Final Fantasy 6 is one of the few games RPG icon Tetsuya Nomura feels he "could have done a better job on" – "I don't really feel that way about many other games"
Nomura "tried to do everything I could" during the JRPG's development
Square Enix veteran Tetsuya Nomura has spoken out about his experience working on Final Fantasy 6, and although he has a "strong attachment" to the JRPG, to this day he feels that there are parts of it that he "could've done a better job on."
Nomura recently served as the creative director of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, but for Final Fantasy 6, he was the character and monster designer. In an official interview posted on the Final Fantasy website in celebration of the classic JRPG's 30th anniversary, he notes that he thinks "we'd gone as far as we could" with the pixel art style, with FF6 being the last mainline game in the series to use it.
"I'm incredibly glad I was able to work on it as a pixel artist, and I definitely feel the love for FF6 even today," Nomura continues. "That said, while I tried to do everything I could during the project, there are still parts I feel I could've done a better job on. I don't really feel that way about many other games; it's just something about FF6 specifically."
This is a surprisingly critical stance, especially since, in the same interview, he says he was "always trying to come up with new, interesting concepts," designing both monsters and characters "even before any planning documents had been made for a project." He adds, "I like to think it was that approach that convinced my coworkers to give me even bigger tasks in the future."
Nomura acknowledges that the Final Fantasy series "changed drastically from 7 onward," and as such, he thinks "it's natural that 6 is viewed as the culmination of all that came before it." He continues: "Whatever your perspective, 6 and 7 mark a big turning point for the series, and in that sense, I think I have a strong attachment to 6 just like its fans from back when it released."
Square Enix is well aware of the demand for a Final Fantasy 6 remake, in fact, last year, director Yoshinori Kitase said: "I would like to push Final Fantasy 6 again!" However, he previously said that it'd also be "difficult," so whether it'll actually happen someday is another matter.
If you're looking for more games to dive into right now, be sure to check out our roundup of the top 25 best RPGs.
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I'm one of 12DOVE's news writers, who works alongside the rest of the news team to deliver cool gaming stories that we love. After spending more hours than I can count filling The University of Sheffield's student newspaper with Pokemon and indie game content, and picking up a degree in Journalism Studies, I started my career at GAMINGbible where I worked as a journalist for over a year and a half. I then became TechRadar Gaming's news writer, where I sourced stories and wrote about all sorts of intriguing topics. In my spare time, you're sure to find me on my Nintendo Switch or PS5 playing through story-driven RPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles and Persona 5 Royal, nuzlocking old Pokemon games, or going for a Victory Royale in Fortnite.