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Yasumi Matsuno

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Yasumi Matsuno
松野 泰己
Born (1965-10-24) October 24, 1965 (age 58)
Japan
Occupations
Years active1989–present
Employers
Known forTactical role-playing games
Notable work

Yasumi Matsuno (松野 泰己, Matsuno Yasumi, born 1965)[1] is a Japanese video game designer and writer. Matsuno was first introduced to video games in arcades while waiting for the train, and first played Space Invaders and Xevious there. He attended Hosei University for foreign policy but dropped out, and after working for a time as an economic reporter, he joined Quest Corporation.

As an employee at video game companies Quest in 1989 and later Square in 1995, Matsuno became well known for his work in the tactical role-playing game genre, specifically the Ogre Battle (1993) and Final Fantasy Tactics (1997) series, in addition to Vagrant Story (2000) and Final Fantasy XII (2006). After disruptions from staff leaving his development team, he resigned from Square Enix due to prolonged illness. During a freelance period, he worked on games for Nintendo's Wii such as MadWorld (2009). He joined Level-5 in 2011 where he helped create Crimson Shroud for the Nintendo 3DS.

In 2016, he created his own company called Algebra Factory, and during this period was asked by Square Enix to create a scenario for Final Fantasy XIV's expansion Stormblood (2017). He created a raid called "Return to Ivalice", the land of Ivalice being a setting from previous Final Fantasy games he had worked on. Matsuno was subsequently asked to create another scenario, which was titled "Save the Queen: Blades of Gunnhildr" and included in Shadowbringers, another expansion for the game.

Early life

[edit]

Matsuno grew up in a rural area, where he felt his only entertainment were movies, television, and books. His hobbies included making dioramas. He was particularly fond of World War II dioramas, that he used to make by researching at the local library. He would incorporate story elements into each of his creation.[2]

His introduction to video games was playing Space Invaders and Xevious at the arcades while waiting for the train.[2] He was fond of The Legend of Zelda and Dragon Quest on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and played heavily on the Amiga and PC, including Ultima Online.[2] He attended Hosei University for foreign policy but dropped out after three years.[3] Shortly thereafter he found work as an economic reporter but found the work unfulfilling.[3] In 1989, Matsuno left his job as a reporter to work at Quest Corporation.[3]

Career

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Quest

[edit]

Matsuno began his career at the Japanese video game developer Quest Corporation. In 1993, he served as the director of Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen for the Super NES. It is the first installment of an episodic series of tactical role-playing games. Matsuno was inspired by the British rock band Queen's second album, which contained the songs "Ogre Battle" and "The March Of The Black Queen". A sea in the Ogre Battle universe was also named after "Seven Seas of Rhye".[4] The next game he worked on was Tactics Ogre, released in 1995 for the Super NES. The political narrative of the game revolving around the reality of war were inspired by the Bosnian Genocide and Yugoslav Wars at the time.[5]

Square and Square Enix

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In 1995, Matsuno joined Square after quitting Quest.[6] At Square, Matsuno directed and wrote Final Fantasy Tactics for the PlayStation. Similar in design and gameplay to Tactics Ogre, it was lauded for its highly intricate story. After the game's release, Matsuno and his team began development on Vagrant Story. Smaller in scope than Final Fantasy Tactics, it was highly regarded by critics and has gained somewhat of a cult following since its release. Matsuno supervised PlayOnline, Square's online multiplayer gaming software prior to its first beta release in 2001. He then served as producer for Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the Game Boy Advance system, which shares the Final Fantasy Tactics system but has an entirely different storyline.[7]

In 2001, Matsuno was assigned to work on Final Fantasy XII as director together with Hiroyuki Ito.[8] He came up with the game's original concept and plot.[9] Matsuno reportedly was temperamental and refused to come to work for a month after part of the Final Fantasy XII team had left Square Enix to join Hironobu Sakaguchi's new company Mistwalker.[10] In August 2005, it was officially announced that he had stepped down from his position on the project due to a prolonged illness.[9][11]

Freelance period and Level-5

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A 2015 photograph of Akihiro Hino
Akihiro Hino convinced Matsuno to join Level-5 in 2011.

In 2006, Matsuno expressed his interest for Nintendo's Wii console in a promotional video, stating that he was impressed with the intuitive functionality provided by the remote controller.[12] He was approached by his friend, the PlatinumGames producer Atsushi Inaba, to work on the scenario for the Wii game MadWorld.[13] While developing the setting, story and script, Matsuno often consulted with the development team and received conflicting orders from the staff members: the game designers wanted to emphasize extreme violence but the producers wished to tone it down instead. Matsuno's ideas and writing for the game were influenced by the necessity to balance these two different points of view.[14] When the original developers of Tactics Ogre were assembled to work on a reimagined port for the PlayStation Portable. Matsuno was called upon to handle the game design and new story elements.[15]

Soon after the port was finished, Level-5 president Akihiro Hino entered talks with him to convince him of joining the company. In June 2011, it was announced that Matsuno had entered Level-5 based on his impression of the Professor Layton and Inazuma Eleven series and in order to create the games he wanted to.[16] During his stay there, he developed the fantasy RPG Crimson Shroud for the Nintendo 3DS, which is part of the collaborative project Guild 01 of Grasshopper Manufacture's Goichi Suda, Sega's Yoot Saito and comedian Yoshiyuki Hirai.[17] Matsuno left Level-5 in October 2012 and explained "With my work done on the domestic and overseas version of my latest 3DSWare game, it was good timing for me to step down and take a short break in order to recharge for my next project."[18] In September 2013, he announced a partnership with the American company Playdek to develop Unsung Story, a strategy game similar to Matsuno's previous titles and set in a medieval fantasy world.[19] In 2020, Matsuno revealed that he had left the project before it was handed off to Little Orbit, the company currently developing the game; calling Playdek's version a "Final Fantasy clone". He met with Little Orbit, and they confirmed that the current game was based on Matsuo's original concept, however he had no influence on the current game; stating that "I look forward to enjoying it with the same fresh eye as any other gamer".[20]

Algebra Factory

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Matsuno founded a "planning, screenplay, and production" oriented company named Algebra Factory in 2016.[21] During the Algebra Factory era, he was hired by Square Enix to produce the "Return to Ivalice" raid for the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV's expansion Stormblood and once more for the "Save the Queen: Blades of Gunnhildr" storyline for the Shadowbringers expansion, and by Cygames Corporation for game drafts and management for the mobile game Lost Order.[22][23][24]

Game design

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His games usually feature story driven adventures with tactical or strategical combat. He has described the development culture at Quest as having been a "kind dictatorship" while Square's was more "democratic", and is not personally fond of other team members having input on his narrative work.[2]

Works

[edit]
List of video games worked on by Yasumi Matsuno
Year Title Role(s) Ref.
1990 Conquest of the Crystal Palace Planning [25]
1993 Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen Director, game design [26]
1994 Philip & Marlowe in Bloomland Director, game design [a]
1995 Tactics Ogre Director, game design, scenario [15]
1997 Final Fantasy Tactics Director, writer [26]
2000 Vagrant Story Director, producer, battle design, writer [26]
2003 Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Producer [27]
2006 Final Fantasy XII Writer, original concept, original director [9]
2009 MadWorld Writer [28]
2010 Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together Game design, scenario [29]
2012 Crimson Shroud Game design, scenario [30]
2014 Terra Battle "The Death of Shay and Arionne" scenario [31]
2017 Lost Order (unreleased) Director [32]
Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood "Return to Ivalice" scenario [22]
2020 Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers "Save the Queen: Blades of Gunnhildr" scenario [33]
2022 Tactics Ogre: Reborn Game design, scenario [34]

Notes

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  1. ^ Uncredited. Released in Japan as Taiyou no Tenshi Marlow: Ohanabatake wa Dai-Panic; a unreleased English prototype from 1991 crediting Quest staff, including Matsuno, was discovered in 2020.

References

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  1. ^ "第１回 クエスト→スクウェア×任天堂 = ?". Nintendo. March 20, 2003. Archived from the original on June 14, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d Taitai (April 28, 2011). "「タクティクスオウガ」は若さ故の作品――ゲームデザイナー・松野泰己氏が語るクリエイターとしてのルーツとは". 4Gamer. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
  3. ^ a b c Taylor, Brendon (November 9, 2016). "Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen / Densetsu no Ogre Battle (伝説のオウガバトル) - SNES, Saturn, PlayStation (1993)". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on May 14, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2017.
  4. ^ East, Tom (July 3, 2009). "New Nintendo Downloads". Official Nintendo Magazine. Archived from the original on October 10, 2014. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  5. ^ Parish, Jeremy (February 8, 2011). "Let Us Remember Together: A Tactics Ogre Retrospective". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on March 19, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  6. ^ Gifford, Kevin (June 28, 2011). "Strategy RPG Pioneer Yasumi Matsuno Jumps to Level-5". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on February 26, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  7. ^ "Yasumi Matsuno speaks about Final Fantasy Tactics for the GBA". GameSpot. March 27, 2002. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  8. ^ Kawamura, Naruhiro (January 22, 2001). "FF11、PCでも発売、FF12の制作を開始". Mainichi. Archived from the original on April 13, 2001.
  9. ^ a b c Niizumi, Hirohiko (August 1, 2005). "FFXII producer steps down". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  10. ^ "Final Fantasy XII Dated". 1UP.com. July 30, 2005. Archived from the original on June 18, 2016. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  11. ^ Anoop Gantayat (August 1, 2005). "Changes to Final Fantasy XII Staff". IGN Entertainment, Inc. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012. Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  12. ^ Kennedy, Sam (September 14, 2006). "Matsuno Developing for Wii". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2010.
  13. ^ Torres, Ricardo (February 13, 2009). "Madworld Updated Hands-On". GameSpot. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  14. ^ Matsuno, Yasumi (March 4, 2009). "Narrativity". IGN. Archived from the original on March 11, 2009. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  15. ^ a b Gantayat; Anoop (July 22, 2010). "Team Tactics Ogre Details PSP Remake". Andriasang. Archived from the original on December 25, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  16. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (June 29, 2011). "How Yasumi Matsuno Ended Up at Level-5". Andriasang. Archived from the original on September 30, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  17. ^ Dutton, Fred (October 13, 2011). "Level-5 announces Guild 01 for 3DS". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  18. ^ Lien, Tracey (November 8, 2012). "Vagrant Story and Ogre Battle developer leaves Level-5 after less than 17 months". Polygon. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  19. ^ Wallace, Kimberley (September 19, 2013). "Final Fantasy Tactics And Vagrant Story Director Introduces New Project". Game Informer. Archived from the original on September 20, 2013. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  20. ^ Matsuno, Yasumi (December 16, 2020). "どういった情報が公開されているか詳細をまったく知らないが、私はすでにノータッチ。". Twitter. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  21. ^ "Algebra Factory". Archived from the original on March 20, 2017. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  22. ^ a b Williams, Mike (December 23, 2016). "Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood Coming June 20, 2017, Matsuno Returns to FF". US Gamer. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  23. ^ Talbot, Carrie (April 8, 2020). "Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers 5.25 patch is live – here's what it brings". PCGamesN. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  24. ^ Sato (January 3, 2017). "Lost Order By Final Fantasy Tactics Makers Is Looking Very Pretty And Final Fantasy-Esque". Siliconera. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  25. ^ Greenwood, Garrett (July 13, 2017). "Conquest of the Crystal Palace". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  26. ^ a b c Yin-Poole, Wesley (November 8, 2012). "Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story developer Yasumi Matsuno exits Level-5". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  27. ^ Kalata, Kurt (December 19, 2018). "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  28. ^ Fletcher, J.C. (March 5, 2009). "Yasumi Matsuno resurfaces to discuss work on MadWorld". Engadget. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  29. ^ Gantayat, Anoop (July 22, 2010). "Team Tactics Ogre Details PSP Remake". Andriasang. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  30. ^ Sahdev, Ishaan (November 30, 2012). "Yasumi Matsuno's Crimson Shroud Has English Screenshots And A Release Date". Siliconera. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  31. ^ Priestman, Chris (January 26, 2015). "Strategy RPG Terra Battle will be getting an online co-op battle mode soon". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  32. ^ Romano, Sal (August 21, 2016). "Cygames and Platinum Games announce real-time tactics game Lost Order for smartphones". Gematsu. Archived from the original on August 21, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
  33. ^ "Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LVII Digest (2/14/2020)". forum.square-enix.com. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  34. ^ Bailey, Kat (September 19, 2022). "Tactics Ogre Reborn Producer Explains Why the Latest Remake Isn't Using HD-2D Graphics". IGN. Retrieved June 11, 2023.
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