DEVELOPER PROFILE
Motomu Toriyama Interactive Movie Scripter
Credited: FFVII (1997), FFX, FFX-2, FFXIII Series (2009-12) Now: Writer/Director at Square Enix
M
otomu Toriyama’s first work on FF marked him as a face to watch - he was the Event Planner responsible for crossdressing Cloud and the story sequences early on in FFVII’s Midgar. After being rejected for the role of director on Bahamut Lagoon, his hard work on FFVII was noticed. Yoshinori Kitase hand-picked him to be the Event Director on FFX based on his work on FFVII. He stepped up to Director on FFX-2, and also contributed to FFXII: Revenant Wings and the two WiiWare FF:CC games. The success of FFX marked the Kitase and Toriyama team as a winning combination. The pair were placed in charge of FFXIII and its sequels, with Toriyama as Director and Scenario Director. Toriyama has said he believes his greatest strength is in creating story-driven games, and explained that the early parts of FFXIII were designed to emulate a movie. He believes the most important part of a FF game is its characters.
Isamu Kamikokuryo Architect of Cocoon
Credited: FFX (2001), FFXII, Revenant Wings, FFXIII Series (2009-12) Now: Art Director, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
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hile Tetsuya Nomura is widely associated with the design of the most recent FF titles, Isamu Kamikokuryo has been instrumental in creating the look of the worlds of the recent games. On joining Square in 2001, Kamikokuryo was given an opportunity to work on their flagship series right away. He acted as an art designer on FFX, providing artwork for the in-game gadgets, such as the Al Bhed technology. He then served as the background art director for the impressive world of FFXII and acted as the art supervisor on its handheld sequel, Revenant Wings. Kamikokuryo would become linked to Yoshinori Kitase and Motomu Toriyama after this - working as art director on The 3rd Birthday, FFXIII, FFXIII-2 and the upcoming third entry in the series, Lightning Returns: FFXIII. Kamikokuryo’s world design is considered by many to be the best of FFXIII. He’s a self-professed Elder Scrolls fan. 71