Kazushige Nojima

[Forsaken Lover]

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Kazushige_Nojima

Me and Wolf have kinda covered this vaguely at one point or another but we never went in depth on the matter. With all my bitching about FFVIII lately, while also praising FFVII and FFX, I wanted to make this topic and delve more into a discussion of the man responsible for shaping a lot of our perspectives of the post-Nintendo Era of Square.

What do you think of this games or his writing style? Anything in particular you have noticed and like or dislike? I remember Wolf mentioning something that popped into my mind when I was bitching about FFVIII elsewhere. I pointed out that the Sorceress stuff in FFVIII was "a load of BS that the game just expected you to swallow with no real explanation or justification." I believe Wolf once commented that this was a trait inherent to Nojima's writing style.

I could probably just search and find the relevant posts but I'm too lazy to do that.

Me? Nojima got problems. FFVIII is proof of that, as is Kingdom Hearts. Now I've heard good things about the writing in Roxas' game, and Roxas was the KH character I liked the most so maybe it's not all bad.

On the other hand, FFVII and FFX. I loved those games.I loved their stories and characters.

Then again, Nojima wrote the story where Tidus got blown up by a Blitzbomb....

This man is confusing.

[Ayen]

To be fair, I think most people would like to blow up Tidus with a Blitzbomb.

He's written three of my favorite Final Fantasy games and I have nothing but respect for a guy who goes freelance while still getting work from the company he used to work exclusively for. He's all right in my books.

[Sephiroth]

Kazushige Nojima is the soul of Final Fantasy stories. Nothing more to add than that.

... but he's no Matsuno, Saga, or Kato.

Right, he would never bring in greater inconsistencies like causality paradoxes.

[Wolf Kanno]

He's the M. Night Shyamalan of game writing. Comes up with cool ideas that make you want to check the story out but he gets too caught up trying to be clever with unexpected plot twists and he has just gotten more bizarre as time goes by. For every Squall's subtle but powerful character growth, there is an orphanage plot twist and Time Compression. For every "Spiral of Death" theme there is Tidus is a dead person's dream given physical form and Seymour's inconsistent goals. The man loves his red herrings too much and frankly the best Kingdom Hearts entries tend to be the ones he didn't have much to do with. I'll take him over Motomu Toriyama any day of the week but he's no Matsuno, Saga, or Kato.

[Ayen]

He's the M. Night Shyamalan of game writing.

No one deserves that kind of comparison. M. Night Shyamalan is way worse.

Actually, no. I see it now.

[Forsaken Lover]

Well M Night made two good movies, Nojima has made a couple good games, it works out.

Although I don't think Nojima has quite fallen to the horrific depths Shamalanananananan has.

[Wolf Kanno]

Right, he would never bring in greater inconsistencies like causality paradoxes.

That was Horii's fault.

These three also don't set up plot twists with plot holes that derail the story.

[Forsaken Lover]

Best JRPG Writer huh? That seems like a topic all on its own.

Didn't the same guy write Persona 3 and 4? Everyone loves those games.

[Wolf Kanno]

Funny enough, I don't think I even know who wrote the Persona plots for P3 and 4. I know the writer for P1 and 2 inserted himself into P2 as a comic relief character.

[Pumpkin]

Oh he didn't do FFIX? Hmm

VIII is my third favouritest game though so obviously he does something that I like

[Forsaken Lover]

Huh, Watanabe and Nomura wrote Roxas' game. Oh well then.

I hear it's good though.

[Bolivar]

It's hard to say what we should give him credit for, since games typically have so many people credited with different parts. From what I understand, Sakaguchi and Nomura wrote the base story and concepts for FFVII, whereas Kitase and Nojima adapted that for the game you actually got to see on the screen. Even with interviews, I doubt we could really say who deserves the credit for what. I also think it's undeniable that the Xenogears script which was pitched as FFVII had a tremendous impact on the game that later assumed that title.

All I know is he wrote some of my favorite games ever. I know he gets a lot of criticism for some parts but that's almost always unfair. Every game has red herrings, plot holes, inconsistencies, and instances of bad writing. People only criticize the stories to legitimize what they've already decided they do and don't like.