The Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi has joined fellow gaming legends like Doom designer in heaping praise on the legendary Final Fantasy programmer Nasir Gebelli, describing him as "like a god" to him in a recent interview with JPGames.de (thanks GamesRadar!).
In the past, Gebelli's contributions to the series have often been overlooked by many fans of the series, with the programmer himself typically avoiding interviews and downplaying his remarkable achievements.
But following Gebelli's recent reappearance in an episode of NHK's Legendary Games Chronicle, Sakaguchi-san has continued to stress in interviews and social media how important the programmer was to the success of the series, praising his incredible talents and speaking about the reverence in which they held him.
Speaking to JPGames.de, he said that it was a "miracle" and "a great honor" to meet him, due to being introduced to computers and games on the Apple II — a platform on which Gebelli released various titles like Gorgon, Space Eggs, Phantoms Five, Cyber Strike, and Star Cruiser.
He then went on to state that the team's "respect for Nasir helped to make the first Final Fantasy an amazing game", arguing that "the core program itself is the 'life' of a game".
He later went on to admit that all of his memories of Gebelli are now "fuzzy" thanks to the number of decades that have passed since they first worked together, but suggested that "they always contain his enveloping kindness and politeness" and he believed Gebelli to be "a wonderful person".
You can watch Gebelli's recent appearance on Japanese TV above.