Game director, artist and writer Masato Kato – who penned the scenarios of acclaimed Square titles like Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears, and FFXI – recently talked about his early life and influences in an interview with Denfaminicogamer. Although Kato has had a prolific career in the game industry starting from his days at Ninja Gaiden developer Tecmo, he admits to initially being completely put off by video games.
Kato explains that his student and college days were largely marked by his profound love of literature – particularly UK and US science fiction and mystery novels. His initial dream was to become a manga artist or sci-fi illustrator in the ranks of Macross series creators Studio Nue. When asked about the lack of any mention of video games among his early influences, Kato comments through laughter, “Not only did I not play games at all, but I actually hated them.”
Japan’s video game boom started around when Kato was in middle school, with the release of 1978’s Space Invaders in arcades. “From there, console and PC games grew popular. There were quite a few people who played games at my university, but… I basically just hated doing what everyone else was doing,” Kato admits. “Since people are so different from each other, I found it odd how everyone was suddenly singing praises to the same thing.”
Aside from his reluctance to jump onto what he perceived as the latest mainstream trend, Kato explains that his insatiable appetite for reading was another thing stopping him from delving into gaming. “It was also a matter of productivity for me. As in, if I’m going to spend two hours playing a game, I can’t help but think about how many books I could read in that same amount of time. I was aware that games had their own value, but for me, reading was the top priority.”
Kato’s initial dislike of video games was mostly based on the shooters and action games of the time, which he found offered a too straightforward, “one-off” experience. However, everything changed when Kato saw his sister play Yuji Horii’s Dragon Quest – an RPG. He recalls being astonished at the difference.
“RPGs were completely different. In an RPG, the player becomes the protagonist and can live through the story themselves. Even if it’s technically just a linear path where you trigger events and follow a set route – the player can move around freely, choose to fight, run away, stay at an inn, and experience the story of saving the world. That concept really stunned me.”
Not long after, Kato decided to apply for a position at Tecmo (now Koei Tecmo), becoming an artist on the Ninja Gaiden series. Later, he went on to join Square, where he wrote the scenario for Chrono Trigger.
On a related note, the original Dragon Quest released in 1986, back when RPGs were not yet a big thing among Japanese gamers. Aware of these circumstances, series creator Yuji Horii strived to import and popularize the genre by sublimating Western RPG mechanics into something more digestible and beginner friendly. This attitude was formative for many aspects of the game’s design, and ultimately resulted in a legendary hit that, like in the case of Masato Kato, left an important mark on the industry.
