Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and his team at Mistwalker, including legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu, combined forces once again to unleash Fantasian on Apple Arcade in two parts in 2021. Naturally, that means the audience was inherently limited, but now that it’s finally expanding to other platforms, Sakaguchi shared some thoughts.
In a statement on Fantasian‘s official English social accounts, Sakaguchi started off by saying that he always wanted Fantasian to be an “especially long-standing title,” and he cites that longevity as one of the strengths of digital games. “I developed Fantasian thinking that it could become my final work before retiring, so it has a special place in my heart,” he continued.
Sakaguchi added that being able to rebuild Fantasian at Square Enix and offer it to a wider audience is “truly a blessing.” Beyond the exploration and turn-based combat, a lot of the appeal of Fantasian comes down to its beautifully bespoke nature. The backgrounds consist of hand-crafted dioramas, over 150 of which were scanned into the game. Sakaguchi closed out his statement with a nod to all this loving, laborious work, saying, “This title is an amalgamation of the souls of the diorama craftsmen, Uematsu compositions, and of course, the game developers.”
The soul of fantasy
Square Enix is helping Sakaguchi and his team revitalize the RPG as Fantasian Neo Dimension. The new version keeps the story and gameplay intact while adding in some additional features, including English and Japanese voiceovers and more difficulty options. It’s currently set for a 2024 release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
As great as exclusives can be, it’s even better when more people have a chance to enjoy a game you’ve worked so hard on over the years. Here’s hoping this is far from Sakaguchi’s final fantasy.
