quote:

---

>
> http://www.xbox.com/ja-JP/interview...nterview-08.htm
>
> [not-quite-perfect English translation]
>
> Q: So what drove you to break your long silence and finally start
> making big RPGs again?
>
> Sakaguchi: The truth is that as of last spring I'd gone two and a half
> years without any direct, day-to-day involvement with content
> development. I spent most of my time watching movies and reading books.
> But after two and a half years of that lifestyle an impulse to make
> something arose within me.
>
> Q: You've established your own company, Mistwalker...
>
> Sakaguchi: Game development teams and budgets are getting bigger.
> Relying on game development to raise the money to pay all those people
> can lock you into a very bad cycle, where you're just making things to
> somehow pay down those costs. But if you can't break away from that and
> make something new, I didn't think there was any point in making games
> at all. I established Mistwalker to try a style of work that wouldn't
> make us so dependent on development.
>
> Q: Was it the next-generation Xbox console that led you to work with
> Microsoft Game Studios (MGS)?
>
> Sakaguchi: Broadly speaking that's certainly true, I definitely wanted
> a limitless world where I could cram in everything I wanted to do. I
> think next-generation consoles are past the threshold of being able to
> do that. It's like, everything I wanted to express could fit in this
> box called the game machine, so I could send it out. While groping for
> a way to get back into making games I'd sometimes ask outside creators
> if they'd be interested in working together, and thanks to the good
> response I came to think we could do two RPGs. Then I got a talk from
> Mr. Maruyama (Xbox business director Yoshihiro Maruyama) a friend I'd
> worked with before. Hiroshi Kawai (game development director) who'd
> worked with me on development (of FF7 and FF9) was also at MGS, and
> since we understood each other's abilities I felt things would go
> smoothly this way. So it wasn't so much that I chose the hardware
> myself, I was led to the next-generation Xbox by personal connections.
>
> Q: What's your role on these two games? Also, what kind of games will
> they be?
>
> Sakaguchi: Basically, I'm the producer, and I'm also writing a lot of
> the scenarios, including game system design. One of them goes the
> realistic route. It will have stylish visuals - this is what I've
> always been aiming for - it will be a game that gives you the pleasant
> sensation of walking among amazing visuals. The story won't be the
> typical coming-of-age RPG story, the main character is, if anything,
> knowledgeable and experienced. But I'd like to try and show how even
> that kind of person can be moved to laugh by trivial things, or moved
> to cry by everyday things. I'm going for a deeper style that shows a
> bit of psychological depth. For the other game, I want to make an RPG
> with deformed characters who move with lots of energy. The main
> character is someone who never gives up, no matter what hardships he
> (/she?) undergoes, he grits his teeth and keeps on going.
>
> Q: You have a strong image as a storyteller. Are there any particular
> rules of thumb or reflections on RPGs that you're using to guide you?
>
> Sakaguchi: Right, well, with each new generation of games my thoughts
> have changed, so... At the moment, I feel that the sensation of walking
> among amazing visuals - that's already been done. But however pretty a
> game's graphics may be, if they can't be touched they're just
> decorations in the end. So I'm thinking I want to aim for a game world
> with lots of things you can seamlessly interact with in various ways,
> for the sense of a world where everything can be touched. Also, as I
> said before I want to get away from coming-of-age stories, and create
> comical or tragic scenes unlike any seen in games before. I'm trying to
> make something that will feel fresh, and explores the possibilities of
> interactivity.
>
> Q: Finally, please say something to the game fans eagerly awaiting your
> works.
>
> Sakaguchi: The users have appreciated what I myself found fun, they've
> been tuned in to my wavelength and that's made me very happy and very
> grateful. So when making games, I never forget the minimal requirement
> to satisfy the users who spend their money to buy them. I believe in
> the fun these games will deliver, so please look forward to them.
>