Original team = pre PS FF's. Nomura had serious work in the franchise since FF V.

As Shinji Hashimoto (FFIX producer) said in an interview: Final Fantasy series will live as long as there are people out there who can make it. If you people expect the series to always be developed by exactly the same people then probably it is really not a series for you to follow.

None beside Amano are as big and crucial to the classic team dude.

All people I mentioned are more important for the team than Nomura, but less important than Kitase.

The original team - Amano, Sakaguchi, and Nomura being the really important members - were abandoned by Square some time ago. You've been playing ghosts of those games ever since the Playstation days, save IX. Those games live on through Mistwalker, not Square-Enix, and certainly not through Nomura.

Change is normal for the Final Fantasy franchise. Nomura was just some pup given too much control for too long.

New blood will do the company good. If he leaves, I will be glad to see him go.

Zexen, that was Rei's point. Those are the original members who are left.

And no, Nomura is not one of the original members, everyone can quit pretending otherwise.

Amano, Ito and Nojima are still working for Square as freelancers. Tsuchida is in charge of FFXIII's battle system(was also in charge of FFX's one) and I did like Hamauzu's work in X.

Zexen pretty much said it... how come those guys aren't so well noticed? behind the secnes duty mostly?

But I showed him that a lot of them have left too. In fact, I'd say that the only key members that are still in Square are Shinji Hashimoto and Motomu Toriyama if Kitase and Nomura left