Kazushige Nojima Talks About Early Internet Criticism On FF7 That Influenced Final Fantasy VIII

Final Fantasy VIII writer Kazushige Nojima talked about his first time browsing the Internet to see what people had to say about his work and how it influenced parts of Final Fantasy VIII. The writer also shared some behind-the-scenes talk about Final Fantasy VIII in this week’s issue of Famitsu magazine. [Thanks, Ryokutya2089.]

Here are some highlights from the interview with Kazushige Nojima:

• (Before working on Final Fantasy VIII’s story) “I used my bonus to purchase a PC and started using the Internet. I got my expectations up a bit while checking the message boards on the Internet to see what they were saying about the games I worked on… only to have my heart torn to pieces. [laughs]”

• (What they said about Final Fantasy VII) “That it was the lowest of its kind for using that tragedy to try making them cry, that it relied too much on flashbacks, and so forth.”

• “That reflected in Final Fantasy VIII as well since I went with a story that didn’t kill off any of the main characters. We also didn’t go all-out with the flashbacks.”

• “Actually, for Laguna’s part, we first thought Laguna’s side would cover the first half of the entire story.”

• “It ended up being smaller due to various reasons and we had a map made just for it that we didn’t get to use much. I still feel too embarrassed to look at the faces of the original staff…”

• “We completely focused on what the male staff thought was ‘cute’ for Rinoa. Meanwhile, the female staff gave us an earful about how there was no way that a girl wearing a miniskirt could move like that. Didn’t think I’d get scolded that much [laughs].”

• “When it comes to love, we should’ve had more female staff in the mix instead of just men.”

• “Final Fantasy is a major series but it is indie at heart. I believe Nomura-san (Tetsuya Nomura) should feel the same.”

• “Final Fantasy VIII is fine as it was. I didn’t start thinking that until recently.”

• “If we were add a new episode, I’d want it to be about Laguna’s life.”

On that note, it’s kind of interesting to think that Final Fantasy VIII’s story could’ve been something similar to Metal Gear Solid 2 which started out with Snakes’s part of the story followed by Raiden’s.

In case you missed it, check our previous report for more from Final Fantasy VIII director Yoshinori Kitase who shared his thoughts on how he’d like to see a Final Fantasy VIII Remake.

Final Fantasy VIII first released in February 1999 for PlayStation in Japan. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered is now available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC on September 3, 2019.