Kazushige Nojima Writer - Final Fantasy
Kazushige Nojima (born January 20, 1964) is a Japanese video game writer. He is best known for his involvement in the Final Fantasy series, a series of Japanese fantasy role-playing video games developed and produced by Square Enix. He was the main writer for Final Fantasy VII , Final Fantasy VIII , Final Fantasy X , Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children , Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and the Kingdom Hearts series. Nojima has also written a number of lyrics for various songs in the soundtracks of Final Fantasy games . Overall, Nojima is recognized as one of the strongest and most creative writers in the video game industry. He not only works on Final Fantasy-related works, but also on world-famous titles such as Super Smash Bros.
Life and career
Nojima started in the video game industry at Japanese video game developer Data East, known for creating popular titles such as BurgerTime None, Windbreaker , and the Joe & Mac series. He joined Square in 1994 and began working on Final Fantasy VII after the main character's setting had already been completed. His contribution included a proposal that female characters Tifa Lockheart and Aerith Gainsborough should both die in the game, though this idea was ultimately dropped. He wrote the mythology behind the games in the Fabula Nova Crystallis series, which serves as the basis for the plot of all entries in the series. In addition to writing scenarios and stories for the video games, Nojima also wrote the lyrics for several songs in the Final Fantasy series. Nojima is notably credited for creating the lyrics for "Liberi Fatall" from Final Fantasy VIII , as well as "Suteki da Ne" and "Hymn of the Fayth" for Final Fantasy X None.
Nojima was also responsible for writing most of the Kingdom Hearts games. In 2003, Nojima left Square (now Square Enix) to open his own scriptwriting company called Stellavista Ltd., where he continued to write the plot of Sakura's Note and also began working on the plot for Heracles' Glory , into which he incorporated an incredible amount of Greek mythology. Although Nojima left Square Enix, he still made a number of contributions to their projects, such as Final Fantasy XIII , later entries in the Kingdom Hearts series, and Final Fantasy XV. In 2011, it was announced that Busō Chūgakusei Basket Army (Armed Middle School Student Basket Army), an animated short film based on a novel written by Nojima, would be released and made available for streaming online.
Complete list of credited roles in video games
- Bahamut Lagoon (1996; as director)
- Before the Crisis: Final Fantasy VII (2004; as scenario supervisor)
- Black Rock Shooter: The Game (2011; as screenwriter)
- Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII (2007; as writer) (with Sachie Hirano)
- Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII (2006; with special thanks)
- Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (2018; as a story concept)
- Dragon's Dogma Online (2015; as writer)
- Final Fantasy VII (1997; as writer) (with Yoshinori Kitase)
- Advent Children of Final Fantasy VII (2005; as writer)
- Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020; as writer)
- Final Fantasy VIII (1999; as writer)
- Final Fantasy X (2001; as writer) (with Daisuke Watanabe, Motomu Toriyama and Yoshinori Kitase)
- Final Fantasy X-2 (2003; as writer) (with Daisuke Watanabe)
- Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster (2013, screenwriter, audio drama writer)
- Final Fantasy XIII (2009; as a story concept)
- Final Fantasy XV (2016; as original story)
- Glory of Hercules (2008; as screenwriter)
- Heracles no Eikō II: Titan no Metsubō (1989; as screenwriter)
- Heracles no Eikō III: Kamigami no Chinmoku (1992; as screenwriter)
- Heracles no Eikō IV: Kamigami kara no Okurimono (1994; as writer and director (with Eiichi Nishiyama)
- Tadaki Street: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary (2017; as scenario supervisor)
- Kingdom Hearts (2002; as writer) (with Jun Akiyama and Daisuke Watanabe)
- Kingdom Hearts II (2005; as screenwriter) (with Daisuke Watanabe and Harunori Sakemi)
- Kingdom Hearts III (2019; as scenario supervisor)
- Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories (2004; as script supervisor)
- Last Order: Final Fantasy VII (2005 as original story writer)
- Last Ranker (2010; as screenwriter)
- Lord of Arcana (2010; with original lyrics)
- Mobius Final Fantasy (2015-2020; as scenario supervisor)
- Sakura Note (2009; as screenwriter)
- The Shadow of Laffandore: A History of the Land of Laffandor (2016)
- Sol Trigger (2012; as screenwriter)
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008; as writer for Adventure Mode: The Subspace Emissary) (with Masahiro Sakurai)
- Tantei Jingūji Saburō: Kiken na Futari (1988–1989; as screenwriter)
- Tantei Jingūji Saburō: Toki no Sugiyuku Mamani... (1991; as screenwriter)
- Zodiac (2015; as screenwriter)
