View source for Masaru Taniguchi

[[Image:Masaru Taniguchi.jpg|right|thumb|Masaru Taniguchi (谷口勝, たにぐちまさる), 2013]] Masaru Taniguchi (谷口勝, たにぐちまさる) appears to have got their start in the gaming industry working on Atlus' '''Ronde''' (ＲＯＮＤＥ〜輪舞曲〜) for the Sega Saturn in 1997, the third entry in the '''Majin Tensei''' series. There they were credited for work as a Graphic Designer.

They found their way to Square Enix and appeared to start in the Quality Assurance department, where they worked as a beta tester on [[Final Fantasy XI]]'s original release.

They were credited for Cut Scene Events for '''Final Fantasy XII''' (2006) and received a Special Thanks credit for '''Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift''' (2007).

Following that, they rejoined the '''Final Fantasy XI''' team to work on the [[Wings of the Goddess]] expansion. Their initial work involved implementing mob and NPC pathing for Bastok areas. They remained on the '''FFXI''' team and by 2011 was doing more interesting work as a Planner involved in battle and job content, ultimately being in charge of it. He was very involved in the development of [[Geomancer]] and [[Rune Fencer]] for [[Seekers of Adoulin]].

In the wake of '''Seekers'''' release, Taniguchi received some backlash from players when he stated in an interview with Dengeki Playstation (Vol. 541 / April 25th, 2013) that users shouldn't "throw away" their Empyrean, Mythic and Relic weapons that had become outclassed by easily obtainable [[Delve]] weapons. Producer [[Akihiko Matsui]] had to take to the forums to apologize on his behalf ([https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/31485-New-weapons-with-higher-base-damage-then-relics?p=424630#post424630 English] / [https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/32710-%E3%83%A1%E3%83%8A%E3%82%B9%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B9%E3%83%9A%E3%82%AF%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E3%81%A8%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%86%E3%83%B3%E3%83%84%E3%83%AC%E3%83%99%E3%83%AB%E3%81%AB%E3%81%A4%E3%81%84%E3%81%A6?p=424487&viewfull=1#post424487 Japanese]) for the perceived lack of consideration to players who invested heavily to create them.

Taniguchi also received some criticism for the high cost of Geomancer scrolls that had no other source to obtain than NPCs. In the same Dengeki PlayStation interview, he said players could essentially suck it up and buy it now or wait and see what other options may become available.

==Related Links==
* [https://blog.playstation.com/2022/05/27/celebrating-final-fantasy-xi-online-a-20th-anniversary-retrospective-with-the-games-creators/ Celebrating Final Fantasy XI Online: A 20th anniversary retrospective with the game’s creators] (Gives some answers)

[[Category: Square Enix Staff]]