Why is the director of Final Fantasy IX no longer working on FF games?

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Crystal Bearer

Stiltzkin's Apprentice
Mar 2, 2014
2
3
34
New York City, USA
#1
Hello.

This is my first thread here but I've been lurking here for a while. I've never had any reason to post here before. However, that's now changed. I've only just discovered that the director of FFIX, my favorite in the series, has not worked on any FF game since the PS2 era. I didn't even know who he was before, as I thought FFIX was directed by Hironobu Sakaguchi. I only found out about this man, Hiroyuki Ito, via surfing Final Fantasy Wikia and ending up on his page via reading up on FFIX.

According to his FF Wikia page, not only did he not work on the FFXIII trilogy, but he also isn't working on FFXIV: A Realm Reborn or FFXV. Can somebody explain to me why this is? Why has he stopped working on FF games? FFIX is Hironobu Sakaguchi's favorite and ideal view of what FF should be, so why has the director of the game been permanently put on the bench? It makes no sense. Also, back when LR FFXIII released, I was checking the scores of all the past FF games on Metacritic, and FFIX had the highest score of all. Why is the director of this game not getting any major work? It's seriously baffling. :confused:

Now that I know this man and what he's done, I'm eager to see him spearheading FFXVI. Do you think there's a chance it will happen or if he's even already making it behind the scenes?

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your forthcoming replies. :)
 

Joshua

Sphere Hunter
Oct 7, 2013
231
47
43
California
#2
In a nutshell, nobody knows what this man is doing and anyone saying "Well I heard he was doing such and such" is likely repeating some rumor/newsbit that has been miscommunicated seven times over.

I'd love to have another game from him, though.
 

Jenova

Keyblade Master
Oct 28, 2013
729
583
#4
I don't believe this was really answered in previous interviews with SE executives. Last I heard he was overseeing small projects in Square-Enix's Mobile Division. At E3 this year, I'd like to see someone ask directly what Ito-san is working on and receive a non-roundabout answer.
 

APZonerunner

Network Boss-man
Administrator
UFFSite Veteran
Site Staff
Jul 25, 2013
1,134
926
35
Solihull, UK
www.rpgsite.net
#5
Wasted talent. After FF12, Ito went dark for a while, and then he showed up in the credits for an SE mobile game, the name of which I forget, as the guy responsible for the original concept. But he didn't actually work on the game, he just provided the dev team with the concept.

I asked Final Fantasy Series Producer Shinji Hashimoto where Ito was last summer. This is what he said:
RPG Site: I can see Nomura-san's crew need the room back for their next interview, so I'm going to wrap up by betraying my inner fan and ask a more specific talent question - Hiroyuki Ito, the creator of ATB, the director of FF9 - my favourite, which of course you produced - and FF12... Is he still at the company - and is he working on anything that we already know about?

Hashimoto: [laughs] You're a very unique journalist, asking about Ito-san! Yeah. He's still at Square Enix. He's been planning and doing some proposals for a new project at the moment, so... Really, he's the kind of guy that wants to challenge new things all the time, so, yeah. At the moment, he's doing... [laughs] He's putting some ideas together.​

So he is there. Where? Who knows. I hope they give him an FF again soon.

If you want to know a bit more about Ito, here's a link to his profile in Avalon, a Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Celebratory Project we at Nova Crystallis/UFFSite helped to create. It goes into detail about how much FF owes to the man - without him, there would be no Active Time Battle system! His impact on games he ultimately wasn't credited on - such as the concepts for the Materia System & Triple Triad - are also huge. He is truly FF's unsung hero.
 

Nikolasvanitas

Chocobo Knight
Sep 27, 2013
198
76
Greece
www.youtube.com
#6
I still remember how amazed I was when I first gathered my party members in FF12 and started experimenting with the Gambits system,for me it was something completely new and innovative compared to other rpgs like the previous FFs,I spended hours trying different combinations and setups,it makes you feel like a soccer manager giving instructions to your players and you can always pause the game and input commands in classic turn based style
Its a shame that SE hasnt given him another chance for a new RPG
 

Azuardo

Keyblade Master
Moderator
Sep 26, 2013
755
279
#7
My god, this man needs to get back on the series. It's almost a crime that he hasn't been put to use more than he has already. He absolutely deserves it.
 
#8
I wonder how affected he was by the fiasco behind FFXIV and the major mobilisation of most SE manpower behind Yoshi-P to push out ARR. Things like a console ARPG Bloodmasque were sacrificed, and I suspect whatever Ito was cooking up might have been jettisoned or indefinitely put back until the company got/is still trying to get its structural act together. Otherwise it is bizarre that he has supposedly been cobbling together ideas yet has seemingly produced and shown nothing.

Ito for FFXVI would be a great idea. I've always championed the idea that especially after a transparently action RPG entry, the sixteenth entry should go back to ATB (or even CTB if he and Square are willing) as a basic foundation and build their own new twists over it. Ito up there with some younger, fresher blood at his side would be awesome. Maintain as a prestigious veteran of the franchise reins over the direction of the project, while cultivating crucial younger talent for the more hands-on work and organisation. After all, a project as large as a mainline FF game is far more than just one or two people calling the shots.

Unless Ito has decided in recent years to assume a much lower profile and shy away from big projects after FFXII.
 

Crystal Bearer

Stiltzkin's Apprentice
Mar 2, 2014
2
3
34
New York City, USA
#9
Thank you for all the replies. You all provided me with insightful information. :)

I really need to educate myself on who actually makes the numbered FF games. It appears that each mainline entry isn't even made by the same development team, yet alone the same director. That's a huge revelation to me, believe it or not.

Wasted talent. After FF12, Ito went dark for a while, and then he showed up in the credits for an SE mobile game, the name of which I forget, as the guy responsible for the original concept. But he didn't actually work on the game, he just provided the dev team with the concept.

I asked Final Fantasy Series Producer Shinji Hashimoto where Ito was last summer. This is what he said:
RPG Site: I can see Nomura-san's crew need the room back for their next interview, so I'm going to wrap up by betraying my inner fan and ask a more specific talent question - Hiroyuki Ito, the creator of ATB, the director of FF9 - my favourite, which of course you produced - and FF12... Is he still at the company - and is he working on anything that we already know about?

Hashimoto: [laughs] You're a very unique journalist, asking about Ito-san! Yeah. He's still at Square Enix. He's been planning and doing some proposals for a new project at the moment, so... Really, he's the kind of guy that wants to challenge new things all the time, so, yeah. At the moment, he's doing... [laughs] He's putting some ideas together.​

So he is there. Where? Who knows. I hope they give him an FF again soon.

If you want to know a bit more about Ito, here's a link to his profile in Avalon, a Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Celebratory Project we at Nova Crystallis/UFFSite helped to create. It goes into detail about how much FF owes to the man - without him, there would be no Active Time Battle system! His impact on games he ultimately wasn't credited on - such as the concepts for the Materia System & Triple Triad - are also huge. He is truly FF's unsung hero.
That's a very encouraging reply you got from Shinji Hashimoto. You never know, that game he says that Hiroyuki Ito is planning and proposing could well be FFXVI. I'm choosing to keep my fingers crossed! :D

Also, thanks for the link to that Avalaon e-book. That was a very informative article on Hiroyuki Ito. As you say, he really does appear to be an unsung hero of the FF series. I see many people praise Naoki Yoshida for what he did with saving FFXIV, but I feel that praise is mainly due to him remaking the game and making something great out of something that was originally terrible. However, Ito seems to have made great things even without the pressure and desperation to try and salvage something. That's true talent, IMO. It's a big step above what Naoki Yoshida has done with FFXIV. That's not to say I don't value Naoki Yoshida's work on FFXIV, but I just feel his case was more similar to somebody running faster because they're desperately fleeing for their life, rather than somebody running at their normal speed.
 

Kaimi

Yevonite
Oct 10, 2013
45
19
Poland
#12
At least we know he's not been demoted to janitor!
That comment is platinum! ;P

Final Fantasy IX is in my top three, followed by [sic!] Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy X. Ignoring few things about FFIX, this game was pretty much perfect example of what is a Final Fantasy game, Zidane and Garnet are, aside of Snow and Serah, pairing which really enchanted me and the story was so magical. I'd like to see something like that again. And Mognet should return! I had so much fun with it! (Why on Pulse Lightning Returns has a whole cast of moogles, but doesn't give it much fun like inclusion of Mognet? ;_; )