Quote Originally Posted by Exstal View Post
How does a director not have the ability or the power to direct the game?
This is the real world we are talking about, the director in this case was under direction from his superiors (His boss) to make the game totally different from XI. I'm paraphrasing this article you do need to read between the lines a bit but it's pretty obvious overall.

Tanaka on leaving Square Enix.
"The trigger for me thinking about leaving was getting removed from the Final Fantasy XIV project," Tanaka told Famitsu. "I helped mold Final Fantasy XI into one of the best MMO formats on the market, and I wanted to respect the wishes of the team as much as possible when they wanted to make something different with FFXIV, so I tried my best not to meddle too much with development. In the end they weren't able to realize what they were aiming for, which is a shame, but I wish them the best of luck with the reboot."
Interpret it however you like but it's pretty plain to me at least that he didn't get to turn the game into what he wanted.