Takashi Tokita – 2005 Developer Interview

―How does it feel to be remaking your own game from so long ago?

Tokita: Looking at it now I can see a lot of naive things we did. (laughs) FFIV was my first time officially working as a planner. Back then the development team was led by Sakaguchi, while I handled the event planning and Hiroyuki Itou did the battles. It was my first Final Fantasy game in which I was involved in the entire process, from the very beginning to the very end, and I remember only returning home to sleep about once a week. In the daytime I'd work on the graphics, and at night I'd do planning work―of all the games I've worked on, FFIV is the one that has the highest percentage of my personal involvement.

Originally FFIV was supposed to have more text and dialogue, so in porting it to the GBA, one of the things I considered doing was re-adding all the stuff I left out. However, after re-reading the script, in deference to the many fans of the original I decided to keep it the same. I wrote all the dialogue in the Super Famicom version, but my original script treatment was 4x larger than what would fit in the ROM, and I remember being so bummed out about having to trim it down to 1/4 the size. But now when I read it, I realize that it was precisely because I trimmed the excess fat that the dialogue for FFIV feels so alive and iconic. To put it in movie terms, it benefitted greatly from the editing process.

―What was the development concept for the original FFIV?

Tokita: FFIV was our first Final Fantasy for the Super Famicom, so naturally we wanted to improve the graphics and visuals, but one thing that we all tacitly agreed on was that we wanted FFIV to incorporate all the strengths of the previous games. For example, Akitoshi Kawazu wrote a very dramatic story for FFII where several of the key characters died one after the other; and in FFIII, there was the job system which focused more on entertaining the player. The characters in FFIV were born from a synthesis of those two elements, the dramatic story and the job system variety. We focused a lot on how to make each character feel unique in battle―what was their unique role. And that's how it came out.

The idea of a time-centric battle system, the ATB (Active Time Battle) was Itou's idea. In our initial prototype for FFIV, the battle system is strictly governed by the subayasa (speed) statistic, with each character taking their turn in order depending on their speed. But we found this to be somewhat confusing and inscrutable, and it didn't lend itself to very strategic fights. We realized that, except for certain spells that take longer, it felt more satisfying to have the characters take their actions immediately after you enter the command. That was a detail that we couldn't really grasp until we played around with it, and hammering all that out and carefully adjusting it took a very long time.

The new ATB system also gave us a lot of new ideas, especially for the boss fights, where we had the idea of implementing action and shooting elements.

―Do you have a favorite scene or event in FFIV?

Tokita: Personally, the scene where Palom and Porom turn themselves to stone has always stuck with me. Back then Final Fantasy had this image of being games where characters die throughout the story, so I thought, ok, what's one step further? "What would be sadder than death…?" And that's where the idea for that scene came from. Being little sprites it can never be that realistic, but nonetheless it's a very heavy theme. The pain of seeing them right there before you, not dead, but you're completely unable to help them… I think we captured that despair well.

I like the scene in the final battle too, where each of your party members speaks to you one-by-one. FFIV was also the game where we began to strengthen the in-battle dramatic scenes, and I think that, the gameplay being what it is, the emotional hook of FFIV for players really lies more in the battles themselves than the regular story cutscenes.

―Who is your favorite character in FFIV?

Tokita: It has to be Kain, right? He's the "hidden protagonist" of FFIV. Although we did hear a lot of complaints about Kain, how he's too indecisive, that he steals the crystals too many times, etc. (laughs) People also complained about the other characters a lot. Rosa was too cruel, Cecil was blockheaded, and so forth… honestly, it's amazing to me how 14 years later, everyone still has these strong feelings about them.

Also, although he's not a main character, I'm very fond of Namingway. At the time, Sakaguchi said he wanted us to create a new mascot for the game that would replace the chocobo, and Namingway is what I came up with. He's this special character who is hidden in every town, and will change your name if you find him, but they decided not to include him in the next game, FFV… (laughs) I'm still kind of sad about that. But it was fun being free to put him wherever I wanted in FFIV―I did that after the story had been completely finished. It's just a silly thing, but doing playful stuff like that has become a staple of the development process for us.

―I sometimes have heard fans talk about the "Tokita-bushi" ("Tokita Style")... how would you define that?

Tokita: There's something about the word bushi that feels a little anachronistic to me (laughs), but I guess some fans do say that. I can't say I know for certain, but perhaps it refers to the variety and undulations in the stories I write and the wide range and interplay of emotions on display. When I'm writing a story for an RPG, the most important thing to me is to make sure players feel like they know what they're fighting for, and then to sustain that across the entire game. That's why, for example, in FFIV there's the fight with Edge's parents who have been turned into monsters, and when we designed that fight I spoke with Uematsu about how the music should reflect that tragic poignancy. Of course players experience a complex variety of emotions when fighting, but I believe that having the boss battles be the most memorable part of the game like that is the correct way to make an RPG.

―Which Final Fantasy game would you recommend for those new to the series?

Tokita: Normally I would say I and II…! But their gameplay systems do present something of a difficult hurdle for newcomers, perhaps. Choosing jobs, experience points, the degree of freedom is quite high. In that sense, this re-release of FFIV, where the characters and jobs are already set might be the better, easier entry point for new players.

―Please port Live a Live!

Tokita: I get a lot of requests for this, and since it was the first game I ever directed I have a huge attachement to it, but as for a port, yeah… Live a Live definitely has a cult following but it's not nearly as popular as Final Fantasy, making it difficult to predict how many units it would really sell. On the other hand, if fans continue to call for it, there's definitely a possibility. In that sense, I think the upcoming Revolution (Wii) console, where you can play Famicom and Super Famicom games, could offer a cool chance to revitalize interest in sequels to these older games. Sort of the same way that the recent re-broadcasts of Gundam and Evangelion have done, I would love to see these older, forgotten games get re-discovered.

―Is it true that you put yourself into your older games...?

Tokita: A timely question! Indeed, for FFIV we made a hidden place called the Developer's Room, and I'm in there pulling an all-nighter, sleeping at the office. (laughs) You can find the whole staff from back then there.

―At live events, why do you cosplay as Eggman from Hanjuku Hero?

Tokita: With the Nintendo DS, we've got to shift our focus towards a younger segment of elementary-school age users, so we've got to have a character that can stand up to Pikachu! That's why at live events and such, I perform it with a lot of gusto―like, if I see Pikachu in here, I'm gonna smash him! (laughs) Of course I could have asked someone else to wear the costume and perform this role, but this way I can more easily answer questions about the game directly, if people ask. And it also gives me the right to tell the PR staff, "No slacking off you guys!" (laughs) Plus, in school I was in drama, so to be honest it's not so much embarrassing as it is just plain fun for me. (laughs)

Grade school kids, when something grabs their attention they run right to it, and they play really seriously in the head-to-head battles, which I got to see close-up. That was very helpful since I got to see what parts worked and what parts they didn't like. Some of the kids had their moms with them too, and the mothers would tell me how they were a fan of the series from way-back-when. It was cool seeing a game bridge two generations like this, and really that is another unique strength of Nintendo's hardware.

―What was your first impression of the Revolution (Wii)?

Tokita: It was like, "wow! we've really come this far…" To be able to have an experience similar to the arcade taikan games in a convenient home console… now you can have a game center in your house! That's what I thought. The reason game centers still retain a certain degree of popularity today is because there are physical games that you can only experience there; with the Revolution, people will be able to have that experience from the comfort of their own homes.

Amazing new graphics is something common to all new hardware, but a console centered around the notion that having everyone together in the same place amplifies the fun―I think that conception is very unique to Nintendo. Recently there's been a lot of games where you play them alone and in silence, but I predict that we're about to enter another era where watching people play games will be as much a part of the fun as playing yourself.

―Seeing as you've been making games for so long now, what would you say is the source of your energy and motivation?

Tokita: I suppose that over the years there's been a lot of shake-ups that keep things interesting, whether it be new generations of hardware, or the merger of gaming companies. In the midst of all the evolving technology and changing environments, though, there are some things I will never change, and it's that principle that has allowed me to keep going, I think. Changing the staff for each development helps keep things fresh, too. Also, at the old Square (before the merger), while we weren't exactly splintering into independent side companies or anything, there was a feeling of competition between the devs, like, "if I do a good job on this Final Fantasy development, I'll get to put out my own game!" And that has motivated me to keep going, too.

Today we have a lot of younger staff, and next year I'll be 40, so on the one hand a part of me would like to return to something simpler, another part of me wants to try and employ this cunning I've acquired with age in new ventures. (laughs)

―Is it true that you made Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School?

Tokita: It is true. I drew all the character graphics. That was a sort of collaboration between Nintendo and Square, and on the Nintendo side we had Metroid creator Yoshio Sakamoto, while for Square, the key Final Fantasy staff of that time all joined in: myself, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Akitoshi Kawazu, Hiromichi Tanaka, and Kazuhiko Aoki. When I think back on it now it was an amazing collaboration…!

―Now we'd like to ask some personal questions. What are your favorite things?

Tokita: I love food with a tomato sauce base. I'm such a fan, I make my own homemade sauce.

―What do you dislike?

Tokita: Chaos and disorder… like the south entrance of Shinjuku station, you know? (laughs) I like simple things. With women, too, I prefer simple and unadorned to someone all fancy and done up… (laughs)

―What is the most interesting game you've ever played?

Tokita: There's been a lot, but the one that made the biggest impact on me as a creator, I would say, has to be Dragon Quest II. With Dragon Quest II I saw how expressive games could be, and what dramatic stories they could tell... it was a real shock to me then.

―Can you sum up your personality in one sentence?

Tokita: Hmmm… "a surprisingly difficult person"? I can't handle annoying things or people, basically. I guess my likes and dislikes are rather pronounced, too.

―What did you think was "cool!" when you were a kid?

Tokita: I loved mecha anime, stuff like Mazinger Z. My generation came of age right when Uchuu Senkan Yamato was a big hit, at the start of the anime boom. Also, Devilman. The manga is totally different from the anime and a very cruel tale, it traumatized me.

―How do you blow off stress?

Tokita: Drinking, and fighting at work. (laughs) Rather than letting troubles and problems fester and build up, I prefer to speak my mind and come to a resolution directly.

―What development has been the most difficult for you?

Tokita: Parasite Eve. It was developed in America, but throughout the process we had to be mindful of any errors in communication with the American staff, so even for routine meetings we always had to have an interpreter present, and it made everything take three times as long. It was really bothersome. That made it the most difficult development for me, albeit in a different way.

―What was the biggest pinch you've faced in your life so far?

Tokita: Hmmm… I don't know if I can name a "biggest" one. I mean, being in a pinch is kind of fun and exciting in its own way, right? I actually dread boredom a lot more.

―What is the funnest part of the development process for you?

Tokita: When the game finally starts to come together, and all those ideas you had take concrete shape in the form of actual graphics and programming. I also love it when I ask someone to create something, and they come back with something that has that little extra touch above and beyond what I requested.

―And what is the least fun?

Tokita: Well, when I'm translating an original idea into a planning document, I do sometimes get lost, but I wouldn't describe it as horrible or anything. The stage before that though, where I'm first putting together the team… that might qualify. (laughs)

―If you had to come with a title for the movie of your life, what would it be?

Tokita: Um… how about "I'll Do Anything". (laughs)

If you've enjoyed reading this interview and would like to be able to vote each month on what I translate, please consider supporting me on Patreon! I can't do it without your help!