Final Fantasy XV - General News Thread

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Bazztek

Keyblade Master
May 26, 2014
719
1,890
Hamaguchi is not listed as the director. He is a Development Leader.
So actually in charge of FF7R development and the one managing the team and the development, while Nomura is just an ideas guy but just billed as "director", even though earlier leaks from last year pretty much said he's "director" in name only? Nomura has never directed a game on his own in over a decade, he's incapable of doing so, he has stated himself he's terrible at management, hell even when Tabata was co-director on FFXV back in 2013 Nomura made a statement that it's his co-directors that are the ones actually managing the day to day work and not him. Hamaguchi is Development Leader aka the person in charge of development, the position is interchangeable with "co-director", it's all semantics. Not only that but Nomura was still removed from the FF7 Remake recruitment page where it now only has Hamaguchi and Kitase profiles on it and not Nomura, why would they remove the "person in charge" from the recruitment page but leave two people that are supposedly under him?

It's like saying Kitase wasn't the actual "director" of FFX because he's credited as "Producer" in the game credits even though he was mentioned as being the Director on FFX in prerelease interviews, and FFX credits only three people in "directors" positions which are all listed after Kitase, with Toriyama as Event Director, Takayoshi Nakazato as Map Director and Toshiro Tsuchida as Battle Director none of whom are in positions to oversee the entire game.

Hell you even have Takatsugu Nakazawa being listed as Battle Director and System Designer for FFXV when he made prerelease appearances in an ATR but the final game only lists him as "RPG System", but then after release he still stated he was in charge of battles, he was even later credited as Director of FFXV Royal Edition.

The way SE credits people in their games is inconsistent and just because someone isn't mentioned as one position doesn't mean they actually weren't, and likewise just because someone is listed as such, much like Nomura frequently is, doesn't mean he does the same things as someone with that same title does on another game. It's again the same like Nomura being "Director" of Advent Children even though Nozue was the actual director of the CG for the film and the film started with Kitase and Nojima long before Nomura even came on board to the film, he was only listed as "Director" because he gave them story ideas. Nomura is the most "name only" Director I've ever seen, he always has other people pulling his weight and he just gets propped up by Kitase protecting him all the time.

Hell again even on KH3 it's Tai Yasue actually pulling the weight and leading the actual dev team while Nomura just gives them ideas and checks off on things, without Yasue as his co-director on KH3 it wouldn't be anywhere close to be done, and without Hamaguchi on FF7R wouldn't be anywhere, and likewise without Tabata as Co-director on XV in 2013 when Nomura was still around the only actual work being done was what Tabata was heading.

Nomura's name has star power because of the heavy marketing Sony and Square inducted with it during the 90s, it's why Kitase keeps propping him up, it's why a character designer keeps getting put in "director" positions on games, because Kitase is the one assigning him those.

Nomura should just stick to what Nomura does best, and that's the job he was hired to do back in the 90s, drawing characters and/or monsters.

How did Square Enix screw over Tabata, if he left on his own accord? Did they screw him over by rewarding him with his own studio?
Reading must be hard for you huh? Why do you think a situation arose that prompted Tabata to feel he needs to leave to begin with even happened? Because of the higher ups, and the higher ups are the ones who decided to reevalute Luminous Productions and cancel the XV DLC episodes and put them onto the new AAA IP, that wasn't Tabata's doing, which you'd know if you actually read up on what happened.
 
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Likes: Lord_Ham_Mork

stolas

Sphere Hunter
Feb 20, 2018
225
348
So actually in charge of FF7R development and the one managing the team and the development, while Nomura is just an ideas guy but just billed as "director", even though earlier leaks from last year pretty much said he's "director" in name only? Nomura has never directed a game on his own in over a decade, he's incapable of doing so, he has stated himself he's terrible at management, hell even when Tabata was co-director on FFXV back in 2013 Nomura made a statement that it's his co-directors that are the ones actually managing the day to day work and not him. Hamaguchi is Development Leader aka the person in charge of development, the position is interchangeable with "co-director", it's all semantics. Not only that but Nomura was still removed from the FF7 Remake recruitment page where it now only has Hamaguchi and Kitase profiles on it and not Nomura, why would they remove the "person in charge" from the recruitment page but leave two people that are supposedly under him?

It's like saying Kitase wasn't the actual "director" of FFX because he's credited as "Producer" in the game credits even though he was mentioned as being the Director on FFX in prerelease interviews, and FFX credits only three people in "directors" positions which are all listed after Kitase, with Toriyama as Event Director, Takayoshi Nakazato as Map Director and Toshiro Tsuchida as Battle Director none of whom are in positions to oversee the entire game.

Hell you even have Takatsugu Nakazawa being listed as Battle Director and System Designer for FFXV when he made prerelease appearances in an ATR but the final game only lists him as "RPG System", but then after release he still stated he was in charge of battles, he was even later credited as Director of FFXV Royal Edition.

The way SE credits people in their games is inconsistent and just because someone isn't mentioned as one position doesn't mean they actually weren't, and likewise just because someone is listed as such, much like Nomura frequently is, doesn't mean he does the same things as someone with that same title does on another game. It's again the same like Nomura being "Director" of Advent Children even though Nozue was the actual director of the CG for the film and the film started with Kitase and Nojima long before Nomura even came on board to the film, he was only listed as "Director" because he gave them story ideas. Nomura is the most "name only" Director I've ever seen, he always has other people pulling his weight and he just gets propped up by Kitase protecting him all the time.

Hell again even on KH3 it's Tai Yasue actually pulling the weight and leading the actual dev team while Nomura just gives them ideas and checks off on things, without Yasue as his co-director on KH3 it wouldn't be anywhere close to be done, and without Hamaguchi on FF7R wouldn't be anywhere, and likewise without Tabata as Co-director on XV in 2013 when Nomura was still around the only actual work being done was what Tabata was heading.

Nomura's name has star power because of the heavy marketing Sony and Square inducted with it during the 90s, it's why Kitase keeps propping him up, it's why a character designer keeps getting put in "director" positions on games, because Kitase is the one assigning him those.

Nomura should just stick to what Nomura does best, and that's the job he was hired to do back in the 90s, drawing characters and/or monsters.


Reading must be hard for you huh? Why do you think a situation arose that prompted Tabata to feel he needs to leave to begin with even happened? Because of the higher ups, and the higher ups are the ones who decided to reevalute Luminous Productions and cancel the XV DLC episodes and put them onto the new AAA IP, that wasn't Tabata's doing, which you'd know if you actually read up on what happened.
Do you work for Square? I would say no. You are making a lot of assumptions and I'm not getting into this with you, yet again.
 
Likes: Vallen

Bazztek

Keyblade Master
May 26, 2014
719
1,890
Do you work for Square? I would say no. You are making a lot of assumptions and I'm not getting into this with you, yet again.
Please, you're just another delusional Nomura fanboy desperate to dunk on Tabata after this news and trying to spin anything to paint Tabata as the one at fault here, instead of SE higher ups who are the ones who created this entire situation to begin with, which every fact points towards and even the official statement states it was SE higher ups who decided to restructure it this way. This isn't done as the result of Tabata deciding to leave, Tabata decided to leave as a result of the options given before him as this happened as part of the higher ups plans to restructure LumiPro to just focus on the new AAA IP which is why they cancelled the other DLC besides ep Ardyn, there is clearly more at play here regarding Tabata's reasons for leaving than just your desperate "oh man it's all Tabata's fault hurr durr!?!?".

And the fact that you are still to this day acting as if Nomura is somehow incapable of criticism for his shitty management abilities which not only tanked Versus, but is harming FF7R and already put KH3 in a full dev period longer than even FFXV was in full time dev for, is frankly stunning. He hasn't put out a brand new console game in over a decade and his next slated one still isn't out and was already delayed from 2018 to 2019, but nah Nomura can do no wrong!
 

Wena Washo

PSICOM Soldier
Nov 30, 2017
67
180
33
So actually in charge of FF7R development and the one managing the team and the development, while Nomura is just an ideas guy but just billed as "director", even though earlier leaks from last year pretty much said he's "director" in name only? Nomura has never directed a game on his own in over a decade, he's incapable of doing so, he has stated himself he's terrible at management, hell even when Tabata was co-director on FFXV back in 2013 Nomura made a statement that it's his co-directors that are the ones actually managing the day to day work and not him. Hamaguchi is Development Leader aka the person in charge of development, the position is interchangeable with "co-director", it's all semantics. Not only that but Nomura was still removed from the FF7 Remake recruitment page where it now only has Hamaguchi and Kitase profiles on it and not Nomura, why would they remove the "person in charge" from the recruitment page but leave two people that are supposedly under him?

It's like saying Kitase wasn't the actual "director" of FFX because he's credited as "Producer" in the game credits even though he was mentioned as being the Director on FFX in prerelease interviews, and FFX credits only three people in "directors" positions which are all listed after Kitase, with Toriyama as Event Director, Takayoshi Nakazato as Map Director and Toshiro Tsuchida as Battle Director none of whom are in positions to oversee the entire game.

Hell you even have Takatsugu Nakazawa being listed as Battle Director and System Designer for FFXV when he made prerelease appearances in an ATR but the final game only lists him as "RPG System", but then after release he still stated he was in charge of battles, he was even later credited as Director of FFXV Royal Edition.

The way SE credits people in their games is inconsistent and just because someone isn't mentioned as one position doesn't mean they actually weren't, and likewise just because someone is listed as such, much like Nomura frequently is, doesn't mean he does the same things as someone with that same title does on another game. It's again the same like Nomura being "Director" of Advent Children even though Nozue was the actual director of the CG for the film and the film started with Kitase and Nojima long before Nomura even came on board to the film, he was only listed as "Director" because he gave them story ideas. Nomura is the most "name only" Director I've ever seen, he always has other people pulling his weight and he just gets propped up by Kitase protecting him all the time.

Hell again even on KH3 it's Tai Yasue actually pulling the weight and leading the actual dev team while Nomura just gives them ideas and checks off on things, without Yasue as his co-director on KH3 it wouldn't be anywhere close to be done, and without Hamaguchi on FF7R wouldn't be anywhere, and likewise without Tabata as Co-director on XV in 2013 when Nomura was still around the only actual work being done was what Tabata was heading.

Nomura's name has star power because of the heavy marketing Sony and Square inducted with it during the 90s, it's why Kitase keeps propping him up, it's why a character designer keeps getting put in "director" positions on games, because Kitase is the one assigning him those.

Nomura should just stick to what Nomura does best, and that's the job he was hired to do back in the 90s, drawing characters and/or monsters.


Reading must be hard for you huh? Why do you think a situation arose that prompted Tabata to feel he needs to leave to begin with even happened? Because of the higher ups, and the higher ups are the ones who decided to reevalute Luminous Productions and cancel the XV DLC episodes and put them onto the new AAA IP, that wasn't Tabata's doing, which you'd know if you actually read up on what happened.
Imagine thinking than being this aggressive helps you get your point across better.
What I’m okay with:
-no alternate ending nonsense
-EP Ardyn getting like a year of development time
-the new guys promising to bring XV to a conclusion (which gives me hope that at least one more patch at the end will come to fix/address whatever they can before closing the book on the game)

What sucks:
-I bet money/resources were put into the other 3 DLCs and some parts were coming along, this all is just sunk money and scrapped efforts (a theme of XV, too much finished work gets scrapped)
-kingsglaive will never be tied to the game
-DLCs forever will be disjointed from the narrative (even worse it seems comrades is being taken out of the main game menu and is now permanently a separate game... even more disjointed)
-they’re making even more movies/anime/“other forms of media” to deliver story, I don’t give a shit to keep up with multiple games, apps, web comics, OVAs ffs
-Little QoL elements and parts of the story that needed work (like the Niffs’ perspective) will never be realized.
I agree. I am not excited about a potential new anime or "form of media" in the least, because if there's one thing this game didn't need more of, was for its story to be further mutilated and disjointed.
 
Feb 19, 2018
582
1,108
31
Even though it's unlikely I wonder if all the outcry from fans will maybe be noticed by Square. I highly doubt it will but it would be cool if seeing the fan reaction gets them to reconsider or compromise, not necessarily cuz they care but because they see potential dollars in still honoring the promises they made. FFXV was even trending on the number 3 spot on twitter last night and the stream video has more dislikes than likes on it so that's gotta count for something and the devs themselves seems like they really wanted to see the projects through to the end as well. I'm hoping Square allows them to do something even if full blown episodes may not be in the cards anymore.
 

LeonBlade

Administrator
Administrator
Moderator
Site Staff
Oct 25, 2013
2,026
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Blossvale, New York
This reminds me of a YouTube comment on the Ardyn DLC trailer that someone wrote "Bazztek on suicide watch". Let's keep things civil here, okay? No need to get your feelings hurt. That goes to everyone. I know that this is some pretty negative news. If you want to bicker back and forth, just private message each other.
 

Flash Over

Chocobo Knight
Mar 7, 2015
219
156
NL, Canada
Japanese fans are also pretty salty about it.

I’m not affected by it, to be honest. It’s a shame Luna won’t get proper development but after two years, I don’t care anymore.

I asked a friend to reach out to someone they know that works in Luminous Productions (yeah I know how that sounds online). They obviously can’t really say anything, but the impression I got is that there is drama.
 

stolas

Sphere Hunter
Feb 20, 2018
225
348
Please, you're just another delusional Nomura fanboy desperate to dunk on Tabata after this news and trying to spin anything to paint Tabata as the one at fault here, instead of SE higher ups who are the ones who created this entire situation to begin with, which every fact points towards and even the official statement states it was SE higher ups who decided to restructure it this way. This isn't done as the result of Tabata deciding to leave, Tabata decided to leave as a result of the options given before him as this happened as part of the higher ups plans to restructure LumiPro to just focus on the new AAA IP which is why they cancelled the other DLC besides ep Ardyn, there is clearly more at play here regarding Tabata's reasons for leaving than just your desperate "oh man it's all Tabata's fault hurr durr!?!?".

And the fact that you are still to this day acting as if Nomura is somehow incapable of criticism for his shitty management abilities which not only tanked Versus, but is harming FF7R and already put KH3 in a full dev period longer than even FFXV was in full time dev for, is frankly stunning. He hasn't put out a brand new console game in over a decade and his next slated one still isn't out and was already delayed from 2018 to 2019, but nah Nomura can do no wrong!
Do you know me? Where did you get this idea that I have been in blindly supporting someone I don't know? I based my statement "That kinda feels like Tabata screwed over Square, his employees that had been working on the project, and the fans" on this: . Last time I checked we are allowed to have difference of opinion. Stop taking this so personally.
 

Mk Rec

Stiltzkin's Apprentice
Nov 8, 2018
7
9
Episode Ardyn breaks canon
Why do I keep seeing this absolutely NPC reply everywhere I go? No E Ardyn does not break canon. Regis could've just as easily pretended to not know Ardyn, or refrained from saying anything to keep the calm and lay his own plans. Nothing would've been gained from him going "AH YOU'RE THAT GUY WHO TRIED TO KILL ME 30 YEARS AGO" at the hearing. If he's met Ardyn before then all the more reason why he won't try to confront him because he knows just how ungodly powerful Ardyn is.
 

Ikkin

Warrior of Light
Oct 30, 2016
1,099
1,705
So, I have a theory as to what might have happened here:

Fact 1: Squenix posted a $33mil loss for two quarters of LumiPro's operating costs.

$33 million for two quarters seems extraordinarily high even for AAA game development. The FFXV DLCs were almost certainly a drop in that particular bucket. Even full production on FFXV itself clearly wasn't costing over $60 million per year -- even if it was only in full production for two years, that would be $120 million, and Tabby couldn't say that FFXV's costs were significantly lower than western games like GTA.

So, what could cost $33 million for two quarters? How about R&D? I suspect that LumiPro was functioning largely as an R&D team, with the FFXV DLCs bringing in some income on the side.

Fact 2: Tabby said “In regards to my next endeavors and near future, I have a project that I truly wish to solidify as my next challenge after FFXV,” Tabata explained in a statement. “For that reason, I have decided to leave my current position and start my own business in order to achieve my goal.”

If Tabby left because he wanted to work on a specific project, why would LumiPro be focusing on R&D? Well, what if Tabby's intended project was meant to be a next-gen project? Since the next-gen specs haven't been worked out yet, Tabby might have kept his project in the conceptual phase while LumiPro's production staff focused on DLC and R&D.

Fact 3: Squenix said they're focusing on one AAA project.

Squenix, of course, is a business, and seeing the cost of leaving LumiPro in R&D mode might have scared them off. Perhaps they told Tabby they wanted him to put his new project into production now, as a current-gen game to be released in 2020-2021 (or gave him the choice between that and putting off his project until the completion of a new current-gen game in 2020-2021), and he decided he would rather start a production company that would continue to work on developing concepts for a next-gen game.

The potential fallout: If my theory is true, than FFXV's DLC wouldn't be the only LumiPro project affected by the restructuring. There'd be a lot of behind-the-scenes R&D that would fall by the wayside, too, for the purpose of ensuring that LumiPro can release another AAA game this generation. The only real question is what that game might be. Tabby said that he wasn't working on another FF game, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Squenix won't push LumiPro to take that project now that he's gone. There have been rumblings that they'd use the FFXIV team for that for quite some time, but nothing ever materialized; maybe Squenix decided they'd rather have LumiPro do it.
 

Lord_Ham_Mork

SOLDIER Second Class
Feb 23, 2018
344
587
31
Now that i'm more calm (i still despise the decision to cancel everything in such a blatant way), i can speculate one last time about what Episode Ardyn is about.

The dlc happens 30 years before XV, which at start made think about being 10 years before Noctis birth. But he's 30 in the end of the game. So the dlc could happen close enought to his birth, and we may receive exposition about how he was chosen by the Gods and maybe get Ardyn killing Noctis mother.

This could be introducted as the revelation of Bahamuth, explaining to Noctis who is his rival, what is his objective and what was the struggle of his father.
Which would make sense, due to Noctis seeming to know a lot of things after his 10 years of sleep.
 
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FFChocobo18

Warrior of Light
Jan 9, 2017
1,045
1,514
Now that i'm more calm (i still despise the decision to cancel everything in such a blatant way), i can speculate one last time about what Episode Ardyn is about.

The game happens 30 years before XV, which at start made think about being 10 years before Noctis birth. But he's 30 in the end of the game. So the dlc could happen close enought to his birth, and we may receive exposition about how he was chosen by the Gods and maybe get Ardyn killing Noctis mother.

This could be introducted as the revelation of Bahamuth, explaining to Noctis who is his rival, what is his objective and what was the struggle of his father.
Which would make sense, due to Noctis seeming to know a lot of things after his 10 years of sleep.
That could be an interesting exposition, but we'll wait and see when they talk more about Episode: Ardyn, which I'm glad is the one that was spared, it's better than not having an Ardyn DLC at all.
 
Likes: Lord_Ham_Mork
Oct 26, 2017
575
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Costa Rica
¡¿Do you think they are gonna implement this dlc to the main story (like the expanded Insomnia section of the Royal Pack dlc) or will be like the other episodes, choosing from a side menu?!

Another thing, ¡¿do you think we gonna get another version of the game with all the dlc, including episode Ardyn in it?!

I think those are very important right now.