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[DeltaPolarBear]

Nobody cares about what Sakaguchi does because he can't use the name Final Fantasy and that is all the nostalgic nerds care about.

Final Fantasy died in my heart after a certain point. You can keep calling new games Final Fantasy, but that will not bring back its soul. I spent my very first paycheck on the latest Final Fantasy title at the time, and it was a piece of trash. It's like going to your favorite restaurant only to realize they changed chefs and the previous owner had retired.

 

[Embearded]

It sometimes feels like they still haven't recovered.

I'd say it always feels like it.

 

[Griffon]

FF14 up to Endwalker was a new hope for the whole company. Now I'm not so sure anymore.
FF16 was undercooked in too many ways. Rebirth's story feels like a brain aneurysm.

I feel really bad for the Visions of Mana studio that got closed before they even stood a chance. They weren't even kept around long enough to make a Switch 2 port.


SE looks like they have really good dev grunts and art teams, but exceptionally bad and short-sighted producers. Back then Sakaguchi knew how to properly use the devs.

 

[Shadowplay1979]

Still is.

I wish i could go into detail how true this statement is

 

[Astray]

Bullshit, he made great stuff but Square Enix sales kept growing since he left in 2003

In the stock market they also kept growing, except the 2008-early 2013 period:

Well no shit they merged with Enix after he left.

 

[Kaim0]

Not only Uematsu says so; everyone who was there says the same. Sakaguchi was Squaresoft.

Kazuyuki Hashimoto (CG supervisor, Square Japan; Chief technical officer and senior vice president, Square USA):

I left Square because Sakaguchi-san left. I had a position in the Tokyo office, so I could have gone back [after the Honolulu studio closed], but it felt like the company had changed a lot.

Tetsuya Nomura (Character and battle visual director, Square Japan):

I shouldn't be saying this, but hmm, how to put this? It was like Sangokushi [the Chinese literary series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"]. You know, where the king dies, and then a civil war erupts and everyone starts fighting each other.

Yoshinori Kitase (Director, Square Japan):

Let's see, what can I say here? At the time, Sakaguchi-san held a unique position at Square. He was simultaneously an executive vice president, a board member of the company and a game developer himself. There's no one quite like that in the company today, so in that sense, things did change a lot.

Tetsuya Nomura:

Yeah, Sakaguchi-san had shaped so many different things at Square. Now there's multiple, different voices.

Yoshinori Kitase:

That singular vision kind of changed when he left — as Nomura said, instead of Sakaguchi-san deciding things alone, when he left, there was a greater diversity of ideas that flowed in.

Hiroshi Kawai (Character programmer, Square Japan)

It's one of those [things] where, when somebody like Sakaguchi-san, who had such authority in the company, kind of just disappears, there's this vacuum that exists where nobody can really arbitrate between your devs and your artists and your game designers. And in that environment, most people — especially in Square — tended to avoid conflict and try to resolve things as best as possible. And unfortunately, the way each individual tried to resolve it wasn't necessarily in the end user's interests.

Kazuyuki Hashimoto:

Especially during the Final Fantasy 7 period, Sakaguchi-san made every big decision. That was why everybody moved quickly. It was so exciting. And after Sakaguchi-san left, no one wanted to take responsibility, so all the decision making needed lots of approvals, which took a long, long time. The company didn't move very quickly. It suffered from "big company disease."

Shinichiro Kajitani (Vice president, Square USA):

When Sakaguchi-san wanted to make a decision, it would just happen like that. But after he left, several people had to do it. … It became more of a committee-based thing, so it took a lot more time to get things done.

Motonori Sakakibara:

In the late '90s, all the game companies had lots of money — especially Square, of course. So Square prioritized quality rather than obsessing over costs. That was how Sakaguchi-san operated. He always asked for a lot from the team and gave us tight schedules, but he backed up those requests with big teams and the best hardware. That was a very rare situation. He was always looking at a big vision, but at the same time, how to make it a reality.

The company seemed like it was becoming [more about costs than creativity]. At the beginning of this interview, I mentioned that Square was very creative — the first priority was creativity, right? But I think after the movie project, they changed some of the direction of the company, especially after Sakaguchi left.

Despite what some may say, Mistwalker was never conceived as a Squaresoft 2.0; instead, it was created to be a small creative studio. And despite having less budget and manpower, their games have been the only true FFs in spirit and soul in these last decades. The guy still has it.

 

[peronmls]

Yeah, but people hated Spirits Within.

 

[Karim]

 

[Mercador]

Sad… didnt expect Uematsu to hop on the nostalgia x bitter train.

Me neither but at the same time, I think he's right. Their duo made marvelous games and soundtracks.

 

[rubik's dude]

Yeah, but people hated Spirits Within.

One flop out of dozens of successes vs. now: dozens of flops for every one success.

 

[Amael901]

Guys, do you remember that feeling when you see square logo and music starts. If you only knew what I would do to have that feeling again.

 

[Sophist]

Guys, do you remember that feeling when you see square logo and music starts. If you only knew what I would do to have that feeling again.

Fantasian has that kind of vibes. It's available on consoles and pc now.