/ffvii-the-original/final-fantasy-vii-the-unused-text-series/part-4/2/

Kitase: Toriyama was always making weird, tricky little events like that that kept getting edited. For instance, there was once a scene on the station platform where Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie from AVALANCHE would face each other and try to combine into one.

Naoyoshi: Yeah, that's right.

Kitase: When an event begins in FFVII, the other 2 party members separate themselves from Cloud's avatar. Once the event finishes, the party recombines and Cloud is alone once more. It's just the way the game's set up, but Toriyama parodied that. The 3 members of AVALANCHE were like "Let's do that too!" and do their best to combine together, but they just ended up running into each other and muttering "I guess we still don't have enough practice." *laughing*

Koozek · Apr 8, 2019

Westonian said:
Man, it's crazy that they turned this game around in less than a year, especially considering the gigantic graphical leap it was over FFV (And really, everyone other SNES games at that time).

I love this game so much. It has aged like fine wine.

Lunaray said:
I'm really impressed the game took only a year to make. That's incredible.

You know what else was made in just a year? FFVII. Blew my mind when I read that :D

Kanzaki: There were a lot of worries at the start of the development though.

Narita: Yeah, in a certain sense, FF7 is something of a minor miracle. I mean, we only had a year to do everything.

Fujii: It's the shortest development we've had so far.

Narita: Yeah, that it was. And normally you'd start developing your game after you'd learned the new hardware. But we had to learn the hardware and create the game all in the same year. I really couldn't believe it when I saw the finished product of FF7. It's amazing that so many people were involved, and that we completed it in so short a time.

Fujii: Time is always the one thing you're in short supply of. We had to do the battle system after all the field stuff was done, so practically speaking we only had half a year for that. The last dungeon was a real slap-bang, rushed affair.

Source.

Koozek · Apr 8, 2019

DiipuSurotu said:
LMAO, Motomu Toriyama reportedly suggested that same gag for FFVII, and it was also rejected by Kitase 😂😂

https://thelifestream.net/ffvii-the-original/final-fantasy-vii-the-unused-text-series/part-4/2/

GongagaSOLDIER · Apr 8, 2019

Almost up there with FFVII for me and definitely the best paced in the series. It is always awesome to see teams look back on their success and reminisce about what it means to them and how it came together. This period and these teams were definitely Square at their absolute best (FFIV through FFXII are all absolutely phenomenal games, despite VIII's balancing issues).

The Praiseworthy · Apr 8, 2019

weebro said:
To think FF7 is being remade before FF6.

Square Enix baby what! Is you doing?

They are Remaking the best most popular entry in the franchise.. they are on the right track.

Kikujiro · Apr 8, 2019

Kitase is such a legendary director, too bad S-E didn't find a successor.

DiipuSurotu · Apr 8, 2019

Jessie said:
I have a lot more respect for Kitase now. I had no idea he was behind the really great scenes in VI.

It's a shame he treats VI like an estranged child.

I think Nomura and Kitase definitely want to make an FFVI remake down the line, but FFVII has priority for obvious business reasons:

Nomura: "Considering that we have remakes of Final Fantasy up to IV and then we have VII — I've been working with Mr. [Yoshinori] Kitase since Final Fantasy V, and we've noticed that V and VI are missing. That bothers me," Nomura said. "How come we skipped over those two?"

Kitase: "Right now, we're working on Final Fantasy VII… The staff within the company are also saying it [that they want a remake of Final Fantasy VI], but it continues to be put off."

Deleted member 721 · Apr 8, 2019

DiipuSurotu said:
I think Nomura and Kitase definitely want to make an FFVI remake down the line, but FFVII has priority for obvious business reasons:

i can only imagine the shitty posting if FF6 remake gets announced after 7 and nomura is the director

DiipuSurotu · Apr 8, 2019

Weltall Zero said:
Of course Takahashi would be the one to introduce mecha to Final Fantasy, hahah. It seems so obvious in retrospect. :D

If you remember, the Magitek Armor looks even more like a mecha in the game's intro than in the rest of the game:

Well, it turns out Takahashi was directly responsible for their design in that intro!

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-As...Years/1-Reunion-After-Eight-Years-211179.html

Hironobu Sakaguchi: That's right. Back then, we were free to design things as we saw fit. Do you remember the Magitek Armor that appears in the opening sequence of FFVI?

Tetsuya Takahashi: Yes, I do.

Hironobu Sakaguchi: Now, I actually wanted to make it identical to the Magitek Armor that appears in the game. But Taka-chan went ahead and drew it his own way... (laughs) And he really came up with something amazing.

Satoru Iwata: So you had no choice but to admit that it was better than what you'd originally had in mind.

Hironobu Sakaguchi: Right. And it hurt a bit to admit it! (laughs) I'd say this kind of thing was pretty common back then.

Weltall Zero · Apr 8, 2019

DiipuSurotu said:
If you remember, the Magitek Armor looks even more like a mecha in the game's intro than in the rest of the game:

Well, it turns out Takahashi was directly responsible for their design in that intro!

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Iwata-As...Years/1-Reunion-After-Eight-Years-211179.html

This reminds me of another super interesting tidbit in the interview in the OP, about the sprites being made first, and then the character artwork from that, i.e. exactly the opposite of what one would expect. Which I guess makes me feel better about doing pretty much the same (minus the part about making artwork, since I can't draw. :D).

carlosrox · Apr 8, 2019

Still the game in the series to top.

Though I also strongly love 4 and 9.

DiipuSurotu · Apr 8, 2019

sir_crocodile said:
Shibuya's sprites were amazing, the best thing about ffvi imo

The art direction of Tetsuya Takahashi, Hideo Minaba, and Tetsuya Nomura also cannot be understated IMO. Shibuya did the HD sprites for the FFV and FFVI mobile versions, and the difference in art style compared to the original is really jarring :/

On the other hand, Shibuya did come up with the "white glove" cursor and the blue textbox with a white outline that both became staples of the FF series.

lunarworks said:
That was a really interesting fact that the characters were designed as pixel art first, and the illustrations came after. Not even a rough pencil sketch. I honestly thought it would have been the other way around.

Weltall Zero said:
This reminds me of another super interesting tidbit in the interview in the OP, about the sprites being made first, and then the character artwork from that, i.e. exactly the opposite of what one would expect. Which I guess makes me feel better about doing pretty much the same (minus the part about making artwork, since I can't draw. :D).

Yeah, a lot of people assume that Amano was the primary character designer for FFI-VI when the truth is actual Square employees create the things first, and Amano (who is an external artist commissioned to make promotional illustrations) draws his own versions either after or in parallel to the development.

The real creators were more like this:

FFI: Kazuko Shibuya & Koichi Ishii
FFII: Kazuko Shibuya & Koichi Ishii
FFIII: Kazuko Shibuya & Koichi Ishii
FFIV: Kazuko Shibuya
FFV: Kazuko Shibuya & Tetsuya Nomura
FFVI: Kazuko Shibuya & Tetsuya Nomura

lunarworks · Apr 8, 2019

DiipuSurotu said:
Yeah, a lot of people assume that Amano was the primary character designer for FFI-VI when the truth is actual Square employees create the things first, and Amano (who is an external artist commissioned to make promotional illustrations) draws his own versions either after or in parallel to the development.

The real creators were more like this:

FFI: Kazuko Shibuya & Koichi Ishii
FFII: Kazuko Shibuya & Koichi Ishii
FFIII: Kazuko Shibuya & Koichi Ishii
FFIV: Kazuko Shibuya
FFV: Kazuko Shibuya & Tetsuya Nomura
FFVI: Kazuko Shibuya & Tetsuya Nomura

The fact that there was no physical drawing involved in the character design process is the bit that really surprised me, though.

Dragon1893 · Apr 8, 2019

(Nakamura) When we first met, the very first thing you said to me was "Don't bring the quality down" with a very serious look on your face…

(Sakaguchi) I don't remember that (Laughs)

I…can feel the pressure from that myself!

This is hilarious.

Synless · Apr 8, 2019

weebro said:
To think FF7 is being remade before FF6.

Square Enix baby what! Is you doing?

6 got a remake. New sprites and everything :(

Deleted member 35077 · Apr 8, 2019

weebro said:
To think FF7 is being remade before FF6.

Square Enix baby what! Is you doing?

Well, even if FF7 remake wasn't happening, you still need to first wait for the FF5 remake, as that is Japan's favorite of the Super Famicom FF games.

Temtastic Muns · Apr 8, 2019

(Sakaguchi) People say that the odd numbered FF games are system-based and the even numbered ones are story-based, but it's just not determined in that way. It's simply a matter of the creators getting tired and not wanting to do things the same way as the last time, so they're just changing the way it's presented.

I'd always wondered if this was a conscious decision in the development of the titles. Likewise was my thought on how the game logos beyond the first three Famicom titles up to FFX were set up as characters for even-numbered Final Fantasies (FFIV's Kain, FFVI's Tina, FFVIII's Squall and Rinoa, FFX's Yuna), while odd numbered Final Fantasies always had non-humans/objects (FFV's Hiryu, FFVII had Meteor, and FFIX had the crystal).

DiipuSurotu · Apr 8, 2019

Sinatar said:
A 30 person team for a SNES game is massive, holy crap.

Apparently GamePro once said FFV had a 45-people team. Of course Square's record on the SNES is probably Chrono Trigger with a 60-people team.

Eylos said:
also he created shadow

And Setzer

Skoje · Apr 8, 2019

Huh i always thought that nomura did all the character creation, not shibuya.

Regulus Tera · Apr 8, 2019

I dunno why people want VI remade when in all likelihood they would butcher everything about the aesthetic.

DiipuSurotu · Apr 8, 2019

Skoje said:
Huh i always thought that nomura did all the character creation, not shibuya.

Apparently he did promo illustrations based on Shibuya's sprites. He did come up with the idea for Shadow and Setzer though. In fact, Setzer was based on a rejected female gambler character from FFV, Eva Scherwil.

Skoje · Apr 8, 2019

DiipuSurotu said:
Apparently he did promo illustrations based on Shibuya's creations/sprites.

Yeah, and those are what oeople assumed where the original sprite illustrations thst Shibuya used to make the actual sprites. Kinda sucks that she's been so overlooked all this time. But it apparently was so fluid that multiple people were working on the same thing it's impossible to assign who created what, exactly.

DiipuSurotu · Apr 8, 2019

Skoje said:
Yeah, and those are what oeople assumed where the original sprite illustrations thst Shibuya used to make the actual sprites. Kinda sucks that she's been so overlooked all this time. But it apparently was so fluid that multiple people were working on the same thing it's impossible to assign who created what, exactly.

There's apparently a nice interview with her in the FF DOT artbook from last year:

I haven't read it and I wonder if it clears up the question.

Koozek · Apr 8, 2019

Skoje said:
Yeah, and those are what oeople assumed where the original sprite illustrations thst Shibuya used to make the actual sprites. Kinda sucks that she's been so overlooked all this time. But it apparently was so fluid that multiple people were working on the same thing it's impossible to assign who created what, exactly.

DiipuSurotu said:
There's apparently a nice interview with her in the FF DOT artbook from last year:

I haven't read it and I wonder if it clears up the question.

There's a nice interview with her about her work translated by shmuplations: http://shmuplations.com/kazukoshibuya/

Guildenstern · Apr 8, 2019

http://shmuplations.com/kazukoshibuya/

In this interview Shibuya talks about his work in the early years of Squaresoft

Koozek said:
There's a nice interview with her about her work translated by shmuplations: http://shmuplations.com/kazukoshibuya/

You are very fast ;)

Mekanos · Apr 8, 2019

Regulus Tera said:
I dunno why people want VI remade when in all likelihood they would butcher everything about the aesthetic.

The 3DS was the perfect time for a VI remake, imo, it could have still had that charming sort of quality you get in SNES games. In the HD era I doubt they would be able to do it justice.

Cheezeman3000 · Apr 8, 2019

PARAdoja said:
Funny that in the later re releases of FFs games, this is one of the things they can't get right. Yesterday I was playing FF7 after leaving it for a couple of months and after all the talk about it, it's really hard to not notice it...

I've been thinking lately of replaying the snes games and can't decide if using the SNES Classic or an accurate emulator like Higan, just because of the music and sounds.

I wonder if anyone has tweeted @ these creators yet to tell them the music in the ports are completely borked? Or maybe they made this comment because they already know and can't do anything about it?

BorkBork · Apr 8, 2019

Regulus Tera said:
I dunno why people want VI remade when in all likelihood they would butcher everything about the aesthetic.

Octopath gave us a bit of hope, I think.

Spaltazar · Apr 8, 2019

this thread reminds me that i wanted to check it out for a long time now. how is the pc port?

Carn · Apr 8, 2019

Westonian said:
Man, it's crazy that they turned this game around in less than a year, especially considering the gigantic graphical leap it was over FFV (And really, everyone other SNES games at that time).

I love this game so much. It has aged like fine wine.

That is something that struck me from FF7's development as well; most of it happened in give or take 1.5 year iirc (mid/late 95 to late 96). Some work was done in 1994 after the release of FF6, but it was mostly prototyping and playing around with 3D graphics and getting the hang of that.

-edit: beaten like a dead flowergirl -

jb1234 · Apr 8, 2019

It cracks me up how even Sakaguchi hates FFIII's final dungeon.

Disclaimer · Apr 8, 2019

Koozek said:
There's a nice interview with her about her work translated by shmuplations: http://shmuplations.com/kazukoshibuya/

I'd never seen this before. She's so informative and, frankly, badass. Great read.

DiipuSurotu · Apr 8, 2019

jb1234 said:
It cracks me up how even Sakaguchi hates FFIII's final dungeon.

I mean the guy has been lowkey throwing shade at Final Fantasy ever since he left Square Enix, lol. He said the original FFVI on SNES actually sold like shit, he said that no one wanted to join his team when he pitched FF1 and that Square would have been perfectly fine if FF1 had failed despite previous reports that it was the company's last hope, he said he didn't play FF12 past the intro because "You really can't expect much from the game when Yasumi Matsuno left in the middle of development", etc. His drunk self even half-joked that Kitase is a shit producer, lmao.

Akselziys · Apr 8, 2019

Great interview! And definitely the best Final Fantasy! A timeless classic! :)

Cheezeman3000 · Apr 8, 2019

DiipuSurotu said:
I mean the guy has been lowkey throwing shade at Final Fantasy ever since he left Square Enix, lol. He said the original FFVI on SNES actually sold like shit, he said that no one wanted to join his team when he pitched FF1 and that Square would have been perfectly fine if FF1 had failed despite previous reports that it was the company's last hope, he said he didn't play FF12 past the intro because "You really can't expect much from the game when Yasumi Matsuno left in the middle of development", etc. His drunk self even half-joked that Kitase is a shit producer, lmao.

I have a lot of respect for a man who can be real about the negatives in the franchise he created. Also sounds like he's a blast to hang out with, I'd love to have him semi-jokingly throw shade my way. ;)

JB2448 · Apr 8, 2019

Regulus Tera said:
I dunno why people want VI remade when in all likelihood they would butcher everything about the aesthetic.

We can hope based on how Romancing SaGa 2 and 3 on modern platforms has been handled, as well as Octopath.

crossslide · Apr 8, 2019

World of Ruin not being part of the original plan but being an improvisation when development was going ahead of schedule kind of makes FFVI like the opposite of Xenogears, lol

PARAdoja · Apr 8, 2019

Cheezeman3000 said:
I wonder if anyone has tweeted @ these creators yet to tell them the music in the ports are completely borked? Or maybe they made this comment because they already know and can't do anything about it?

Man, I don't have twitter or anything, but I can't imagine any better reason to use an account than that. Letting creators know of bad ports and such.

Strings · Apr 8, 2019

Regulus Tera said:
I dunno why people want VI remade when in all likelihood they would butcher everything about the aesthetic.

At the same time, there's an opportunity to make something beautiful and unique if they go experimental with the visuals.

FantasticMrSnake · Apr 11, 2019

Eylos said:
nomura made awesome designs for FF6
he made those

character sketches used as base for the in-game sprites

also he created shadow

Where did you get those sketchs? i want more!

Deleted member 721 · Apr 11, 2019

FantasticMrSnake said:
Where did you get those sketchs? i want more!

i searched on google, idk if there's a singles place to find all the arts =/

DiipuSurotu · Apr 11, 2019

FantasticMrSnake said:
Where did you get those sketchs? i want more!

https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VI_concept_art

Final Fantasy VI 25th Anniversary - Famitsu Interview With Sakaguchi, Kitase, Uematsu, Shibuya & Co.

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