Hironobu Sakaguchi, the original creator of Final Fantasy, is a huge fan of MMORPGs.
In fact, according to a new interview with IGN, it was his love of EverQuest that led to the development of Final Fantasy 11 – the series’ first foray into online gaming.
“My first [MMORPG] was EverQuest. I got absolutely addicted to it and forced a dozen or so SquareSoft staff members at the time to play as well, telling them it was required knowledge. Incredibly, most of them got hooked too, which led to [Final Fantasy 11],” he said.
“Actually, some of the staff never made it back to the real world.”
That’s why he was reticent to begin Final Fantasy 14, but eventually he did.
“Part of why I’d never played [Final Fantasy 14] is because I’ve always liked MMORPGs,” Sakaguchi said, “and just like I feared, I got addicted to it once I started.”
Sakaguchi has since become legendary in the game’s community for interacting with fellow players. He even started his own clothing line, SakaGUCCI.
“You come to learn relatively personal things about other players in MMORPGs. They might say that their cat is meowing, or talk about their children, for example. You also learn how old they are in these moments. Still, you don’t dig too deep into their lives, right? It’s almost like a new form of relationship, where you know just a bit about someone’s private life,” he said.