At the end of the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in London, the guests said a few farewell words to the local fans. Legendary Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi also had a message for director and producer Naoki Yoshida that left him in tears.
What was the situation? On October 21st and 22nd, Square Enix hosted this year’s Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in London. As part of this, new information about the Dawntrail expansion announced for summer 2024 was announced. Including, among other things, the new job “Viper”.
With the exception of the evening concerts and the closing speech, the stage program was completely streamed and can be caught up on YouTube. Anyone who was able to secure one of the coveted tickets was offered a wide range of mini games, merchandise and entertainment on site.
Traditionally, Square Enix invites developers from the Final Fantasy XIV team as well as guests thematically appropriate to the content to be announced. The 50-year-old Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida, also known as Yoshi-P, is always there. The forefather of the Final Fantasy game series, Hironobu Sakaguchi, was also on site in London this year.
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Who is Hironobu Sakaguchi? Hironobu Sakaguchi is the now 60-year-old creator of the Final Fantasy game series. He served as director and story author for the first part, which was published in Japan in 1987. He took on a leading role in each of the first five games and supported the development of the games as an executive producer until 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 statement, Sakaguchi sometimes spent up to 80% of his time in the game and kept the fans and the development team up to date on his current progress via X, formerly Twitter.
What words did Sakaguchi say to Naoki Yoshida? Sunday evening after The Primals concert, the developers, guests and the stage team said goodbye to the visitors. Producer and director Naoki Yoshida thanked the fans, his team, but especially Sakaguchi:
Mr. Sakaguchi, thank you for inventing Final Fantasy.
Naoki Yoshida to Hironobu Sakaguchi, Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in London on October 22nd, 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 October 22nd, 2023
For the great praise, Yoshi-P bowed and shook his idol’s hand – before quickly turning away from the audience: the developer was in tears on stage. The audience responded to the interaction with loud applause, which Sakaguchi also joined in.
After a few minutes, a now smiling Yoshida informed the hall: I never thought Mr. Sakaguchi would make me cry. In fact, this isn’t the first time Naoki Yoshida has burst into tears on stage:
At the re-launch event of Final Fantasy XIV with A Realm Reborn, the then 40-year-old Yoshida thanked his team and the fans for their support. During the highly emotional speech, the words got stuck in his throat at times and he 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 announced that he suffered from serious cancer last year. This brought tears not only to Naoki Yoshida, but also to the other developers on site and the stream viewers.
By the way: Naoki Yoshida asked Hironobu Sakaguchi if he would like to help develop Final Fantasy XIV. The fans in the hall were thrilled with the answer.