Will this genius ever work on another Final Fantasy?

[BrokenHeart]

I've recently found out that Hiroyuki Ito is still at Square Enix. Why is this genius currently so underused?

Hiroyuki Ito is known for directing and designing Final Fantasy VI (1994), Final Fantasy IX (2000), and Final Fantasy XII (2006). He also designed Final Fantasy V (1992) and Final Fantasy Tactics (1997). He produced and directed Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System (2007).

Ito has created some of the best gameplay systems in any JRPG. He made Active Time Battle (ATB), Ability Points (AP), FFV Job System, FFVI Esper & Relic Systems, FFVII Materia System, FFT Job System, FFVIII GF & Junction Systems, FFVIII Triple Triad, FFIX Equipment Ability System, FFIX Tetra Master, Active Time Event (ATE), FFXII License Board & Gambit Systems, Active Dimension Battle (ADB).

Ito was also involved in two of the best stories in the FF series. He contributed story ideas to FFVI and was a large contributor to both Locke and Cyan's character arcs. He co-wrote the scenario of FFIX with Hironobu Sakaguchi and was the one that made Zidane a womanizer and Vivi so angst about his existence. Lastly, and just as importantly, he directed the trial event of Crono in Chrono Trigger (1995). He's the one that created all the morality events in the Millennial Fair and how they influenced Crono's case when he stood trial.

According to FF Wiki, he's the only remaining Squaresoft employee at Square Enix who was involved in every mainline FF game from the first Final Fantasy through to Final Fantasy IX. I really hope this man directs Final Fantasy XVI. Nobody else at the company is as qualified as he is, IMO.

I got the above image from a recent 4chan thread. The quote from Sakaguchi is on point. We really do need another mainline FF that cares just as much about fun gameplay as the story and cutscenes.

 

[APZonerunner]

I want to believe he's working on FF16, to be honest. Fingers crossed.

He's the best dev Square has though. When I interviewed the FF Brand Boss, Shinji Hashimoto, I asked him if Ito was still at Square:
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.

RPG Site: I'm very interested to see what he does next. For RPG gameplay systems I really do feel he's one of the best there is; one of your strongest assets.

Hashimoto: Like you say, he's very talented and very involved. He's very, very in-depth... he likes the depth of the gameplay systems side of things. He really loves to go really deep on mechanics and things, and that takes time. I'm very excited to see his ideas soon!

http://www.rpgsite.net/interview/31...-with-final-fantasy-producer-shinji-hashimoto

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

Nobody really seems to know what he's doing right now and if he's working on something AAA or mobile.

 

[Storm]

well, in terms of battle system, I had more fun playing the latest FFs than the older ones (by far).

FFVI and FFXII were easy games for the most part (even if he did a great job).

the criticism received in the last years had nothing to do with battle systems too, I think its one thing that SQEX is actually doing right.

 

[LeonBlade]

I hope he's working on FFXVI, while I haven't played FFIX, I have played XII. Even though I consider VII to be my favorite, I find that XII is the best out of all the FF games hands down for so many reasons. We need Ito to make the next FF game to follow up on XV.

 

[Slickyslacker]

Remember that Kitase also referenced the possibility of utilizing aspects of former battle systems, for future entires.

As BrokenHeart stated, Ito is the father of FF's renowned battle systems. A huge football fan, Ito has based all of his inventions on the mechanics of his favorite sport.

He's our only hope. Nomura's visions are what have made FF as divise and controvertial as it is, today. Ito can practically do no wrong. He's one of few individual talents, still employed by SE. Let's hope that he can at least be a part of FF's console-based future, beyond XV.

 

[LeonBlade]

My money on Ito is FFXVI. Got nothing else to say & no proof to support my claim...... Just a hunch.

That's what 1Truth is for.

 

[ChronoRiskbreaker]

Hashimoto: Like you say, he's very talented and very involved. He's very, very in-depth... he likes the depth of the gameplay systems side of things. He really loves to go really deep on mechanics and things, and that takes time.

Hashimoto might be implying about the new mechanics for the ATB system for current-gen systems, one that feels new & unique but still retains the traditions.

I'm very excited to see his ideas soon!

Let's hope we get to see it this year. It's about time Ito shows his face to us.

 

[Squirrel Emperor]

Let's hope we get to see it this year. It's about time Ito shows his face to us.

With FFXV being a big priority now and KHIII being right around the corner, I don't think you'll hear anything about FFXVI this year. It won't be at E315 at least. That's for sure!

 

[Crystal Power]

Would they even announce another mainline FF before latest one release? I don't recall them doing that before. I think it was done with one of the MMO's, I'm not sure.

 

[BrokenHeart]

I want to believe he's working on FF16, to be honest. Fingers crossed.

He's the best dev Square has though. When I interviewed the FF Brand Boss, Shinji Hashimoto, I asked him if Ito was still at Square:
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.

RPG Site: I'm very interested to see what he does next. For RPG gameplay systems I really do feel he's one of the best there is; one of your strongest assets.

Hashimoto: Like you say, he's very talented and very involved. He's very, very in-depth... he likes the depth of the gameplay systems side of things. He really loves to go really deep on mechanics and things, and that takes time. I'm very excited to see his ideas soon!

Thanks for asking about Ito to the FF Manager. I only found out Ito was still at Square Enix recently via seeing his name associated with Deadman's Cross for PS Vita, which I downloaded on PSN. I actually thought he left after FFXII was complete and joined Mistwalker, as he's not directed or worked on any FF games since then.

From that quote you posted, I think Ito's working on something AAA for PS4/XB1. There's no way a game for Smartphones/Tablets or 3DS/PS Vita would need as much gameplay depth as Shinji Hashimoto is suggesting Ito's adding. If he is working on something AAA, my money is on it being FFXVI. He has too great a track record with the FF series to not direct another mainline instalment.

Lastly, and I'm not taking anything away from Naoki Yoshida (XIV) and Hajime Tabata (XV), as they're doing great things with their mainline instalments, but they are not in the same league as Ito. Not even on the same level, to be quite frank. Further still, most of the staff Yoshida used to make XIV ARR are Ito's staff from XII. Therefore, I'd say a major factor in XIV ARR turning out so good is because Yoshida was leading a team of staff that had already been trained under Ito's style of direction for 5 years during XII's development. They then applied that knowledge and experience into making XIV ARR. Ito really is a fantastic director, as he passes his expertise unto his staff. The man is so underrated within Square Enix. I really hope he makes a comeback by directing XVI.

 

[Nikolasvanitas]

I hope he is working on a future FF game,maybe FF XVI
I love FF9 and FF12

 

[Sora96]

I see it going like this.

Toriyama & Kitase: X-3
Tabata: Type-1 or XV-2
Ito: XVI

 

[Lulcielid]

The quote from Sakaguchi is on point. We really do need another mainline FF that cares just as much about fun gameplay as the story and cutscenes.

I don`t get Sakaguchi`s quote, the only FF that would be guilty of that is FFXIII the others are completly innocent.

He's our only hope. Nomura's visions are what have made FF as divise and controvertial as it is, today. Ito can practically do no wrong. He's one of few individual talents, still employed by SE. Let's hope that he can at least be a part of FF's console-based future, beyond XV.

I disagree, the FF fanbase was already broken even before Nomura came into FF, also the only FF that Nomura has ever been heavily involved is FFXV and i`d argue that he didn`t have so much control (to actually stablish a vision of what should be FF) over FF until he was put in charge of FFXV and then he is move.
While Ito has done a good job it doesn`t mean that he`s sinless or can`t miss

 

[Slickyslacker]

I disagree, the FF fanbase was already broken even before Nomura came into FF, also the only FF that Nomura has ever been heavily involved is FFXV and i`d argue that he didn`t have so much control (to actually stablish a vision of what should be FF) over FF until he was put in charge of FFXV and then he is move.
While Ito has done a good job it doesn`t mean that he`s sinless or can`t miss

"Practically" is the operative word, there. Moreover, I was referencing Nomura's elevation to the status of character designer from VII onwards, as "divisive visions". The FF fanbase was hardly as contentious as it is now, before VII and its ilk came along.

 

[Slickyslacker]

..and hey, wait a second.

Maybe Ito's next project is Agni's Philosophy?

For whatever reason, I can't give up on the idea of Agni's Philosophy eventually being made (into a video game.) Naora created new artwork for it at the beginning of this year, but dismissed it as "just being artwork".

I'm not buying it. Of all the prospects SE has for (a) new IP(s), Agni's Philosophy is apparently one of the most well-realized. Out of everything in store from Matsuda's "box of surprises", I'm expecting two games:

1. Final Fantasy XII HD (IZJS international release)
2. Agni's Philosophy

 

[LeonBlade]

Agni's Philosophy? So magically, that tech demo is now becoming a game in development? I'm not gonna make assumptions over a tech demo.

Yeah, they've said time and time again that Agni's Philosophy would NOT become a game...

 

[BrokenHeart]

I don`t get Sakaguchi`s quote, the only FF that would be guilty of that is FFXIII the others are completely innocent.

I think that Sakaguchi quote was said sometime after FFXIII released, so he meant the direction FFXIII was headed was not good for the series. The fact he mentioned Hiroyuki Ito by name is likely due to Ito not working on FFXIII.

 

[APZonerunner]

I don't think Sakaguchi said it in that passive aggressive sort of way - he's still great friends with Kitase for instance - I just thinkj when he was building the staff around the series, Ito was one of the people who was the top of the pile, alongside Kitase. They co-directed FF6 together, and both went on to direct their own entries of the franchise alone.

 

[BrokenHeart]

I don't think Sakaguchi said it in that passive aggressive sort of way - he's still great friends with Kitase for instance - I just thinkj when he was building the staff around the series, Ito was one of the people who was the top of the pile, alongside Kitase. They co-directed FF6 together, and both went on to direct their own entries of the franchise alone.

Oh, I see. That makes sense. I think that Sakaguchi saw both Kitase and his Ito as his successors to FF. Kitase more for the storytelling and Ito more for the gameplay. He probably feels that FF will only become great again if both Kitase and Ito either work on a single mainline FF.