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[wmlk]

Yusuke Naora will likely go to one of two places, I think. (Most people that leave Square Enix, lately, seem to go to either of these.)

1. Cygames

2. Monolith Soft

...but he's going far from Tokyo.

 

[DangerMouse]

Oh, wow, all the best to Naora. End of an era. FFVII, FFVIII, and FFX all had such incredible art direction. FFVII and FFX are still two of my most memorable gaming experiences, and the art direction was such a huge part of that.

(Kamikokuryo isn't allowed to leave Square until we get another Ivalice game out of him. Since that will probably never happen, he has to stay forever.)

Yeah.

 

[DJIzana]

...but he's going far from Tokyo.

Well then. I got nothin'

 

[xxdoshiyarovexx]

What does an art director do anyway?

Art director can be different at every studio; They are management of the art team. They are responsible for guiding the artists (concept/3D/UI) by giving feedback and leading their work to align with the specific visual direction that's been decided. 90% of their jobs are also having meetings with other managers (creative directors, leads, project directors, producers, etc) Sometimes they get to make art, but rarely.

are art directors responsible for stuff like enemy/monster designs?

Usually the design team comes up with the initial idea, then concept artists visually iterate. The art director makes the final call of what gets pushed to final tho. (characters/environments/vehicles/weapons/monsters/props)

Sorry if this has been answered already!

 

[duckroll]

Art director can be different at every studio; They are management of the art team. They are responsible for guiding the artists (concept/3D/UI) by giving feedback and leading their work to align with the specific visual direction that's been decided. 90% of their jobs are also having meetings with other managers (creative directors, leads, project directors, producers, etc) Sometimes they get to make art, but rarely.

You're describing western art directors generally. It's totally different in Japan. Japanese art directors basically draw background art.

 

[wmlk]

You're describing western art directors generally. It's totally different in Japan. Japanese art directors basically draw background art.

100%. We've seen artwork from Naora in the past that's been translated very faithfully to the games he's worked on.

 

[xxdoshiyarovexx]

Well Duckroll, now everyone knows how both sides work

 

[Whompa02]

Art directors may also create visuals to influence the rest of the development.

 

[Astral Dog]

He probably got tired of the series

 

[djtiesto]

Never heard of this guy before but holy shit, he's been responsible for some of my favorite game settings ever (FF8 setting... drool). Best of luck to wherever he goes.

 

[ReaperXL7]

I think it will be fascinating to see how Japanese development and publishers change as the old guard move on to other opportunities or retire completely.

I'd assume we would get to a point where the people taking on lead roles will eventually be those who's primary gaming was done on mobile platforms which everyone says is what dominates Japan. I notice every year a seeming increase in mobile devs setting up shop at TGS

 

[qualitydisc]

Whew, I'd love to see all of those books. What other FFs had those?

VII, VIII, IX, and X had V-Jump-published Establishment Files and they're all chock full of concept art like what you see above. VIII-X are highly recommended. VII didn't have much concept art/sketches/early stuff, just a lot of the official art that isn't hard to find, so I don't recommend that one as much.

 

[Koozek]

VII, VIII, IX, and X had V-Jump-published Establishment Files and they're all chock full of concept art like what you see above. VIII-X are highly recommended. VII didn't have much concept art/sketches/early stuff, just a lot of the official art that isn't hard to find, so I don't recommend that one as much.

Ah, I see. Thanks!

 

[qualitydisc]

Looks like Naora's still doing FFXV themed art for Twitter though. Maybe in an unofficial capacity.

He just posted this one.

In celebration of 90,000 followers on the FFXV JP account.

The reason FFX is so grim compared to previous FFs is because the project started out as an original concept, titled "Seventeen: Angelic Impact X Devil's Shock" and unrelated to the FF series. It was conceived by Yusuke Naora, the art director.

When the project became FFX they toned down the heavy Moebius influence and integrated Sakaguchi's Gaia philosophy in the world setting, but the story is still very different than anything they did before in the series.

I'm so glad this is becoming more common knowledge on the web. I only first learned about Seventeen around 2012 when the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Memorial books were published with this stuff. At that time there were 0 relevant google hits for "Seventeen" and "Final Fantasy X." The first image always looked like a manga cover to me.... was it?

This one in particular was still being used when the project transitioned over to FFX. I think it even got shown to press behind closed doors at the initial announcement but my memory is fuzzy.

It reminds us that several of the mainline FF games (IX, X, and XV at the very least; others too?) started out as concepts for something other than a mainline FF and just sort of snowballed from there.

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OK, whoever asked if there are Square Enix employees who worked on FFXV for the full 10 years, the answer is yes.