Problem is, we only ever mess about with small numbers. Take some absolutely humungous number,
N, and find, somehow, that it's
a times
b. Suppose someone else asserts that it's
c times
d. These numbers are enormous, absolutely enormous, so the question is: if
a, b, c, and
d are all prime, is it really obvious that these two ways of writing
N have to be the same?
Edit: As pointed out elsewhere (and in the sibling to this comment) there are systems where "prime" and "irreducible" are not the same thing. In the integers they are, and that's sort-of why the FTA is true, but in other places they aren't, which is why the FTA is not obvious.