Game Development Giant

Such a title and such a report immediately caused an uproar in Japan, a relatively conservative and closed video game circle.

Because the two games "Final Fantasy" and "Dragon Quest" were released at the same time, are similar in style and content, or are similar in the background of the producers, or are similar in how much they are liked by fans, these two games The game is equally famous in many people's mouths.

The name of the national RPG also came about at this time, but the audience in Japan is definitely much larger than that of Dreambox, so after the proposal of this national RPG, it immediately gained the choice of many players. The reason why users are said to be selective supporters is because they only support national RPGs that are above "Dragon Quest".

It is against this background that Hironobu Sakaguchi, who has always refused to admit defeat, will certainly hold his breath and be full of fighting spirit.

Just a week ago, "Famitsu" reported on Enix in an article. Enix admitted that "Dragon Quest II" will be released at the end of April. Now the game has been produced and is undergoing final testing. , and after the test is completed, the cassette can be burned.

After receiving this news, Sakaguchi Hironobu, who was eager to fight, prepared this press conference.

Although this did not take Jester away from being the focus of this news report, but because of Jester's relationship, many media who did not originally report on games made an introduction to this game conference.

Especially this article about a real national RPG. When this article caused an uproar, some Famitsu reporters immediately went to interview Enix personnel. Enix personnel scoffed at the so-called "Final Fantasy" as a true national RPG.

"I think there is no need to compare a game that can sell more than two million in Japan with a game that has not even sold one million in Japan. What we at Enix make is truly A Japanese game.”

What this means is that in Japan, Enix's first-generation "Dragon Quest" sold a terrifying sales volume of more than two million, while your "Final Fantasy" has not even sold one million copies. No set has been sold. Under such circumstances, you are still calling your own Japanese national RPG, which is simply ridiculous.

Although Sakaguchi Hironobu has always regarded "Dragon Quest" as his real opponent, the previous mutual ridicule or criticism was only at a moderate level. He had never been so naked, and in Sakaguchi According to Boxin, Dreambox’s share in Japan is only one-third of that of f. Under this circumstance, the sales volume of his first "Final Fantasy" is also close to one million. It's really not inferior to "Dragon Quest".

Before Hironobu Sakaguchi could comment on the opponent's attack, Yuji Tsui announced that the testing process of "Dragon Quest" went extremely smoothly. Therefore, the release date has been moved forward, and the final date is April 20th.

Japanese players are extremely fond of "Dragon Quest". Once the news came out, not only the game media, but also some unrelated media rushed to report it. The situation is very similar to the original reporting of the "Final Fantasy II" press conference.

...However, the "Final Fantasy II" press conference was held because of Jester's presence, and many media that had nothing to do with the game attended the conference because of Jester's reputation. But "Dragon Quest" is not, he is so famous in Japan. Therefore, many f players said. "Dragon Quest" is the real national RPG, which is not a lie.

Hironobu Sakaguchi had a firm intention to fight again with Yuji Tsui's "Dragon Quest" this time. Therefore, after Enix announced the release date of "Dragon Quest II", he It also announced the release date of "Final Fantasy II" as soon as possible.

The choice of release time also requires a lot of consideration.

Although Hironobu Sakaguchi is full of confidence in his "Final Fantasy", he believes that his game is the best RPG game in the world. No matter who's game is compared with it, even if it is compared with his boss Jester's, Don't fall behind.

But as a mature game producer, rather than a simple game designer, he clearly knows the status of "Dragon Quest" in the hearts of Japanese players today. Although he is unwilling to admit it, he also knows that he The "Final Fantasy" series is currently not qualified to be put together with "Dragon Quest".

At least that's how it is in the minds of players.

Jester's management of the Japanese branch is very relaxed, especially for a development team composed of Japanese people. When a game will be released is decided by both the branch and the producer, and the producer's opinions are particularly important. important.

Hironobu Sakaguchi knows the Japanese game market very well. He knows that if he wants to win this battle with "Dragon Quest", he must not be able to sell himself at the same time as "Dragon Quest" is released. game for sale.

Because "Dragon Quest" has so many players and fans, if it is released at the same time as "Dragon Quest", or it happens to be released during the hot sales period of this game, then your sales volume will inevitably be lower than that of your opponent. Many media publish a weekly sales list every week, and their own sales have lagged behind from the beginning. Coupled with the unscrupulous media against Mars Entertainment, an American game company, and adding jealousy to the media, many players who have not purchased In my mind, my game must first have a concept that is not as good as "Dragon Quest II".

As for the quality of "Dragon Quest II", Hironobu Sakaguchi doesn't know, and he doesn't care, because in developing this game, he borrowed a large number of technical personnel from Yuji Naka's development team just to make it better. In "Final Fantasy II", we changed the shortcomings of the previous generation RPG games which were basically pixel paper monster scenes, and made the scenes of our game as vivid as possible.

Such changes and improvements in technical difficulty require functional support. According to Sakaguchi Hironobu's personal inquiry about Naka Yuji, he was entrusted by Jester a few years ago to lead a few people. Developer, completed the f emulator for the f home game console research expert reply.

The function of f cannot reach the level of dynamic monsters, scenes and combat processes.

After getting such an answer, Sakaguchi Hironobu felt relieved. Since "Dragon Quest II" cannot reach its own level technically, then in terms of the game system, content, and plot, Sakaguchi Hironobu has never been I don’t think my game is worse than anyone else’s.

Therefore, after Hironobu Sakaguchi announced the release date of "Dragon Quest II" just after Yuji Tsui, he also announced the release date of "Final Fantasy II" after discussing with Jester.

As for the release date of "Final Fantasy II", Sakaguchi Hironobu did not choose "Dragon Quest II" because when "Dragon Quest II" was just released, it was the time when his momentum was at its peak, both innately and in terms of On a mass basis, except for the game itself, "Final Fantasy II" is inferior to "Dragon Quest II" in everything, so it is deliberately strong and released at the same time as "Dragon Quest II" , is a very unwise choice.

...and Sakaguchi Hironobu did not choose to release it within a time period after the release of "Dragon Quest II", because about a week after the release of "Dragon Quest II", the first weekly statistical results were announced, so If this is an excellent game, it will definitely be cheered by players and touted by the media. If you release a similar RPG at this time, you will inevitably fall into the infinite honor trap of the previous game and be unable to extricate yourself.

Of course, if this game is a bad game, then "Final Fantasy II" will have the opportunity to follow up on the criticism that "Dragon Quest II" is a bad game and completely defeat its opponent.

However, Hironobu Sakaguchi has never pinned his hopes on the possibility that his opponents will make "Dragon Quest II" a bad game, because the development team of "Dragon Quest II" is not only better than the main developers of the first game, , May Day shortage, and also recruited a large number of R\u0026D personnel.

The development team this time was even much stronger than the first time. He heard that the people who programmed under Nakamura Hikaru were all experts in the industry, and there were as many as twenty people. The numbers are very impressive. You must know that Hironobu Sakaguchi's current development team only has about twenty people, which still includes all members of programmers, artists, and planners.

Even when Jester was developing Fire Emblem, there were not twenty programmers involved.

Therefore, in Sakaguchi Hironobu's view, "Dragon Quest II" will definitely be a work that will not be inferior to the first game in any aspect. r655