At the end of the Final Fantasy XIV fan festival in London, the guests addressed some farewell words to the fans present. The legendary creator of the Final Fantasy
series, Hironobu Sakaguchi, also had a message for Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida, which brought him to tears.
What was the situation? On October 21 and 22, Square Enix held this year’s Final Fantasy XIV fan festival in London. As part of this, new information about the expansion Dawntrail, announced for summer 2024, was revealed. This included the new job “Viper.”
The stage program was completely streamed, except for the evening concerts and the closing speech, and can be replayed on Youtube. Those who secured one of the coveted tickets were offered a large selection of mini-games, merchandise, and entertainment on site.
Traditionally, Square Enix invites developers from the Final Fantasy XIV team as well as thematically appropriate guests related to the announced content. Always present is the now 50-year-old Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida, also known as Yoshi-P. This year, the father of the Final Fantasy game series, Hironobu Sakaguchi, was also present in London.
By the way, we were also on site and have a few impressions for you:
Who is Hironobu Sakaguchi? Hironobu Sakaguchi is the now 60-year-old creator of the Final Fantasy game series. For the first part released in Japan in 1987, he served as director and story author. For the first five games, he took on a leading role and supported the development of the games until he last served as executive producer in 2003.
Sakaguchi began playing Final Fantasy XIV in 2021. The game is the second MMORPG offshoot of the series after Final Fantasy XI. According to his own statements, Sakaguchi sometimes spent up to 80% of his time in the game and kept the fans and the development team updated via X, formerly Twitter, about his current progress.
What words did Sakaguchi direct to Naoki Yoshida? On Sunday evening after the The Primals
concert, the developers, guests, and stage team bid farewell to the visitors. In this context, Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida thanked the fans, his team, but especially Sakaguchi:
Mr. Sakaguchi, thank you for creating Final Fantasy.
Naoki Yoshida to Hironobu Sakaguchi, Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in London on 22.10.2023
Sakaguchi replied:
I have to thank you. Thank you for making Final Fantasy better than before.
Hironobu Sakaguchi to Naoki Yoshida, Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in London on 22.10.2023
For the great praise, Yoshi-P bowed and shook hands with his idol – before quickly turning away from the audience: Tears came to the developer’s eyes on stage. The audience responded to the interaction with great applause, which Sakaguchi also joined in.
After a few minutes, a now smiling Yoshida informed the hall: I never thought that Mr. Sakaguchi would make me cry.
Indeed, this is not the first time that Naoki Yoshida has broken down in tears publicly:
At the re-launch event of Final Fantasy XIV with A Realm Reborn, the then 40-year-old Yoshida thanked his team as well as the fans for their support. During the highly emotional speech, he struggled to find his words and visibly held back tears.
Another instance was the farewell to the digital fan fest 2021. During the farewell words, Final Fantasy XIV composer Masayoshi Soken revealed that he had suffered from a serious cancer illness the previous year. Not only Naoki Yoshida, but also the other developers present and the streaming viewers were brought to tears.
By the way: Naoki Yoshida asked Hironobu Sakaguchi if he would like to co-develop Final Fantasy XIV. The fans in the hall were thrilled by the answer.
