A recent documentary went into the Final Fantasy 16 producer's life, work, and the difficulty in facing overly personal criticism.
Earlier this week, a mini-documentary from Japan was released covering the life and work of Naoki Yoshida—otherwise known as Yoshi-P—along with what it was like to work on Final Fantasy 16. While you might not be able to watch the documentary just yet in your country, some of Yoshi-P’s thoughts have been translated, courtesy of Aitai Kimochi on Twitter:
“There’s a lot of people who just yell at you, people I’ve never seen, met, or talked to before. It’s weird. What did we do to them? Perhaps they just write it from a place of negativity and malice. It’s tiresome.”
A thread on the Final Fantasy 14 subreddit also went into some of the comments shown in the documentary, translated by user elevenmile: “He saw comments that the documentary displayed on screen [such as] ‘Eikonic battles are so [boring] looking’, ‘Still [the only Final Fantasy] that I’m not going to buy Day 1. To protect myself'”.
Granted, this is the internet, so I’d wager there was far worse that probably wasn’t appropriate for T.V. Being in the public eye in any capacity is a raw deal, especially on a series as varied and as different as Final Fantasy, which changes constantly from sequel to sequel. Its design has drifted from turn-based combat to the Gambit System of 12 then into the bombastic action RPG we have today.
It’s one of the best things about it. It also means that over-invested fans with a gripe will always roar about how the next game is ‘changing too much’ and ‘ruining the series’, just like every other Final Fantasy game before it. PC Gamer’s Mollie Taylor likes it a whole lot, though, so I think we’re safe until the next entry comes around to totally definitely sink the franchise, as with 15, as with 13, as with 12, as with—you get the picture.
While I do believe we should all feel free to talk about why we don’t like a game, I’m not shocked Yoshi-P has been a little bummed out by the more toxic elements of his fanbase. While it’s best not to put stock in overly personal comments made by strangers who don’t know you, it’s sometimes hard to turn away.
In slightly more wholesome news, Aitai also put together a full thread covering the documentary, which includes some adorable pictures of a young Yoshi-P before comment sections were even a thing. Simpler times.
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