Father of Final Fantasy Hironobu Sakaguchi on Fantasian Neo Dimension, and His Return to PlayStation | Push Square

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Fantasian Neo Dimension is an updated version of the original Fantasian — an Apple Arcade release from a few years back. It's produced and written by Hironobu Sakaguchi, who's often referred to as the father of Final Fantasy — and so when we were handed an opportunity to interview the man himself, we couldn't possibly say no. Ahead of Fantasian's first foray on PlayStation platforms, we asked Sakaguchi-san about the game as a whole, its development, and his own return to PlayStation after so many years.

Push Square: As a PlayStation website, a lot of our readers may not be familiar with Fantasian. Could you start by giving us a brief overview of what the game's all about?

Hironobu Sakaguchi, producer and writer: Fantasian is quite a unique RPG experience. One of the biggest elements that makes it so is the environments and all the stages are handcrafted dioramas. So players will explore and adventure through these different handcrafted environments and worlds. I think that the feel and the look is something quite unique.

In terms of gameplay, it's a rather orthodox turn-based RPG experience, and that's because I thought, if this became my last game, and my retirement piece, that I would be okay with that. And at the same time, I had the opportunity to play and revisit Final Fantasy 6 — and it reminded me of where my origins were as a game developer.

So I know recently there aren't many turn-based RPGs, which is why I thought perhaps there is still room for innovation, and therefore we included different game mechanics and different game systems that I think kind of enhance the turn-based RPG experience.

Sticking with the topic of turn-based RPGs, obviously the genre has come a long way, and has branched out in all of these different directions over the years. Even going back to the original Final Fantasy, we're talking decades of evolution. Fantasian's maybe more traditional because of its turn-based system and structure.

Do you think there'll always be a place