Sakaguchi originally finished the game in Spring of 1987, but it wasn't a hit. So, he had the other developers send him backwards through time so that when they were finished....never mind, I can't keep this joke going.
I got Final Fantasy 1 for my 10th birthday, and I was mesmerized by the mystery of the cover art. It was my first experience with a turn-based strategy game, and I had no idea how to play it. For years, it sat untouched until one day, I finally figured it out. It’s still one of my favorite Final Fantasy games to this day.
Wow, kudos for trying to pin down the development dates for the first Final Fantasy game! That took some real detective work and it sounds about right given the time frame.
I am convinced that "Final" Fantasy was supposed to be a Japanese version of Ultima, which was super popular and influential, especially after the Famicom Ultima III, since "Ultima" means "Final."
You can see A LOT of influence of Ultima III: Exodus on Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest also took _explicit_ inspiration from Wizardry, another PC RPG with an NES port, while Final Fantasy looked straight into Dungeons & Dragons books.
@@monkshoodable Yes, FF5's villain is named Exodus. He's also the guardian spirit of the Viera tribe in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (and thus presumably in FF12). Exdeath was initially Engrish, but the edgy vibes fit his angry persona so it was adopted officially; so he's Exodus as a benevolent tree spirit and Exdeath as a genocidal evil tree spirit.
@@RoninCatholic I like the one commenter in another video some time back who said, "FF1 is basically the classic D&D quest The Temple Of Elemental Evil, but as an early JRPG".
I love some of scrapped those spell ideas! A day and night system would have been an interesting idea. Can't wait for more information on each game in great detail!
Yep, and Amano had previously worked as an artist for Tatsunoko Productions on a bunch of famous classic anime. In the late 70s and early 80s he left and started doing fantasy and science fiction art for the burgeoning SFF scene in Japan, illustrating Japanese novels as well as translated editions of Western novels.
This was really interesting! Getting to see early concept art and learn about the development process was very cool. I appreciate the effort you put into the research.
I originally couldn’t find much on the development of the game, but then I saw that broadcast and looked through the Ultimania book and there it all was! I just hope I can find the same for FF2…
I was always surprised at how the class system and spell levels were borrowed from Dungeons and Dragons. Fighter, Thief, and Black Belt/Monk were direct copies. Black Mage was the Magic User. White Mage was an unarmored Cleric. Red Mage is closest to a multiclass fighter/cleric/magic user.
Same! When I was watching the broadcast, I wanted it to stay on Amano for a long time, but we have to give the pixel artist credit also - she designed a TON, including the iconic blue menu boxes that lasted until FF8!
The cute drawings that were done by Ishii for the battle arrangement - he just still has those, which is remarkable. I’d never seen them prior to this broadcasted show! The design docs that have the dates attached to them are in the Ultimania book that covers 1-6.
Sakaguchi originally finished the game in Spring of 1987, but it wasn't a hit. So, he had the other developers send him backwards through time so that when they were finished....never mind, I can't keep this joke going.
This is the type of joke only a true fan would laugh at.. well played
@OnBeingHuman thank you!
I got Final Fantasy 1 for my 10th birthday, and I was mesmerized by the mystery of the cover art. It was my first experience with a turn-based strategy game, and I had no idea how to play it. For years, it sat untouched until one day, I finally figured it out. It’s still one of my favorite Final Fantasy games to this day.
Wow, kudos for trying to pin down the development dates for the first Final Fantasy game! That took some real detective work and it sounds about right given the time frame.
Thank you so much! There’s a small part of me that believes I could get it even closer
Haha, I love that Tokita and Ishii's battle mockup image uses Dragon Quest enemy silhouettes!
Making FF1 around 21 years old is insane. I can't imagine anything I'd make at that age becoming famous and changing the world. That's incredible
I am convinced that "Final" Fantasy was supposed to be a Japanese version of Ultima, which was super popular and influential, especially after the Famicom Ultima III, since "Ultima" means "Final."
You can see A LOT of influence of Ultima III: Exodus on Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest also took _explicit_ inspiration from Wizardry, another PC RPG with an NES port, while Final Fantasy looked straight into Dungeons & Dragons books.
@RoninCatholic I am convinced that the proper pronunciation of the final boss of FFV is "Exodus", which is the name of the final boss of Ultima III
@@monkshoodable Yes, FF5's villain is named Exodus. He's also the guardian spirit of the Viera tribe in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (and thus presumably in FF12). Exdeath was initially Engrish, but the edgy vibes fit his angry persona so it was adopted officially; so he's Exodus as a benevolent tree spirit and Exdeath as a genocidal evil tree spirit.
@@RoninCatholic I like the one commenter in another video some time back who said, "FF1 is basically the classic D&D quest The Temple Of Elemental Evil, but as an early JRPG".
I love some of scrapped those spell ideas!
A day and night system would have been an interesting idea.
Can't wait for more information on each game in great detail!
Correction around 4:19 - Vampire Hunter D was actually a series of novels by Hideyuki Kikuchi with illustrations by Amano, not a manga.
Yep, and Amano had previously worked as an artist for Tatsunoko Productions on a bunch of famous classic anime. In the late 70s and early 80s he left and started doing fantasy and science fiction art for the burgeoning SFF scene in Japan, illustrating Japanese novels as well as translated editions of Western novels.
This was awesome. I can't wait to see more of these for the rest of the series (or whatever you have planned)!
Thanks so much! I’ve got several more FF1 related videos and then we’ll head on to FF2 and I plan on covering it just as deep!
This was really interesting! Getting to see early concept art and learn about the development process was very cool. I appreciate the effort you put into the research.
Thanks so much! Even more finds are coming soon!
Awesome information! Thank you! It’s really cool how this all came together to create what we all love and enjoy today!
I originally couldn’t find much on the development of the game, but then I saw that broadcast and looked through the Ultimania book and there it all was!
I just hope I can find the same for FF2…
8:57 The date is clearly the clock on the computer, as part of the screen cap. That's when the image was taken.
Thank you for this video. I love this franchise so dearly. I'm always hungry for content related to it. Great video and research, bravo!
Subscribed by the way thanks to this video! Looking forward to more!
I was always surprised at how the class system and spell levels were borrowed from Dungeons and Dragons. Fighter, Thief, and Black Belt/Monk were direct copies. Black Mage was the Magic User. White Mage was an unarmored Cleric. Red Mage is closest to a multiclass fighter/cleric/magic user.
I aspire to draw on the level of Amano
Same! When I was watching the broadcast, I wanted it to stay on Amano for a long time, but we have to give the pixel artist credit also - she designed a TON, including the iconic blue menu boxes that lasted until FF8!
@@TheReturnersHideout Amen to that
The man behind the Fantasy
6:01 thanks, Nasir!
Love this video and subscribed. Also a huge final fantasy fan, been playing for close to 20 years now.
Hey thanks so much! I’m going through the games chronologically so this video found you at the right time! Welcome aboard!
Brother went full in. Love to see new information
I know, right? It's so interesting to see what went into this game!
I need those design documents! Were they in the Ultimania book? Which one? I love those cute drawings...
The cute drawings that were done by Ishii for the battle arrangement - he just still has those, which is remarkable. I’d never seen them prior to this broadcasted show! The design docs that have the dates attached to them are in the Ultimania book that covers 1-6.
Fun information.
Hey thanks! I can’t wait to get into the other FFs!
Where can I watch the original NHK documentary on the game?
I got an email from Square when it came out, but just now I searched “NHK Games Legend Chronicle Final Fantasy” and it was the first result!
holy shit i've spent so long looking for some of this stuff
Im very glad that this video helped in anyway! A lot went into it and I tried to show as much as I could find! Thank you so much for commenting!
ff6 is good :o
🤯