Truly, we have come full circle. 34 years ago, a young Square programmer named Hironobu Sakaguchi introduced the world to Final Fantasy. The RPG became an instant hit, spawning the legendary multimedia franchise that continues even now. Even though he’s no longer at Square Enix, Sakaguchi is the father of everything Final Fantasy.
Today, Sakaguchi joined Final Fantasy XIV. It started with a tweet including a picture of the FFXIV data center selection screen, wherein the creator mused about where to start. Yasumi Matsuno, another former Square Enix employee who has pitched in to write scenarios for FFXIV, pitched the Mana data center as his home, presumably because Matsuno plays on a server in that data center.
Following tweets showed Sakaguchi’s character, appropriately named “Hironobu Sakaguchi”. (Square Enix didn’t save Sakaguchi’s name on every server, as there exist similarly-named characters on other servers.) Much to my chagrin, the father of Final Fantasy made himself a Lalafell in his character creation.
キャラ作成〜 pic.twitter.com/jxc3pVXCT9
— 坂口博信 (@auuo) September 27, 2021
As of the time of this writing, Sakaguchi reached level 10 as a Gladiator. He also did sync up with Matsuno over Zoom apparently, with the latter creator teaching Sakauguchi how to use the user interface.
Why did Sakaguchi start now? It’s potentially because he’s sharing the stage with FFXIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida at Tokyo Game Show. The pair have a joint talk entitled “Famitsu Presents: The Appeal and Potential of RPG”. The talk will be livestreamed on Friday, October 1, 2021 at 5pm PDT.
Hopefully, Sakaguchi enjoys his time in the world of Eorzea. His studio, Mistwalker, launched its RPG Fantasian on Apple Arcade earlier this year. The title uses real-life dioramas as the background of its world, and it has received great reviews since launch. Every creator needs some space to unwind though, and perhaps FFXIV can be that for Sakaguchi. We wish the Lalafell “Hironobu Sakaguchi” a long and fruitful adventure!
