In case you’ve been living under a rock, the legendary creator of Dragon Ball passed away just a few days ago, and the internet has been paying their respects since. In a touching turn of events, hundreds of players on Final Fantasy 14 and Dragon Quest 10 have been gathering to perform vigils and honor the memory of Akira Toryiama as one of the greatest artists and creators of our time.
Toriyama, while most well-known for his work on Dragon Ball, also designed much of the original art for the Dragon Quest series way back in the 1980s. He also contributed to popular Square Enix titles like Chrono Trigger, and his influence has also had a great impact on the Final Fantasy series, with creator Hironobu Sakaguchi crediting Toriyama and Dragon Quest as inspirations for the creation of his own RPG series that’s since become a household name. It makes perfect sense, then, that fans of these franchises would come together to pay their respects.
For starters, Final Fantasy 14 has seen hundreds of players banding together and using small campfires in a moment of silence for Toriyama. You can see an example of one such vigil in the video from bluezhift below:
Plenty of Twitter/X users have also posted photos and clips of endearing moments highlighting the passion and adoration that people had for the creator:
ff14 holding a memorial for Akira Toriyama pic.twitter.com/KVmiMI2B6C
— Typh🍉 (@DonisTyp) March 8, 2024
ささやかな規模ですがトンベリ鯖でもファンによる鳥山先生への追悼式が行われてます
paying respects to Akira Toriyama#FF14 pic.twitter.com/OkCsGFO1ow— ボン (@BONGNao) March 8, 2024
Over on the Dragon Quest 10 side of things, the behavior is much the same. Fans are collaborating in large numbers in Toriyama’s name, taking moments to speak kind words about his work and the impact it had:
If you log into server 1 in Dragon Quest X right onw there's a whole ton of people paying their respects to Akira Toriyama. It's incredibly sweet#DQ10 pic.twitter.com/jPlgNox4Sr
— Exalin the English DQX Guy (@ExalinExcels) March 8, 2024
Honoring Akira Toriyama in Megistris Server 1 in #DQ10 with @ShobuBlaze and a few others. #RIPAkiraToriyama pic.twitter.com/xHJvIhjnAk
— Ryan Molina (@ThatRyanMolina) March 8, 2024
Memorial at Magistris in #DQ10. The impact Toriyama had on everyone can be felt worldwide. pic.twitter.com/0nQ02RNMbi
— Zance21 (Carl (カール)) (@ZancePlower) March 8, 2024
It’s truly endearing to see so many people come together out of respect for such a revered individual. Much like video games, his works have always been fantastic worlds for escapism. He moved and changed the lives of countless people all across the world, and these gatherings are just a few examples of dozens upon dozens of celebrations of his life that have been taking place over the weekend. Rest in Peace, Toriyama. You will be missed.
Prior to his death, Toriyama was also working on a new title, Sand Land, which is still scheduled to release April 26. You can take a look at the gameplay trailer for that here.