Hironobu Sakaguchi is working with Square Enix again after 20 years to spring Fantasian from Apple Arcade jail and onto PCs and consoles. As it would happen, there are other games from his post-Square Enix back catalogue he wants to do the same with – just probably not the ones you’re thinking of.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Sakaguchi confirms he has no interest in bringing Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon to modern platforms despite hopes of the opposite.
Boo! In better news, he apparently wants to find a way to revive another game he did called Terra Battle, which was released for mobiles back in 2014, but it is no longer playable. A tile-based tactical RPG with collectible card and puzzle game elements, it launched to a decent reception and even got a sequel in 2017, though it was shortlived and pulled from digital shelves a year later.
For now, the focus remains on Fantasian. A new version, Fantasian Neo Dimension, will be released on PCs and consoles this winter. It features various upgrades, such as 4K graphics, voice acting, and a new difficulty mode.
Sakaguchi says the Square Enix collaboration came from a dinner with Final Fantasy 14 director and producer Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida, who suggested Square Enix take on the project when Sakaguchi mentioned wanting to broaden the throwback JRPG’s horizons.
“I was a little bit concerned about how people would feel about working with me — perhaps they’ll have mixed feelings,” Sakaguchi says of the Square Enix reunion. “It was actually quite a warm welcome. Once the news was announced, I got tweets from a lot of current Square staff saying, ‘Welcome back, Sakaguchi-san.’ Some people I know, some I don’t. Everyone’s working hard toward a common goal.”
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