25 years Final Fantasy 7: The genesis of the role-playing game
In 2022 every RPG fan knows the name Final Fantasy. But if the famous Square series was on the crossroads: Sony or Nintendo? 2D or 3D? Expensive large production or sovereign successor? Even a quarter of a century after the release of Final Fantasy 7 is its influence still felt in the genre. In our big report we look back at the turbulent history of the PlayStation classic and appreciate some of the key people behind the project.
Square and Final Fantasy – an unbreakable bond
However, the young Masafumi had other interests as power lines – namely the development of video games. From the beginning, he pursued a modern development philosophy were realized While many projects of that time small teams or even individuals of Miyamoto was looking for qualified personnel for the different areas of a video game. For example, set square early graphic designers, programmers and authors or worked with students of an art academy together to develop new approaches for the display of colored-screen graphics.
Table of Contents
- Page 125 years Final Fantasy 7: The Beginnings
- 1.1Square and Final Fantasy – an unbreakable bond
- 1.2Ein Final Fantasy in 3D?
- Page 225 years Final Fantasy 7: The Playstation era
- 2.1Bye bye Nintendo, Sony hi!
2. 2.2Die emergence of a new world
3. 2.3Dieser success was only the beginning
3. Page 3Bildergalerie to “25 years of Final Fantasy 7: The history of…
The first major success came with the text adventures The Death Trap (1984) and a year later published Successor Will. The Death Trap II This title for the PC-8801 and other primarily successful in Japan systems have emerged under the flag of Den-Yu-Sha, but laid already laid the foundation for future games. Finally, then, with pre talents like Hironobu Sakaguchi and Hisashi Suzuki worked part-time in the projects.
This connection should result in the years to come for both parties to strong results. For Square early successes meant the independence as a separate company. In September 1986, Sun Square Co. Ltd. was established with Miyamoto at the top. In the following period Square launched a major offensive on Famicom games; Only in 1987 the Japanese published ten titles for the Nintendo console.
One of them was eventually also the first Final Fantasy, which saw in December 1987 in Japan the light of day. Hironobu Sakaguchi was instrumental in the development and resorted to a relatively small, consisting of seven members of the core team. The reason: Sakaguchi was considered difficult and was subject to date show no major bestseller. Although Dragon Quest (1986) by rival Enix already proved at the time that with the RPG genre good sales were possible, and Western RPGs like Ultima or Wizardry served as inspiration for Final Fantasy.
On Sakaguchi’s commitment towards delivered Square did not 200,000 but 400,000 ROM units for Final Fantasy in Japan. In an interview with the British trade magazine MCV (shorturl.at/yCV09) of December 2007, he remembered the former negotiations: “I argued within the company and pleaded. ‘With so few units, there is no chance of a successor Please make 400,000 therefrom. ‘ But the cost of production was high. Although the game was very good, those responsible in the company could just as well with the argument ‘This is a lot of money’ may decline. The reason for the success of Final Fantasy was in the end that the Square management risk has been received – and for that I am very grateful. “
A Final Fantasy in 3D?
With great success: The RPG sold in the US and Japan a total of three million times; Unfortunately, European players were again left out. But what came next? The seventh part of the JRPG series was the logical consequence, and behind the scenes it was known that technological progress would not stop at Final Fantasy. Consoles as published in Japan on 22 November 1994 Sega Saturn or even a few weeks later published Sony PlayStation showed where the market moving: Even if 2D video games would never die out completely, then walked trend and technology clearly towards 3D -Graphic. At Square one wanted initially but do not rush.
In addition, the previous team members were missing experience in the implementation of 3D graphics. This should change when Kazuyuki Hashimoto in 1995 came to Square and decisively shape the technology and presentation of the intermediate sequences of Final Fantasy 7. He works, among other things, at the computer manufacturer symbolics and brought with a corresponding expertise. Square was ready at this time to take tidy money for Final Fantasy. So based on expensive silicone graphics hardware, a 3D tech demo developed. However, this had nothing to do with Final Fantasy 7 and was certainly not a final fantasy for the Nintendo 64, but only an experiment, as a battle scene from Final Fantasy 6 could look like in 3D.