When Final Fantasy V was released for the Japanese Super Famicom in
1992, the fantasy role-playing game was an instant hit, selling two
million copies in the first two months alone. But the game was dubbed
"too hardcore" for a Western audience and was not released outside
Japan. That didn't stop a teenage Chris Kohler from tracking down Final
Fantasy V. The young RPG fan got a Japanese copy of the game, used it to
teach himself Japanese, and with the help of some internet companions
created the first-ever comprehensive English-language FAQ of the game.
Now the acclaimed author of Power-Up and an editor at Kotaku, Kohler is
revisiting the game that started his career in games journalism. Based
on new, original interviews with Final Fantasy V's director, Hironobu
Sakaguchi, as well as previously untranslated interviews with the rest
of the development team, Kohler's book weaves history and criticism to
examine one of the Final Fantasy series's greatest and most overlooked
titles.