As we mentioned earlier, Yasumi Matsuno is leading the team that is working on the next installment of the epic Final Fantasy series, bringing to fruition ideas he conceived almost eight years ago for a full blown Final Fantasy experience. Yasumi is working with a who's who of developmental talent on the game including art director Hideo Minaba (Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IX, and Final Fantasy Tactics), 3D Map and Character Editor Akihiko Yoshida (Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy Tactics Advance), Lead Graphics Designer Isamu Kamikokuyou (Final Fantasy VIII and Final Fantasy X), and Composers Nobuo Uematsu (the entire Final Fantasy series) and Hitsoshi Sakimoto (Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story). With such a talented team at the helm of this project you can be that Final Fantasy XII could possibly the best game in the series (or not, we'll see). Final Fantasy XII is scheduled for release here in North America sometime in 2005.

Check out our gallery of Final Fantasy XII screenshots below (they show off the battle system and a few captures from the cinematics):

Final Fantasy XII Gallery