It's been revealed that The Last Story will see Hironobu Sakaguchi return to full directing duties for the first time in almost 20 years...

Believe it or not, Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi hasn't directed a game in eighteen years. Nintendo fans have reason to celebrate, though, as it's transpired in the latest Iwata Asks that the experienced hand of Sakaguchi-san has returned the forefront of development for The Last Story.

In the interview, the Mistwalker chief explained to Nintendo's CEO that the last game he fully directed was Final Fantasy V on the Super Nintendo. Following that title, he described his Square-Enix career as a "grey-period", where he would contribute to direct "half" a game. After creating Mistwalker in 2004, Sakaguchi has acted as a general supervisor on games such as Blue Dragon.

The Last Story is set to release in Japan sometime in 2010, with an announcement on a worldwide release expected before the end of the year.