There seems to be some assumptions or hope that Final Fantasy XV is going to be announced soon. I think the most important detail we can get early on about the game will be who is directing it as that will tell us a lot about the direction and style of the game. I tihnk there are 3 likely candidates. Who do you want to see at the helm of Final Fantasy XV?

Motomu Toriyama. Toriyama has had some great success with the franchise directing Final Fantasy X a game many consider one of the best in the series, however XIII was was one of the lowest rated games in the main series. He belives that story and character are the most important things in a Final Fantasy game and that if you give the player a lot of freedom you can't tell a compelling story or have well defined charaters. He has never used a seamless battle system, Toriyama highly values vibrant special effects are important to a good battle system, which are not achivable in a seamless battle system. Kitase choose Toriyama to be his successor as director of the main series and has stated he wishs to continue to make Final Fantasy games with Toriyama.

Hiroyuki Ito. Ito has also had great success directing Final Fantasy games in the past. IX, according to metacritic, is the most critically acclaimed Final Fantasy game ever made. XII (which he took over when Minagawa stepped away) was the first Final Fantasy game to get a 40 from Famitsu. VI (which he co-directed with Kitase) is considered by many fans to be the best in the series. Were Toriyama believes story and character come first, Ito believes everything has to be balanced. He wants the players to be able too explore a vast world, visit various towns and dungeons, talk to numerous NPCs, customise the equipment and abilities of their character, collect a wide variety of items, battle many different types of monsters, and engage in optional side-quests and mini-games. He believes story and event scenes are also important, but they should be balanced with these aspects of RPG gameplay. Sakaguchi has stated that he believes Ito should be in charge of the series.

Tetsuya Nomura. Nomura has not directed a main series Final Fantasy game yet however his games, the Kingdom Hearts series, The World Ends with You, have generally been met with critical and fan praise. His current project is Final Fantasy VErsus XIII, which appears to be bringing back several classic elements that haven't been in the series for a while.

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Someone who can do right and quick. If they can do that I don't care who does it.

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although i really enjoyed FF XIII and XIII-2, i think Motomu Toriyama should step away from FF titles, a lot of people didnt like FF XIII and the cheap ending and DLCs from XIII-2 only made it worse, i personally prefer Hiroyuki to be in charge of the series, because i like the way he thinks, a balance between story and exploration and he was responsable for making my all time favourite game ( FF IX), Tetsuya Nomura would be a good idea too, he made an exceleent job with the KH series, and im sure he would do the same directing a FF game ( even though the delay in versus XIII in annoying me a lot )

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I'm going to pick another Director and that is Hajime Tabata, he guy who did Crisis Core, 3rd Birthday and Type-0. All those games are great and if Tabata had the resources, I'd bet that he would make a fantastic Final Fantasy XV. I think Darryl will agree with me.

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(May 21, 2012 05:45:42 PM)Axeken Wrote:  I'm going to pick another Director and that is Hajime Tabata, he guy who did Crisis Core, 3rd Birthday and Type-0. All those games are great and if Tabata had the resources, I'd bet that he would make a fantastic Final Fantasy XV. I think Darryl will agree with me.

Personally I'd like to see Ito make Final Fantasy XV. He has the best and most proven track record (VI, IX and XII). The one game in that list which might be considered a misstep would be XII, which a lot of fans still liked (it wasn't seen as negatively as XIII), was still one of the highest rated games in the series and went through some big issues during development. At this point I think I'd rather move Kitase and Toriyama to another franchise or their own original idea and let Ito take control of the Final Fantasy franchise.

I think a problem with Square Enix right now is that they really only have 2 good, bankable franchises. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. To help games sell they tend to slap those 2 names on games that don't really have much to do with the franchises (why does/did XIII need 2 companion games?) to help them sell and its dismished the value of those brands in a lot of fans eyes. Rather then take someone like Nomura or Tabata and stick them in charge of a Final Fantasy game, I'd rather they work on their own IPs and/or one of Square Enix's other existing IPs (Star Ocean, Parasite Eve, Chrono Trigger, Mana Series, when it comes to Nomura Kingdom Hearts etc...) and build up additional brands for the company, while people like Ito and Yuji Horii continue to make quality entries in those main series.

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I just want to mention, since I can't edit the O/P, that I made a mistake in the O/P. Matsuno left FInal Fantasy XII, not Minagawa

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I would love to see Ito come back, but generally if Nomura could pull his finger out and get a game actually released then my vote would go to him.

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(May 23, 2012 10:38:51 AM)Sam Wrote:  I would love to see Ito come back, but generally if Nomura could pull his finger out and get a game actually released then my vote would go to him.

I don't think it's Nomura's fault for having to wait forever to even make his game with "full-force". I think Square wanted these other games to shine something and make Verses a back thought for themselves. I don't know but I think if it was up to Nomura, Verses would have been out 2-3 years ago.

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Currently Playing: Guacamelee (PSVita)/ Injustice: Gods Among Us (iOS)
Last Finished: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (PS3)/ Platinumed PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (PS3 and PSVita)
Last Bought: God of War: Ascension (PS3)

Currently Watching: The Superman Blu-ray collection

Of the above, Ito... I really want the series to go back to it's roots with FFXV, similar to how FFIX did. That, and XII is amazing.

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(May 25, 2012 04:23:00 AM)Kevio17 Wrote:  Of the above, Ito... I really want the series to go back to it's roots with FFXV, similar to how FFIX did. That, and XII is amazing.

Ito directed IX, but I don't think it was his choice to make it a "love letter" to the older Final Fantasy games. As far as I know that was Sakaguchi's call, so if given creative control I wouldn't count on Ito doing the samething again.

I don't partically want to see the series go back what it used to do again. Its done that before. I'd like to see Ito bring his game design philosophy and his ability to create good, interesting gameplay systems, and put those to work in a new world that he is interested in.

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(May 24, 2012 05:46:31 AM)Axeken Wrote:  I don't think it's Nomura's fault for having to wait forever to even make his game with "full-force". I think Square wanted these other games to shine something and make Verses a back thought for themselves. I don't know but I think if it was up to Nomura, Verses would have been out 2-3 years ago.

You are right, I can't place it all on Nomura, but as the director he has to take some responsibility.

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