Akitoshi Kawazu
| Akitoshi Kawazu | |
|---|---|
Kawazu at the Final Fantasy XII London HMV Launch Party in 2007
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| Native name | 河津 秋敏 |
| Born | November 5, 1962 Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan |
| 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.
Contents
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".[2] He stated that he had always been interested in board games, and after a time joined Square Co. in 1985.[1][2]
Early years
His first game at Square Co. was Rad Racer, creating the ending sequence showing a player's accomplishments.[2]
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.[2] After the success in Japan of Dragon Quest, and the popular desire for an RPG proven, development began.[2] 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.[2] 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.[2]
Later games
Production on The Last Remnant began after the remake of Romancing SaGa for the PlayStation 2 was completed.[3] Kawazu was also involved in the development of "It's New Frontier" (sic).[4] During the development of Final Fantasy XII, Yasumi Matsuno, who was the lead on the game, left half way through, and Kawazu took over.[5]
Game style
Board games such as Avalon Hill and Dungeons and Dragons influence a lot of Kawazu's development process.[2] When creating a new game, he examines the elements like a board game and makes that the working foundation.[2]
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 – Director
- 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 Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King – 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[4]
- Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy – Special thanks
- Theatrhythm Final Fantasy – Special thanks
- SaGa Scarlet Grace – Director and scenario
References
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