Final Fantasy 14 Director Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) revealed that he believes Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is one of the best games he’s played in recent years. The FF14 producer said aspiring game developers should play the 2024 Zelda spinoff title to learn from its design choices.

‘FF14’ Director Yoshi-P Is Impressed With ‘Zelda Echoes of Wisdom’

In a July 7 interview with Famitsu, Naoki Yoshida sat down with the Japanese outlet to discuss game development. During the conversation, Yoshi-P revealed his thoughts on Echoes of Wisdom. “I was particularly impressed with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. What I am about to talk about is a bit nerdy. But from a producer’s perspective, there were many points that made me think ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ Especially in terms of how they used resources, how they made it, and the game design.”

The Final Fantasy 14 director went on to praise the game for figuring out how to reuse old Zelda assets while still making it a new and fun experience. “The base resources in Echoes of Wisdom are almost the same as other Zelda games. But by focusing all of their efforts on the fun of the game, they also kept production costs to a minimum.”

The Square Enix creator then said that he encourages developers to play the Zelda RPG to study its game design. “I would encourage anyone aspiring to become a game developer or who is just starting their career to try playing this game from that perspective. For me, it is a very noteworthy title.”

‘FFT’ Remake PC RElease Won’t Be Delayed

The FF14 Director also gave a few comments about the upcoming Final Fantasy Tactics Remake as well. According to Yoshi-P, Square Enix is completely done with FFT and finishing up the PC version. Fans don’t have to worry though, as Yoshida said that the game is “at no risk of being delayed” on Steam.

Interestingly, Yoshi-P confirmed that the team wanted to respect the game’s original content without making too many changes. “We started FFT: The Ivalice Chronicles with the desire to make it the definitive version that people can play for the next 20 or 30 years. For that reason, we have stuck to the policy of not changing anything in the classic mode of the game. We won’t increase the number of units, even if we think it’s good.”

Circling back to his comments about Echoes of Wisdom, I think Yoshida’s perspective on game development is interesting. Artists often have to balance creativity and budget. However, his main takeaway seems to be that it’s possible to make a fun game, even with older assets. Interestingly, another Zelda game to do this recently was Tears of the Kingdom. The sequel basically reused Breath of the Wild’s map but focused on making the game’s mechanics more fun. So, Yoshi-P seems to be on to something!