Soraya Saga
Kaori Tanaka (田中 香, Tanaka Kaori, born April 18, 1969), also known by her pen name, Soraya Saga (嵯峨 空哉, Saga Soraya), is a Japanese illustrator, designer, and video game story writer.
Biography
Final Fantasy
Soraya joined Squaresoft as a graphic designer in the early 1990s through an advertisement in ASCII computer magazine.[1] Soraya was a graphic designer at Squaresoft for Romancing SaGa, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, and Final Fantasy IV: Easy Type.)[2] She helped create the characterization for Final Fantasy VI characters Edgar and Sabin, beginning by choosing two playable character classes, in this case monk and machinist, choosing the desert as a setting, and then creating an extensive character background in a private booklet for herself.[1]
Xenogears/Xenosaga
Soraya and her husband submitted a script for Final Fantasy VII which was called "too dark" and "complicated" for a fantasy game, but were allowed to start a new project based on the script, which was worked into a full treatment with cutscenes.[3] The story was inspired by the writing pair's interest in Jung, Nietzsche, and Freud, addressing questions of "where do we come from, what are we, where are we going".[3] Soraya and her husband Tetsuya Takahashi went on to write the plot of Xenosaga Episode I, Xenosaga Episode II, Xenogears, and Xenosaga Pied Piper.[2] Xenosaga's use of many biblical references and the influence of other religions reflected Soraya's interest in belief and its power.[3] KOS-MOS was designed by Takahashi, reflecting a reversed view of human construction, giving the character a powerful body and fragile soul.[3] Several designs that were not used were created by designers Kunihiko Tanaka and Kouichi Mugitani.[3] Originally intended to be six games, the series was cut short, and many plot points had to be changed and moved because of the second episode's plot.[3]
At some point during the production of Xenosaga Episode II, Saga was informed that her services would no longer be needed in the production of the remaining installments of the series.[2]
Later works
She also helped develop the story for Soma Bringer.[1] She also did a draft for Monolith Soft in 2000 for a sci-fi RPG called "Titus 12".[3]
Gameography
- Final Fantasy V (1992): map design[2]
- Final Fantasy VI (1994): field graphic designer, script[1]
- Romancing SaGa 3 (1995): graphic designer[2]
- Xenogears (1998): scenario writer[2]
- Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht (2002): event scenario writer[2]
- Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse (2004): assistant author[2]
- Xenosaga: Pied Piper (2004): script co-author[2]
- Soma Bringer (2008): scenario[1]
References
- ^ a b c d e Spencer (2010-06-04). "Reflections with Soraya Saga Part 1". Siliconera. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Jeremy Dunham (2005-01-18). "Xenosaga Loses Scenario Writer". IGN. Retrieved 2012-08-16.
- ^ a b c d e f g Spencer (2010-06-11). "Soraya Saga On Xenogears And Xenosaga". Siliconera. Retrieved 2012-08-16.