One month to go? What are Toriyama, Kitase, Watanabe & Abe working on?

[Sora96 17,256]

Since Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII was released, director Motomu Toriyama, lead scenario writer Daisuke Watanabe and game design director Yuji Abe have been extremely quiet.

 

We've literally only heard from Toriyama once since then:

 

On December 27, 2014 in a developer survey with 4Gamer.net, Toriyama said “My next title is in well underway in development. We'll be able to announce it in 2015, so please look forward to it!”

 

The question is, what are they working on?

 

Nearly two months ago, Square Enix president & CEO, Yosuke Matsuda confirmed a new JRPG for home consoles will be revealed at or around E3 2015. He was likely talking about Toriyama's title or simply Star Ocean 5.

 

In an interview with Famitsu.com, Motomu Toriyama confirmed he was in Business Division 1, which is headed by Yoshinori Kitase. This Business Division structure started in December 2013. Of course this is no surprise since these two have worked together since 1999 as director & producer respectively and even before that on Final Fantasy VII in different roles. So of course, whatever Toriyama is directing, Kitase is of course producing.

 

Other staff very likely to be working on Toriyama's title include the following:

 

Yuji Abe (Game Design Director)

Nobuyuki Matsuoka (Battle System Director)

Daisuke Watanabe (Scenario Writer)

Masashi Hamauzu (Composer)

 

All four have no announced projects at Square Enix, all four worked on the XIII trilogy and the last two worked on the FFX series as well.

 

Now the question is what are they working on? The platforms appear likely to be PlayStation 4 & Xbox One since business division 1 will have no announced projects when Mobius Final Fantasy releases very soon (looking like next month) and divisions 2 to 7 each have at least one new game in development for PlayStation 4.

 

Is their new project related to an older entry such as X or VII? Is it a new Final Fantasy title? Is it a new IP? Is it a new Parasite Eve or dare I say it, Front Mission? Hopefully we find it out soon whatever it is.

[Joker 1,560]

the next story to FF7??? I mean they did leave us hanging at the end of FF7DOC secerrt ending 

[Hero of Light XIV 2,381]

Hopefully something VII related.

[Setrex 1,031]

I really hope Toriyama is working on his letter of resignation to be honest.

[Sorarocks93 678]

I really hope Toriyama is working on his letter of resignation to be honest.

Hahaha this is awesome.

 

Anyway, if it's one of the last two I'm going to be severely dissapointed.

[Hearts Creed 142]

A while ago, I would have been fine with the ending of FFX-2, but now it seems that there almost has to be FFX-3 so they can clean up the mess that the audio drama created. 

[Sora96 17,256]

Hahaha this is awesome.

 

Anyway, if it's one of the last two I'm going to be severely dissapointed.

 

Something wrong with a new IP?

[Dio Brando 5,810]

Lightning Waifu Simulator: Destiny is Destiny

[Sora96 17,256]

Lightning Waifu Simulator: Destiny is Destiny

 

How does Watanabe write a simulator?

[Sorarocks93 678]

Something wrong with a new IP?

I'm completely uninterested in any new IP they might have.

[Sora96 17,256]

I'm completely uninterested in any new IP they might have.

 

So Bravely didn't interest you?

[Sora96 17,256]

I really hope Toriyama is working on his letter of resignation to be honest.

 

Tough luck, Toriyama's directing his ninth game as we speak!

[Dio Brando 5,810]

I really hope Toriyama is working on his letter of resignation to be honest.

Same here,this man has driven the reputation of Final Fantasy to the ground to the point that a lot of people I know who were previously fans of the series literally jumped ship and left the franchise

[Sora96 17,256]

Same here,this man has driven the reputation of Final Fantasy to the ground to the point that a lot of people I know who were previously fans of the series literally jumped ship and left the franchise

 

That's why he had the best selling new Final Fantasy games on Nintendo and Sony platforms last gen.

[Sorarocks93 678]

So Bravely didn't interest you?

Well Bravely was on a handheld so it didn't really interest me to begin with.

[Sora96 17,256]

Well Bravely was on a handheld so it didn't really interest me to begin with.

 

You should still give a new IP a shot, I mean heck Kingdom Hearts was a new IP 13 odd years ago.

[Sorarocks93 678]

You should still give a new IP a shot, I mean heck Kingdom Hearts was a new IP 13 odd years ago.

Well, I feel kinda different about gaming than I did back then. I used to pick whatever game I thought looked good on the boxart. Now I just have some franchises I like and I rarely buy anything else.

 

I'll wait and see what kind of game it is though.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Sorarocks93

[Nero Kunivas 3,046]

Well, I feel kinda different about gaming than I did back then. I used to pick whatever game I thought looked good on the boxart. Now I just have some franchises I like and I rarely buy anything else.

 

I'll wait and see what kind of game it is though.

You have the wrong attitude towards new IPs. Sorry, just how it is. New IPs should be approached with a degree of curiosity and interest with a touch of scepticism.

 

 

As for all of this....whatever they are working on, I hope it's good. I couldn't ask for anything more than a good product.

[Sorarocks93 678]

You have the wrong attitude towards new IPs. Sorry, just how it is. New IPs should be approached with a degree of curiosity and interest with a touch of scepticism.

 

 

As for all of this....whatever they are working on, I hope it's good. I couldn't ask for anything more than a good product.

I just don't look at gaming as I used to back then. Maybe I'm just burned out.

[Setrex 1,031]

That's why he had the best selling new Final Fantasy games on Nintendo and Sony platforms last gen.

Great sales doesn't automatically mean great quality.

 

This just in Wii Sports is the greatest game ever made.

[Sora96 17,256]

Great sales doesn't automatically mean great quality.

 

This just in Wii Sports is the greatest game ever made.

 

It means more people were interested in them though. And if you want to go by reviews, only one of his games got a poor score on metacrtic.

[Setrex 1,031]

It means more people were interested in them though. And if you want to go by reviews, only one of his games got a poor score on metacrtic.

I dunno, I think people were interested in Final Fantasy X and XIII because they were the first main Final Fantasy games that were part of the next generation of consoles at the time.

 

I get that you are a fan of Toriyama's but I'd be surprised if his next Final Fantasy game sold as well as X and XIII, especially given the reception as a whole for the XIII series and the lack of not being the first Final Fantasy game on the next generation of consoles. If he goes the turn-based route though, he might gain the appeal of the cry babies that are hating on XV's action battle system.

[Sora96 17,256]

I dunno, I think people were interested in Final Fantasy X and XIII because they were the first main Final Fantasy games that were part of the next generation of consoles at the time.

 

I get that you are a fan of Toriyama's but I'd be surprised if his next Final Fantasy game sold as well as X and XIII, especially given the reception as a whole for the XIII series and the lack of not being the first Final Fantasy game on the next generation of consoles. If he goes the turn-based route though, he might gain the appeal of the cry babies that are hating on XV's action battle system.

 

Oh, I'm not expecting 7 or 8 million copies sold either.