It really is OK to cry, you know. I’ve been crying my whole life – at loose teeth, romance novels, and sometimes even at video games. Games usually only make me cry when I’m having a hard time beating the zombie clown solo in Dead Island 2, but it seems like Square Enix writer Kazushige Nojima might find that poignant anyway.
Automaton translates a series of tweets where DenfaminicoGamer reports, in a ranked list, which RPGs made Japanese players responding to its survey cry, and Nojima replies from his happy place, “Oh… I’m delighted.”
“I worked on the scenarios and settings for the games in 1st, 2nd, 24th, and 33rd places,” he continues. Kingdom Hearts 2 takes that bottom 33 spot, while players decided Final Fantasy 7 made them only tearful enough to land at number 24 on DenfaminicoGamer’s list. However, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 apparently contains the power to elicit some “I just broke my leg” crying, coming in at second place, and players crowned Final Fantasy 10 worthy of diaphragm spasms and full-on ugly sobs into a handkerchief – the 2001 game is at number one.
Nojima is credited as responsible for the scenario for Kingdom Hearts 2, Crisis Core, and Final Fantasy 10, and he worked on the story for Final Fantasy 7, so I understand his reaction to the fact that his writing, at least in part, has emotionally impacted enough people to make them want to respond to a goddamn survey.
“I was also somewhat involved with the title in 10th place,” he adds, referring to Final Fantasy 15, which he supplied the plot outline for. “There’s nothing more joyful than knowing that my past work continues to linger in the hearts of those who played it, even after all these years.” That’s so nice – I think I might cry.
