Kazuhiko Aoki Reflects on Final Fantasy IX’s Event Design 25 Years Later
- ⚡Xe⚡
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
As part of Final Fantasy IX’s 25th anniversary, Weekly Famitsu revisited the game’s development through interviews with members of the original dev team. One of them is Kazuhiko Aoki, who served as event design lead and played a key role in shaping FFIX’s story presentation.
According to Aoki, event development was built on a high level of trust between team members. While he handled the overall plot and made sure the message was clear, individual designers were free to interpret scenes in their own way, as long as they stayed within the shared story plan. This mindset extended across teams, with the battle staff also reflecting story context in gameplay choices, such as character animations.
Technical limits had a major impact on how the story was told. FFIX was spread across four PlayStation discs, and Aoki personally managed how data was placed to avoid forcing disc changes during dungeon sections. Movie length and music data were locked in early to prevent data issues, which led to some tough decisions about where scenes could go and how they were structured.
The story itself began with a core plot written by Hironobu Sakaguchi, which Aoki and the map team expanded on. Character last names and smaller story details remained flexible until late in development, something Aoki notes would be very difficult under modern production schedules.
Music also played a direct role in event creation. One of the most well-known late-game scenes was shaped after Aoki heard Nobuo Uematsu’s “You Are Not Alone” during development. Instead of asking for a song to fit a scene, the team built the event around the existing track.
Final Fantasy IX continued to change right up until the end of development. Characters, dialogue, and even full scenes were added just before master-up. This included Garland’s final monologue and changes to Vivi’s ending narration, which went through many rewrites to get the right tone.
Development was split between Japan and Hawaii, where Aoki spent about three years. While the pace initially felt slower, the workload eventually matched Japan’s, with overnight data transfers and close coordination across time zones.
As part of the anniversary, a new picture book titled Final Fantasy IX Picture Book: Vivi and Grandpa and the Day of Departure was released in Japan on July 2. Written by Aoki and illustrated by Toshiyuki Itahana, the book shows Vivi’s life with Quan before the events of the game. The team aimed to avoid changing established interpretations of FFIX, with one small exception: the origin of the Theater Ticket. While official materials previously stated that Vivi obtained it in Treno, the book instead depicts Quan giving it to him.
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About FINAL FANTASY IX
FINAL FANTASY IX tells a grand story of love, war and betrayal in a world of incredible magic and larger-than-life characters. Zidane and the Tantalus Theater Troupe have kidnapped Princess Garnet, the heir of Alexandria, but to their surprise, the princess herself yearned to escape the castle and see the world for herself. Together, they explore the world and encounter new friends and enemies to embark on an adventure unlike any other.
FINAL FANTASY IX is available on App Store, Google Play, STEAM, Playstation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and Windows.