Hironobu Sakaguchi and Naoki Yoshida (aka Yoshi-P) need no introduction. After all, Sakaguchi is the father of Final Fantasy while Yoshi-P is the director of the wildly successful Final Fantasy XIV. So, there was plenty of excitement when Square Enix invited gaming media from across Asia for a chance to interview these two gaming icons.
Instead of talking about Final Fantasy though, Sakaguchi and Yoshi-P’s media session was for FANTASIAN Neo Dimension. Even if this game was created by Sakaguchi (under Sakaguchi’s studio Mistwalker) complete with music by Nobuo Uematsu, you’d be forgiven if you’re unfamiliar with this game. That’s because it was released in 2021 simply as FANTASIAN, but only on Apple Arcade.
Essentially, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is an RPG that’s a throwback to the classic titles Sakaguchi developed back in the day. The idea came to Sakaguchi when he was replaying Final Fantasy VI. In fact, Sakaguchi even said in the media session that he thinks of FANTASIAN as a “classic JRPG that was put into a time capsule and opened up in the present day.” Of course, while its style is classic at heart, there are some unique mechanics here that we explored in our hands-on session.
Finally, FANTASIAN will get a release on modern consoles and PC with the help of Square Enix who is in charge of publishing the game. With this, more players will finally be able to experience what is perhaps Sakaguchi’s final major game release.
Sakaguchi’s Thoughts on Working with Square Enix
There’s no doubt that many JRPG fans are excited by the prospect of Sakaguchi working with Square Enix given how his iconic franchise was made there (though it was only Squaresoft at the time). As such, we asked Sakaguchi what it felt like to work with Square Enix for his game’s wide release.
Regarding working with Square Enix, Sakaguchi’s answer was about how fitting of a partner the publisher is to help more players experience his latest title.
Sakaguchi explained:
“This might be a rather odd commentary perspective on my part, but I think working with Square Enix really showed the power of their ability to develop, distribute, and sell games on such a massive scale. I have since founded Mistwalker, which is a rather small, independent game development studio, and to see the sheer amount of scale that Square Enix has in terms of just that momentum, it’s quite comforting to know that you have such a huge ally.”
“To make an analogy off of that, I live in Hawaii right now, and there, you have these massive, massive waves, the kind of waves that if I tried to surf on, I’d probably die. But it feels you could take on that type of wave with the help of Square Enix. That’s kind of what that partnership felt like.”
Naoki Yoshida on Working with Hironobu Sakaguchi, the FFXIV Superfan
Hironobu Sakaguchi and Naoki Yoshida discussing their experience with developing FANTASIAN Neo Dimension.
Aside from FANTASIAN Neo Dimension being a reunion of sorts for Sakaguchi with Square (he even mentioned that working on this game felt like a high school reunion for him), the fact that Sakaguchi and Yoshi-P are working together here is another major highlight.
Of course, FANTASIAN is made by Mistwalker with Square Enix serving to support in enhancing various aspects of it. This meant Yoshi-P’s involvement was more on the technical side. During the interview, Sakaguchi and Yoshi-P talked a lot about their decisions regarding adding voice acting along with the presentation of the game’s diorama levels.
While talking, it’s clear that Sakaguchi and Yoshi-P have a strong connection, though this shouldn’t be a surprise to most fans given how the father of the franchise is a Final Fantasy XIV superfan.
“From my perspective, Sakaguchi-san is very generous in his social media presence,” said Yoshida. “I see every day he’s playing Final Fantasy XIV, and every time there’s a little episode or some kind of anecdote, it shows how invested and how much he understands the world of Final Fantasy XIV. So, myself included, I think the entire development team feels really happy and honored to be able to communicate with him on that level.
Sakaguchi may be a massive supporter of Final Fantasy XIV, but the feeling is mutual from Yoshi-P’s side as he noted how big of an honor it felt to work with the man who started it all.
FANTASIAN Neo Dimension
Regarding his thoughts on working with Sakaguchi, Yoshida said:
When Sakaguchi-san first approached us, I think there was a certain amount of trust from simply him playing Final Fantasy XIV and telling me, hey, I felt something from Final Fantasy XIV, I think we can work on [FANTASIAN Neo Dimension] together. Hearing that from Sakaguchi-san himself is a huge honor for me and the entire development team because I’m a huge Final Fantasy fanboy. Having the opportunity to work together, the whole team was all in on the Square Enix side to make sure we did the best job that we possibly could.”
“Oftentimes, the focus is on Sakaguchi-san working with Square Enix again, but from my perspective, it’s more individual relationships. So, getting to work with Sakaguchi-san, I think there’s a lot of discovery there and a lot of fun experiences that you really can’t sum up with just Sakaguchi-san and Square Enix. I would like to hopefully apply a lot of that learning and experience to my future career and figure out different ways to work together.”
As you may have expected, Yoshi-P mentioning FFXIV caused Sakaguchi to perk up, to the point that he sent an open invitation to everyone in attendance to play the game.
“If anyone [here has] not played Final Fantasy XIV yet, I first encourage you guys to play FFXIV, and if you do, you’ll find me on the Anima server,” mentioned Sakaguchi. “I can respond to you even if you speak English. So, for the character with my name, I’m using my own name.”
Even with Sakaguchi’s latest promotion for the critically acclaimed MMORPG, Sakaguchi and Yoshi-P still ended the discussion by inviting players to try out FANTASIAN Neo Dimension, especially those with a love for classic JRPGs.
FANTASIAN Neo Dimension will be released on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC on December 5, 2024.