Nomura Known as 'Demon King of Retakes' During Final Fantasy 7 Dev | Push Square
Considered one of the best games ever made, 1997's seminal Final Fantasy VII wouldn't be nearly the legendary title it's considered today if not for the exacting standards of director Tetsuya Nomura. Nomura even earned himself the sobriquet «Demon King of retakes» during development, so notorious was he for making developers start their work over from scratch.
Over on Shmuplations, a compilation of interviews from the launch back in '97 has been republished, with a number of the original creators discussing the challenges they faced when developing the legendary RPG (thanks, GamesRadar+). Programmer Ken Narita revealed the undeniably cool-sounding moniker, recalling: «Nomura was the Demon King of retakes. He was always making the designers re-do things. 'Nope, that's wrong there.'»
Background designer Kenzo Kanzaki added that this perfectionism perhaps allowed Final Fantasy VII to reach the lofty heights it did: «It's really thanks to him that we achieved very realistic motion.» Nomura himself freely confirms this reputation, recalling that back in the day: «I stuck my nose into everyone's work there».
You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
«What I want, Cloud, is to sail the cosmos with this planet as my vessel»
Is Nomura's penchant for micromanagement the reason why Final Fantasy VII still stands out after all these years? Revise your response in the comments section below.
Khayl Adam is Push Square's roving Australian correspondent, a reporter tasked with scouring the internet for the richest, most succulent PlayStation stories. With six years of experience as a freelance journalist and mercenary wordsmith, RPGs are his first great love, but strategy and tactics games are a close second, genres in which he is only too happy to specialize.
That’s pretty impressive. Sure most people will think it’s a d*** move. But honestly being such a perfectionist allowed the game to turn out so well. If only more companies had such high standards these days…
Nomura looks
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