Hiroyuki Ito Hiroyuki Ito , previously credited with the spelling Hiroyuki Itou , is a Japanese game producer , game director and game designer who has been working for Square Enix since 1987 . Ito is known for directing and designing " Final Fantasy VI " ( 1994 ) , " Final Fantasy IX " ( 2000 ) and " Final Fantasy XII " ( 2006 ) . He also designed " Final Fantasy V " ( 1992 ) and " Final Fantasy Tactics " ( 1997 ) . He produced , directed , and designed " Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System " ( 2007 ) . He is the only remaining Square employee involved in every mainline title from " Final Fantasy " ( 1987 ) through to " Final Fantasy IX " ( 2000 ) . Biography . After graduating from Tokyo Zokei University , Hiroyuki Ito joined Square in 1987 . He participated in creating the turn - based battle system used in the first " Final Fantasy " , for which he took influence from the gameplay rules and strategies of the NFL , giving the battle system an interface where the opposing sides face each other on a 2D plane , rather than a first - person view like " Dragon Quest " . Ito has said he created the original " Final Fantasy " battle system with no experience of playing RPGs , instead drawing from his knowledge of the game rules used in professional sports . He later worked as a debugger for " Final Fantasy II " . For " Final Fantasy III " , he worked as a debugger on the battle system and Job System . He was also part of a small team that created the game ' s sound effects . Ito designed the Active Time Battle ( ATB ) system for " Final Fantasy IV " . For " Final Fantasy V " , Ito further refined the ATB system by adding an ATB gauge . He also created the Ability Points ( AP ) system , accessory system , and a new , customizable job change system . " Final Fantasy VI " was the first game Ito directed , and he was also the game designer and battle system designer . He created the esper and relic systems and contributed ideas for the game ' s story and the individual character arcs . Ito served as game designer and battle system designer for " Final Fantasy Tactics " , where he created the Charge Time Battle ( CTB ) system and a new refined job change system . Ito was the battle system designer of " Final Fantasy VIII " , where he created the Guardian Force ( GF ) system , Junction system and Triple Triad card game . However , midway through development he was brought over to Hawaii by Hironobu Sakaguchi to direct " Final Fantasy IX " . Takatsugu Nakazawa replaced Ito for " Final Fantasy VIII " and added the draw system . Ito was the director and game designer of " Final Fantasy IX " . He creating the Active Time Event ( ATE ) system , Mognet and Tetra Master card game and participated in writing the scenario and wrote the dialogue of the game ' s protagonist Zidane Tribal , making him flirtatious towards women . Ito returned to Tokyo and began development on " Final Fantasy XII " in December 2000 . At Square ' s business strategy meeting in January 2001 , the game was officially announced for the PlayStation 2 . It was stated to be in early stages of production with direction being shared by Yasumi Matsuno and Hiroyuki Ito . In August 2005 , Square Enix announced Matsuno had left the company but would act as a supervisor on " Final Fantasy XII " . Ito remained as director , while Hiroshi Minagawa took over Matsuno ' s position . Ito was mainly responsible for the game design , and created the Active Dimension Battle ( ADB ) system , License Board , and gambits system . At the Square Enix Party 2007 Pre - Conference Meeting in May 2007 , Ito was introduced on stage as the producer and directer of the newly announced " Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System " . Game design . When working as the game designer , Ito tries to balance the story and event scenes with the gameplay . He believes it ' s important for the " Final Fantasy " series to keep the games fun to play , no matter how much technology keeps improving . When he begins his work on a " Final Fantasy " game , he focuses on the gameplay and adapts this to the story . Ito thinks it is his job to smoothly implement the gameplay so the people in charge of the story do not have to worry about this aspect . Though he mainly focuses on gameplay , he still contributed to the stories and characters in " Final Fantasy VI " and " Final Fantasy IX " . He believes the most important factor of the " Final Fantasy " series is the player ' s feeling of accomplishment after beating the game . Professional sports is the primary inspiration behind Ito ' s battle systems . The monsters in " Final Fantasy IV " and " Final Fantasy V " and the gambit system in " Final Fantasy XII " resemble aspects of the NFL in that their actions are based on the most likely outcome of a specific situation . The Active Time Battle ( ATB ) system was inspired by Formula One , as Ito had the idea to give characters different speed values after seeing a race where the cars passed each other . These values would become the basis for the battle system and dictate a character ' s turn . Ito was inspired to create the ATB system as he felt real - time battles would become the standard in the future , but felt that too much of an action element would alienate players . The concept of the system was inspired by the the shift to semi - automatic transmission that was occurring in Formula One cars at the time . After the release of " Final Fantasy XII " , Hiroyuki Ito felt the Active Dimension Battle ( ADB ) system was still rough , much like the Active Time Battle ( ATB ) system he created for " Final Fantasy IV " . In the same way he evolved the ATB system in " Final Fantasy V " , he wishes to evolve the ADB system in a future " Final Fantasy " game . He added that the next iteration of ADB would both remove unnecessary features and add features that were previously lacking . In September 2012 , Hiroyuki Ito stated the optimum form of his battle systems has yet to come due to him being held back by hardware restrictions , such as available RAM and CPU power . Lyricist . Hiroyuki Ito wrote the lyrics for " Melodies of Life " , the theme song for " Final Fantasy IX " . The song was composed by Nobuo Uematsu and performed in both Japanese and English by Emiko Shiratori . He has written the lyrics for some songs for the " " and " Final Fantasy VI Special Tracks " albums . " Approaching Premonition " is a vocal track on " Final Fantasy VI Special Tracks " album featuring Nobuo Uematsu as the lead singer , and the entire " Final Fantasy VI " development staff as the background and chorus singers , including Ito . The lyrics were written by Ito , and instruments are played by Nobuo Uematsu .