Crisis Core: Interviewing Yoshinori Kitase

BT: We’re ten years on now and there’s been multiple Final Fantasy games since VII and yet between Dirge of Cerebus, Advent Children and Crisis Core, you’ve always returned to Final Fantasy VII. What is it about VII that you think makes it so popular and special?

YK: Well, Final Fantasy VII came out a time in a time of transition when the PlayStation 1 allowed for a whole new realm of games with improved audio and graphics. Also, at the time I was a much younger man. Ten years younger in fact – though don’t count me out just yet!

It was a time when I had all this enthusiasm and as a young creator I wanted to try and challenge the idea of what an RPG could be. Combine with that the hardware and these new realms of possibility for creators. That combination seems to have worked because although it was hard to say how successful we were at the time, ten years later the game is still being talked about and I think we really did set a new standard.

We really have a soft spot in our hearts for Final Fantasy VII because that was when we tried to change things. It was just the right time for it.