Yasumi Matsuno Yasumi Matsuno is a former video game director at Square Enix ( previously Squaresoft ) . Born in 1965 , he began his career as a developer at Quest , where he created the " Ogre Battle " series of strategy role - playing games . After leaving Quest , he joined Squaresoft in 1995 . His colleagues at Square Enix usually called him by his nickname , " YAZZ " . According to e - mail responses from the Square Enix Information Center , Matsuno left Square Enix on August 31 , 2005 , following his step - down from directing " Final Fantasy XII " . Projects . " Final Fantasy Tactics " . At Square , Matsuno oversaw the development of " Final Fantasy Tactics " for the PlayStation . Similar in design and gameplay to " Tactics Ogre " , it was lauded for its highly intricate and convoluted story , in which a young and naive nobleman becomes embroiled in a civil war over the throne to the kingdom of Ivalice . The nobleman , Ramza Beoulve , must come to term with his own beliefs amidst a number of conspiracies involving the church , Ramza ' s brothers and his childhood friend Delita . " Final Fantasy Tactics " was re - released by Square Enix on the PlayStation Portable as " " in 2007 , including all - new computer - generated cutscenes among other gameplay additions . " Vagrant Story " . After the release of " Final Fantasy Tactics " , Matsuno and his team began development on " Vagrant Story " . Smaller in scope than Tactics , in " Vagrant Story " players took control of one Ashley Riot , a " Riskbreaker " of the Valendia Knights of the Peace . Here the focus is more on the protagonist ' s personal life and past than a world - consuming conflict . As in " Final Fantasy Tactics " though , the plot has considerable depth and features a number of forces conspiring to unleash an ancient power . Gameplay - wise , " Vagrant Story " was praised as unique and progressive because of its focus on weapon - based statistics as opposed to the character - based leveling found in typical role - playing games . The game has also been described as a " real - time strategy role - playing game " due to the unique combination of isometric camera angles , ranged attacks which vary with weapon types and lack of turn - based gameplay . " Vagrant Story " was highly regarded by critics and has gained somewhat of a cult following since its release . It was later revealed that approximately 50 % of the game , including its story , was allegedly set aside due to hardware and time constraints , to which Matsuno expresses the possibility of entailing the sequel to the events prior , the former being dubbed the chapter " " The Phantom Pain " " . " PlayOnline - Final Fantasy XI " . Matsuno supervised Square ' s development of PlayOnline , the system that was developed primarily to function as the company ' s gateway to online games most notably " Final Fantasy XI " , prior the first beta test . " Final Fantasy XII " . " Final Fantasy XII " was originally directed by Matsuno and Hiroyuki Itō , both of them having been handpicked by Hironobu Sakaguchi way back in 2001 . Although he had to bow out of the development staff , ostensibly due to health issues , he is credited for " Story and Concept " and " Supervisor " . As a tribute to his legacy , the development team of " Final Fantasy XII " included an optional boss in the game called " Yazmat " ( a play on his aforementioned nickname , Yazumi Matsuno ) . In - game information about Yazmat ( localized as Yiazmat in the North American version ) is accompanied by a subtitle which reads , " Farewell to a Legend " . Montblanc , who assigns the player the task of slaying Yiazmat , tells a story of how he and his moogle friends once worked with a wise leader and mentor with whom they did many wonderful things . Montblanc explains that Yazmat came along and killed that master , causing them all to break up . Yiazmat also appears in " " as the Superboss of the game .