Lets be honest... we dont know.

Its them that will have to show us if anything changed or not. As far as expectations go, you can expect the same thing until proven otherwise.

Neh.. they'll still come up with ridiculous names for their JRPGs.. Birth by Sleep, Dream Drop Distance, Infinite Undiscovery, Bravely Default Theatrhythm, The World Ends with You: Solo Remix ...geez...

No, but managers do what they're told to do from people higher up. Wada came from corporate banking rather than the games industry so my point is rather that he would be more focussed on saving money without having the benefit of game industry experience. So any input Wada had would have been from a purely financial perspective, and being CEO, anything he said would have to be followed.

I know it's all just conjecture, but at the end of the day, a CEO is responsible for those below him and making the final decisions. I do wonder how a CEO that had prior experience of the games industry would have handled the last 13 yrs. Perhaps Kitase and Toriyama would have benefitted from a more experienced voice up top, even if it was more heavy handed.

Yeah I agree with that statement, more than anything. Though as you said it's conjecture. I'm not sure a CEO with only games industry experience is good either though. I mean the previous regime did great things, and then threw it in the toilet because it let Sakaguchi do The Spirits Within. I think the right mix, of business/games people, but that is difficult to attain.

I say this, as I do like the new FF's Still.

But, 
I think it's hard to say Kitase is a hack and devoid of talent, when he did direct FF's 6,7,8 with sakaguchi as his producer (and as quoted from Sakaguchi that he was sort of Co-Director suggesting he was heavy handed). And then Produced FFX with Toriyama directing it with Sakaguchi still onboard.

But when they sakaguchi left, the tendency's in Toriyama, and Kitase games seemed to go to extremes in melodramatic, and or linear cinematicness or whatever. I'm sure you get my point. Sometimes Creative people need to be reigned in or they create an indulgent mess... like George Lucas, etc.

Oh, I agree but Wada was too much in the finance/business direction with pretty much no experience of the video game industry (and I don't just mean in development, everything related such as marketing etc.). Also, saying Kitase and Toriyama are talentless is incredibly harsh with their history. As you say, sometimes creative people need a bit of direction so they don't go over the top and lose sight of end game. I hope the new CEO can help reign them in a bit.

Actually it did. Don't you feel a bit silly now writing that whole thing on a false assumption ?

Yes it was a bullshit excuse. The real answer is that Kitase and Toriyama did not make a real rpg this time around. They just did not. But they rather made an action, rpg, tactical hybrid.

I don't think there was ever a game critised more about all the things it was not.

SE is still lucky the FF name sells based on its name. Their ridiculous dev times are killing them. FF versus 6 years?
They better survive until we get ffvi for 3ds and Bravery Default.

Easy one. If FF games sold on name alone FF XIV wouldn't have crashed and burnt, with FF XI being so successful.

Things that Yoichi Wada did right: He decided to throw as much money as possible to essentially remake FF XIV and fix its reputation.

FFXI is their most successful game afaik, however the game is what it is because SE created a good game, a game that gamers liked and returned to it, bought expansions and so on... FFXIV was a really bad game and everybody knows it, no reason why they should expect anything else. They probably didnt sell what they though they would, but I am sure they were not expecting the game to sell millions, but to keep suscribers playing the game for years and thus create profits on the long term...