lol yea I saw this not too long ago. guy's less than a tool imo. the only thing I can do is take solace in the fact that basically no one (especially no major players) from square of old ( say the first 10 ff) are there anymore, so it's a new company.
That's actually not true.
Takashi Tokita, lead designer, director and scenario writer of FFIV (and one of Chrono Trigger's directors), remains at the company. He has mainly been working on portable titles.
Also remaining is Hiromichi Tanaka, designer of FFIII, producer of Secret of Mana, director of Seiken Densetsu 3, producer and battle system designer of both Xenogears and Chrono Cross, and producer of FFXI and FFXIV. He has since been forced to step down from his role as XIV producer and we have no idea what he's doing now. Ironically, Tanaka is one of the three founding members of Square.
Akitoshi Kawazu, who has been working on dozens of Square titles starting with the original Final Fantasy, also is still at the company.
Hiroyuki Ito, director and designer of Final Fantasy VI, director of FFIX, and co-director of FFXII.
Hiroshi Minagawa, art director of FFTactics, Vagrant Story, and co-director of FFXII.
Akihiko Yoshida, character designer of FFTactics, Vagrant Story, FFXII, FF3DS, and more.
And so on.
So, yes, many senior designers, writers, and composers have jumped ship, but many remain. The problem is that their talent and wisdom is being squandered in favor of the current trend toward action games. The fact of the matter is, the Square brand has always been about RPGs. No matter what kind of game they make, it always has a strong RPG element. This has been their calling card since the company's inception nearly three decades ago. But now, their brand is being turned inside out: the "RPG" touch is becoming secondary to a principle of action. Action action action. It is an utter obsession in the Japanese game industry right now in their effort to both mimic Western blockbusters and their own home-grown Monster Hunter. I'm happy there's a market for such games, but not when it's to the detriment of niche genres.
Not until Square concedes that they can't dispense with their turn-based roots and embraces this format will their company (and its remaining talent) recover their reputation. Believe me: now is the worst time for Square to make something like a new Chrono game. It would be an action game with little or no recognizable RPG elements.
