GameSpy: As I understand it, FF creator Hironobu Sakaguchi feels deeply about online gaming and he was very involved in this project. Is it the recent FF project he's been most involved in? He's not as hands-on as he used to be.

Square-Enix: We can't really comment on that. He's the executive producer. In the beginning it was his idea to take it online. The idea of having PlayOnline as a platform, and the idea of being able to meet with other players online using it, and having a lobby and all of that -- that whole concept and idea came from him.

Back in the early NES days, there was a goal with the Final Fantasy games. They wanted to make a world like this. The old, original idea of a Final Fantasy was a medieval-style fantasy world. It was a lasting world, it was very consistent. There was nothing that didn't belong there. To keep it going with a story and keep new things popping up, that was the original goal. The limitations of the hardware have always kept them from being able to do this until now. Back then, there was no way to communicate with each other, so they couldn't do it. Getting together in a party, going to beat bosses -- having an adventure. That's what it's all about.