• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Tetsuya Nomura Is No Longer Directing Final Fantasy XV

read this news last night and didn't know what to make of it. come morning i still don't know what to make of it

depressing to say the least, and not even necessarily for ffxv, but moreso for nomura's state and that of the company (dev wise). like literally i've always kinda wondered how nomura was coping with all this considering his own comments about the burden of directing a major project (he flat-out even stated this was going to be his first and last ff directed project eons ago) and general reports about the state of the place. i don't really want to put too much stock in some of the stuff that's being said here but damn is some of it really kinda telling when pieced together

this sucks. whatever happens i just wish nomura well

Asd202 said:
Fianl Fantasy XV the Final Hours. It would be a bestseller! :P
Click to expand...
i'd honestly be more interested in seeing this than the game itself

RyoonZ said:
New CEO liked my post on facebook so I definitely like him :D
Click to expand...
lol, what did you post?
 
LAA said:
I feel bad for him if he was "forced" off the project though. The good side is though it seems to be shaping up into the game he wanted, hopefully this move is just for speeding up the "final stretch"
Click to expand...

I feel if Nomura wanted this, he would have written the letters himself and talked up why he felt this move was a great idea, wrote at length why he decided to hand the project off to Tabata and entrusted him to deliver, and then explained his future at the company.

He would probably even be doing FFXV interviews with Tabata for one last TGS where he personally addressed any interview questions about the move and how this is for the best.

Instead we have the CEO and the PR team saying he left and then briefly going "Oh and he's on Kingdom Hearts 3 now don't worry guys."

duckroll said:
LOOK AT ALL THIS FAITH FAMASSU HAD FOR LORD NOMURA-SAMA JUST YESTERDAY!
Click to expand...

Oddly he hasn't posted here yet. >_>
 
Darn. I've never played his games before, but if FFXV's themes and direction so far have been his ideas, then I would've liked him to deliver a great game and show up Toriyama for the hack that he is. Oh well, maybe this new director can do it? Still, would've been a much nicer story if Nomura managed to complete the game.
 
This makes me sad. XV was Nomura's personal project and taking it away from him doesn't feel right in many ways. I can see that this decision is probably the best to get the game out as soon as possible, but still...

What makes me even more sad though is the reactions in this thread. It makes me feel like you guys don't understand what it feels like to get your project that you've been working on for years away from you.
 
Setsu00 said:
This makes me sad. XV was Nomura's personal project and taking it away from him doesn't feel right in many ways. I can see that this decision is probably the best to get the game out as soon as possible, but still...

What makes me even more sad though is the reactions in this thread. It makes me feel like you guys don't understand what it feels like to get your project that you've been working on for years away from you.
Click to expand...

years and years and years and years and years......
 
Gumbie said:
years and years and years and years and years......
Click to expand...

Wouldn't taking his team members and putting them on FFXII & its sequels, making the move to next-gen, and other factors also be at fault? I can't help but think its not only Nomuras fault but Square also.

Again, this is more of a question. Does anyone know about the history of FF15 development?
 
Gumbie said:
years and years and years and years and years......
Click to expand...

Blaming everything on Nomura seems shortsighted to me. I don't know the internal workings of SE, but from an outsider's perspective I'd blame the failure of XIV and other mismanagement within the company as well.
 
Setsu00 said:
Blaming everything on Nomura seems shortsighted to me. I don't know the internal workings of SE, but from an outsider's perspective I'd blame the failure of XIV and other mismanagement within the company as well.
Click to expand...
How is it shortsighted to blame the guy that is responsible for directing the game so it comes out on time, which he completely dropped the ball in? There's only so many times someone can blame SE as a whole instead of the people fucking up a particular project.

I don't see how anyone other than him should take most of the blame.
 
anaron said:
Eh, management in the company changed pretty dramatically during Matsuno's development. When Wada took over, he also implemented a toxic work environment.
Click to expand...
Mind explaining some more?
Setsu00 said:
What makes me even more sad though is the reactions in this thread. It makes me feel like you guys don't understand what it feels like to get your project that you've been working on for years away from you.
Click to expand...
I bet Nomura is a pretty nice guy and I'm sorry he probably feels disheartened from being taken away from this project, but as head of the game he has to be accountable for the delays.
 
On the one hand, it sucks that Nomura is off the game.

On the other hand, the game will actually be finished under the new director.
 
LegendofDragoonLives said:
How is it shortsighted to blame the guy that is responsible for directing the game so it comes out on time, which he completely dropped the ball in? There's only so many times someone can blame SE as a whole instead of the people fucking up a particular project.

I don't see how anyone other than him should take most of the blame.
Click to expand...

That's because I'm not entirely convinced that it is 100% Nomura's fault. Unless someone can give me a detailed explanation as to what happened behind the scenes, I prefer to put the blame on SE as a whole and not only on Nomura. Don't get me wrong, Nomura is probably at least partially to blame for the game's current mess, but I don't want to jump to conclusions.
 
Wait, do people actually think that Nomura was "forced off" the project like Matsuno probably was? I highly doubt it, XV is probably just far enough along that he can safely head over to the KH3 team.
 
Setsu00 said:
That's because I'm not entirely convinced that it is 100% Nomura's fault. Unless someone can give me a detailed explanation as to what happened behind the scenes, I prefer to put the blame on SE as a whole and not only on Nomura. Don't get me wrong, Nomura is probably at least partially to blame for the game's current mess, but I don't want to jump to conclusions.
Click to expand...

I agree. Of course Nomura shares some of the blame, however I can't help but feel Nomura wanted to show more of the game many times in the past and was unable to due to higher powers within Square-Enix.

Haeralis The BRave said:
Wait, do people actually think that Nomura was "forced off" the project like Matsuno probably was? I highly doubt it, XV is probably just far enough along that he can safely head over to the KH3 team.
Click to expand...

I was thinking this as well. From the trailer, XV still looks like what Nomura promised years ago and I think (although I could be completely wrong) that Tabata was brought in to speed up the process and add any finishing touches so the game can be released "relatively" soon.
 
Setsu00 said:
That's because I'm not entirely convinced that it is 100% Nomura's fault. Unless someone can give me a detailed explanation as to what happened behind the scenes, I prefer to put the blame on SE as a whole and not only on Nomura. Don't get me wrong, Nomura is probably at least partially to blame for the game's current mess, but I don't want to jump to conclusions.
Click to expand...

Other than Shinji Hashimoto I dont see how else could be to blame. More than likely they share it
 
HeartlessNobody213 said:
I agree. Of course Nomura shares some of the blame, however I can't help but feel Nomura wanted to show more of the game many times in the past and was unable to due to higher powers within Square-Enix.
Click to expand...

Yeah, because Square-Enix totally didn't want to show Versus 13... riiiiiight.

It's totally on Nomura for micromanging 6+ projects in the past ten years. He should've told Square "no, Kingdom Hearts 3 can wait, and no we aren't using the FF13 engine. No, we aren't going to help with FF13, get another team." Instead, he didn't.
 
Overall disappointed with the news, Tabata is cool but not Nomura cool. Not only that but the vision for this project is now lost in my opinion. While the framework for what Nomura wanted to do is still there he isn't, and I don't see how another director can finish this the way Nomura intended without being the director. While the decision is good from a business management perspective, it's still disappointing that we'll never get this game as it was promised, but I guess we've known for some time.
 
Haeralis The BRave said:
Wait, do people actually think that Nomura was "forced off" the project like Matsuno probably was? I highly doubt it, XV is probably just far enough along that he can safely head over to the KH3 team.
Click to expand...

The CEO doesn't come out and release an official statement every time a simple transition like you are supposing happens. This is basically Nomura being forced off and the CEO releasing a statement of confidence about the new direction FFVX is going.
 
near said:
Overall disappointed with the news, Tabata is cool but not Nomura cool. Not only that but the vision for this project is now lost in my opinion. While the framework for what Nomura wanted to do is still there he isn't, and I don't see how another director can finish this the way Nomura intended without being the director. While the decision is good from a business management perspective, it's still disappointing that we'll never get this game as it was promised, but I guess we've known for some time.
Click to expand...

Tabata was Co-director since last year, so Im sure the vision is not going to change much (Unless they were butting heads of the direction of the game)
 
TheSeks said:
Yeah, because Square-Enix totally didn't want to show Versus 13... riiiiiight.

It's totally on Nomura for micromanging 6+ projects in the past ten years. He should've told Square "no, Kingdom Hearts 3 can wait, and no we aren't using the FF13 engine. No, we aren't going to help with FF13, get another team." Instead, he didn't.
Click to expand...

Because that's totally what you do when your superiors ask you to do something.
 
LegendofDragoonLives said:
How is it shortsighted to blame the guy that is responsible for directing the game so it comes out on time, which he completely dropped the ball in? There's only so many times someone can blame SE as a whole instead of the people fucking up a particular project.

I don't see how anyone other than him should take most of the blame.
Click to expand...

For starters (just throwing this out there), how about having people from your team pulled out to work on other projects (FF14 - I think something like that happened) by someone with more authority than you?

I'm not defending Nomura, but I can see it happening. He could be a bit of a pushover, while Toriyama knows how to work the system (and work some balls...
that was a joke
).



maybe
 
I wish FF15 was going to have the same (or better) custom avatar creator that Xenoblade X is going to have.

Or that Xenoblade X was going to have FF15's action mechanics instead of building upon that MMO-esque shizz that goes back to Chronicles and FF12.

I guess I'm just saying, if Nomura's no longer there, can we at least change the character designs? Because the main character looks like the same thing he's been drawing the past 15 years god dammit :( I feel like the farthest he ever strayed may have been Dissidia, and only because he had to considering like half the roster had been from Amano FFs.
 
QuantumZebra said:
lmao would be better than the backstreet boys we have now
Click to expand...

I dunno - yes they're a bit too overstyled, but I like the idea of an FF that starts out with the group already having strong bonds with each other. It's fresh. And if you look past appearances, they seem a decent bunch.






Omigod five Lightning clones? Yes Yes Yes
 
TheSeks said:
director, not writer. And the gameplay was the least of Parasite Eve 3's issues.
Click to expand...
Are you kidding ? Gameplay was maybe 3rd Bday major issue. It seems fun at the beginning, but it becomes horribly repetitive and tiresome. It's not helped by the fact that bosses are bullet sponges with HP bars three times longer than it should be.
 
playoverwork said:
I guess I'm just saying, if Nomura's no longer there, can we at least change the character designs? Because the main character looks like the same thing he's been drawing the past 15 years god dammit :( I feel like the farthest he ever strayed may have been Dissidia, and only because he had to considering like half the roster had been from Amano FFs.
Click to expand...

Why the heck would they do that? Nomura's designs have been the main selling point of most Final Fantasies since VII now. He is their new Amano.
 
Justified said:
Tabata was Co-director since last year, so Im sure the vision is not going to change much (Unless they were butting heads of the direction of the game)
Click to expand...

That's understandable, but we're not getting a Nomura product anymore. Much like Kamiya letting someone else direct Bayonetta 2, it's not he's vision, he's not carrying that projects direction but merely setting the backdrop. Tabata is a good director and I'd expect him to finish this project off well, but that doesn't defeat the fact that a lot of people wanted to see Nomura helm this FF project not set the framework.
 
CosmicGroinPull said:
I dunno - yes they're a bit too overstyled, but I like the idea of an FF that starts out with the group already having strong bonds with each other. It's fresh. And if you look past appearances, they seem a decent bunch.






Omigod five Lightning clones? Yes Yes Yes
Click to expand...

haha, the thing that gets me is this - according to an interview by Nomura, this game is more based around the characters than a fantastic, epic, story (ala FF10, 7, 6, etc..)...

That's great and all, but the characters look terrible. AND apparently it has little to no character variation, beyond generic dudes. No women at all (wtf?), Khmari/Red XIII's, no younger or even older generations - just generic mid 20's vanilla white dudes. Like someone just said in another post - the blonde guy alone is gonna make me want to break my TV. His voice in the trailer = worse than Vanille or Hope (shudder)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Final Fantasy XVII is going to be turn based right?
Opinion  2 3 4
167
1K
Kumomeme replied
Final Fantasy X - 25th Anniversary
2 3 4
155
960
Signalis replied
[The Night Sky Prince] The Truth Behind Final Fantasy XV's Broken Development
Analysis 
22
381
cireza replied
Final Fantasy XIV Online is coming to Switch 2
News Platform 
5
194
Baemono replied
Fan-made Demake of Final Fantasy XVI Prologue Demo releases (turn based battles)
News 
3
101
666 replied
Top Bottom