1999’s Final Fantasy VIII was a huge commercial success for Square Enix both inside and outside of Japan. According to Director Yoshinori Kitase, the game took the franchise into a new direction – at least visually – and had quite an impact on Final Fantasy‘s future.
While recalling Final Fantasy VIII‘s development and success on the PlayStation Blog, Kitase said that he liked how the game appeared in the 2000 movie Charlie’s Angels starring Cameron Diaz. He then went on to reveal that Final Fantasy VIII is so popular among “young” filmmakers that he often receives such Easter Egg requests from Hollywood.
I think it’s fair to say that Final Fantasy VIII had an impact on the future of the Final Fantasy series. Not necessarily mechanically – the gameplay of the Final Fantasy games changes with each entry – but certainly the realistic proportions and designs of characters set a visual direction for the series.
This is unrelated to development, but I also liked how Final Fantasy VIII appeared briefly in the movie Charlie’s Angels, starring Cameron Diaz. We often receive such Easter egg requests from Hollywood for Final Fantasy VIII – it seems to be a favorite amongst young filmmakers for some reason!
Kitase added that while he was very happy with Final Fantasy VIII overall, he wasn’t a fan of the characters not having any voices at a time when sound effects and music “were reaching film-like levels of quality.” He really wanted the characters to have voices, and wishes it was something he could have achieved back then.
[Source: PS Blog]