Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has at least one more game left in him, and it might just take some cues from a much-beloved entry in the series.
There are few developers out there who have as lengthy a list of iconic titles under their belt like Sakaguchi, but I suppose that’s likely to happen when you’re the creator of Final Fantasy. For a long while now he’s been doing things over at his own studio, Mistwalker, most recently having worked on Fantasian (which just got a re-release on consoles just last month), and as it turns out, the developer is still planning on making at least one more game. Sakaguchi recently spoke with The Verge about Fantasian, as well as what it’s been like working with Square Enix again, but most interesting of all are his comments on the next game he wants to work on.
“I was thinking of making Fantasian Neo Dimension my final work, but the fantastic team that was assembled to complete this project was so enjoyable to work with that I found it hard to part ways,” Sakaguchi explained when asked if he’ll stick to familiar styles and genres or do something new. “Humans are greedy creatures, aren’t we? For that reason, I’m currently working on a new project with the same team that worked on Fantasian Neo Dimension. It’s generally going to follow a similar style to my previous works, and it’ll be something that can be a successor to Final Fantasy 6 in a good way – our goal is to create something old but new at the same time. It’ll be part two of my farewell note.”
As bittersweet as that point about it being part two of his farewell note, it is exciting to hear he’s working on something inspired by Final Fantasy 6. While it could be argued that every entry in the mainline Final Fantasy games is a fan favourite, 6 is definitely high up on that list, almost definitely in part because it was the last game before the switch to 3D, but also because of its big, dramatic, and emotional story. I’m sure we can expect to wait a while for it, though, so maybe just spend that time on a replay of 6, or even give the quite good Fantasian Neo Dimension a go.