Legendary Final Fantasy Art Director Retiring After 24 Years

Yusuke Naora has worked on the Final Fantasy franchise for over 24 years and is responsible for shaping many of the series’ notable art styles throughout his tenure. Now, he is leaving his post on Square Enix after working on “Final Fantasy XV,” which Naora considers has the best ending.

According to several Tweets that Naora himself sent out, he has already seen the ending of the fifteenth installment to the legendary franchise, Forbes reports. He will also still be on the ending credits once players beat the game, which is only to be expected.

As to why he decided to quit, Naora said that it was to spend more time with his family. As a result, he will be returning to Japan, back to his hometown of Izumo.

The first title of the hit franchise that Naora worked on is FF6, the last installment to feature blocky characters and a 2D world. He then worked on FF7 and FF8 as the art director, which elevated his status as one of the masters of video game art.

Fans of the classic title “Chrono Trigger” and “Vagrant Story” will also know Naora’s work. His resignation from Square Enix is a huge loss for the video game industry, but he isn’t completely ducking out. The veteran will be working on projects in a freelance capacity, so fans of his work will likely still be able to buy one of his gems from time to time.

One of Naora’s jobs for FFXV was to combine the artistic design of the character he was working on and the realistic game engine that the game had, The Inquisitr reports. He admitted that the task was quite challenging, which isn’t surprising considering how XV has characters that needed to look like living breathing people. Back during the PS2 days and prior, characters only needed distinguishing features to stand out, like a tail or unique clothing.