December The Seventeenth

[Eighty88Eight]

I'm surprised nobody has touched on the historical implications of this release date, so I'd like to do so here. Some twenty-two years ago, a video game company created its swan song on the backs of a ragtag group of developers and released it on December 18, 1987. Those men in their minor mission ended up as perhaps Japans most consequential developers, and twenty two years later, on the eve of that day, a monument to their efforts will again be epitomized. To two more brilliant, divisive decades, FF. *toast*:)

[Kuja Las Vegas]

I know man. I've been reading on the history of FF on wikipedia. They weren't doing so hot on sales, so Final Fantasy was supposed to be their "last" game before going in bankruptcy. LOL. How about, it became the greatest known series in the world?


Final Fantasy was developed during Square's brush with bankruptcy in 1987, and in a display of gallows humor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallows_humor), director Hironobu Sakaguchi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hironobu_Sakaguchi) declared that his "final" game would be a "fantasy" role-playing game; hence the title.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_%28video_game%29#cite_note-TeamXbox-4) When Sakaguchi was asked what type of game he wanted to make, he replied "I don't think I have what it takes to make a good action game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_game). I think I'm better at telling a story." Sakaguchi's concept was a game with a large world map to explore and an engaging story.

[Kitmitsu]

I know man. I've been reading on the history of FF on wikipedia. They weren't doing so hot on sales, so Final Fantasy was supposed to be their "last" game before going in bankruptcy. LOL. How about, it became the greatest known series in the world?

Yes, that's a pretty well known fact....

I couldn't help but notice that they're releasing it a day earlier than the original Final Fantasy's release so it isn't really historic at all. There doesn't seem to be any reason not to release it on the 18th as it's a Friday but in any case, December 17th isn't historic in Square-Enix's history.

[Eighty88Eight]

Actually it isn't a fact at all, and a good example of how posterity remembers myth over facts. It was to be Sakaguchi's last game, not Squaresoft's. However, I'm offering a toast to the mythical beginnings of the ultimate mythical gaming franchise, so fuck the facts.

I'm sorry Kitmitsu, but I can't relate to your detachment to the implications. I think its purposeful to release it on the eve of its parent game, and I'm glad they didn't attempt to get too romantic about it by breaking the normal tradition of releasing games on Thursdays. After all, FFXIII will hopefully be blazing its own trails.

[Theophrastus]

Yes, I remember reading about that when I tried to find out why they called the series"Final Fantasy". It really is amazing how someone's luck can change, though perhaps in the course of a few decades, but still amazing. :)

[Kitmitsu]

Actually it isn't a fact at all, and a good example of how posterity remembers myth over facts. It was to be Sakaguchi's last game, not Squaresoft's. However, I'm offering a toast to the mythical beginnings of the ultimate mythical gaming franchise, so fuck the facts.

I'm sorry Kitmitsu, but I can't relate to your detachment to the implications. I think its purposeful to release it on the eve of its parent game, and I'm glad they didn't attempt to get too romantic about it by breaking the normal tradition of releasing games on Thursdays. After all, FFXIII will hopefully be blazing its own trails.

ACTUALLY, that is the other story people believe that isn't the main reason at all. Nobuo Uematsu was interviewed by Wired in July this year asking why it was called Final Fantasy. The answer is below:

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2009/07/final-fantasy/

So I asked Uematsu.


Is it true, I asked, that the game is called Final Fantasy because Sakaguchi was going to go back to college and quit the game biz? Uematsu laughed: It’s true that Sakaguchi was going to quit, he said, but the bigger reason, the real reason, was that Square was going to go bankrupt and the designers believed that it would be the company’s swan song.
December 17th falls into the Japanese shopping period perfectly. I remember White Knight Chronicles was released on December 25th last year. If they really wanted to release it on the 18th, they could have. It may be easier for games to be released on certain days around the world but it doesn't stop a lot of companies. If they really wanted to bring it out on a day with historical meaning, they could have.

[Lord Of Dumbasses]

And who would thought it would be the best known JRPG series in the world? (except for DQ, which in my opinnion, makes a tie)

If japanese guys didn't like it, we wouldn't be wasting countless hours of our lives here :P

[Emo Panda]

This sounds to me like one of those IGN forum posts that are like "OLOLOLOLOOL I R SOOOOOO CLEVR I FINDED OUT THAT FFII IS REALLY FFIV AND FFIII IS REALLY FFVI!!!!" :wtf:

And no, there is no historic value in the release date. Coincidence.

[Shanana]

Who gives a shit?

[Sundance Kid]

I don't give shits, I make em.

[Shanana]

I gave my sister a shit for Christmas once.

She wasn't all too impressed.

[Zuraith]

Ok so we're supposed to celebrate some historical bull shit that isn't exactly historical
since the release dates are a day away from each other? You aren't making any sense.

Also Square Soft was going bankrupt and they decided to make one last game.
and Since they weren't expecting it to be a hit they made sure the game would end
right there. And that's how the Final Fantasy legacy began. Everyone knows that.

I don't know where you got your bullshit story.

[Fenryr]

It's like celebrating someone's birthday the day before their birthday. There is no reason for this other than there is no reason for this.

[Naunen]

I'm surprised no one brought up Dissidia's Japanese release date. :wtf: That's enough celebration.

[Eighty88Eight]

The series name, Final Fantasy, is often attributed to Square’s dependence on the product as its last throw of the dice – but the truth, says Sakaguchi, was that it was his personal last effort.

“The name ‘Final Fantasy’ was a display of my feeling that if this didn’t sell, I was going to quit the games industry and go back to university. I’d have had to repeat a year, so I wouldn’t have had any friends – it really was a ‘final’ situation.”

Evidently, at some point Sakaguchi gained confidence in his product, because the final challenge he faced wasn’t even in the development period – and it was only through his persistence that Final Fantasy was able to become the 400,000-selling hit that it was.

“Initially, only 200,000 copies of the game were going to be shipped. At that time, manufacturing the ROM took two to three months, so your initial shipment equalled the number of copies that you could potentially sell.

“So I argued within the company, and pleaded: ‘If we only make this many, there’s no chance of a sequel – please make it 400,000’. But the costs were high, so as a company all they could think was ‘that’s a lot of money!’ despite having this great game. So the reason it became such a hit was thanks to Square’s management taking a chance – for which I’m really grateful.”

From
http://www.develop-online.net/news/28960/Sakaguchi-discusses-the-development-of-Final-Fantasy

:lol: Such bullies around here. We do celebrate Christmas eve, I suppose, but who the fuck is talking about celebrating? I was offering a brief toast of acknowledgment to the minor miracle that began the series, along with that fathead from Sony. Not at all an attempt at high-mindedness if thats what you're all getting at, and I understand that the ingrates amongst us are free to not care, but whether its a coordinated move, or simply an inexplicable coincidence, I still maintain its significance.

But anyway, the intentions of the topic have already been killed, so fuggit.

[Theophrastus]

Out of Toriyama's own mouth: "It's nice to release our newest title on the evening of the series' birthday eve." (http://www.gametrailers.com/video/premiere-party-final-fantasy/56023)

So there is a significance to the release date after all. :)

[Eighty88Eight]

It isn't lost on the developers, I'm sure. It's cooler not to give a fuck though

[Hynad]

It's cooler not to give a fuck though

Maybe in a misguided teen kind of way... :rolleyes:

[Eighty88Eight]

Thats what I'm saying