It was developed by a team divided between Japan and Hawaii, so about 1/3 of the faces there I had never seen before.I was surprised all over again at how many people were involved in the project. There were about 300 people at the party celebrating FFIX’s completion. ―If there’s anything else from your experiences during the development of FFIX or messages for the many people who still love FFIX you’d be willing to share, we would love to hear it. That fine-tuning took some real mental gymnastics. We had data increasing every day, having to think about where to divide the story so we’d end up with an amount that fit on each of the four discs. The last few weeks were a battle with data restrictions. ―Was there anything during development that was especially challenging or that sticks out in your mind? I asked, “Are there going to be any more changes to it?” and he responded, “Yes, sorry.I’d like to tweak it a little more.” It wasn’t finalized until the last minute, so I’m sure he really struggled with the composition of that piece. That song would eventually be titled “You’re Not Alone.”
It was in response to me asking if he had any recommended songs from the new game - I got an idea for part of the story the second it came on. Uematsu played for me the first time he worked at the Hawaii office. If there are any songs from FFIX that really stand out in your memory, please tell us about them. We feel that music is another important factor in expressing characters or story. Every last detail was done with such care. The concept came together in less than 30 minutes, but the actual creators who worked on the mini-game put a lot of time into it. It came from the director wanting some contents that would allow traveling all over the game world. Are there any you find particularly memorable?Ĭhocobo Hot and Cold. ― FFIX has a lot of mini games, many of which are quite difficult. Although that’s not to say that those teams didn’t get along. I don’t know if this is still true, but development happened with next to no meetings between the event and battle design teams. You grow used to the characters celebrating when they win a battle, so I was really surprised the first time I saw that. That came from the battle system team’s consideration of the scene those battles take place in. Your party characters don’t do a victory pose even if you win against them. I’m not sure if you could call it a unique monster, but my favorite are the black mages who appear in Cleyra. ―The Tantalus members Genero, Zenero, Benero and all their siblings are an unusual bunch. Once the game’s story started to come to life on screen, my drive to develop each character even further – the steadfast reliability of Marcus or Garnet’s internal struggles, for example – only got stronger. There actually wasn’t any differentiation in my mind between main characters and sub characters. I don’t have any biases when it comes to NPC characters either. Illustrating the breakdown of relations with the nobles in Treno due to their disapproval of Zidane and Garnet’s relationship, Zidane butting up against the social confines he faces and the incredible power Garnet holds as royalty, and how Zidane gets back up on his feet despite all of that – I felt that would have done a lot to help further portray him as a character. There were backstories we wanted to elaborate on more, but sadly had to give up on due to time and data constraints.Īt the time I wished I could have developed how Zidane is afflicted by the difference in social status between him and Garnet a little more. I did my best not to have any favorites, so as not to be biased toward any specific character.
Were those concepts also planned to be included from the beginning of development under the theme of “returning to roots”? There were even references to past FF titles, like character and vehicle names. ―It is true that compared to the science fiction elements of FFVII and FFVIII, FFIX made a sudden return to classic fantasy.
That’s why the setting of the game also has a medieval fantasy theme. The slogans “returning to roots” and “return of the crystal” were there from the start.
― FFIX is sometimes introduced with the phrase “returning to roots.” Where did FFIX sit in the minds of the development team? Toshiyuki Itahana here and part three with Mr. Kazuhiko Aoki, who handled event design and scenarios for FFIX! You can also read part two of the FFIX 20th Anniversary Special Interview with Mr. We bring you lots of content you can only read here, including memories of when FFIX was being developed, the creator’s feelings about the game and more! FINAL FANTASY IX celebrates its 20th anniversary on July 7! As an FF Portal special commemorative feature, we interviewed creators involved with the original development of FFIX: Mr.