Akitoshi Kawazu (河津 秋敏, Kawazu Akitoshi, born November 5, 1962) is a Japanese game designer, director, producer and writer. After joining Square (later Square Enix) in 1985, he went on to become a central developer for the first two Final Fantasy titles, then acted as creator and lead developer for the SaGa series.
Interested in games since his high school days, his first project at Square was a graphic designer for Rad Racer; he then acted as battle designer for Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II. He has since worked on nearly every SaGa title, in addition to creating the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles subseries, smaller projects including The Last Remnant, and serving in an executive role on multiple Square Enix projects.
Kawazu has drawn much of his design inspiration from Western role-playing titles such as Dungeons & Dragons and Wizardry, admitting a liking for sword and sorcery settings in his scenarios. A characteristic of his games is a non-linear design for storylines and exploration, and systems that are not actively explained to players. He also has a deep involvement in each project beyond his credited roles, and tries something new with each game he develops.
AkitoshiKawazu (河津 秋敏, KawazuAkitoshi, born November 5, 1962) is a Japanese game designer, director, producer and writer. After joining Square (later...
The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of AkitoshiKawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the...
working together. Since its inception, the series has been supervised by AkitoshiKawazu, known for his work on both the Final Fantasy and SaGa series. Recurring...
Legend was conceived by Nobuyuki Hoshino and developed under director AkitoshiKawazu; renowned composer Nobuo Uematsu wrote its score. The game is Square's...
Akihiko Matsui, and produced by veteran Square director and producer AkitoshiKawazu. The game had high sales, selling 400,000 copies in its first week...
1989 after the success of The Final Fantasy Legend. Series creator AkitoshiKawazu returned as director, and artist Katsutoshi Fujioka returned to design...
Final Fantasy series. Returning staff members including series creator AkitoshiKawazu as director, lead designer and writer; illustrator Tomomi Kobayashi;...
Famicom after the success of SaGa titles on the Game Boy. Series creator AkitoshiKawazu acted as director, designer and scenario writer. The character designers...
the new directorial duo consisted of Ito and Hiroshi Minagawa, while AkitoshiKawazu of SaGa series fame became the game's executive producer. Series creator...
PlayStation Vita was announced on March 28, 2017. On April 11, 2017, AkitoshiKawazu tweeted that they would be working on an English version of the game...
saxophonist AkitoshiKawazu (河津 秋敏, born 1962), Japanese video game designer Akitoshi Saito (斎藤 彰俊, born 1965), Japanese professional wrestler Akitoshi Tamura...
games have their own settings and gameplay mechanics. Series creator AkitoshiKawazu led or advised the development of most of the games. New SaGa games...
staff members returned from earlier entries including series creator AkitoshiKawazu as producer and director, designer Kyouji Koizumi, and composer Masashi...
and games associated with Ivalice. The original gameplay created by AkitoshiKawazu was based around Dungeons & Dragons and Wizardry. Starting with Final...
development of Romancing SaGa for the Super Famicom. Series creator AkitoshiKawazu did not take part in the original production due to his work on Romancing...
Windows. SaGa Frontier was developed by Square Production Team 2 with AkitoshiKawazu as director and producer, Koichi Ishii as planning chief, Kenji Ito...
celebrations, it was developed with the supervision of series creator AkitoshiKawazu. Set in an original world, the player controls an emperor or empress...
by Square. Development for the title was headed by series creator AkitoshiKawazu, with music by Masashi Hamauzu. The game features an art style unique...
Yagi and Miwa Shoda, whose work was based on a scenario concept by AkitoshiKawazu. Kimihiko Miyamae served as the chief artist, and Yusuke Naora served...
with Gebelli. AkitoshiKawazu also contributed to the development as his first game under Square. Hironobu Sakaguchi and AkitoshiKawazu both worked on...
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