Interest

Final Fantasy X Writer Continues Mutual Love Fest With Dragon Quest Creator

Final Fantasy X scenario writer Kazushige Nojima offered his thoughts on Dragon Quest's influence on Friday, after Dragon Quest creator Yūji Horii proclaimed Final Fantasy X as "the ultimate perfection of Final Fantasy" and opined on the differences between the two RPG franchises' main characters. Nojima, who also worked on FF7 and FF8, posted, “I grew up playing Dragon Quest, so I was raised believing main characters shouldn't speak, and were a vessel for players."

Nojima added that after the video game industry began incorporating more complex character animations, he changed his thought process: “If character actions not controlled by the player also express a character's personality and presence, then maybe they should talk. Insisting they never speak was pointless, so I changed my thought process.”

The scenario writer continued, “I've made a character who seemed quiet but talked quite a bit, even though you couldn't tell if it was true; a character who was silent but had a busy inner monologue; and finally, I arrived at a character who just speaks his mind.” Nojima ended his comment by saying, “So, I'm happy,” in response to Horii's comments on Final Fantasy X.

Thanks to EmeraldSaucer for the tip!

Sources: Kazushige Nojima's account, Square Enix's YouTube channel