Nobuo Uematsu
Latest
'Fantasian,' from the creator of Final Fantasy, arrives on Apple Arcade
Fantasian, the new RPG that unites Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi with composer Nobuo Uematsu, has landed on mobile gaming service Apple Arcade.
A new RPG from the creator of Final Fantasy is coming to Apple Arcade
'Fantasian' draws together RPG tropes like airships, mysteries and magic with, er, handcrafted dioramas.
Final Fantasy composer records symphonic album at Abbey Road
Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu is crafting an album of symphonic music from the Final Fantasy series, to be recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios and released digitally in early 2015 through Merregnon Studios. The album plays off of the Final Symphony concert series, which features songs from Final Fantasy 6, 7 and 10. "It is always an honor to hear my work being performed live on stage, but in bringing Final Symphony to Abbey Road Studios I hope that many more people will now be able to enjoy the outstanding arrangements that Merregnon Studios has become famous for," Uematsu says in a press release. "To work with the London Symphony Orchestra in a studio that has played host to many of my own personal, musical heroes will be a very special experience." Uematsu will supervise the album's production. Working alongside Uematsu is Final Symphony concert conductor Eckehard Stier and solo pianist Katharina Treutler. The Final Symphony concert series began in May 2013 and toured through Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. This album is the second collaboration between Merregnon and X5 Music Group, following the game music concert series Symphonic Fantasies Tokyo, which features music from Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and other classic games. [Image: @vgmconcerts]
JRPG Project Phoenix continues crowdfunding with PayPal campaign
Japanese indie developer Creative Intelligence Arts has renewed the quest to crowdfund its JRPG Project Phoenix, following up on its million-dollar Kickstarter campaign with an additional funding push via PayPal. The studio has since reworked its reward tiers, announcing an array of additional bonuses to entice new backers. Boasting an all-star development staff consisting of director Hiroaki Yura, artist Kiyoshi Arai, and Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu, Project Phoenix seeks to unite traditional JRPG design with squad-based RTS gameplay. The final product is set for release in 2015 for Windows, Mac, Linux, PlayStation 4, and PS Vita. Developer Creative Intelligence Arts hopes that additional funding will propel the project toward its remaining stretch goals, which include advanced skill trees, bonus side-stories, and multiplayer options. Project Phoenix has earned $1,086,659 from its Kickstarter and PayPal funding campaigns to date, and its highest stretch goals require additional contributions in excess of $3 million.
Final Fantasy 6 art director, composer working on Granblue Fantasy
Continuing a welcome trend of established JRPG developers attaching themselves to new projects, Final Fantasy 6 Art Director Hideo Minaba and composer Nobuo Uematsu have taken roles in the development of Granblue Fantasy. Cygames is developing the JRPG and will eventually cast its spell on mobile devices. According to Siliconera's report, the project began after Cygames Director Yuita Kimura expressed interest in making a game with Minaba. But if he was going to ask Minaba, Kimura felt he might as well ask Uematsu to get involved, too. Uematsu stated that he's been asked to compose with the sound of Irish music in mind and believes that his fans "may feel a sense of nostalgia from this." Uematsu has composed 11 songs for Granblue Fantasy, while Minaba has drawn roughly 100 characters.
Veteran RPG devs launch Project Phoenix Kickstarter with Nobuo Uematsu in tow [Update: Funded!]
Project Phoenix, a JRPG with squad-based real-time strategy trappings and an all-star cast, is now on Kickstarter. Among those working on the game are Lead Composer Nobuo Uematsu, Art Director Kiyoshi Arai and Director/Producer Hiroaki Yura. Uematsu is best known for his work in creating music for the Final Fantasy series, and Arai illustrated worlds for Final Fantasy 3, 12 and 14. Yura is the founder of Project Phoenix's developer, Creative Intelligence Arts, and worked on Diablo 3 and Valkyria Chronicles. The credited list of developers includes as-yet-unannounced lead programmers and art supervisors, the latter of which has been credited with work on "some very famous anime that everyone knows." Creative Intelligence Arts is aiming to launch Project Phoenix in mid-2015, and is starting with PC, Mac and Linux as its primary platforms. It will develop separate iOS and Android versions, and is "working to have the game released on PlayStation 4 and other platforms." The developer is seeking $100,000 on Kickstarter by September 11, of which it has already raised $25,921. (As of this writing. Given how quickly that ticker is going up, however, by the time you read this, it'll likely be higher.) Update: We weren't lying about how quickly this thing was getting funded – Project Phoenix passed its $100,000 goal in less than nine hours and shows no sign of slowing down. The first stretch goal is $300,000, and it doubles the number of monster and character models, and adds extended musical numbers from Uematsu.
Uematsu's Blik-0 1946 e-book has robots, feelings
Blik-0 1946, an e-book penned by contributing musician to the Final Fantasy series Nobuo Uematsu, is now available to iPad owners for $10. Protagonist Blik-0 is designed by artificial intelligence scientist Dr. Mabuse to be capable of emulating the human heart and brain. As Blik-0 experiences life, it begins to struggle with anger, sadness and love. Sounds uplifting! Blik-0 1946 includes three songs composed by Uematsu that can be played while reading the story to supplement the experience. The e-book is illustrated by Hiroki Ogawa, director of Uematsu's recording studio, Dog Ear Records. Uematsu wrote the book to help readers "recognize the happiness you can find in everyday life, which you often ignore because they are too close to you, and the importance of kindness and respect to others." Blik-0 1946 will reach the iPhone "soon" according to publisher Acittl.
Jukebox Heroes: Final Fantasy XI's soundtrack
Hey you! Want a good way to die a horrible, painful death? Enter into any geek domain and put down the music of the Final Fantasy series. Do it. I double-dog dare you. Even scrubs who couldn't identify a single other composer or notable video game soundtrack will leap to the defense of One-Winged Angel. While I generally do like the Final Fantasy tunes, especially the earlier 8-bit era stuff and Final Fantasy IX, I haven't seen it as an infallible series in regard to its music. I think along the way Nobuo Uematsu's become this person who can Do No Wrong in the gaming community, which has stifled an honest look at both the highs and lows of his soundtracks. I don't want to be all about hero worship or mindless bashing today; I want to examine a fairly good but not perfect soundtrack that represented Final Fantasy's first foray into MMOs. Along with Uematsu, Naoshi Mizuta and Kumi Tanioka shared composing duties on this project. There's some terrific stuff here that you'll listen to after the jump, but there are a lot more completely forgettable (and sometimes annoying!) tracks that have been shoehorned into FFXI's expansive game. So let's come down to earth and see what Final Fantasy XI has in store for us.
Building the Mt. Rushmore of Japanese RPG devs
This is a column by Kat Bailey dedicated to the analysis of the once beloved Japanese RPG sub-genre. Tune in every Wednesday for thoughts on white-haired villains, giant robots, Infinity+1 swords, and everything else the wonderful world of JRPGs has to offer. Here's a question for you: if you were building a Mt. Rushmore for Japanese RPG developers, who would be on it? I'm partly borrowing this idea from sportswriter Bill Simmons, who once sat down to build a "Mt. Rapmore." He, in turn, got the idea from the Internet. So no, this is not a new question, but it does help put the history of the genre in proper perspective. Personally, I love asking myself these questions, because I'm an incorrigible nerd. So let's get to work building our own shrine to JRPGs, shall we?
Kickstarter project offers hundreds of video game inspired tunes for a few bucks
If you've been looking for a way to experience more video game and video game-inspired music, here's a pretty cheap one-way ticket right into the scene. Nubuwo is a site that's been created to cover exactly this kind of music, and over on Kickstarter they've compiled the talent of 12 different musicians across quite a few games into one big bundle for sale.For $6, you can pick up either a 92-track "Vocal Pack" featuring the likes of Laura Shigihara, Floex, and the great Mega Ran, or a 150-track "Instrumental Pack" with the soundtracks to The Binding of Isaac, Bit Pilot, and ilomilo.For $9, you get both of those, and for $15 you'll get 25 more tracks from excellent indie games like Spelunky and Antichamber, a couple interview segments with Final Fantasy composers Nobuo Uematsu and Kumi Tanioka, and a few other goodies. Higher donations can get you the tunes on actual CDs, and signed by the composers.
The Perfect Ten: Best MMO theme songs (part one)
As I've well established both here on Massively and elsewhere, I'm somewhat of a nut for video game music. Whereas others might collect vintage hair metal tracks or the latest Justin Bieber opus, I'm always digging through obscure (and not-so-obscure) official soundtracks to games like Wipeout and Kirby. Video game scores can be right up there with the best that the film industry puts out, and the fact that they tie into personal experiences that we've played through can lend them sentimental weight. So for the next two Perfect Tens, I scoured all the MMO theme songs that I could get ahold of in an attempt to formulate a list of the very best. It was originally slated to be just one list, but after an hour or so of listening to tracks and having friends and fellow staffers weigh in on the subject, I knew it was impossible to keep it there. Two important things to note for this list. First, I wanted to keep to just the title/login screen tracks so that I wouldn't be working on this for the next 2.5 years. Second, unlike most past Perfect Tens where there's no significance to the order of the list, in this case we're going to have a genuine countdown to the best MMO theme song of all time. And I expect to take no flak about it, do you hear me? Good. Let's begin.
Square Enix offers chance to meet Nobuo Uematsu in London
Are you going to be around London on November 5? Would you like to meet longtime Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu at the sold-out "Distant Worlds" concert? Will you be able to show enough restraint to leave your Cait Sith costume at home?
The Last Story Wii bundle, Uematsu music revealed
Mistwalker's Wii RPG The Last Story will receive a big push from Nintendo in Japan when it comes out January 27. The company will offer the game in a bundle with a white Wii and Classic Controller Pro for ¥25,800 ($300), neatly packed in a box (pictured above) that buyers may want to hang onto for display purposes. It looks really nice, is what we're saying. The first run of the game will also be bundled with bonuses including a mini-soundtrack and an artbook. Speaking of the soundtrack, Nintendo also revealed that Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu has created the music for The Last Story (via a Japanese-language Iwata Asks interview with both Uematsu and his fellow Squaresoft veteran Hironobu Sakaguchi). The addition of Uematsu certainly makes that mini-soundtrack more appealing!
Anti-Aliased: A few thoughts on the Final Fantasy XIV beta
Holy crap. Look at that sweet screenshot. It's a veritable action movie! There. That's your article. Now, if you could excuse me, I'm going to go explore Eorzea some more. Oh. You're still here. Damn. I was hoping you'd all be distracted by the pretty. I'm guessing you've all figured out that I've been getting some time in on the Final Fantasy XIV beta, and I've been enjoying myself so far. While I understand that many people have plenty of dislike for the title (and some of that dislike is well-deserved, I do admit), I have to say that something about this game has gripped me in the right way. While I can't claim a huge amount of time with the title just yet, I do want to devote some time to picking out the good and bad areas of my visit in Eorzea so far. So join me this week as we discuss the ups and downs of Final Fantasy XIV's eclectic design, as well as the starting portions of Gridania and Limisa Lomisa. %Gallery-69600%
New Making of Eorzea video sits down with Final Fantasy XIV's composer Uematsu
For many people, Nobuo Uematsu's name is inextricably linked to the Final Fantasy series. And with good cause -- he's one of the people most closely associated with the feel of the series, with several of his compositions having become ubiquitous even within games he didn't score. Having been the sole composer for Final Fantasy XIV, the newest Making of Eorzea video sits down with Uematsu and discusses the experience of composing the full score for the game. While Uematsu estimates it's been about ten years since he was in charge of a full score for a game, there's little argument to be had about his suitability for the job. He discusses both the scope of the project and his experiences in composing such memorable tracks as the theme song -- which, in his own words, was sung by Susan Calloway at his own insistence. See more about the music of Final Fantasy XIV in the video, embedded after the cut.
Final Fantasy returns to the San Francisco Symphony July 15 and 16
Following sold-out performances last year, the San Francisco Symphony will be performing two concerts next month featuring music from the Final Fantasy series. What's more, series maestro Nobuo Uematsu will be in attendance and appear at meet & greet events following the July 15 and 16 performances.
FFXIV music leaked
Ah, the perils of digital distribution (or, if you're a fan, the joys). The hotly anticipated Final Fantasy XIV alpha starts tomorrow, and enterprising nerds have managed to rip data from Square-Enix's alpha client download, including portions of the soundtrack by celebrated composer Nobuo Uematsu. The score looks to evoke that classic Uematsu Final Fantasy feeling, and if you're partial to that sort of thing, we'd suggest giving the leaked files a listen while you still can. The music is currently hosted over at MediaFire as well as a couple of spots on YouTube. You can also check out the original announcement over at Reddit. [Thanks to Kyle Horner for the tip!]
Fantasy Life's collection of lives
Level-5 released character art of people working in the twenty different job-based "lives" in the developer's newly announced Fantasy Life. The designs show the very Little King's Story-esque style being used by character designer Hideo Minaba, which is going to charm the money right out of our bank accounts. Each one of these lives represents a unique set of quests, and a unique ending with a different Nobuo Uematsu vocal theme. The identity of each Life isn't labeled, though Andriasang printed a list from Famitsu magazine of all the jobs to go along with the picture. Many of them seem pretty obvious given the tools in their hands, and six of them are outright revealed by a second picture. Both images, and the list, are available after the break.
Contact creator's next game: 'Sakura Note'
Marvelous Entertainment revealed Contact director Akira Ueda's next project, Sakura Note, with a teaser web site. According to 1UP's summary of a Famitsu preview of the game, the game involves two mysterious sakura trees in two towns. One is blooming late in the year, and the other is dying. This is somehow connected to a new arrival in your neighborhood, and subsequent attacks against her by ghosts. In order to solve these two mysteries, you explore the nostalgic scenery of two neighboring towns, "talking to people and unlocking new story episodes as you go along." The game is being created by an all-star team. As on Level-5's Fantasy Life, Nobuo Uematsu and Hideo Minaba are contributing music and character design, respectively. Kingdom Hearts' Kazushige Nojima is writing the story, and Half-Minute Hero producer Kenichiro Takagi is producing. Sakura Note will be out in Japan November 5.
Level-5 invites players into a 'Fantasy Life' ... in a doomed town
In addition to the London Life RPG inside Professor Layton and the Devil's Flute, Level-5 announced another collaboration with Brownie Brown, the Sword of Mana developer and Mother 3 co-creator: Fantasy Life, a town simulation in the vein of Animal Crossing. Fantasy Life occurs in the world of Fantazeal, which shows prophesied signs of impending destruction after a shadow passes over the moon. If this were a normal RPG, you'd portray some kind of teenaged hero fighting to save the world from this catastrophe, but in this game, it basically doesn't seem to matter: you choose a job and undertake daily "Life Quests" related to that job, to improve your wealth and happiness levels. The game includes local and online wireless functionality, allowing others to visit your town. Aside from Level-5 and Brownie Brown, Fantasy Life features more big names. Nobuo Uematsu is composing an opening theme, as well as ending themes for the ending of each job's "life," and character design is being done by Hideo Minaba, a Final Fantasy series alum who most recently designed the characters in Little King's Story. [Via Andriasang]
