[General Discussion] Your Opinion On Yasumi Matsuno

How do you think Yasumi Matsuno stacks up when compared to other “more” popular game designers and what do you think of his work? I remember stumbling across a tread on the Final Fantasy IGN Board with one poster (can’t remember his/her name) calling him an “unproven talent”. While everyone entitled to their opinion and conclusion I just couldn’t agree with that, I find him a much more capable director when compared to Tetsuya Nomura and Motomu Toriyama. Yasumi Matsuno and Hideki Kamiya are my up most current favorite game designers from Japan. Nomura seems content to stay in his shell and cater to mass (anime fans) with no intentions on improving himself as a game designer, and Toriyama unlike Matsuno have grown.

Matsuno’s Ivalice has one of the most relieved worlds in Japanese RPGs and its shame that his vision of Ivalice will never be relieved, as said by Motomu Toriyama “Ivalice became more Square Enix's world than that of the former Quest team”. Nomura is to focus on the cool factor to concern himself about creating a believable world or good Gameplay for that matter. Look at how the uninspiring the new races that Toriyama conceived are compared to the Bangaa, Viera, and Seeq. The typical human with angle/bird wings Aegyl or Yuichi Murasawa’s equally typical Grai. Yeah, admittedly I’m more than a little resentful at what Square Enix game designers has done so far to Matsuno’s Ivalice

I so what do you make of Sakimoto’s claim that he’s currently working on something with now, I know I’m anxious to see what he can do without Square’s supposed incessant meddling.
Final Fantasy XII Composer Hitoshi Sakimoto Interview from 1UP.com

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Like with most of the directors over at Square, I only like aspects of each director. When it comes to Matsuno, I think he has an excellent ability to envision the relations of the world and making aspects of his worlds fit together well. His games always have complex political structures and it's nice to see some RPGs that are more than a Kingdom, Princess and some dude who comes along and wants to save the world.

But other than that aspect I find his world designs themselves pretty boring. Personally I prefer the highly stylized worlds Nomura creates (though his characters are a totally different subject) over the more 'realistic' style found in Matsuno headed games. I like the highly creative aspects such as some of the stuff we are seeing in FFXIII VS like the main character using massive amounts of floating swords, being able to teleport and run up and down buildings over the grounded medieval worlds created by Matsuno. But I do still prefer the more complex gameplay systems that come from Matsuno. They just lack the style I'm looking for. I also respect Nomura for being able to create various stylized worlds with Matsuno has pretty much only made games that take place in Ivalice. So in that sense he is unproven talent until he moves away from Ivalice and tries something new.

As you can tell I'm hoping for the day that we see an actual collaboration between Mastuno and Nomura. Nomura's extravagant stylization (minus characters) mixed with Mastuno's depth and complexity would be a worthy game from Square-Enix.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Hey, I remember you. I also remember what you're talking about and that I had disagreed with whoever said that.

Matsuno is probably my favorite of them all. Some people may not realize that before Ivalice there was Zeteginia (which thankfully Square hasn't tampered with), but anyways, I love the amount of care and detail that Matsuno puts into his worlds. Everytime I play a Matsuno game I know that I'm going to get an epic story, detailed world, and strategic gameplay. That makes him the most consistent guy in terms of putting forth a creative vision that results in a great game. Even if Square forced Matsuno to sacrifice some of his artistic integrity in FFXII for the sake of appealing to the mainstream, it still had an amazing world with grand landscapes and impressive architecture. Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and Final Fantasy XII... I'd say that those games prove his ability without question, and I think he's the only director to have two games that got perfect scores from Famitsu.

I agree with you on Nomura, of course. The Kitase/Nomura combo have done nothing but recycle the anime-inspired style of FFVII, and yet none of their subsequent worlds have been able to achieve what Midgar did, which in itself is a microcosm of what Matsuno is able to achieve time and time again. Nomura does nothing but pander to the lowest common denominator with his overstylized, emo, anime-derivative stuff. FFXIII doesn't pique my interest at all. If other people get excited at seeing Shiva turn into a motorbike, that's their thing.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Megavolt

and I think he's the only director to have two games that got perfect scores from Famitsu.

He's not the only director, but one of. Eiji Aonuma of Nintendo EAD also has two perfect scores to his name (Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker).

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Originally Posted by Megavolt

Hey, I remember you. I also remember what you're talking about and that I had disagreed with whoever said that.

Matsuno is probably my favorite of them all. Some people may not realize that before Ivalice there was Zeteginia (which thankfully Square hasn't tampered with), but anyways, I love the amount of care and detail that Matsuno puts into his worlds. Everytime I play a Matsuno game I know that I'm going to get an epic story, detailed world, and strategic gameplay. That makes him the most consistent guy in terms of putting forth a creative vision that results in a great game. Even if Square forced Matsuno to sacrifice some of his artistic integrity in FFXII for the sake of appealing to the mainstream, it still had an amazing world with grand landscapes and impressive architecture. Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story, and Final Fantasy XII... I'd say that those games prove his ability without question, and I think he's the only director to have two games that got perfect scores from Famitsu.

I agree with you on Nomura, of course. The Kitase/Nomura combo have done nothing but recycle the anime-inspired style of FFVII, and yet none of their subsequent worlds have been able to achieve what Midgar did, which in itself is a microcosm of what Matsuno is able to achieve time and time again. Nomura does nothing but pander to the lowest common denominator with his overstylized, emo, anime-derivative stuff. FFXIII doesn't pique my interest at all. If other people get excited at seeing Shiva turn into a motorbike, that's their thing.

Isn't Zeteginia a neighboring country to Ivalice in Final Fantasy Tactics? I'm probably mistaken, but it always felt like this world he crafted was connected to that previous Ogre universe.

Anyway, I love Matsuno. In a world of homogeneous stories and gameplay, the man is subversive. It's his strongest and most admirable trait, someone I hope other developers would aspire to emulate as far as quality is concerned.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Whoa, I never knew that Orges Zeteginia was actually a neighboring country to Ivalice? I never knew that, I guess the similarities in atmosphere between Orge Tatics and Fianl Fantasy Tatics was more intentional then I thought. That diffently adds another dimension as to how I see him and his Ivalice (not Squares).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

The country I was thinking of was called "Zeltenia" in the initial translation of FFTactics. Again, I'm not certain, I'm going by a gut feeling here.

FELIPE NO

I wouldn't go so far as to say that Matsuno's work were always realistic. Ogre Battle and Final Fantasy Tactics both have their own flavor, and Vagrant Story is very stylized. And it still looks good today.

RotorBlade pretty much hit it dead on. Most of the releases he's created have been a great challenge, and are very open games that can be played differently each time. It's kind of a shame that Square kinda whored him out.

I hope those rumors of him working on the Wii are true. I read some where that he wasn't impressed by the Wii, but who knows. Ogre Battle is perfect for the DS and the Wii.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I looked it up, and they were two separate kingdoms in two separate worlds: Zetegenia and Zeltennia. Just wanted to squash anything that could snowball from what I said.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Megavolt

I agree with you on Nomura, of course. The Kitase/Nomura combo have done nothing but recycle the anime-inspired style of FFVII, and yet none of their subsequent worlds have been able to achieve what Midgar did, which in itself is a microcosm of what Matsuno is able to achieve time and time again. Nomura does nothing but pander to the lowest common denominator with his overstylized, emo, anime-derivative stuff. FFXIII doesn't pique my interest at all. If other people get excited at seeing Shiva turn into a motorbike, that's their thing.

HEY...THAT'S NOT NICE!

Er, I mean, yeah that's pretty much it.

I think I'd like Matsuno as an anime director much moreso than a game director. I might be at odds with FFT's gameplay, but I liked the way the story progressed.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Oh, Final Fantasy Tactics is definitely overrated on a gameplay standpoint. The time spent grinding in that game in the beginning to get to some level of efficiency is a gigantic strike against it. I definitely find the Ogre Battle series of games to be Matsuno's best foot forward, have you tried them, GoldfishX?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I've heard mixed reviews on them, but I pretty much stayed away from SRPG gameplay until I got into Nippon Ichi. Now, SRPG's are just such devastating timesinks, I rarely play them (I even forgot there was a Disgaea 2 the other day).

FFT wasn't bad and I enjoyed it from scenario to scenario, but I found it extremely limiting and the time consumption didn't seem to add up to success later in the game. Then there was the bullshit at the end of Chapter 3...

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Until Nippon Ichi? Dude, just... come on. Seriously.

I was speaking idiomatically.

And what other significant SRPG's were around between FFT and Disgaea (actually, I started at La Pucelle, then did Disgaea)? Yeah, hardly any. Fire Emblem was out in that timeframe as well though and Ogre Battle 64 was out of the question (no N64).

Also, I prefer the humor of Nippon Ichi (although Pucelle gets pretty serious at one point in the storyline and the ending is less than cheers and beers) to the deep, political struggle of FFT in any case.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Front Mission for starters, Bahamut Lagoon. Emulation was well available for those, not sure if translations were complete either two. Though Front Mission 3 was definitely not worth missing out on, and that saw release stateside.

Edit: Do you discount Shining Force as an SRPG? If not, there you go.

FELIPE NO

So, uh, what exactly is wrong with Nippon Ichi? FM3 didn't interest me at all (both the aesthetics and the fact I wasn't in love with the SRPG gameplay when it came out) and I barely count the other two as being available (I don't think they had translations and having a computer that ran SNES ROMs at any decent speed was a pipedream until a few years ago).

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Nothing, really -- that I'd want to mention here. There were just games prior to their games' availability. Though I take what access I did have for granted, I was emulating successfully around 1999. Personal shock. I'd still count Shining Force, personally, as well.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Well, like I said, I didn't see SRPG's in a positive light until after La Pucelle (I had zero expectations going into it), so the mere existence of such games doesn't really mean much. Shining Force had the unfortunate fate of being released on the Genesis and I was firmly on the SNES side of that war and Shining Force III was released in very miniscule amounts, eluding my hard earned money with relative ease. I actually did own Dragonforce at one point ($35 during a Saturn liquidation!), but like Tactics, I found it gratingly repetitive and unrewarding the more hours I sunk into it (although it WAS a blast for the first...20 hours or so).

There's nowhere I can't reach.

See, it's a fact that FFTactics tends to get better as you invest time into it. Since that's when you get more options for character setups and such. So I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion, considering in chapter 3 the worst part about Riovannes is, even in the face of preparation, Rafa being dumb. Though I hear that specific movement causes her to act a certain way, it certainly isn't fun to just waltz into. Anyway, I've always felt that it's getting started in Tactics that is usually the most cause for frustration as you go along and that much I've seen universally agreed upon between most folks. As far as you discovering SRPGs via Nippon Ichi, just color me surprised it seems.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Chapter 3 where Ramza is caught in that fight by himself and you can't backtrack to gain EXP or abilities...Yeah, THAT pissed me off (then the "rush to the NPC" map afterwards was cute as well) Then, after RESTARTING to make SURE I have auto X potions for Ramza in that sequential mess, I started getting fucking mauled in Chapter 4, officially putting the game on the chop block. So it got much worse...I greatly enjoyed much of Chapters 1-3...The last couple maps of 3 and what I saw of 4 were what killed the game for me. Then there was the sobering fact of how much time went into playing it...

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Well, just know that my love of Matsuno and his games/stories have not blinded me to all of that. Because... well, yeah.

I was speaking idiomatically.

You know, there's something that I really hate about this designer... for some weird reason: He wants us to use a freaking guide!!!

I mean, this is very relative and stuff, but for us (guys who try to reach 100% without guide)... the games of this guy are a freaking pain in the ass. Normally, I can make 80-90% of a regular game, but from Matsuno's branded entertainment I hardly reach 50-60% or less.

Nothing wrong about it, but...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Megavolt now that you mentioned it I do remember you, I don't really post on IGN FF Board, but I have lurked there on many occasion, you’re known as Megavolt67 over there correct. I tried looking for that tread but it seems it’s in the void now. Well I try not to come down too hard on Square’s current employee roster, particularly the Nomura/Kitase duo you just mentioned, I just believe he truly earned my respect and admiration. I just what ever trouble he endured during the development process of FF12 haven’t shaken him up do the point to where he will no longer take risks and give in to mainstream conformity. Megavolt, are there any other designers either eastern/western that you’re not particularly fond of.

FELIPE NO

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Oh, Final Fantasy Tactics is definitely overrated on a gameplay standpoint. The time spent grinding in that game in the beginning to get to some level of efficiency is a gigantic strike against it.

I would disagree, but only to a certain point. The game is difficult at the beginning, when you're all a bunch of squabs barely fitting your armor. Later on when you get mid level skills and classes the game becomes incredibly easy. And then they give you Thunder God Cid and just ruin the difficulty.

But, I think that was intentional. By the time you get him the game is more about wrapping up the story line. Most of the game is out of the way by then, and only side quests and such are left to explore.

On another note, since I've been playing back through it I've found the game to be much easier than play throughs several years ago. I chalk that up to having a rather intimate understanding of the gameplay, knowing what classes work best where and how to be an efficient group of killers. Mainly, though, I've had to do very little grinding.

I've found that Ramza's Squire class is an excellent starting class as well.

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but I found it extremely limiting

Limiting in terms of...? It's fairly linear, story wise. But then again, so are most SRPGs. That I can understand. But as far as gameplay, well... You can pretty much approach each battle however you want. You can have a squad of Knights and just Rend Speed/Power/MP and beat the hell out of anyone in your way, or you can have a platoon of wizards to pretty much napalm the hell out of everything. It all depends on how much time you want to spend with the game.

For example, a Battle Chemist. Give them Equip Heavy Armor from the Knight Class. Give them black magic from the Black Mage class, and equip them with guns with the Chemist class and you'll have a well fortified Chemist that you can put in the middle of battle instead of keeping him on the outskirts of danger. That gives you more versatility in throwing items since you won't have to worry about your chemist getting picked on.

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And what other significant SRPG's were around between FFT and Disgaea

Kartia, Hoshigami, Front Mission, Ring of Red, Growlanser, Shining Force III, Advance Wars, Dragon Force... off the top of my head. Games largely from 1996 to 2002.

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So, uh, what exactly is wrong with Nippon Ichi?

I wouldn't say there's anything inherently wrong with them. What little I've been able to play seemed to focus more on anime stylings than actual gameplay.

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I actually did own Dragonforce at one point ($35 during a Saturn liquidation!), but like Tactics, I found it gratingly repetitive and unrewarding the more hours I sunk into it (although it WAS a blast for the first...20 hours or so).

Gratingly repetitive and unrewarding would be a good way to describe most old school console RPGs. :-P

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Chapter 3 where Ramza is caught in that fight by himself and you can't backtrack to gain EXP or abilities...Yeah, THAT pissed me off (then the "rush to the NPC" map afterwards was cute as well) Then, after RESTARTING to make SURE I have auto X potions for Ramza in that sequential mess, I started getting fucking mauled in Chapter 4, officially putting the game on the chop block. So it got much worse...I greatly enjoyed much of Chapters 1-3...The last couple maps of 3 and what I saw of 4 were what killed the game for me. Then there was the sobering fact of how much time went into playing it...

This I can understand. The fight in Riovannes castle is a bitch for the unprepared. There's a pretty easy solution for it that most people missed. Like I mentioned above, Ramza's starting class is pretty solid. It has a Speed Up ability. Just use that in the one on one fights and you'll make toast of Gafgarion and Belias.

The only main issue with the game is when you fight the two assassins. Often times the NPC will take the first turn, put herself right in harms way, and then die next turn. Nothing you can do about it. Dunno if that's fixed in the PSP version of the game, though.

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Originally Posted by Django!

I would disagree, but only to a certain point. The game is difficult at the beginning, when you're all a bunch of squabs barely fitting your armor. Later on when you get mid level skills and classes the game becomes incredibly easy. And then they give you Thunder God Cid and just ruin the difficulty.

But, I think that was intentional. By the time you get him the game is more about wrapping up the story line. Most of the game is out of the way by then, and only side quests and such are left to explore.

On another note, since I've been playing back through it I've found the game to be much easier than play throughs several years ago. I chalk that up to having a rather intimate understanding of the gameplay, knowing what classes work best where and how to be an efficient group of killers. Mainly, though, I've had to do very little grinding.

My point isn't that it's impossible to break through the beginning. It's that it is grating. Specializing leads to a more enjoyable experience, but I found myself having over leveled characters in spite of this. There's tons of variety to Tactics, and that is its most redeeming quality. Again, I just hate starting new games for it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.