Game Fact Friday

Final Fantasy

We’ve all been there: somebody who isn’t familiar with the Final Fantasy game series approaches you with a sly grin and asks, “If it’s supposed to be the Final Fantasy, then how come there are so many games in the series?” Oh, you. How do you say the things that you say? Then again, said person does have a point – the fact that Final Fantasy II exists seems kind of at odds with the title of the first game. And yet there’s a perfectly good reason.

Square were going bankrupt. Hironobu Sakaguchi was about to quit video game design forever. So as a kind of swan-song to the company and his own career, Sakaguchi set out on a little game called “Final Fantasy,” which he presumed would be his last venture in this particular creative field. Kind of sad when you look at it like that, huh? And then something happened. The game was a huge hit. And now we’re on, like, Final Fantasy XXIII.