Versus will be the last Final Fantasy for Nomura, who wishes to concentrate on the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

YES!!!! Goodbye!

No more Final Fantasy?

If that's true, I really wouldn't mind. Although I do enjoy the series, it's kinda time to put it to rest.

As for Kingdom Hearts, there had best not be anymore gay undertones in this next game. Not that I have anything against gay undertones, it's just kinda creepy to see some boy love. =[

Remember Sudeki? That's the combat system they're talking about.

That combat system sounds very similar to what they tried to do in Unreal Championship 2 for the Xbox where they mixed an FPS with some melee combat and depending on your weapon your view would change. It scored fairly well on GameSpot so perhaps this will work.

But since it is a FF game no one will say it doesn't work no mater what. ;)

Oh and I was all excited there for a moment before I realised that it was just the last Final Fantasy game for Nomura, rather than the world.

I hope this isn't a double post but...The control scheme sounds very similar to the one used in Unreal Championship 2 for the Xbox. It had melee and FPS elements and scored rather well on Gamespot. It should then hopefully work well in FF XIII.

@Kotae: Final Fantasy isn't ending. It's just Nomura's involvement in the series that's ending.

"Versus will be the last Final Fantasy for Nomura, who wishes to concentrate on the Kingdom Hearts franchise."

YES!!!! BEST NEWS EVER!!! I hope that someone good hops on the FF bandwagon now. :)

"No more Final Fantasy?

If that's true, I really wouldn't mind. Although I do enjoy the series, it's kinda time to put it to rest."

No, no more crappy Nomura Final Fantasies. He ruined most of the modern FF's, FF7-FF11. Too bad the younger Final Fantasy fanboys fail to appreciate the pre-Nomura games. Hopefully the 12 team will take over for him. If I can't have Amano art, I'll take Yoshida instead.

"YES!!!! BEST NEWS EVER!!! I hope that someone good hops on the FF bandwagon now. :)"

FAITH IN HUMANITY RESTORED!! Preach on my brother!!

@Pal: Depressing.

@skamaniscool: Ah, I see. I really enjoy the older games, and play them more often than the new ones (I've grinded my way through 7-X-2, and still working on XII), but I just get sucked into the older ones.

I still think there are some series that need to be put to rest, and this is one of them. That's my opinion though.

@Kotae: I wouldn't mind if it ended. Just as long as something else came along to fill the void.

I love Tetsuya Nomura >.> Mainly because I guess I'm a sucker for them emo stories and spiky haired protagonists. Was kind of disappointed about him leaving FF, but then didn't care when he said he was going to concentrate on the Kingdom Hearts series. I love the KH series and am one of those people who have investigated the story deeply and am a huge fan of the game. There was still doubt in my mind that he might not do KHIII due to earlier interviews, but now I'm certain he'll strive to continue it, as I think he has a much greater vision in store for the series with new protagonists and whatnot (pretty sure Sora's not gonna be the main character in KHIII). I'm sure he wants to make a DS game after It's a Wonder World (or whatever it's called, and I'm pretty sure he's heading that project up...) to do with KH as well.

Glad he's not dividing his focus. Taking on both a Final Fantasy title and a Kingdom Hearts title would almost certainly result in watered down versions of both. Or killer delays.

And, as we've already seen killer delays on both the FF and KH latest installments, this could prove to be a really good thing.

Tch... Final Fantasy isn't a series, it's a mark. Every numbered game is a stand alone, they just have the same names so it can sell more and that consumers can expect the same kind of quality from them.

I'm down for more Kingdom Hearts game. Can't wait Nomura!

I now join the thousands, if not, millions of others out there who can say with glee, "Thank you, Nomura, for years of Final Fantasy featuring excessive belt buckles and annoying, wussy protagonists. Now get the f-out and don't come back."

No matter what the haters say Nomura made some great games. FF7 & 8 were great games and Advent Children was really entertaining to watch. There is adsolutely nothing wrong with a spikey hair hero wielding a big sword.

I think that last bullet should read "Versus will be the last Final Fantasy for Nomura, who was just offered GOBS of money by Steve Jobs to milk the Kingdom Hearts franchise for all it's worth!

Sudeki was the first thing that popped in my head as well...*shudder*

Sakaguchi

@VampireHunterZ: Let us not forget why 7&8 were not total Nomura turds...
Sakaguchi.

@skamaniscool

My thoughts exactly! I hope Nomura retires soon :)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Nomura-san! *breaks down into uncontrollable weeping* Sweet JESUS on a BUCKET this sucks. First Uematsu and now Nomura. What the fuck is going to be left of FF after this?

This game seems SO COOL. But KH3?! Come oooon already ... I love Disney characters, but I'd rather have more FF than KH ...

All I can say is "Praise [insert your deity of choice here]!" Nomura, the man who single-handedly drove me AWAY from Final Fantasy in the past 10 years, is finally leaving the franchise!

I never saw why people needed to praise these specific titles. FFVII-XII (with the exception of IX, which seemed to be more of a throw-back to the original fanbase) were terrible, in terms of story and character development. The characters weren't "dark," or "badass", they were angsty little emo brats. However, for some reason, people claim that the likes of Cloud, Squall, and Tidus are the pinnacle of character design.

To those mourning Nomura's exit, please stop. Square-Enix is a huge company. They'll find another, [almost definitely] more talented person to take his place.

Final Fantasy VII was amazing, one of the best games out there, but it's the only Final Fantasy that I've liked... but Versus sounds really neat because it sounds like Kingdom Hearts except without the repetitiveness, and I also like that Final Fantasy is doing the futuristic setting again.

@Walshicus: Pretty much was I was going to say...and that sucked (the combat system)

Along with most people who've commented, I can say I'm happy Nomura is leaving.

It isn't that I hate Nomura, exactly, and I'm not going to be one of those people who say "Bring Amano/Yoshida back for the next one!" Though I've enjoyed both of them as well.

We need some fresh blood running through Final Fantasy's veins. That's what I'm saying.

RPGuy: XII was Yoshida which does great artwork and has a lot more styles ex. VS, Tactics. Nomura which all looks very similiar except for Parasite Eve(awesome game) and XI, which also consists of Arita I think.

Another translator says this is the last FF Nomura will director. He doesn't like to director so many projects. His average art will still be there. Also he was with FF since FFV but instead of the art which was Amano, Nomura did things like battle system. And I love me some FFV.

You know, Nomrua's design choices could be based on the same principles that ended up creating Mario.

FFVII with Cloud, he had more distinctive features because the graphics couldn't allow so much detail. I mean really, he had spikey hair and a very simplistic outfit. That hair is what really made Cloud, Cloud.

As for other spikey hair protagonists? uh, I don't know what everyone's definition of not spikey is (I don't know, bald?) but Nomura's other characters, except Sora, didn't really have spikey hair. Yeah, he uses a lot of buckles, but it's his style, just like Amano and Toriyama have their distinctive styles.

There are other games that do what Nomura doesn't. I'd be a less fan of Nomura's work if it ended being like other things.

That being said, I'm looking forward to What a Wonderful World.

@skamaniscool:
I guess everyone takes their pick on which FF games were the best. The consesus is that FF6 was the best but FF7&8 were really the 1st to make those kind of heroes popular. After seeing hundreds of Japanese games clone these characters I can understand why people are tired of this.

FF7 stayed true to the FF formula for the most part. It was created in a dark world unlike the more recent ones. And lets not forget that FF8 had the best minigame ever, Triple Triad.

Oh, and I'm a bit happy myself with Nomura focusing on other things. I enjoyed FFXII, so I wouldn't mind seeing new teams working on future FFs.

Anyone else think he looks a little too much like a long haired Seifer a la FFVIII?

And I agree, I love Final Fantasy and all, but a change like this is really for the best. Plus we'll get Kingdom Hearts games faster now. Win win!

Since I'm not that much of a FF fan (though I'm itching to try XII for the new combat system), this is good news for me! Yay, more KH!

why are there so many people want this series to end? I understand there are people that don't like FF, but then you don't have to buy it. There are MANY that like the series.

I don't like the madden game but you don't see me going to every madden topic and say I hope this is the last madden.

@Megaseven:
I keep hearing that but he resembles Locke from FF6 to me. Bandanna, hair length, color, and the way the jacket comes up look a lot like Locke in artwork and CG(ff compendium is good place to see those pics).

I think people think Seifer only because of the gray jacket and the beanie from KH2 even though Locke shares more similarities.

It's pretty funny that so many people are excited to see that this will be the last FF game that Nomura is directing.

Mostly because, y'know, it's also the *FIRST*.

His role on the other FF games has, apart from some creative input on the plots, been largely limited to character design.

It's also kinda funny that so many FF6 fans hate Nomura's character designs, when he was the guy who was responsible for creating both Setzer and Shadow, and also for all the other little details that changed from Amano's artwork to the game, like making Terra's hair green.

He's also been working in a similair fashion going back as far as FFIV, working on the battle graphics for characters and enemies - which is why he was brought back for FFVA, to design the new hidden boss, Enuo.

Yeah, funny that so many people don't realize that he's been working on the FF series since FFIV, and that he didn't direct any of them. Heh.

It's kinda sad how many people out there diss Nomura's FF reign, yet Ill put my money on it that none of the people talking $#*t can even match the form and technique that Nomura has contained within his artwork. And I'm sorry, but compared to a lot of other games out there, the character designs of Nomura's are a lot better, whether they're emo, have spikey hair, and/or excess belt buckles. I'm so sick of people who simply play a lot of video games crapping on the artistic attributes of game design. Sorry if Nomura doesn't draw like every single anime or "cutting edge comics" artists-or students who follow these styles expecting to bust into the industry. If you're not designing better characters than Nomura, or producing a better game than Square, then I'm sorry but your opinions don't mean anything. If you want something better, go practice and study your ass off to become a master artists and show the rest of us that your designs can surpass Nomura's. Last of all, stop hating on Final Fantasy just because it's "cool" and "oh so rebellious".

@ACEAE86:

The old "if you can't do better then you can't say you don't like it" argument ey?
Thats kind of a ridiculous point of view, people must specialise in a few areas in their life, there simply isn't enough time in existance to learn how to do every possible skill yourself. Does that negate the ability to have an opinion? Of course not! I could use any number of ridiculous examples to show this but instead I will just say "I don't know art, but I know what I like".