In a recent interview with Famitsu, Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida talked about his life and work as a game producer, what kind of works inspired him back then, and his current inspirations – one of which has impressed him so much that he’d like to apply what he’s learned from it to FFXIV.
The work in question is Bandai Namco and Studio Khara’s Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, the latest anime in the long-running Gundam series. Although it released this year, the anime takes an unexpected turn right back to the whole franchise’s roots – the events of the original 1979 anime. However, it doesn’t stop at being a simple homage, as it subjects the source material to some very extreme twists while intertwining it with a brand-new storyline. Furthermore, the anime was directed and written by industry veterans such as FLCL director Kazuya Tsurumaki, Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno and Revolutionary Girl Utena writer Yoji Enokido – making it a standout entry in the series.
Yoshida praises the creators for their courage to play around with the source material despite the possible risk of angering veteran fans. “However, the story does not stop there,” he exclaims. “Younger generations who have never been exposed to the Gundam series got curious to see what all the hype was about and started entering the Gundam rabbit hole one by one – I’ve seen this happen all across Japan. As a result, the older and younger generations came together to discuss [and share their love for] Gundam.”
He explains that, while the anime had only 12 episodes, he was surprised by its nerve to achieve this in such a short time span. “This was all possible because the creators were ready to hear many opinions from different angles, while still pushing through and saying, we’re fine with that.”
Yoshida confessed that watching the GQuuuuuuX anime inspired him and reminded him of his goals for FF14 – turning it into a kind of “theme park” of the Final Fantasy franchise. “I wanted to create a place where different generations of FF fans could come together, regardless of their age, nationality or gender. That is why, for more than 10 years so far, we’ve been struggling to find a balance between referencing past Final Fantasy games and introducing new content for FF14”
While acknowledging that there is no single correct solution to this issue, Yoshida says that witnessing the “breakthrough of Gundam QuuuuuuX” made him realize that there’s a completely different way of approaching things, and a completely different way of pushing the limits when combining the old and the new.
