There have been recent reports, fuelled by Sakaguchi’s own statements, that his upcoming Wii exclusive RPG, The Last Story, would be his last game. The RPG legend recently blogged about how he would be giving his all to The Last Story- his last story, which immediately sparked a round of speculation that he was contemplating retirement again, just as he had, so many years ago, before the release of Final Fantasy, the NES RPG that would go on to become a multi million dollar franchise.
The blog post was orgininally translated as: “Me and my team poured 120% of our energy into this title. … I am completely pouring everything into this one, there is a strong feeling this may be my last work.”
Now, however, there’s a new translation, which reads: “The energy poured into this project by the development team and I are 120%. I’m hoping you can understand that, however on the other hand, I feel worried and nervous like sending my child on a trip alone. Emotionally it feels like this is my last work, while pouring everything I have gotten into this project. Never regret, but now “I’m enjoying”; furthermore, aiming towards completion. The sense of ‘This is it’ relaxes my shoulders, its pleasant feeling to conduct an orchestra by the sense of my intuition.”
For those who were stating it would was all a publicity stunt, well, it appears that the guy was just misunderstood. For the others, who had already begun bemoaning the retirement of a legend, never fret, Sakaguchi isn’t going anywhere. Leastways, not just yet.