Playing through Final Fantasy XIII recently and now Demon's Souls has really brought home how much I love the games of one Yasumi Matsuno. While I know Final Fantasy XII was a rather divisive game, I for one loved it, particularly its convoluted storyline. Hell, compared to XIII's story, which consists of nothing but the main characters walking from A to B while occasionally spouting some nonsense about how teamwork conquers all, Yasumi Matsuno's tale of a small nation caught between two warring empires is a work of art.  Plus, it just dares to take itself more seriously than most game stories do. Pretentious, perhaps, but so is a lot of great art. 
 
Another game I've been playing of late is Demon's Souls, a notoriously difficult but very rewarding game, if you put the time into it. Its sense of isolation and deep mechanics remind me of another of Matsuno's games, Vagrant Story. Both have you going through atmospheric dungeons, crafting weapons and armor while fighting huge and difficult enemies. Both attained cult status while alienating most people with their obtuse mechanics.  
 
After exiting Square Enix during the development of Final Fantasy XII, on account of health issues or because he went bats#!t insane (reports vary), Matsuno has pretty much disappeared off the radar. Apart from a story credit for Mad World, he seems to not be doing much game related. I still hold out hope he's working with Vanillaware (they of Odin Sphere and Muramasa fame) on a 2d strategy rpg in the vein of Final Fantasy Tactics, but at the same time realise that the odds of the LHC creating a black hole are probably higher than that. Ah, well. One can dream.