The great Final Fantasy XVI Staff Debate: Who do you want?

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Who do you want to direct Final Fantasy XVI?

  • Yoshinori Kitase (FFVI, FFVII, FFVIII)

    Votes: 5 16.1%
  • Hiroyuki Ito (FFVI, FFIX, FFXII, FFXII IZJS)

    Votes: 24 77.4%
  • Motomu Toriyama (FFX, FFX-2, FFXII RW, FFXIII, FFXIII-2, LR FFXIII)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Hajime Tabata (BC FFVII, CC FFVII, FF Type-0, FFXV)

    Votes: 2 6.5%

  • Total voters
    31
Jun 7, 2014
898
625
Poland
#21
Ah, now everything makes sense.
going by my own unbiased opinion
Finally! Someone unbiased in this fanboys' nest. And so modest :)

There's two factors at play here.

  1. Management are unlikely to ever let Nomura helm another mainline FF because he took too long with FFXV and they now want him to focus on developing games in the mainline Kingdom Hearts series.
  2. Nomura may not even want to direct another mainline FF because of his troubling experience with FFXV.
I do agree that Nomura most likely won't direct any FF in the near future, but I wouldn't be so quick to claim he won't work on it ever again.

1. We don't know all the behind-the-scenes story of FFXV's development, and how much was actually Nomura's fault. But we do know that he created a successful franchise and directed some very well received games. The management also know this.
2. It's not uncommon that people change their minds on such matters. Kojima has said four or five times that he was making his last MGS.

So I wouldn't rule him out completely just yet.
 
Likes: LeonBlade

LeonBlade

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#22
I do agree that Nomura most likely won't direct any FF in the near future, but I wouldn't be so quick to claim he won't work on it ever again.

1. We don't know all the behind-the-scenes story of FFXV's development, and how much was actually Nomura's fault. But we do know that he created a successful franchise and directed some very well received games. The management also know this.
2. It's not uncommon that people change their minds on such matters. Kojima has said four or five times that he was making his last MGS.

So I wouldn't rule him out completely just yet.
Exactly what I was trying to say, I agree completely.
 

Infest

Blitzball Champion
Sep 8, 2014
540
346
Germany
#23
Regardless who's directing it I hope they do something more in the style of FF IX. I know that many don't like the "childish/fairytale-looking" character designs but I love them. That's for me Final Fantasy in its purest form.
 

LeonBlade

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#24
Regardless who's directing it I hope they do something more in the style of FF IX. I know that many don't like the "childish/fairytale-looking" character designs but I love them. That's for me Final Fantasy in its purest form.
IX is the one FF game I haven't played... lol. I have it and everything.
 

Lulcielid

Warrior of Light
Oct 9, 2014
3,826
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Argentina
#25
Regardless who's directing it I hope they do something more in the style of FF IX. I know that many don't like the "childish/fairytale-looking" character designs but I love them. That's for me Final Fantasy in its purest form.
Well FF began with "cartoonish" sprites design and every FF game previous to FFX(minus VIII) used that kind of desing, so i don´t have too much trouble here.
 

Infest

Blitzball Champion
Sep 8, 2014
540
346
Germany
#26
IX is the one FF game I haven't played... lol. I have it and everything.
OMG PLAAAAAAAAAAAY IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111111111 ^^

Well FF began with "cartoonish" sprites design and every FF game previous to FFX(minus VIII) used that kind of desing, so i don´t have too much trouble here.
It's not only about the "cartoonish"-design it's more about the many different animal(non human)-like fantasy characters and their language that makes IX so fantastic to me.
 

APZonerunner

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Jul 25, 2013
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#27
My answer is a little from column A, a little from column B - let's have Ito & Kitase as joint Producer & Director, both of them together. This is the duo that directed FF6. If I were Hashimoto, I'd give them both Director & Producer roles and have them share those duties between them.

Also: No Nomura. Ta.

Regarding Nomura - I just think everything about the way he left the FF15 project screams forced removal and I don't think he'll ever direct a game solo for Square again. From my standpoint I think he's being sidelined, but he's too important to lose, his art is so iconic. So he's sharing with Tabata and Yasue, but they're not removing all power from him because they 'need' his art. He's arguably irreplaceable art-wise, but all the extra power and influence he garnered as a universe-shaper for FF during FNC and the FF13 years appears to have been flushed right away with how 15 has been entirely removed from his oversight, even if it is still mostly his vision - the removal is unprecedented. This is, it should be noted, exactly what happened to Sakaguchi post-TSW... he was removed from the decision making process but used as a figurehead of sorts.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nomura ends up leaving eventually, but when I've met him he never came across as somebody as confident and self-assured as somebody like Sakaguchi or Kojima, who would walk out on the salaryman life.
 

Crystal Power

Keyblade Master
Nov 29, 2013
712
243
United States
#28
Regardless who's directing it I hope they do something more in the style of FF IX. I know that many don't like the "childish/fairytale-looking" character designs but I love them. That's for me Final Fantasy in its purest form.
I wouldn't mind if it was fairy tale or anime-ish looking, just as long as the character have more realistic proportions. Most of the cast all looked like children despite being teenagers and adults...
 
Oct 19, 2013
410
617
#29
My answer is a little from column A, a little from column B - let's have Ito & Kitase as joint Producer & Director, both of them together. This is the duo that directed FF6. If I were Hashimoto, I'd give them both Director & Producer roles and have them share those duties between them.

Also: No Nomura. Ta.

Regarding Nomura - I just think everything about the way he left the FF15 project screams forced removal and I don't think he'll ever direct a game solo for Square again. From my standpoint I think he's being sidelined, but he's too important to lose, his art is so iconic. So he's sharing with Tabata and Yasue, but they're not removing all power from him because they 'need' his art. He's arguably irreplaceable art-wise, but all the extra power and influence he garnered as a universe-shaper for FF during FNC and the FF13 years appears to have been flushed right away with how 15 has been entirely removed from his oversight, even if it is still mostly his vision - the removal is unprecedented. This is, it should be noted, exactly what happened to Sakaguchi post-TSW... he was removed from the decision making process but used as a figurehead of sorts.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nomura ends up leaving eventually, but when I've met him he never came across as somebody as confident and self-assured as somebody like Sakaguchi or Kojima, who would walk out on the salaryman life.
My thoughts, too, in regards to Nomura. He seemed to be way too overambitious with Versus XIII for what console it was supposed to be on initially, plus he basically said himself that he doesn't like working as a director:

"I'm not director material." Said Nomura, talking about his experience as director for the first Kingdom Hearts. Kind of odd, considering he's been at the helm for the entire series. Nomura himself prefers being on the front lines of development, rather than handling oversight of an entire project.


However, being the director for Kingdom Hearts was a necessary sacrifice for Nomura. "Most importantly, I had to have the final say on the content of the game. Basically, without it, I wouldn't have been able to make the game I want. I had to have Kingdom Hearts come out in the way I envisioned."

Source: http://kotaku.com/some-things-you-may-not-know-about-final-fantasy-xvs-d-1542873213http://kotaku.com/some-things-you-may-not-know-about-final-fantasy-xvs-d-1542873213

You just can't lead a project as big as a mainline FF that way. FFXV probably needed someone realistic and pragmatic like Tabata to be completed in a reasonable timeframe.
Of course everybody should still respect and recognize Nomura's original vision which ultimately is what makes FFXVersus so special and interesting.
 

Squirrel Emperor

Nuts
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Sep 26, 2013
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#30
Regarding Nomura - I just think everything about the way he left the FF15 project screams forced removal and I don't think he'll ever direct a game solo for Square again. From my standpoint I think he's being sidelined, but he's too important to lose, his art is so iconic. So he's sharing with Tabata and Yasue, but they're not removing all power from him because they 'need' his art. He's arguably irreplaceable art-wise, but all the extra power and influence he garnered as a universe-shaper for FF during FNC and the FF13 years appears to have been flushed right away with how 15 has been entirely removed from his oversight, even if it is still mostly his vision - the removal is unprecedented. This is, it should be noted, exactly what happened to Sakaguchi post-TSW... he was removed from the decision making process but used as a figurehead of sorts.
Pretty much. The Osaka team was built to handle the Kingdom Hearts IP without Nomura's heavy involvement. I've always found that to be a bit strange when Matsuda said that Nomura will be focusing on titles that can only be made possible by Nomura himself.

Definitely agree with the art part but I don't think it's hard to replace him with another character designer.
 

Sora96

Warrior of Light
Nov 12, 2014
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kh13.com
#31
Seems like a good time to bring this quote from Yasue up.

Yasue: “Nomura has always been working on Kingdom Hearts III full-time, so nothing’s really changed there. Nomura is really the visionary, so he doesn’t work on the nitty gritty details. That’s something we do in Osaka; alongside development, we do the technology. That hasn’t really changed. We get Nomura’s input but it’s not a day-to-day thing, he just has these big ideas sometimes he tells us about. The pace really depends on how our team’s doing and that was never affected.”

Definitely agree with the art part but I don't think it's hard to replace him with another character designer.
Toshiyuki Itahana, Akihiko Yoshida
Isamu Kamikokuryo, Hiroshi Minagawa, Toshitaka Matsuda
 

BrokenHeart

PSICOM Soldier
Mar 16, 2015
80
8
#33
Hiroyuki Ito is way ahead in the poll results, which is nice to see. I personally would have liked Yoshinori Kitase to have got more votes, as he's my fave Final Fantasy director; even though FFIX by Ito is my fave FF game, FFVII by Kitase is what got me into JRPGs and made me see video games as competent storytelling medium.

I wonder if these poll results would be similarly distributed if 100,000 FF fans were asked to vote. I mean, it's already really interesting that there's demand in both Japan and the West for Ito to return and direct. I wonder if Square Enix have noticed it. Maybe they have and that's why they're keeping Ito's current project so secretive and low key? This really might be the case. After all, there's many big companies that keep their most promising employees and ambitious projects hidden away in R&D. Only when the time is right do they unleash them upon the world.
 
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Flash Over

Chocobo Knight
Mar 7, 2015
219
156
NL, Canada
#34
I wouldn't be surprised if XVI is announced this year. Square used to have a tendency to have multiple titles announced at the same time (IX, X and XI had all been announced alongside each other long before they were released)
 

Sora96

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#35
I wouldn't be surprised if XVI is announced this year. Square used to have a tendency to have multiple titles announced at the same time (IX, X and XI had all been announced alongside each other long before they were released)
It was a completely different company back then. And I don't think they want to announce a title XVI yet with how XV has been when XIV was announced there was plenty of confusion until it was revealed to be an MMO.
 

Squirrel Emperor

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Sep 26, 2013
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#37
Yasue: “Nomura has always been working on Kingdom Hearts III full-time, so nothing’s really changed there. Nomura is really the visionary, so he doesn’t work on the nitty gritty details. That’s something we do in Osaka; alongside development, we do the technology. That hasn’t really changed. We get Nomura’s input but it’s not a day-to-day thing, he just has these big ideas sometimes he tells us about. The pace really depends on how our team’s doing and that was never affected.”
Yasue's definition of "full-time" is probably different then mine.
 
Oct 19, 2013
410
617
#39
Just realized how confusing it will get for the general audience to tell apart FFXIV and FFXVI when there already some mixing up FFXV and FFXIV :D Might be good time to use arabic numerals.
 
Likes: LeonBlade

BrokenHeart

PSICOM Soldier
Mar 16, 2015
80
8
#40
It would be interesting to have a mainline FF that's produced by Yoshinori Kitase and directed by Hiroyuki Ito. The last game they worked on together was FFVI.