– Iwata said at the beginning of the interview that he was emotional about meeting Sakaguchi for the interview
– Iwata gets the feelings that many people think Sakaguchi is distant from Nintendo
– Sakaguchi also gets the same feeling
– Sakaguchi may have been distant from Nintendo at one point, he doesn’t feel it now
– Sakaguchi was beside Iwata when ASH was announced by Nintendo (developed by Mistwalker)
– In 2003, Sakaguchi took a break after leaving Square
– Started up work again eventually, but felt he was “riding on the wrong wave” while working on a number of projects
– The Last Story started when he realized this
– Sakaguchi felt grateful when starting The Last Story
– He was happy to be making a large scale project
– Also allowed him to take on new challenges
– Challenges were related to the different development formulas he’s been taking with the game compared to his past work
– Sakaguchi felt that his role as the director would bring him closer to the game, would reveal more of himself as a creator
– He was uneasy about whether or not gamers would accept him
– Sakaguchi did enjoy himself, however
– He has the feeling that he’s playing around, trying new things
– Iwata said that if you do your work according to a formula, you won’t feel uneasy, but you won’t get excited because the work becomes routine
– If you try out a new formula, you’ll be excited, even if you can’t help but feel uneasy
– According to Iwata, Shigeru Miyamoto sometimes makes a switch like Sakaguchi, Miyamoto later expresses enjoyment with the process
– Sakaguchi agrees, thinks that sinking his teeth into development gives him the uniquely nice feeling of being able to get rid of unessentials and concentrate on work directly related to the game
– Sakaguchi can also see things he normally might not see because he is directly involved in development
– Being directly involved with development may also allow his excitement to be transferred over to plays
– Sakaguchi thinks the reason he and his staff at Square were able to make the original Final Fantasy into what it became was because they were all excited throughout development
– Sakaguchi decided on the story and world view first
– Sakaguchi said that the story emphasis is unchanged form the past 25 years of development work
– Iwata believes it’s possible to do more and more with a game’s story and world view over time
– Sakaguchi agreed that visuals/audio were limited with the Famicom, but forced him to think about how he would tell the story
– Now with tech advancements, Sakaguchi can tell stories easily, but feels thinks may have gone too far, you end up showing too much
– Sakaguchi felt a “reset” was necessary because of this
– He looked back at the origins of games, thought about what it means to tell a story in a game
– Sakaguchi thought at length about this first for The Last Story
– Also thought about the origins of gameplay systems
– Sakaguchi worked on fundamental problems a lot
– Gameplay tests were conducted during the R&D phase
– Solutions he came up with are not extensions of current methods, Sakaguchi feels
– Sakguchi wanted to express the world and story with a new style
– He ended up devoting his full strength to the project
– That’s where the origin of the name “The Last Story” came from
– Sakaguchi: “It was the same during the time of Final Fantasy, but I always give my all and develop with the feeling that ‘it would be fine if this were the end.’ However, this time, that feeling is particularly strong.”
– Iwata: “It’s like you’re putting in so much that even if it were your last project, you would have no regrets.”
– Sakaguchi: “Yes. Because if I were to fail, I’d be told to retire.”
Thanks to Thomas N for the tip!
