New Four Warriors of Light scans, job system

Some new scans of Four Warriors of Light for the Nintendo DS appeared today; take a look at some of the finer points of the battle system and even some sketches of the jobs available within!





















SOURCES: 2ch

New scans for The After Years

New scans for Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, an episodic sequel to the original Final Fantasy IV on the SNES accompanied Famitsu this week; newly revealed are some additional pieces of artwork by Akira Oguro. The next chapter is due out in Japan on July 21st.





SOURCES: Famitsu

Your Favorite Enemies in Dissidia, making of

So, it came as a bit of a shock to hear that a western (Canadian) band had been chosen to write the theme for Dissidia: Final Fantasy. The songs "Cosmos", "Chaos", and "The Messenger" as well as some thematic pieces were composed by the band with Takeharu Ishimoto. In a 10-part series videos from the band's website, they shed some insight into this unusual collaboration.

Part 1:


Part 2:


Part 3:


Part 4:


Part 5-1:


Part 5-2:


Part 6-1:


Part 6-2:


Part 7:


Part 8:

'Dalmasca Estersand', played on an Electone

These electronic organs were made by Yamaha eons ago; but still they match Sakimoto's sound to a tee. Expert Electone player "maru" from Nico Nico Douga uploaded a rendition of "Dalmasca Estersand" from Final Fantasy XII.



Original Video
!! Japanese language website, also requires you to sign up to view video.

SOURCES: maru [NicoNicoDouga], komiku319 [YouTube ver.]

New FFXIII screens from Famitsu

Famitsu recently interviewed Tetsuya Nomura on the status of the projects he's been involved with; while he is no longer involved beyond character design with Final Fantasy XIII he made a few comments on the game's progress and brought some new pics to boot. The screenshots are taken during the battle phase of Snow's Shiva summoning. Take a look:






SOURCES: FF7acReunion

A Moogle Kupo d'Etrailer~

The trailers keep on coming today folks; here's the debut of A Moogle Kupo d'Etat: Evil In Small Doses as part of the newest trifecta of expansions for Final Fantasy XI!



SOURCES: Nogib [YouTube], GameTrailers.

New "Combo" video for Dissidia!

I guess we won't be waiting too long for new voice acting clips; though it's hard to hear under the clips, here's a new trailer GameTrailers put up for Dissidia Final Fantasy.



SOURCES: MichaelKMcCallum [YouTube], GameTrailers.

First trailer for Four Warriors of Light!

The first gameplay trailer of Four Warriors of Light: Final Fantasy Gaiden has arrived. The new style is definetly intriguing, and I'm already anxious to see more battle footage; overall this will be a fun one to explore.



SOURCES: Azdragoon [Youtube], GameTrailers.

A Moogle Kupo d'Etat, released for FFXI

The next part of Square-Enix's multi-part expansion for Final Fantasy XI: A Moogle Kupo d'Etat released to players on July 6th. It comes as a trifecta of expansions with A Crystalline Prophecy and A Shantotto Ascension. Square-Enix on the release:

We're pleased to announce that "A Moogle Kupo d'Etat—Evil in Small Doses," the second in a series of three add-on scenarios for FINAL FANTASY XI, goes on sale starting today, exclusively through PlayOnline!

* Purchasing users will be able to access the new content with the release of the next FINAL FANTASY XI version update, currently scheduled for late July.
* Users need only purchase one registration code per PlayOnline ID in order to enjoy the new content with all characters on that account.

"It started with an innocent drop of rainwater and a rickety,
ramshackle Mog House desperately in need of repairs.
Little did anyone suspect that this was only the beginning of a
harrowing nightmare unheard of in the annals of mooglekind."

The new expansion also comes with new sets of equipment, which are viewable at the game's official site.



SOURCES: ffxi.allakhazam

Boecker on for Symphonic Fantasies concert

Coming up in September at the Philharmonic Hall in Cologne, Germany, Thomas Boecker is set for Symphonic Fantasies. It is a concert that will feature arrangements from Square-Enix titles Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Mana, and Crono series. We've also just learned that Kingdom Hearts and Square-Enix veteran composer Yoko Shimomura will be in attendance. Boecker was interviewd by SEMO earlier this year about the upcoming event; the following is an exerpt:

Chris: It's been announced that Jonne Valtonen is the arranger for Symphonic Fantasies. How will he approach the arrangements for this title and how long will he work on this project?

Thomas Boecker: It is hard to put in words how excited I am to have him doing all these arrangements! What he did for Symphonic Shades brought him a lot of praise from fans, the media, and from the WDR Radio Orchestra.

Jonne Valtonen will study the original music very, very carefully. This is what he did with Symphonic Shades as well: finding out what the original composers tried to express, what they felt when doing the compositions within the context of the games, etc. He will have full six months for his work, and he will be spending all his time on the arrangements. We are very proud that we have such amazing conditions for producing our concerts!



Chris: The diverse and complex arrangements of Symphonic Fantasies sound difficult to perform. Are Arnie Roth and the WDR Radio Orchestra up for the challenge once again?

Thomas Boecker: We will have a very good amount of rehearsal time, even more than we had for Symphonic Shades. You hardly can find such conditions in the world of video game music concerts. I would even go so far to say that Symphonic Fantasies will have the biggest amount of rehearsal time ever.

Furthermore, the WDR Radio Orchestra is a stunning ensemble, one of the best I ever worked with, so I have not the slightest concern that there might be problems. Same as for Symphonic Shades, it is the combination of original music/arrangement quality, amount of rehearsal time, and orchestra quality that make the WDR productions outstanding.

Chris: Your past concerts have been made even more memorable thanks to the attendance of special guests. Is it possible some famous Square Enix composers could attend Symphonic Fantasies too? Might there even be a meet and greet?

Thomas Boecker: We are going to make a few announcements later, but yes — I can officially confirm that three famous composers will be in attendance. And yes, there will be a Meet and Greet, probably before the actual concert starts, that will be free of charge. More details will be announced shortly.

You can read the full article here.

SOURCES: Square Enix Music Online

New scans of Final Fantasy Legend II remake

So, if it slipped under your radar, Final Fantasy Legend II is being remade for the Nintendo DS. Known alternately as SaGa II, the game has been given the subtitle "Goddess of Destiny". Two new scans were released from Famitsu today.

Scan 1
Scan 2

SOURCES: Gamekyo, Famitsu

Nobuo Uematsu talks Distant Worlds and FFXIV

Luckily, I was able to attend a Distant Worlds in Minneapolis earlier this year, and I was totally delighted getting to see Nobuo Uematsu in person. (He even sat with us and a few rows away from me in the audience that night!) If you ever get the chance to go to a performance, go. It's totally worth it.

Recently, Mr. Uematsu was interviewed by ZAM on the subject of the Distant Worlds concert and his return to compose the soundtrack for Final Fantasy XIV!

Distant Worlds: The Men Behind the Music
8 hours 42 minutes ago by Thayos

ZAM Wikibase Editor Scott "Thayos" Pesznecker (left) and Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu (right)

Nobuo Uematsu's music was heard around the world long before he became famous.

The 26-year-old musician -- who grew up in Japan listening to Elton John, Led Zeppelin and King Crimson -- was hosting friends at his home when one of them mentioned a part-time job opening at a small video game company. Uematsu applied for the job and got it.

Soon after, he was scoring the soundtrack for what would be the company‘s breakout title -- a role-playing game called Final Fantasy.

The rest is history.

“I certainly didn’t write any of these pieces with the ambition they’d be performed in concert halls,” said Uematsu, now 50. “I never imagined I’d be doing this, and that every time people would be asking, ‘encore, encore.’”

The “Distant Worlds: Music of FINAL FANTASY” concert tour, which is swinging through Seattle, Wash. this weekend, is a compilation of Uematsu’s work throughout the Final Fantasy series. Under the direction of Uematsu and Grammy award-winning conductor Arnie Roth, the iconic music of the Final Fantasy series is brought to life by a full symphony orchestra.

Uematsu, in Seattle for this weekend’s concerts, took some time after Wednesday’s rehearsal to reflect on his career and the success of Distant Worlds.

"It's just the ability to see the reaction from the fans overseas, how happy they are to hear the music," he said. “That's a really big lift for me."

As a young boy, Uematsu discovered his passion for music while playing around on his older sister’s piano. Although he fantasized about becoming a pro wrestler, he always knew he wanted a career in music.

He landed his first paid gig when he composed a radio jingle for an amusement park in north-central Japan. After that, Uematsu mainly focused on his small rock band -- he played the keyboard -- before landing his job with Square.

Now he’s a member of The Black Mages, a rock-style band that performs electrifying versions of hit Final Fantasy tracks. He’s constantly touring with Distant Worlds, which recently wrapped up overseas performances in Singapore and Taipei.

On top of that, Uematsu is halfway finished with composing the music for Final Fantasy XIV, the second massively multiplayer online game of the franchise. Final Fantasy IX was the last installment of the series to be scored entirely by Uematsu.

“It’s tough, it can be tough; there’s a lot of material to get through,” Uematsu said of his ongoing work with FFXIV. “You’ve really got to make a wide variety of patterns in the music to try to open up the score. One of the things that is an issue is obviously one person working by themselves can be limited in what they can do, so what I’m trying to do is produce a good range of music.”

Roth, the Distant Worlds conductor, has become close friends with Uematsu during the Distant Worlds series. The two work together on a daily basis to convert Uematsu’s pieces into various symphonic arrangements. Roth has written so many arrangements of Uematsu’s work that the concert series may begin returning to cities with entirely different music lineups.

Although Roth isn’t a gamer, he’s largely responsible for the birth of Distant Worlds.

The idea for the concert series was planted in Roth’s head by a colleague who had performed a Final Fantasy music concert at the 2002 E3 convention in Los Angeles. The show sold out quickly. However, the show’s venue was rather small, and skeptics wondered the show would have sold out had E3 not been happening. Roth’s friend talked to several conductors; none of them took his idea seriously.

“There’s a great prejudging, or assumptions made, with the old school presenters,” Roth said. “They all look at that and say, ‘what do you mean a concert of all video game music? That’s the knee jerk reaction. Many times, it’s that knee-jerk reaction that immediately halts a project.”

Roth took a chance on the idea. He planned an all-Final Fantasy concert called “Dear Friends” in Chicago, where he is the musical director and principal conductor of the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra. Just to be safe, he stipulated that the show would only be held if a certain number of tickets could be sold.

The show sold out.

Roth was floored by the audience’s reverent enthusiasm. In rock concerts, people are usually dancing, stomping and singing along. Classical music fans are usually silent, but it’s oddly common for people to shuffle their programs at the wrong moments or head for the restrooms at breaks in the music. During that first show, everyone was quiet and still.

“These fans are maybe some of the best fans, better than classical fans,” Roth said. “They know the music so well, and they come here to listen to the live music. You can hear a pin drop during the performances, which is just a beautiful thing.”

An unnoticed exception, Roth later learned, was a man who proposed to his girlfriend while his orchestra played “Aerith’s Theme” from Final Fantasy VII. “I understand how important it is for people,” Roth said. “Significant moments of their lives took place in the context of this playing in the background.”

Uematsu wrote most of those tunes in his home office. His many inspirations include 1970s-era rockers, the Renaissance period of central Europe, movies such as “The Godfather” and classical music composers. He said he tries to craft his melodies in a way that anyone can relate to them. He is grateful to Roth for helping him improve his music.

“He kind of tends to see music as just one entity rather than pigeonholing it into things like classical, or game music, or rock music,” Uematsu said. “He tends to just have a much more holistic approach to music, which has been really great.”

In some ways, Uematsu never stopped playing on his older sister’s piano. He is incredibly passionate about his work, yet he rarely feels as if he’s had to study to improve.

He’s got the Black Mages and Distant Worlds. A single song can take a few days to write -- “One-Winged Angel” took nearly two weeks -- and a game can take up to eight months to score. That means he’ll have his hands full with Final Fantasy XIV.

Uematsu still has lots of music to be made. Only now, people know who he is.

“Through this series, I’ve really had a lot of personal freedom to what I wanted to do with my life,” he said. “You don’t get that much in life, to do what you want and to pursue your goals like that. That has definitely been the most rewarding thing about working with the series.”


Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy will be playing three shows in Seattle from July 9-11 and one more in San Francisco on July 18. Visit http://www.ffdistantworlds.com for show information.

I'd like to thank Nobuo Uematsu, Arnie Roth and the folks with AWR Music and the Seattle Symphony for making this story possible. I would also like to thank John Charlton for volunteering his time as our interpreter. It was a pleasure to meet these people who bring the music of Final Fantasy to life.

Original Article: Distant Worlds: The Men Behind the Music :: Final Fantasy XIV (FF14) at ZAM

SOURCES: ZAM
Thanks for the heads up, SuperEclipse!

Dissidia exhibition for FFIII characters online

It's Thursday, and guess what that means? More English gameplay videos! This week it's Final Fantasy III's turn, featuring the Onion Knight and the Cloud of Darkness. The voice actor for Onion Knight sure threw me back to the first Kingdom Hearts game, where Haley Joel Osment didn't sound tremendously awkward; younger than what I was expecting, but I like it. He is a youth after all.

Cloud of Darkness, as I've been informed is voiced by Laura Bailey who is also notable for the role of Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist; I like this choice too, and it definetly suits CoD's lustiness.

Enjoy the videos, and next week look forward to Final Fantasy IV!



SOURCES: Tobimadarauchiha [Youtube], IGN, Gamespy.

My Life as a Darklord mini-album on iTunes

Just in case you missed it, a mini-album for the music of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord released on iTunes Japan on June 30th. The soundtrack is composed by Kumi Tanioka and is part of a mini-album with the previously released Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King. The game itself is a strategy RPG spinoff in the Crystal Chronicles series that involves players playing as the Darklord's daughter Mira defending a tower against would-be heroes and looters in which many traps and monsters are put at your disposal.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord comes out Summer 2009 for WiiWare.

iTunes Japan: FFCC:MLAAD mini-album.



SOURCE: Square Enix Music Online

Matrix Software talks Four Warriors of Light

Studio Matrix Software talked with one-up for some comments on the upcoming Four Warriors of Light game for the Nintendo DS, a Final Fantasy gaiden (side-story) game that harkens back to the days of the NES Final Fantasy games. The game's unique watercolor style is in part designed with FFXII character designer Akihiko Yoshida.

Here is the article from 1up.com:

Final Fantasy Gaiden Details Divulged
A back-to-basics approach to JRPGs.
By Kevin Gifford, 07/08/2009

Much has been said about Final Fantasy Gaiden: 4 Warriors of Light since word came out about it last week. Not all of it has been particularly complimentary, especially since Square Enix's teaser site led people to think it was a new title in the Romancing SaGa or Mana series. But FF Gaiden may be worth looking at anyway even if you're hardcore to the bone -- the way the developers at Matrix Software paint it, the game is a back-to-the-roots effort, one that tries to resurrect the things that made 8- and 16-bit RPGs so great.


"People often say that RPGs used to be more fun, so I've given a lot of thought to what the difference is between modern and classic RPGs," producer Tomoya Asano told Weekly Famitsu magazine. "One result is that the story here is not told in events, but instead through NPC conversations as much as possible. Another is that much of the plot is left to more interpretation by the player, allowing them to enjoy the game world while using their imaginations to picture it in their mind."

FF Gaiden is certainly not going to be afraid of you calling it "orthodox." The story has been told many times before -- you play a kid named Brand who is sent to rescue a kidnapped princess on the day of his coming-of-age ceremony. The world is classic JRPG -- it's all swords-and-sorcery, just like the FF series during its NES and Super NES years. Even the battle system is a throwback, following Final Fantasy III's turn-based lead and offering a full class system and definable special abilities for your party members.

How all of this will come together remains to be seen. The game is due out this fall in Japan; a US release hasn't been announced but seems very likely.

View the original article here: Final Fantasy Gaiden Details Divulged

SOURCES: 1up.com
Thanks Silh for the heads up! :3

Pre-ordering Dissidia: what perks to watch out for

Yes, that's right Theodor: with the weeks winding down before the North American release of Dissidia, many different retailers have offered a few different preorder gifts with the purchase of the game. Among them are GameStop, Best Buy, and Amazon. While Gamestop as of late has been the only retailer to furnish Final Fantasy games with preorder gifts (the metal tin FFXII collector's edition box is delicious), two competitors have jumped in line with gifts for you as well.

Starting things off, GameStop is offering a different coverslip for the game. This is nice, because the cover we're getting is absolutely butt awful and generic. The GameStop coverslips feature Amano's designs for Cosmos and Chaos and are reversible for either one. I am enjoying this greatly, as we've never had a Final Fantasy cover for an American Final Fantasy game that has Amano's artwork on it other than the logo. I know I'll definetly be getting this. Take a look:

GameStop reversible cover preorder gift.

Next, Amazon. They're offering a preorder gift as well, a bonus CD with various selections from the game's soundtrack. Now, I'm sort of a completionist and if I'm getting music for a game, I usually downlo... buy the entire thing. Most of the people, in my honest opinion who would really want the soundtrack have already bought it during the Japanese release last December 18th or obtained it through other means...



Lastly, we have Best Buy. They are offering a calendar set with the game which is all well and good but, it actually comes with the Japanese import of Dissidia. And I'm not too keen on having two except for maybe bumming it to a lazy friend. Luckily though, I can tell you first hand that if you don't have it, it's pretty nice. It comes in a plastic case, that flips downward so that you can display it at your bedtable or the like. The calendar cards inside can be taken out and shuffled. The artwork is crystal clear, and features four characters per card along with the Cosmos and Chaos murals by Yoshitaka Amano. I'd say that if you don't have this already, and don't give a butt about the game cover and you have the soundtrack, to go this route so that your bases are covered.

Dissidia releases on August 25th.

Final Fantasy Legend I, the easy way.

Man, I've had a lot of good memories with this game. Since I wasn't able to find Final Fantasy Adventure for my scratched up and abused GameBoy back in about 1997 or so I settled for this game, which I was less than familiar with. After the familiarity and easy-mode grinding of my trusty Pokemon Red cart, I was surprised at first how difficult it was. Luckily though, this obscure game (now known as the first game in Square Enix's SaGa series) still sits happily on my shelf.

A Japanese gamer uploaded a video of a two-minute run of the game, which naturally takes advantages of some nasty glitches I never encountered on my run-throughs. Have a look:



SOURCES: koeiprogenitor1 [YouTube], Magweasel, Kotaku.

Dissidia exhibition for FFII characters online

Square-Enix has been updating English exhibitions of the characters featured in the PSP game Dissidia: Final Fantasy releasing on August 25th of this year. Each week (we assume every Thursday) we'll be seeing new videos the localization of this title. While Firion is being voiced by the ever-recognizable Johnny Yong Bosch (Vash The Stampede from Trigun, Kiba from Wolf's Rain, etc.), the jury's still a bit out on who will be voicing the Emperor of Palamecia.

Video links:


SOURCES: DrakeClawfang [YouTube], GameSpy, IGN.

Play Arts' figurines at Japan Expo 09

At Japan Expo 09, Play Arts displayed some of the new Final Fantasy figurines they've been working on along with a few non-painted prototypes of tarutaru (Shantotto among them). Characters from Final Fantasy VII, IX, and XIII were also displayed.

You can view the entire gallery of figurines here:
Play Arts' Final Fantasy figurines @ Japan Expo '09.

SOURCES: FFVIIAC Reunion, Azure Sky

Fantasy is endless; fantasy has no limited form...

This blog is more or less a catalyst for me to post news and information primarily about the Final Fantasy series, projects involving it, and more or less personal reasons. I've been a fan of the series since I first picked up Final Fantasy III (now known as Final Fantasy VI) for the SNES back in 1995. From there I was won over, making sure to get my hands on a PlayStation for VII when it came out all those years ago, while mindful to pick up the previous titles that had been released in the years prior. Fourteen years later, I'm anticipating the arrival of the thirteenth main title in the series and a number of spin-off titles. I'm not one to take sides in particular in which game I find the best, since I view the entire series of games as complimentary and find many merits and joys in every title. It's become a long-time hobby, and one I have enjoyed throughout.