Final Fantasy was supposed to be Squaresoft’s last game. The company had major money woes at the time, and Hironobu Sakaguchi figured it was over… hence the word “final” in the title.
Amano was a friend of Sakuguchi. As I understand it, Amano was also having $$$ problems at the time. He didn’t get paid much for the gig, and did it to help a friend who was also in a bad situation.
Turns out the game was a huge success, and more than paid the bills Square owed. So yeah… it was more of FF making Amano, than Amano making FF. And thanks to the widespread popularity of the game, more people heard of Amano. Had Sakuguchi picked someone else, the fame of FF would have still remained, since it’s the actual gameplay and new ideas the series brought to console RPG, that lead to its major success. However he probably didn’t pick someone else, because he couldn’t afford someone else. Also, evidently the character designer didn’t do the sprites… so… meh…
Honestly, stories to success like these aren’t unusual in the early Japanese game market. Check out Shigeru Miyamoto for a real crazy tale of luck, skill, and being at the wrong place at the right time. 
An artist’s worst enemy is obscurity. Amano has no fear of that now, thanks to his work with Square. Even discounting that, if anything it gave him the money he needed to take more trips, buy more art (for studies and inspirations), and take time off to perfect his style.
EDIT
You can win a land war in Asia, but you have to be a ruthless heartless asshole and bomb every target there is: especially farmland and homes.
Total war. Nothing less.
The largest powers in Asia have horrid population to land ratio. Huge numbers live in small concentrated area. Makes 'em easier to kill in a sneaky first strike. Also they don’t have enough land to feed everyone - even with horrid population kills. Embargo the hell out of them. Also that saying was made before satellites, missiles, and the capacity to devastate another country without landing a single troop on their land.
Without the nuke factor, the US versus China would be a slaughterhouse. The USAF would send stealth strikes at the start followed by larger but faster B-1 strikes (B-52’s are too vulnerable for China), and after the rather pathetic PLA Navy is gone, the USN would just standoff the shore and launch cruise missiles - they can replenish at sea; one of the US Navy’s greatest strength, so the fleet can always be there (within reason of course).
Yes the PLA Airforce is massive - largest in the world - but the vast majority of their fighters are REALLY outdated and can’t even get into weapon range, nor remain undetected from a counterstrike. Plus there’s the question of how long they could field that massive fleet: fuel, parts, weapons, etc. I doubt China stockpiles obsolete equipment in massive hordes - they want the new stuff too.
India and Mongolia have no love for China, so the US could “bribe” them to seal their boarders for trade. Southeast Asia has no love for them either (although they might not like the US any better)… so it might go somewhat the same there too.
Korea would be lost - no question there. Japan would be under constant barrage by missiles. Suckage. But hey, China wouldn’t be the victor. Thus the war is won.
Naturally China WOULD use nukes in a war with the US, so this is all just talk. But then in a nuclear tradeoff, US and USSR still have more than China - and I suppose you’d count a victor in that fashion, as the one who got the most off - since everyone is pretty much screwed reguardless.
[ 06-29-2007, 12:03 PM: Message edited by: Nargrakhan ]