Hironobu Sakaguchi
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'Final Fantasy' creator Sakaguchi on what makes 'Fantasian' a unique mobile RPG
Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, chats about his new Apple Arcade RPG Fantasian.
'Fantasian,' from the creator of Final Fantasy, arrives on Apple Arcade
Fantasian, the new RPG that unites Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi with composer Nobuo Uematsu, has landed on mobile gaming service Apple Arcade.
A new RPG from the creator of Final Fantasy is coming to Apple Arcade
'Fantasian' draws together RPG tropes like airships, mysteries and magic with, er, handcrafted dioramas.
Final Fantasy creator sees mobile success in download numbers
Hironobu Sakaguchi's name is credited with leading and assisting in the creation of many games over the years, from Final Fantasy to The Last Story, Chrono Trigger to Parasite Eve. The veteran designer announced his latest project in July, an action-RPG-puzzle game for iOS and Android called Terra Battle, before showing it off at PAX Prime earlier this month in Seattle. At its heart, Terra Battle is more RPG than puzzler, but it looked like a card game-style sidequest from a Final Fantasy entry more than anything else. In it, players slide card-like icons that represent their team of fighters to a battle grid, each with a mess of unique skills and abilities. One turn consisted of selecting a teammate, then gliding it on the grid, pushing teammates around before settling in a spot within four seconds. Depending on the enemies it was adjacent to and the fellow fighters it lined up with, it initiated individual and team attacks and spells. Within seconds, damage numbers, detailed character designs and ability names flashed on the screen in quick succession. The data stream was immediately overwhelming, then it evaporated from the screen. None of it made a lick of sense, yet the slide-and-move-on action was innate and enjoyable enough to encourage continued play.
Final Fantasy creator to reveal new project at Japan Expo 2014 [update]
Three years after the debut of The Last Story, Mistwalker's tragically underplayed Wii roleplaying epic, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi will debut his next project at Paris' Japan Expo 2014. Mistwalker's announcement offers no hints as to what Sakaguchi will present to fans, though it does note that along with his appearance at Japan Expo 2014, the famed producer will also attend the July 3 VideoGameStory Exhibition as guest of honor. Full details on Japan Expo 2014 and information on how to attend can be found on the exhibition's website. Update: According to Gematsu, the latest issue of Famitsu outs Sakaguchi's next project as mobile RPG Terra Battle. The free-to-play game is slated for release in September. [Image: Wikimedia Commons]
We can build on this: Why ideas in The Last Story should be embraced by RPG devs
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer. When Hironobu Sakaguchi set out to make The Last Story, one of his main goals was to make something new. It was an approach that made him nervous."With this title, I felt strongly that as the creator of the game, I was laying myself bare, and I was anxious about how the customers would respond to my ideas," Sakaguchi said in an Iwata Asks feature released by Nintendo. "At the same time, there are certain unique things I want to do and express, and in the end, I don't think that my approach is mistaken."In the end, Sakaguchi was indeed vindicated. The Last Story was met with solid reviews, and was praised in large part because of its creative battle system. All told, it's a nice story of a developer breaking out of its comfort zone to create a new and interesting game, and it's worth reading the full interview to see how The Last Story ultimately came out. I don't think it needs to be the whole story though.It's in part because The Last Story incorporates so many new elements that I would like to see it adopted in some way by other RPG developers – especially strategy RPG developers. The Last Story can't really be pegged in any particular genre; but it does have a fair amount in common with strategy RPGs. It's not grid-based, or even turn-based, but it does place a premium on enemy placement, for example, by making it possible to knock out casters or other hazards using alternative methods.%Gallery-155173%
Daily iPhone App: Party Wave is Final Fantasy creator's first iOS title
Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Saganuchi's studio is called Mistwalker. It created the Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey RPGs for the Xbox 360 a few years ago. But the studio's latest direction, like a lot of big studios lately, is to create some smaller mobile games, and Party Wave, Mistwalker's first iOS title, has just arrived on the App Store. Party Wave is described as an "action surfing" game, but it's much simpler than a surfing simulation. Each stage in the game (there are quite a few to play through) has two phases. In the first, you use line-drawing to guide a group of surfers around obstacles to an oncoming wave. And once the wave appears, you need to juggle the various surfers involved by tapping them. dodging various obstacles and keeping them afloat. The game is fun, though it's clearly a first title. It's not very focused, and some of the polish isn't quite there. The aesthetic is surprisingly calm: The music is nice and tropical, even when the action gets a little nuts. It's not entirely clear what you need to do all the time -- some obstacles are invisible, so you need to remember where they are to keep from hitting them -- but once you figure it out, there's a nice strong game to play. Party Wave is available for $1.99 as a universal app. It's an interesting experiment for Mistwalker, and I hope it works. But it would be nice to see Saganuchi return to his RPG roots, instead building an original Final Fantasy-style game for the modern iOS platform.
Mistwalker's debut iOS title, Party Wave, catches some surf on iTunes
Mistwalker, the studio started by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, has launched its first game for iOS, Party Wave. No, it's not a game where you wave hello to friends as they walk in the door for your birthday party, nor does it involve coordinating a stadium full of people to move their arms up and down at the correct times. Party Wave is about surfing, one of Sakaguchi's passions.Party Wave goes for $1.99 on the App Store and works with iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch running iOS 4.1 or better. It's an "action surfing" game that has players control a group of surfers as they navigate an ocean of obstacles.Mistwalker is working on two other, unannounced mobile titles. Sakaguchi's Wii game, The Last Story, hits North American shores on August 14.
Mistwalker's first iOS game Party Wave 'nearly completed'
Final Fantasy veteran Hironobu Sakaguchi's Mistwalker studio is working on three iOS projects at the moment, and the first one has been announced. Party Wave is about surfing, which Sakaguchi describes as one of his passions.According to the trailer, you flick around the screen to guide surfers through dangers until they reach the "party wave," after which you play a minigame to keep them surfing and away from encroaching bad guys.Party Wave looks like simple fun, which should make it perfect for the iOS platform. Sakaguchi didn't share a release date or price, but he says "it's nearly completed. Hope many people enjoy it when it's available."
The creative maturity of Hironobu Sakaguchi's Last Story
There must be a fascinating behind-the-scenes story as to how XSEED managed to get a hold of the localization rights for The Last Story. Ordinarily, Nintendo has a death grip on the rights to its games: If they don't localize it, no one does. XSEED, for their part, say they "got lucky."The Last Story is the most recent RPG by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, as well as the natural companion to Xenoblade Chronicles, which arrived last month. Both headlined last year's Operation Rainfall petition, along with Pandora's Tower, forever joining them at the hip. Much like Monolith Soft's opus Chronicles, Sakaguchi seems determined to say something new about the genre he once helped create.%Gallery-107120%
Mistwalker working on three iOS projects
Mistwalker, the developer started by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, is taking up mobile development -- or, at least, reaching the result of an experiment started two years ago. In an email to Siliconera, Sakaguchi revealed that "I'm working on three new games on iOS." He'll update fans on their progress via Facebook, a change from his previous tactic of posting Lego models on his own blog.Sakaguchi's hobbies still figure into the games, though: one will be surfing-related. The other two games are as yet totally unannounced. If you're eager to play some Mistwalker content sooner, The Last Story is coming to Wii this summer.
Hironobu Sakaguchi made this Last Story trailer for you
If you've been ignoring The Last Story because you didn't want to get interested in a game you'd never be able to play, well, it's time to start watching trailers. And there's no better place to start than with this European trailer directed by Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi himself.Like the European release of Xenoblade Chronicles, this version of The Last Story has quite British voice acting. American publisher XSEED hasn't made any announcements about how it would handle voice recording, but we expect to hear the same accents when the North American version shows up this summer.
Final Fantasy's Hironobu Sakaguchi teases three new iPhone games
During promotion for an upcoming Wii title, The Last Story, Final Fantasy series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi teased three new games pending for the iPhone. Sakaguchi only gave the scantest of details on the titles to GameCentral; he mentioned that the first title will be a "surfing game" rather than Sakaguchi's traditional RPG fare. He gave even fewer details on the other two games, saying only that they would be smaller titles as a "palate cleanser" following his work on The Last Story. Sakaguchi started the Final Fantasy franchise in the 1980s, and he was part of Square Enix until leaving to form his own company in 2004. He told GameCentral that he's making these three games because he's a fan of Apple and its products, but he doesn't believe that smartphones and tablets will completely displace traditional console gaming anytime soon. Along with Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo, Hironobu Sakaguchi is a legend in the video game industry and has helmed many titles that have been outstanding examples of the creativity possible in the medium. We'll definitely be keeping a very close eye out for his debut on the iOS platform.
The Last Story's insane 'chat' system revealed
Mistwalker's Hironobu Sakaguchi and Takuya Matsumoto from co-developer AQ Interactive spoke to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata about The Last Story's online play in a new Iwata Asks interview posted by Nintendo of Japan. The game won't exactly have chat when played online, but it will have a bizarre, kind of useless, but also probably really amusing replacement. Basically, you'll be able to trigger voice-acted lines from the single-player game in multiplayer. Matsumoto offered the silly example of one of the characters being made to say "Father ... Father ..." repeatedly, which is weird, and hilarious. It would have been even more hilarious had Mistwalker not replaced the placeholder staff voice acting with professionals.
Sakaguchi provides glimpse into Final Fantasy IX development
Legendary Final Fantasy game designer Hironobu Sakaguchi has dug up some old notes from the making of Final Fantasy IX, and they're an interesting read for anyone who's a fan of the adventures of Zidane, Vivi and Steiner. There's a lot of interesting stuff in there, especially if you love the old game (lots of fight sequences were planned differently than they went in the final code). If nothing else, it's fascinating to see the game designer's mind working to plan on paper what eventually became a classic PlayStation RPG. Sakanguchi is both cinematic with his descriptions ("like steady cam," he says at one point to describe the game's opening shot) and very interested in characters (describing Vivi as "introversive [sic], quiet, obedient, indecisive, pure in heart and kind"). He glosses over spell and game specifics, leaving things like gearing up only described as "able to collect weapons and protective gears here." That all makes sense, of course -- he and the team wouldn't need to figure out the numbers until later. But the little script is a fascinating look at the very early stages of a classic Final Fantasy title, and just how centered on character and storytelling Square was back in those days. Sakaguchi's notes are a must-read for fans of the JRPG genre.
The Last Story has competitive and cooperative online play
Yes, it's still on the Wii. The latest Jump magazine, summarized by Andriasang, reveals two online game modes for Mistwalker's surprisingly exciting action RPG, The Last Story. The competitive mode is a battle arena, and the cooperative mode has players teaming up to fight tough monsters -- reminiscent of a certain phenomenally successful series about hunting monsters, perhaps. Both modes support up to six players and are accessed through the game's "Raid Lobby" area. With players meeting their pals on the internet, it makes sense that you can customize your character. Andriasang notes that players' armor and equipment is visible on their characters, and items can be "painted" to customize their color. The Last Story will be released in Japan on January 27. No plans have been announced for a launch outside of Japan.%Gallery-107120%
The Last Story seen in action for the first time
We've seen little of The Last Story since its January debut: concept art, mostly, with more revealed in a series of developer columns. Today, Nintendo released the first trailer for the Wii RPG, which Mistwalker head and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi identified as his sole project earlier this year. The dedication appears to be paying off. We expected something turn-based from Sakaguchi, but Mistwalker seems to be delivering a real-time action RPG with surprisingly fast action. There also appears to be a cover system. The game as seen in this footage reminds us of a quicker, less daunting Demon's Souls. Earlier this year, Nintendo of America was undecided about whether to localize this game. But, of course, that was before NOA saw this trailer.
The Last Story's first concept art
The first details about Mistwalker's mysterious Wii RPG The Last Story have been released, in the form of a blog entry on Nintendo's Last Story site. The game takes place on Ruri Island, which, as home to a necessary harbor, has become a wealthy and important city. The affluent island is run by "Lord Arganon," a power-hungry ruler who is well-versed in magic. If we had to guess, we'd say he's going to be the villain. We still have yet to see real screens or footage of The Last Story, but the blog entry includes concept art of the island, which is quite lovely. %Gallery-88009% [Via VG247; All Games Beta]
Sakaguchi: The Last Story is 'my only project'
It's likely that The Last Story, Mistwalker's new Wii RPG, is the project Hironobu Sakaguchi has been hinting at for a while. In a new blog post, the Final Fantasy creator said that the new RPG is "my only project because I am concentrating on this particular one right now." And then, because that didn't meet the appropriate level of creepiness, he described the game as "raised like a only daughter, but sometimes she was forcedly pushed into the abyss of ravine ... She's sturdy, beautiful and I'd like to nurture her gently." Yikes. Anyway, the point is that Mistwalker has been at work on the game for a while, and Sakaguchi is working on it directly. Since The Last Story is Sakaguchi's "only project" right now (except for the Lego creation above, of course), that means that either another team within Mistwalker is working on the iPhone game or it's been put aside until the The Last Story is all grown up.
Mistwalker taking a stab at iPhone development
Aside from updates on how sexy the best 'stache in the business is looking, Hironobu Sakaguchi's site is also good for updates on his many game projects. The latest post reveals a Mistwalker iPhone game is in the works -- a title Sakaguchi says we can all expect to see "soon." As interesting as this news is on its own, it becomes very interesting when seen through the prism of Mistwalker and Microsoft's historical relationship. Frankly, if it isn't about Andy Gibb-style Sakaguchi surfing on terry cotton waves while trying to keep his K-9 companion from falling into the fluffy ocean, we don't even want to hear about it. OK, we still want to hear about it, but come on. Who wouldn't want to play that? [Via 1UP]
