The Curious Case of Yoshinori Kitase

[@AlleywayJack]

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[@dirtymfdawg7654]

FF8 is my favorite. All the hidden lore regarding the Hyne can def make a beautiful remake. They can also expand on Ultima Weapon, Odin, PuPu and the Lake “Creeps” back stories.

[@NoHiro-qc4dv]

Monkey's paw wish.

[@dtcharo]

The early 90s to the early 2000s is the renaissance age for Square and Final Fantasy. The company had enough profit, adequate technology, and the right creatives to capture lightning in a bottle. Once Squaresoft became Square Enix is was only a matter of time before the company saw the negatives of growth. I'm liking this series and I'm curious to see an in-depth look at Yasumi Matsuno. I'd really like to what hell he went through with FF XII. As for Kitase, I love that dude. I appreciate his cinematic influence on the series as well as his injection of comedic levity at times. Plus, FF VIII is my favorite in the series so he and Kazushige Nojima are two people I hold in esteem. I think I've aged out of Final Fantasy but man what a run it was. Cheers to all those legends at Square/Squaresoft.

[@T34RINTV]

FF8 was a great final fantasy the soundtrack was also legendary...and the lionheart weapon a lightsaber gunblade ....I would love a remake.

[@Ipavaiva]

I know he doesn't work at Square anymore, but since Tetsuya Takahashi made his name there originally, it would be cool to get similar video on him. Maybe title it something along the lines "the great betrayal of Takahashi"

[@fattiger6957]

I feel like Takahashi is exponentially more popular due to his post-Square work. Yes, Xenogears is a cult classic, but the Xenoblade series is without a doubt the most successful games he's ever made.

[@Ipavaiva]

@@fattiger6957 Definitely true! Great games all of them imo. I just feel he is a very interesting guy, perfect for a video like this

[@fattiger6957]

@@Ipavaiva His wife, Soraya Saga, also deserves a lot of credit. A lot of the ideas that made it into his games were based on the discussions they had. And I'm pretty sure she worked on at least Xenogears with him.

[@Ipavaiva]

@@fattiger6957 Even more true, she was the mastermind behind the themes and rough draft of story of Xenogears, and also worked on Xenosaga 1! Tetsuya Takahashi gets a lot of praise for good reason, but her importance to Xeno-series is too often ignored

[@crazyMLC]

Squaresoft's infancy, prime, and eventual loss of agency while merging with Enix seems to mirror Kitase's journey through the company. It's no surprise people have such a complicated relationship with Kitase, as they have a complicated relationship with Final Fantasy itself.

[@acerimmer8338]

So well said. In an ironic Shakesperean tragedy way, Sakaguchi himself arguably killed their renaissance. Wasting so much money on FF Spirits Within movie nearly bankrupted SquareSoft, thus forcing the merger, which basically ended the Square golden years. Kitase is also a victim of that.

[@mikaranta5840]

Kitase directed lots of greats back in a day. He is best ff director there ever was and I wish he would return to that position. Golden trio Sakaguchi-Kitase-Uematsu, one more time, one more game! Not likely, I know.

[@OwtDaftUK]

FF8 having a scifi setting in no way makes it less high fantasy, been medieval isn't a requirement. The high means the story is set in a fictional world and the low means it's set in the real world. So Final Fantasy 8 is high fantasy, it's a fictional world and it has magical elements and fictional monster.

[@TenebraeXVII]

That is not that low and high fantasy means, it's more of the degree of groundedness of the setting, similar to the distinction between hard and soft sci-fi. Final Fantasy 8's setting is best described as primarily soft sci-fi blended with high fantasy elements

[@tbnwontpop8857]

@@TenebraeXVII Absolutely not. The setting has a primary focus on fantastical elements such as GFs, magic, sorceresses, and time travel, which is indeed fantasy, _not_ sci fi. Time travel is a fantastical element because it's impossible to replicate to the best understanding of science that we currently have, hence it cannot be science fiction. The witches also cannot be described as sci fi because they get their powers via magic, not science. It is indeed a high fantasy setting with some modern elements attached to it. Science fiction's elements are based on real concepts pushed to a fictional degree, hence _sci fi,_ and FFVIII has some of that but it is largely a fantasy setting since it's got so many unexplainable elements, which ultimately makes it high fantasy.

[@crazyMLC]

Shadowrun is a great hyper-specific example of merging sci-fi and fantasy. People call it science fantasy, though somehow I've never seen anyone describe an FF game that way. The way I've had high/low fantasy described to me is that the high/low part references the power level of the setting. Highest fantasy wizards have reality itself wrapped around their little finger, meanwhile lowest fantasy wizards can summon rabbits out of hats (with a lot of prep work). Ultimecia makes a good case for FF8 being high fantasy-at least in the future-though present day seems middling.

[@sonic_genesis]

FF8 with anime high school settings lol that’s a low to me.

[@unnamedlegeon]

If they're making an FF8 Remake, then maybe the devs should slightly twitch it to be more distinct from FF7 because they are many similarity to it 🤔.

[@Alex55455]

Kitase is an absolute legend of the Final Fantasy series and in my opinion is the series greatest director with Ito not far behind him. It’s no mere coincidence these 2 oversaw the golden age of the FF series

[@iggyp4390]

I love this series of career retrospectives for the Shinra Executives-Square-Enix, sorry! I’d be interested in seeing one about Hajime Tabata. I always felt he got a raw deal from Square-Enix, and I’ve always admired him for swallowing his pride and releasing a player survey after FFXV and his transparency during the game’s development. It always felt like he really wanted to do right by FF fans. Politics is a fact of corporations, and it’s always been a mystery what really happened that led to his departure. Great job, looking forward to more!

[@chrisdillon8376]

Your videos always end so abruptly. Keeps me on my toes

[@AlleywayJack]

This way you'll never be caught slippin

[@mechajintsu]

17:51 - lots of legends in these two photos.

[@AlleywayJack]

Yep, true greats 🙏

[@AngryStraightWhiteMale]

FFVIII is the GOAT. Can’t change my mind.

[@JediMB]

Whatever went on behind the scenes, my feelings on Final Fantasy is that the period focused on in the video (Final Fantasy V through X-ish) was when the series was at its best. By which I (obviously) mean... when its design and storytelling best for my personal tastes. The older games are enjoyable, too, but feel too basic and clunky. It was a period when they did a great job iterating on what they already had and started telling meatier stories with more well-defined characters. _(I've also enjoyed the MMO games for wildly different reasons.)_ XIV aside, when _"Fabula Nova Crystallis"_ was announced was when I felt like the company had become out of touch with what the series even was and started chasing after other audiences. XIII having characters I could adore with a setting and design that I bet much don't, XV being entirely the opposite of what I want, and XVI just looking like they're chasing after any trend-driven audience out there that isn't fans of what used to be Final Fantasy.

[@supersaiyanzero386]

Agree

[@JediMB]

I see my software keyboard messed up a few words... §1: "best fit my personal tastes" §4: "with a setting and design I very much don't"

[@iantaakalla8180]

Furthermore, FFXVI unfortunately proves all Final Fantasy is beyond its golden age, or even one step below that. The people in charge of developing FFXVI are the three people who made FFXIV what it is today. And because of that, a really disjointed story that can be emotional but is generally confusing follows, almost as if it is an expansion on an MMO. Furthermore, the great writing attributed to FFXIV literally only exists in the Ascian arc and the best-loved parts are written by Ishikawa, meaning Ishikawa as a writer is why Final Fantasy has some draw still.

[@Zodiac-n7n]

I think the love and tragedy between Yuna and Titus is excellent, but I really think FFX’s story overall is pretty bad. FFX was also my first FF so if anything I should have more bias in favor of it, but it just doesn’t work.

[@alanlee67]

I can't say for sure what Kitase actually contributed to the production of the games he was involved in but it's safe to say his talents as a game developer are probably very good. However, he did not inherit Sakaguchi's ability to find and nurture talent within the studio and SE and the final fantasy brand as a whole has been on a steady decline since the psx golden age.

[@AlleywayJack]

He recently said in interview that Final Fantasy is a 'toy box' that you can do literally anything with. For me that's a sign he's slightly too loose with the IP and the talent working on it. I get you can interpret aspects of FF a number of ways (e.g. the role summons play in a setting), but I still think it works best when there's certain formulas and consistencies across the games.

[@Ejohns1004]

Kitase has looked the exact same for 30 years. Damn impressive.

[@HelloTardis]

Final Fantasy 6 is my all time favorite. I wish they’d do an ACTUAL remake like Rebirth. Sabin is one of my favorites.

[@GamingWithSpoons]

I feel like many of Kitase and his teams great ideas came from the collaborative effort of Tetsuya Takahashi and Soraya Saga. With some idea from, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, and Final Fantasy X being ripped straight out of that first initial draft made by Takahashi and Saga for Final Fantasy VII. I feel like he coasted along on ideas from that initial draft and made multiple games out of it. ( I love Kitase and his work on early Final Fantasy but have to wonder if this caused the decline in the quality of Final Fantasy.)

[@apoplexiamusic]

More love for FF VIII is always a great thing

[@AlleywayJack]

Always 🙏

[@silverancient7840]

No. VIII is terrible game

[@over9000pontiacs]

Ff8 best ff!!

[@SunRiza7]

I love FFX but I'm conflicted with 8. I think 8 has some good ideas - like the final boss was so cool - but my playthrough was a slog. Like they tell you to draw magic from enemies to get your summons, and I think I drew from basically every single enemy EXCEPT those that actually give you any summons because it's really just the bosses. I'd usually forget to draw from a boss because I was caught up in the coolness factor, and because summons are so tied to progression it made the late game very hard Imagine my surprise after I looked up the meta lol. Don't play 8 without the community. P. S. I only played FF8 one time about 9 years ago, and while I can barely remember a thing about the story, I still vividly recall Ultimecia's four phase fight with the human form, Griever, the chimera thing, and the dark realm. Now THAT was a fight.

[@supersaiyanzero386]

So cool to be part of a community of fans knowing i could have ended up being a fan of some low tier series or reality shows. Ive played V, VI VII-X-2 12, CCR, Remake, Rebirth. World of FF, Tactics Advance, Crystal Chronicles and i played some chocobo dungeon game. IMO things generally get worse, more superficial and corporate as time goes on. Also being an adult.

[@alexlight4178]

7 and 8 are the best, by far. that's my bias before watching this, thanks for making the video!

[@AlleywayJack]

🙏

[@silverancient7840]

Bad take

[@HelloTardis]

FF VI Is the greatest Final Fantasy of all time. I won’t be taking any questions.

[@brianmckee2267]

IX

[@benzohhhhh]

@@brianmckee2267hot take…. 7 8 9 10 are all 10/10 games and are almost impossible to compare/rank.

[@phillystevesteak6982]

​​@@brianmckee2267I would consider 9 a contender but the pseudo-level scaling, low steal rate, annoying side content (like jump rope, wall hugging to find items, and Excalibur 2) keep it from being number one. Edit: then again gau's side content and mechanics are an abomination. So ff6 has problems, too. But the pseudo-level scaling is a huge turn off for me in FF9. The balance of the game is very rigid for an RPG until about 2/3rds in the game. It's like the opposite issue of FF7s total lack of balance.

[@karl7487]

It is. End of story. It’s the epitome.

[@coachleif]

​@@phillystevesteak6982 Personally, I would argue all of that is personal preference and really has little to do with "the game". For example, given FF9's main character and the style of the game relative to it's era, expanded and grindy stealing makes some degree of sense. I always liked this. Similarly, you can ignore Gau's rages all together, it's only if you want a grindy experience do you truly need to engage with these structures.

[@SonnyPlaystation]

Guys a legend and shares his birthday with me. Which is today!

[@AlleywayJack]

@SonnyPlaystation happy birthday 🫡 🎂

[@novachikun]

Kitase was NEVER up to the task of replacing Sakaguchi. He just doesn't have the personality to lead. Even Nomura is more accustomed to lead, despite having little talent as one. Kitase is just consistently the second in command. Good for helping shape ideas, but not the kind of person to really create new ideas, like Nomura, or refine ideas in a significant way like Sakaguchi. Kitase is the quintessential wing man.

[@Pope-of-Comics]

EXACTLY! Kitase wanted FF8 to be even more about Laguna than it already was. Kitase.

[@twenty-fifth420]

“Even Nomura is more accustomed to lead” I feel attacked as a kingdom hearts fan 😂

[@REDEEMERWOLF]

I love how some people respect Nomura, I just view him as a hack and a second-rate hideo kojima

[@Pope-of-Comics]

@@twenty-fifth420 sorry, mate but Nomura should have stayed solely as an artist. Advent Children suffered from his writing/leadership.

[@twenty-fifth420]

@@REDEEMERWOLF I love Kojima too. I don’t usually compare creatives and I think it is bad practice. Nothing is original, nor is it particularly always unique, so I am used to it being used when say, comparing Jack Kirby vs Akira Toriyama on who is better. I also think it is not healthy for media analysis, or especially writers.

[@G-Self]

Final Fantasy should have been entrusted to Hiroyuki Ito.

[@Eon_Kain]

To me I think the worst person to hit square enix would be Mr.Toriyama. 13 split the fan base in the way that should be studied.

[@Pope-of-Comics]

It started with 12. 13 continued the divide. 14 remains popular due to the erotic role players. !5 was meh. then we got Devil May Fantasy 16. & Rebirth dramatically lost sales after remake.

[@MatthewBester]

I dropped out half way through 12. Never finished. Haven't played one since. Don't even care anymore.

[@JumboStiltskin]

Rebirth is kind of incredible in many ways, however. Very enjoyable game imo.

[@K7TZ]

The low rebirth sales is cuz of the remake. The remake is not a real remake. ​@Pope-of-Comics

[@Pope-of-Comics]

@@K7TZ no it's not, it's a game with an identity crisis. A game promised to cater to a bunch of people who never played(or at least never beat) the original and have loud voices(See Concord as an example) While trying to insert shit that was rejected in the original. Remakes identity crisis is what most needed to see in order to jump off the train before Rebirth. This is echoed with how bad the sales dropped in Japan between the two games. You're not wrong. They need to drop the Final Fantasy franchise all together if they want to make games solely to make their imaginary "2K and MW sales." Ppl project that multi platform release will increase sales, na it didn't do anything for 13 nor 15. RPGs like FF stands for or create a new IP.

[@xmh3105]

Ff7❤

[@Baardnick]

Should have been Ito to take over and not kitase

[@AlleywayJack]

Elevating both would have been interesting; a combination of a story-guy and a systems-guy overseeing the IP. But as people have pointed out in the past, Ito seems to have diminished in prominence over the years and its possible Square see him as out-moded because they want to focus more on action-rpg style games.

[@Baardnick]

@@AlleywayJack yes. He worked on the ff12 remaster tho, ZA. He directed 9, which imo has a really cool progression system with Learning spells and abilities from armor, gear and weapons

[@gregeichler5237]

FFV is the greatest game of all time. The Sakaguchi-Kitase “rivalry” during that game left us all with something truly incredible. Bring back Sakaguchi to remake that one game, and you will revive the franchise.

[@Xylus.]

An FFV remake would be awesome. Doubt it would happen, but if they did I would actually be excited to see the modern action rpg style with a deep job system. We haven't had the job system in a mainline game for too long. I feel like action rpg with a job system would take forever to develop though, trying to make each job play well and feel unique. I'm actually not big on the action style, but if I had a deep job system, something like the gambit system for allies and the ability to change jobs mid fight like X-2, or paradigm shifts in XIII. That sounds like a fun game.

[@GummiBearDontCare393]

​@@Xylus. You mean like strangers of paradise? The job system isn't as extensive as FFV but the ability to train in all classes and use two jobs to swap between is more or less what an action RPG version of FFV would be

[@tbnwontpop8857]

It's fine but it hasn't aged well. Their random encounters and their rates suck, and the class balancing in that game is nonexistent. 3 of the 5 party members are also largely forgettable, and the story is only okay. Completely forgettable main antagonist, but Gilgamesh is good. Outside of a handful of bosses, the game's difficulty is very low. To be honest, SNES rpgs haven't aged as well as people would like to think they have, and some of their aspects have been outdone by several rpgs since then, a good deal of those being recent ones. Bravely and Octopath for example have much, MUCH better class systems than FFV; and if I'm being blunt, ATB is just an all around boring take on the turn based combat system with very little engagement involved.

[@Jkend199]

I LOVE, Final Fantasy 6, 7, 8, 10 and Chrono Trigger, ALL KITASE. For me he is Square's greatest director... I do not like the direction the series has gone since and now Final Fantasy is dead to me. I love Sakaguchi's stuff, and then Kitase, I... do not like Nomura's stuff at all... He was an AWESOME character designer, but he is a terrible writer...

[@tbnwontpop8857]

Kitase fell off hard. He hasn't directed anything in 20+ years and he was originally supposed to direct VII Remake, but shirked the leadership duties to Nomura and Motomu Toriyama, which imo was a massive mistake as those two were responsible for Kingdom Hearts and FFXIII. I don't know why Kitase just passively sits by and refuses to step up to direct anymore, but his refusal to do so in addition to his claims that the series is in good hands makes me dislike him massively. Then again he's probably too old to at this point, so some new directing talent would be appreciated since Nomura and the rest of Creative Studio 1 are just floundering about and not knowing what they hell they want to do with this series. It's time for some fresh minds.

[@Jkend199]

@@tbnwontpop8857 yes exactly, they had their day and it's done unfortunately. They were the magic behind Squaresoft when it AWESOME, and since they stepped down (since they got promoted, I suppose) no one has STEPPED UP and the series has just floundered... I LOVE 14, but its story isn't the masterpiece that people make it out to be. Yoshi P isn't the answer, The Magic is gone... Square is dead.

[@G-Self]

Kitase wasn't the sole director on FF6 and Chrono Trigger.

[@nmrn148]

Interesting, X really is, visually, more in the world of 8 than anything else--the same baroque, futuristic style, but set in the past instead, in a forgotten Golden Age. I think they hit their highpoint with 7--there are so many similarities to Akira in it, I think we can't credit any one of them too much for that achievement.

[@tbnwontpop8857]

I didn't get that vibe from X. VIII has modern/futuristic looking cities and fashion, whereas X looks pretty much like nothing I'd ever seen before. The tropical aesthetic combined with ancient ruins and water domes and the technology looks completely different from anything from VIII because technology is based on the aforementioned ancient ruins, while's VIII's tech looks more futuristic. The fashion that everyone wears in X is out-of-this-world unique while VIII has typical leather jackets and cotton sweaters, and the sport that they play in X is very creative and original; Triple Triad is a basic card game while Blitzball is like a cross between dodgeball and soccer, except it's underwater. Its setting is also not grounded at all, whereas VIII has more grounded and familiar elements. Can't say I agree. X is probably the most original setting in the series. VI is a basic fantasy steampunk, VII is dieselpunk, VIII is futuristic fantasy, and X is just unique lmao.

[@nmrn148]

@@tbnwontpop8857 I think 7 has a harder edge, and 8 and 10 were softer and more colorful. 7 was pretty much monochromatic--green, gray, red, black, etc., fewer accessories on each character, more utilitarian design, less ornate.

[@Coldsilfur4]

I love Kitases FFs.. i hope he is working on FF17 after the third FF7 part. But from what i heard unfortunately it will be Yoshi P. (FFXVI, FFXIV) ...

[@samuelleie]

Yoshi-P as a director or a producer? Because XVI he was "only" the producer, I see XVI been more of a Hiroshi Takai and Kazutoyo Maehiro game than a Yoshi-P game. Yoshi-P was the stand out of XVI because people know him as the XIV saviour (which he was not only the producer but was also the director) and he constantly speaks with the community making him more famous than Takai or Maehiro. But yeah, as I said XVI is a Takai/Maehiro game.

[@Noosenoodl]

Kitase needs to get with me because I have a full multi seasonal script for a Final Fantasy 8 series that would fit any of today’s media streaming services.

[@brucey5585]

He won't be reading this.😂 maybe you can email him.

[@SaintJames14]

Post the tl;dr or you're a hack

[@AnaverdGaiden]

Kitase is such an enigma. He made masterpieces like FFVI and Chrono Trigger, but then also made utter drivel like FFVII Remake and highly mediocre games like FFVIII and X. It's crazy how both he and Tetsuya Takahashi both managed to make some of the best games of all time despite the majority of their works being average to bad.

[@aoiyozoraa]

Takahashi making bad games. Imagine this. And X being mid ? What are you even on ?

[@AnaverdGaiden]

@@aoiyozoraa Xenoblade 2 and 3 aren't bad, but they're both heavily flawed. It's like for every good thing about them, there's a bad thing to counter it. Plus nobody likes Xenosaga 2, and while Xenogears, Xenosaga 1, and Xenosaga 3 are good, they're not masterpieces. The man basically has one incredible game under his belt (XC1) and hasn't been able to make lightning strike again besides that. Put your X nostalgia aside. The story is asinine, the characters are goofy, and it has one of the most laughably bad climaxes in RPG history. All of the villains are bland and pathetic and the minigames are all either tedious or control horrendously. It's an okay RPG, but people only like it because they played it when they were really young and it had amazing graphics for when it came out. If you judge it on the things that actually matter, the game falls apart. Plus you have a Sora PFP... no offense, but I don't think KH fans can really be a good judge of what constitutes good RPG storytelling and characters.

[@adamshalashaska5698]

Totally a hack, could never be sakaguchi..he let nomura ruin the legacy of FF7 with those awful remakes.

[@aoiyozoraa]

Another person who don’t know shit he’s talking about. The number of people attributing fake claims or works on Numura’s back is actually mindblowing. The truth is you’re stuck in the past and can’t accept that creating a game implies a lot more than you think.

[@SaintJames14]

Great video, but I wonder: do you blame Kitase or Nomura for the trash remake?

[@tylerhansen931]

Remake is super fun

[@yozzu5101]

The scenario writer is kazushige Nojima

[@Rihcterwilker]

Remake and rebirth are really good, the best thing to come out of modern square. The story... i will say i'm cautiously enjoying the journey on what we have so far, for the opportunity of new misteries that allow for ruminating and theories to be created. I will judge the story as being good or bad when we have a completed trilogy.

[@2changotb]

Remake is not good and you should feel bad for giving them money.

[@TenebraeXVII]

Kitase pushed super hard for doing something completely different and Nojima wrote the scenario, Nomura wanted to do something closer to the treatment the FF8 remaster ended up getting (what the customers were demanding for decades at that point). Nomura however was more or less a figurehead as director and at the time was stretched thin between multiple projects that the brass wanted to use his name to sell and we got what we have now for better or worse.

[@nicholasnajibi3082]

What even is this video? 😂😂😂

[@AlleywayJack]

@nicholasnajibi3082 I could talk more about Stimulus to Fatigue Ratio and full range of motion if you'd like

[@user-beepbopbeep]

Kitase is one of the most amazing key figures of final fantasy, in glad hes still around ❤