In an age where there is a lot of talk about which are the “real” Final Fantasy and trying to establish whether Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is closer to the Final Fantasy 16 series, it’s worth reading as much Hironobu Sakaguchithe original author of the series, said in an interview given to the Japanese magazine Hyper Playstation, recently translated into English by the meritorious site shmuplations, on the occasion of the launch of Final Fantasy IX for the first PlayStation.
We are in 2000, Square was aware that the console was experiencing its last years before the arrival of PlayStation 2, for which it was already making Final Fantasy , with those who accepted them and those who tried to set limits.
Password: freedom
Sakaguchi then found himself explaining why it was chosen to return to a purer fantasy style for the ninth chapter. Paradoxically, the choice came from the enormous success of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII, which had a more realistic character style. In short, the author did not want the series to fossilize, so he decided to focus on a completely different artistic direction, explaining:
“I understand that people expect another realistic game like Final Fantasy 7 or Final Fantasy 8. But if we had done that, I think we would have been stuck in this pattern for Final Fantasy 10 and Final Fantasy 11 as well, unable to create anything forever again. For this reason I wanted to go against everyone’s expectations of the series and remember that Final Fantasy is a free world where everything is possible.”
Reading these words, in a highly conformist period in which we try to reduce everything to canons, is at least refreshing, because it makes us understand that certain mental patterns often don’t exist.
