Yoshinori Kitase
At the E3 in Los Angeles, California in 2009
Born	(1966-09-23) 23 September 1966 (age 45)
Nationality	Japanese
Alma mater	Nihon University
Occupation	Video game producer
Employer	Square Enix

Yoshinori Kitase (北瀬 佳範, Kitase Yoshinori^?, born 23 September 1966) is a Japanese game producer and former game director that has been working for Square Enix since 1 April 1990. He is mostly known for his work on the role-playing video game series Final Fantasy. He currently serves as the producer of the Final Fantasy games developed by Square Enix 1st Production Department.

Biography[link]

Kitase wanted to become a film director after seeing the movie Star Wars at the age of 12, when it was released in Japan. After earning a degree in cinema from the Nihon University College of Art, he worked for a small animation studio, producing animated cartoons for commercials and television programs. In 1990, after one year of employment, he decided to join the video game company Square, despite having no computer knowledge.^[1]

Kitase is best known as the director of Final Fantasy VI (with Hiroyuki Ito), Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy VIII. Kitase described his first ten years of work at Square as that of an "event scripter", directing the characters' movements and expressions on the game screen as well as setting the timings and music transitions. He has compared this work to that of a stage director.^[1]

Kitase became a producer when Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy series, chose him to be producer of the main series Final Fantasy games developed by Product Development Division 1. In this new position, Kitase would go on to be producer of Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy X-2, Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2. In turn, Kitase specifically chose Motomu Toriyama to be his successor as director of main series Final Fantasy games developed by Product Development Division 1 after the positive reception to Final Fantasy X, which was Toriyama's directorial debut. At the South Korean launch event of Final Fantasy XIII, Yoshinori Kitase said that he wanted to continue working closely with Toriyama on main series Final Fantasy games.^[2]

Game design philosophy[link]

Yoshinori Kitase defended choices made with Final Fantasy XIII, saying that it was more important for the player to be engaged with the story and characters before allowing them to get involved with elements of gameplay such as the battle system, character customization and world exploration.^[3] In the case of Final Fantasy XIII the team chose to implement a classic encounter system as opposed to a seamless battle system. The reason for this is because a seamless battle system would have had to compromise the visual quality of the world and the effects due to the amount of processing power needed.^[4] He believes that that it's important for Japanese role-playing games to evolve and that Final Fantasy XIII has taken steps to evolve the battle system gameplay from traditional turn-based to something more action-based while appealing to traditional tastes.^[5] He also tries to reach out to as many fans as possible when releasing a main series Final Fantasy game. Knowing that the Xbox 360 has a large worldwide audience, his goal was to reach out to it when making Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2 multiplatform.^[6]

Yoshinori Kitase (right) and art director Isamu Kamikokuryo (left) at HMV's Final Fantasy XIII launch event in London in March, 2010.

Kitase believes in expanding the definition of "fantasy" in the main series Final Fantasy games he works on.^[7] Many players responded to the sci-fi setting of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII by requesting a more medieval European world. He counteracted this by deciding to try to expand the scope of what the word "fantasy" meant to these people and this led to Southeast Asia being the backdrop for Final Fantasy X.^[7] When adding summons that have appeared in previous installments of Final Fantasy, Kitase thinks about how to design them so it’s a fresh experience for the player.^[6] For the enemy characters, he's always careful not to create villains that are all evil, and instead ones that have their own motivations and beliefs above what their actions are. There’s no complete sense of evil, according to him, but the villain simply having their own way of thinking.^[6]

With regards to the creation of the actual gameplay in a new main series Final Fantasy game, Kitase looks at past titles to see what he can do differently, rather than look at past titles to evolve their ideas.^[6] The concept of the "Paradigm Shift" system in Final Fantasy XIII was to let the player change party roles during battle, rather than doing it before the battle, as was the case in Final Fantasy XII. Kitase says this change was added as being able to change everything during the battle was more exciting, in his opinion.^[6]

Kitase has also stated that the difference in game design philosophy of each production team results in them competing with each other to make the best games.^[8] Kitase added that this rivalry acts as a way of boosting motivation of each production team during game development.^[8] The difference in game design philosophy between Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Ito, who works for Product Development Division 4, can be seen in the major game design differences between Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XII.

Personal life[link]

Yoshinori Kitase is a fan of first-person shooters.^[8] He has two children.^[9]

Works[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Yoshinori Kitase's official English blog

Motomu Toriyama
Motomu Toriyama at the 2010 Game Developers Conference.
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Director and scenario writer of video games at Square Enix.

Motomu Toriyama (鳥山 求, Toriyama Motomu^?) is a Japanese game director and scenario writer who has been working for Square Enix since 1995. He is the director in charge of the main series Final Fantasy games developed by their 1st Production Department, which is managed by Shinji Hashimoto.

Yoshinori Kitase specifically chose Toriyama to be his successor as director of main series Final Fantasy games developed by Product Development Division 1 after the positive reception to Final Fantasy X, which was Toriyama's directorial debut. At the South Korean launch event of Final Fantasy XIII, Yoshinori Kitase said that he wants to continue working closely with Toriyama on main series Final Fantasy games.^[1]

Game design philosophy[link]

Motomu Toriyama has a similar game design philosophy to Yoshinori Kitase. He believes his strength is in creating games that are very story-driven.^[2] He also believes that it becomes very difficult to tell a compelling story when the player is given a huge amount of freedom to explore.^[3] According to him, the most important aspect of a Final Fantasy game is the characters.^[4] Toriyama aimed for the game design of the first half of Final Fantasy XIII to play like watching a film. The reason was so the player could become absorbed with the story and characters and not get distracted or lost.^[5]

He also highly values vibrant special effects being used in the battle system of the game he is directing; the main reason for Final Fantasy XIII not to have a seamless battle system was reportedly because it would not have been possible to have vibrant special effects in a seamless battle system due to the amount of memory and processing power needed. Toriyama is interested in using first-person shooter games for inspiration rather than other role-playing video games, as he believes they give a better sense of tension during battles.^[6]

The position in the story and duties in battle of the female character depends on the game Toriyama is working on. He does not base heroines on real people as he always tries to make a unique world in a Final Fantasy game. However, he thinks that there is a constant challenge to make new characters not overlap with previous ones from the series.^[7] Toriyama has noted that seeing as making a main series Final Fantasy game takes several years, he would need to essentially fall in love at first sight with a character so he can really have the high morale and motivation to keep developing the game.^[7] He also said that when portraying a character in a game, he takes extreme care in their movements and voice. This begins with the motion-capture process, which he directs very intricately to prevent messing up the personification of the character. The voice acting comes last in this process, and the recorded voice essentially becomes the main image of the character and so the most delicate part of creating a character, according to him.^[7]

Works[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Motomu Toriyama

• Motomu Toriyama profile and photo gallery at the Square Haven People Database
• Motomu Toriyama at the Internet Movie Database

Isamu Kamikokuryo
Born	(1970-07-31) July 31, 1970 (age 41) Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Art director of video games at Square Enix.

Isamu Kamikokuryo (上国料勇, Kamikokuryō Isamu^?, born July 31, 1970) is a Japanese art director that has been working for Square Enix since 1999. He is mostly known for his work on the role-playing video game series Final Fantasy.

Biography[link]

He is best known as the background art director of Final Fantasy XII and the art director of Final Fantasy XIII. He originally had the ambition to become a painter, but also liked and played video games. Any occupation could have bee fine as a painter, but when the PlayStation was released, 3D graphics and movies were beginning to be used in games. Kamikokuryo thought, "this is the beginning of a great era" and his interest changed towards the creation of games. This was exactly the time when Final Fantasy VII was released in Japan. However, he had always done fine arts, but no design related to video games. He studied graphics design by himself for about three years and then joined Square Enix in 1999.^[1] He applied by submitting a resume with a photograph of one of his oil paintings.^[2] Since joining, he has worked on major titles such as Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII.

Isamu Kamikokuryo is currently serving as art director for Final Fantasy XIII-2 and is also the costume designer for Lightning in the game.^[3]

Game art design[link]

Kamikokuryo has been strongly influenced by the works of various photographers, with his favorite photographer being Steve McCurry.^[1] He has taken trips to New York City to observe architecture both new and old, visited the Grand Canyon for its evocative scenery and ventured to Italy to view ancient ruins. All these elements have been put to use on future Final Fantasy projects, such as Fabula Nova Crystallis, which he is currently working on.^[4] Kamikokuryo says there is no “Final Fantasy look”, as each installment receives many changes in terms of the art direction taken.^[4][5]

Isamu Kamikokuryo (left) and Yoshinori Kitase (right) at the Final Fantasy XIII London Launch Event at HMV in March, 2010. The event was hosted by Alex Zane (holding microphone).

He believes past Final Fantasy games had limitations in expression due to the hardware, so the development staff had to let the player expand their imagination for the costumes of the characters. With the games on more powerful hardware, the development staff take in some trends from fashion to make it more entertaining for the player; people who like games enjoy the gameplay and people who also like fashion enjoy the costumes.^[4] With regards to the bishonen main characters in Final Fantasy, Kamikokuryo states that it has become a tradition in Japanese story-telling that whenever a “good-looking” individual is featured, they are typically depicted as the main character.^[2][6]

When asked how the development team copes with the uncanny valley, Kamikokuryo noted that it's something everyone on the team is constantly thinking about and they always have to fight against. They deliberately don't go there. For all the things they create, many of the section creators get together and make adjustments so the uncanny valley problem doesn't happen.^[2] He adds that they need to pursue something not too realistic. They want to keep the uniqueness of the character designs by Tetsuya Nomura but also want to draw upon real-life inspirations. He's pointed out the series' inspirations from contemporary design and fashion, and how they make playing the game more engrossing and more entertaining.^[2] Stylization is also important to Kamikokuryo, and he wants to emphasize coolness and cuteness through stylization. The development team is constantly struggling between realism and a more stylized look and trying to create something at the edge of the uncanny valley.^[2]

Kamikokuryo notes that the CGI and in-game development teams are separate, but in a natural way they work together and be in harmony with another. The CG team also works on the high-end visuals and visual expressions and there are no limitations with what can be expressed.^[4] He believes Square Enix have a very high quality visual execution. Therefore, they have to have a good program to train their staff at all times. They want the best people to work together and enhance their capabilities. When he first started at Square Enix, nobody guided him, he just had to watch and learn back in those days.^[6] He believes photorealism is fundamentally an attractive proposition as it will be quite valuable in Final Fantasy since there has to be a real expression.^[6]

[edit] Work on Final Fantasy XII

He has stated that he has thought the development of Final Fantasy XII was a long period of time. However, because he could paint the art for the game in extraordinary fine details, he's thankful for having been given such an opportunity. If he had been given two years less to develop the art for the game, the world for Final Fantasy XII would have looked totally different. It's because he took so long to make art for the game that resulted in the look of the final game.^[1] He believes he was able to create the art for the game in an elaborate way and that it felt like creating an actual living world.^[1]

[edit] Work on Final Fantasy XIII

He has spent nearly a year of pre-production solely on art for Final Fantasy XIII.^[4] He says the world in the game is set in a more futuristic time than any Final Fantasy game in the past. He took that very futurist framework, but incorporated some great elements of fantasy into it. He asked himself, "How can I put them together?" and "How can I combine them?" This is what he set out to realize with the game and he used nothing from past Final Fantasy worlds for reference.^[5] The idea for Lightning to have a sword that can transform into a gun relates to the Eidolon summons in the game. One of the gameplay themes they chose for Final Fantasy XIII was transformation, and the Eidolons can turn into vehicles. So if summons could transform themselves, they thought that weapons should be able to as well.^[5] Kamikokuryo says that he wanted anyone who stepped into the world of Final Fantasy XIII to get hooked on the extraordinary visuals, and that he believes the blend of futuristic technology with the wild nature and ecosystem is unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. He also believes that each location and scene has a detailed vision and beauty that brings his art direction to life.^[7]

Difference in game design between production teams[link]

Kamikokuryo has also noted the game design philosophy difference between Yoshinori Kitase and Yasumi Matsuno. For the Final Fantasy games developed by Kitase, usually catchy and original designs are requested from Kamikokuryo. For the ones by Matsuno, a design faithful to its sound foundation and things highly artistic in nature are demanded. He thinks these differences in the stance towards art design are based on the difference in writing style between Kitase and Matsuno. Also, because many staff members have worked together for a long period of time in each production team, the methods and philosophy behind the creation of games differ significantly from each other. He feels that, because he has experienced working with both teams when making Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII, it was very interesting to realize these many differences.^[1]

Personal life[link]

Isamu Kamikokuryo does photography as a hobby.^[1] He likes turn-based strategy games and real-time strategy games, as they give the player the task of making considerate decisions.^[1] He is also a huge fan of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.^[5]

Works[link]

References[link]