The Day I Met My Heroes

I almost missed the chance to meet Yuji Abe and Yoshinori Kitase, two legendary Final Fantasy creators

I would like to share a very personal story with you. It’s the story of how I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet one of my heroes; a creative mind who shaped some of my favourite video game experiences.

I was job hunting in London back in 2014 for a couple of weeks. I kept my eye on the calendar, because Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII was due to be released on February 14th. I wanted to keep the date open because I knew that the game’s developer, Square Enix, typically hosted major release events in London. I didn’t want to miss out! After all, this was the franchise I’d grown up with. As anticipated, Square Enix announced that there was going to be a launch event featuring Yuji Abe (a Final Fantasy legend) and Yoshinori Kitase (producer of Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, X-2, XIII, XIII-2, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, X/X-2 HD, and more recently, Final Fantasy VII Remake). Phew. Both of these game industry legends were due to sign autographs and discuss the latest release. The event was scheduled to be held at a GAME retail store.

So far, so good. But I was troubled by the fact that I’d never seen a GAME store during my walks around central London (I’d even…