Fantasian’s Rumored Sequel May Be “Something New” Entirely, Says Hironobu Sakaguchi

Highlights

Hironobu Sakaguchi’s Fantasian collaboration with Square Enix is set to release as Neo Dimension, with potential for a sequel or new project.
Final Fantasy 14’s Dawntrail expansion thrives under Naoki Yoshida’s direction, paying homage to past FF titles.
Sakaguchi addresses his new project’s ambiguity and his lack of interest in revisiting older franchises, focusing on enjoying Final Fantasy 14 as a consumer.

Mistwalker’s upcoming collaboration with Square Enix to reimagine the Fantasian IP has garnered a lot of attention from the Final Fantasy community, being helmed by the “father” of the franchise, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and seeing the return of prolific composer, Nobuo Uematsu. The new installment, titled Neo Dimension, is considered Sakaguchi’s swan song project before retirement, but the creator is also working on something new that may or may not be a Fantasian sequel.

In tandem with Fantasian’s promotional build, the Final Fantasy franchise has also been thriving amid the MMORPG Final Fantasy 14’s recent release of the new Dawntrail expansion. Producer and director, Naoki Yoshida, has done a fantastic job with the title to reimagine it as a “theme park” to pay homage to past FF titles.

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Sakaguchi Addresses The Ambiguous Fantasian Sequel

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sakaguchi discussed returning to the Final Fantasy franchise, his love for playing Final Fantasy 14, and becoming a grandfather in the fall. The designer also addressed a new project he was finalizing the story for, despite previously believing Fantasian: New Dimension would be his final game.

Acknowledging that Mistwalker recently filed to trademark “Fantasian Dark Edge” – a rumored sequel to Neo Dimension – Sakaguchi was tight-lipped on giving further details but said, “We’ll say it’s something new, for now.” Despite the trademark pointing to another Fantasian chapter, the creator’s ambiguous answer suggests the project may be entirely new.

Sakaguchi previously stated that he wanted Fantasian to be an “especially long-standing title”, therefore, it would make sense if the Fantasian IP spawned several chapters. The creator also shared that he was “a little bit concerned about how people would feel about working with me — perhaps they’ll have mixed feelings,” on returning to Square Enix to develop Neo Dimension.

Still from Fantasian: Neo Dimension of the turn-based combat.

Having a long-standing relationship with Square and the Final Fantasy franchise, fans have often wondered if Sakaguchi would return to work on the popular fantasy series. Unfortunately, Sakaguchi confirmed he had no interest in revisiting FF or any of the older franchises under his belt because he’s “switched to a consumer rather than a creator”. This reasoning touched on Sakaguchi’s “obsession” with Final Fantasy 14, and he admitted, “On a rare occasion — I want to stress ‘rare occasion’ — sometimes one of the Mistwalker team members will hop on Final Fantasy XIV, and I’ll see a message saying, ‘Hey, the meeting’s started.’”

After work on Mistwalker’s new project wraps, Sakaguchi will hopefully be able to kick back, enjoy Dawntrail, and welcome the arrival of his grandchild later in the year.

Fantasian: Neo Dimension is scheduled to be released sometime in the window of Winter 2024.