Akitoshi Kawazu
Akitoshi Kawazu | |
---|---|
Kawazu at the Final Fantasy XII London HMV Launch Party in 2007 | |
Native name | 河津 秋敏 |
Born |
Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan | November 5, 1962
Nationality | Japanese |
Occupation | Video game designer, producer |
Years active | 1987–present |
Notable work |
Final Fantasy SaGa |
Akitoshi Kawazu (河津 秋敏 Kawazu Akitoshi, born November 5, 1962) is a Japanese game producer and game designer. He is best known for his work on Final Fantasy[1] and SaGa franchise of role-playing video games. He was the majority shareholder for The Game Designers Studio, a shell corporation founded in June 1999 by Square and re-purposed in 2002 to exploit a loophole with the company's exclusivity deal to develop for Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation consoles.[2]
Biography
Joining Square
Kawazu studied ceramics at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Kawazu was invited by a friend to work at the gaming magazine published by Softbank called "Beep".[3] He stated that he had always been interested in board games, and after a time joined Square Co. in 1985.[1][3]
Early years
His first game at Square Co. was Rad Racer, creating the ending sequence showing a player's accomplishments.[3]
Final Fantasy
He and Hironobu Sakaguchi had wanted to make a role playing game for a long time, and were fans of Wizardry and Ultima, but were concerned it would not sell.[3] After the success in Japan of Dragon Quest, and the popular desire for an RPG proven, development began.[3] Kawazu took over the development of the battle sequence and system, and tried to model it as much after Dungeons and Dragons as he could.[3] Part of the development was to add western fantasy gaming rules, such as a fire monster being vulnerable to ice, which at the time were not features of Japanese gaming.[3]
Later games
Production on The Last Remnant began after the remake of Romancing SaGa for the PlayStation 2 was completed.[4] Kawazu was also involved in the development of "It's New Frontier" (sic).[5] During the development of Final Fantasy XII, Yasumi Matsuno, who was the lead on the game, left half way through, and Kawazu took over.[6]
Game style
Board games such as Avalon Hill and Dungeons & Dragons influence a lot of Kawazu's development process.[3] When creating a new game, he examines the elements like a board game and makes that the working foundation.[3]
Gameography
- Final Fantasy – Game design
- Final Fantasy II – Game design
- The Final Fantasy Legend – Director and scenario
- Final Fantasy Legend II – Director and scenario
- Romancing SaGa – Director, scenario, system design, and battle design
- Romancing SaGa 2 – Director, scenario, and game design
- Romancing SaGa 3 – Director
- Rudra no Hihō – Supervisor
- SaGa Frontier – Producer and director
- SaGa Frontier 2 – Producer
- Racing Lagoon – Producer
- Legend of Mana – Producer
- Hataraku Chocobo – Producer
- Wild Card – Game design
- Unlimited Saga – Producer and director
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles – Producer
- Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song – Producer and director
- Code Age Commanders: Tsugu Mono Tsuga Reru Mono – Executive producer
- Final Fantasy XII – Executive producer
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates – Executive producer
- Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings – Executive producer
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King – Executive producer
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord – Executive producer
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers – Executive producer, scenario writer
- The Last Remnant – Executive producer, scenario writer
- It's New Frontier – Design[5]
- Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy – Special thanks
- Theatrhythm Final Fantasy – Special thanks
- Emperors SaGa – Executive Producer
- Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call – Special thanks
- Imperial SaGa – Executive Producer
- Dissidia Final Fantasy – Special thanks
- Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV – Special thanks
- SaGa: Scarlet Grace – Game designer and scenario writer
- Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age – Special thanks
References
- 1 2 Winkler, Chris; Eve C. (2003-03-02). "Creator's Talk Interview #1: Akitoshi Kawazu". RPGFan. Archived from the original on 2012-04-15. Retrieved 2008-01-26.
- ↑ "IGN - Sony buys stake in Square". IGN.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-28. Retrieved 2013-12-25.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Jeremy Parish (2012-12-01). "What's the Deal with Square Enix's Akitoshi Kawazu?". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2015-04-06. Retrieved 2013-02-28.
- ↑ Doerr, Nick (June 2, 2007). "Some news on Last Remnant -- SaGa Frontier 3, almost". PS3FanBoy.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
- 1 2 Spencer (August 25, 2009). "It's New Frontier, It's A New Square Enix Sim Game". Siliconera.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
- ↑ Fahey, Rob (October 31, 2006). "This Great Fantasy". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. Retrieved 2013-02-28.