Nobuo Uematsu leaving Square Enix [Archive]

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MegaDrive20XX

11-01-2004, 01:12 PM

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/11/01/news_6111914.html

Wow...all I can say...is wow...

Habeeb Hamusta

11-01-2004, 01:23 PM

Wow what? The guy is leaving. Woopdi-doo.

Haha and Final Fantasy concerts. Get a grip.

FlufflePuff

11-01-2004, 01:30 PM

Wow what? The guy is leaving. Woopdi-doo.

Haha and Final Fantasy concerts. Get a grip.

X_x The music of Final Fantasy is one of the things I remember most in the games. When the stories and boss battles fade away, I can still remember the strings in the intro to Final Fantasy 4. It's sad that he's leaving, but good that it's on friendly terms.

MegaDrive20XX

11-01-2004, 01:34 PM

Wow what? The guy is leaving. Woopdi-doo.

Haha and Final Fantasy concerts. Get a grip.

Aside of the stupid series, all I'm saying is the music is what made the series and everyone knows the music

I dont give a damn about Final Fantasy or Square, I just care about that guy who put alot into it..he changed the face of music in games for everyone...without the music the game would have been crap...anyone can picture it...but his music gave you an image of the games and an understanding of the characters emotions

Daria

11-01-2004, 01:42 PM

The caption at the top of the page makes it sound like although he's starting his own independant company he'll still be doing some music for Square through it.

Gapporin

11-01-2004, 01:56 PM

Wow what? The guy is leaving. Woopdi-doo.

Haha and Final Fantasy concerts. Get a grip.

You've got some serious thrill issues, dude.

By the way, does anybody notice how Nobuo looks an awfully lot like Mario? I can't get over that fact every time I see his photo.

VACRMH

11-01-2004, 02:05 PM

Wow what? The guy is leaving. Woopdi-doo.

Haha and Final Fantasy concerts. Get a grip.

What the hell, must you post this crap?

With him starting his own company, will he be able to do scores for other games now? I'd love to hear something similar to the Black Mages album in a game.

Ed Oscuro

11-01-2004, 02:10 PM

Okay folks...nothing big here. He's going out as an independent now...can you blame him? Now nobody can breathe down his neck about deadlines if he doesn't want it :)

This is really a non-issue. Much less interesting than Yoshiki Okamoto leaving Capcom, because there it WAS a difference of opinion and an unwillingness to work towards the same goals as the company that led to the split.

rbudrick

11-01-2004, 02:16 PM

Which games did Yoshiki Okamoto work on? I think I heard something about this but never knew the story. When did he leave....does anyone know the circumstances for it?

-ROb

Ed Oscuro

11-01-2004, 02:34 PM

Okamoto...let's see, Time Pilot, Gyruss, Street Fighter 2, Final Fight, Onimusha, etc.

Ed Oscuro

11-01-2004, 02:40 PM

Also Resident Evil for him. Far as I know, that information is correct. He set up Game Republic. Now I was actually thinking of Craft and Meister, set up by Noritaka Funamizu, who was SFII's producer.

Here's a pretty good boiling-down of the information:

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/news.php?aid=3666

Also...damn public computers, damn them straight to hell (other one I was about to submit this post on just power cycled for no good reason...inadequate cooling I suspect)!

SoulBlazer

11-01-2004, 03:18 PM

Well, it's certinaly a loss to Square. Uematsu is one of my favorite composers. Like with John Williams and Star Wars, Uematsu and Final Fantasy are forever linked in my mind, can't have one without the other. He had some some WONDEFULL tracks over the years. My car is LOADED with Final Fantasy Japanese CD's. ;)

I did'nt know he only did ONE track for FF XII, though. That sucks. :/

At least running his own studio he can start training people in how to do proper game music and his songs can go out to any interested companies that want to pay him for them, including Square Enix.

Lady Jaye

11-01-2004, 03:23 PM

Well, isn't it more of a shocking news in Japan than here, because of the way the work culture works? Over in Japan, it's still not unheard of to see people spend their whole career with the same employer. Here, in North America, it's the other way around. People change jobs left and right, probably more often than they even move...

Ed Oscuro

11-01-2004, 03:41 PM

Well, it's certinaly a loss to Square. Uematsu is one of my favorite composers. Like with John Williams and Star Wars, Uematsu and Final Fantasy are forever linked in my mind, can't have one without the other. He had some some WONDEFULL tracks over the years. My car is LOADED with Final Fantasy Japanese CD's. ;)

I did'nt know he only did ONE track for FF XII, though. That sucks. :/
His "loss" isn't halfway as big as people make it out to be. He'll be around for Square when they need/want him.

Querjek

11-01-2004, 04:16 PM

Well, this is really too bad... I hope that the music of FFXII will at least be better than almost all of the crap in FFX-2 (I liked <u>1</u> song total in that game!).

Jorpho

11-01-2004, 08:29 PM

Last time I checked, the last non-Final Fantasy project Uematsu worked on was the obscure BS Dynami Tracer for the SNES. (It's a pretty cool soundtrack, mind you, but no one has translated the game yet...) Is this still the case?

Dahne

11-01-2004, 09:06 PM

I can't believe I got lucky enough to go to the Final Fantasy Dear Friends concert. It was incredible; everybody was there, from pure gamers to classical music connoiseurs like the guy next to me. Anybody know if they've released a CD of that performance? I'd love to have one.

I've been progressively losing interest in the Final Fantasy series, for a variety of reasons. It's good that he's going out on friendly terms and will still be a part of some FF projects, and very cool that he'll be a part of non-Square games. I can't wait to see which ones he'll work on. :)

TheRedEye

11-01-2004, 09:15 PM

We should start an online petition to have the Black Mages cover the 3D Worldrunner theme.

SoulBlazer

11-01-2004, 09:18 PM

Partly wrong. Uematsu did half of the music for both Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. There may be other games he's done some music for.

Jorpho

11-01-2004, 09:27 PM

Actually, BS Dynami Tracer came out after both of those, I think. I was thinking Uematsu might have worked on some non-Final Fantasy PSX game.

Lord Contaminous

11-01-2004, 10:01 PM

Uematsu has also done music for the Hanjuku Hero, Rad Racer/Highway Star and Square no Tom Sawyer.

Aussie2B

11-01-2004, 10:18 PM

Partly wrong. Uematsu did half of the music for both Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG. There may be other games he's done some music for.

Half? o_O People give him way more credit for those soundtracks than he deserves... He did practically nothing for Super Mario RPG, just the bonus track with the secret Final Fantasy boss if I remember correctly. As for Chrono Trigger, I don't think he did more than 10 or 15 tracks, a good number being short little clips that can't really be considered real songs, and, in my opinion, the full songs he did do for Chrono Trigger were the weakest, most repetitive on that soundtrack.

SoulBlazer

11-01-2004, 11:28 PM

Allright, I stand corrected, but I love that one track from Super Mario RPG and think his music for CHrono Trigger is really good.

He did some music for Front Mission: Bio Hazzard -- was that the name of that one? The spinoff one, not released in the States? -- but I don't know how much.

Dahne

11-02-2004, 12:24 AM

Where did you find out which songs Uematsu did for Chrono Trigger? I've always wondered which were his and which were Yasunori Mitsuda's.

Gapporin

11-02-2004, 12:28 AM

We should start an online petition to have the Black Mages cover the 3D Worldrunner theme.

I'd sign it.

Aussie2B

11-02-2004, 10:05 AM

Where did you find out which songs Uematsu did for Chrono Trigger? I've always wondered which were his and which were Yasunori Mitsuda's.

I own the soundtrack. :) I could've sworn that the information was available online, but after doing a little search of my favorite sites for soundtrack information, I couldn't find anything indicating who did what. If you'd like, I could dig out my soundtrack and type up a list of Uematsu's tracks.

Aussie2B

11-02-2004, 03:48 PM

As for a reply to the original topic, I get the feeling that it's similar to the situation Gunpei Yokoi had with Nintendo prior to leaving. While Uematsu says that he left on good terms - which I don't doubt, I get the feeling that he left because his work was becoming less and less significant. He hasn't done a full Final Fantasy soundtrack since Final Fantasy 9, and with each successive title, he's done less and less. Unfortunately, there's no way to really know what the cause of that is. Perhaps he didn't want the work or Square didn't want to give it to him. Maybe the response from the fans hasn't been like it used to be, maybe they're asking for new composers, or maybe sales are down for the albums. In my opinion, Uematsu has definitely lost his edge. He did some excellent work in his youth, but with each new Final Fantasy game, I find his music getting more and more boring. Part of the problem is just the competition, I imagine. I personally can think of dozens of better video game composers. It's not even a matter of tastes, really. Uematsu wasn't classically trained; he just taught himself. He's done exceptionally well on being able to compose very catchy little tunes alone, but he'll NEVER be able to compete with the composers who can write with more skill, depth, and talent. Time is taking its toll on him and his fans. The music is starting to all sound the same and gets far too repetitive. These days it seems like he's trying to survive off of nostalgia alone with his concerts and albums of remixes or live versions of his classics. I'm excited to see what him being a freelance artist will bring, though. It might just be exactly what he needs to revitalize his career.

Ed Oscuro

11-02-2004, 04:34 PM

As for a reply to the original topic, I get the feeling that it's similar to the situation Gunpei Yokoi had with Nintendo prior to leaving
Yokoi was FORCED OUT after "that problem with that thing on a tripod."

Uematsu has decided to go freelance, an option most folks in the game industry are wishing they could exercise one day. That's pretty understandable.

I fail to see how these situations are at all similar.

On Super Mario RPG...if he's credited with the FF Overworld track, then it's simply a matter of their crediting the original author, much like how Alexander Courage's name always shows up at the end of a Star Trek movie (to take an example far out of left field). No involvement outside of having provided some source material long before, sounds like.

Aussie2B

11-02-2004, 05:37 PM

Yokoi wasn't forced out. :/ Due to the failure of the Virtual Boy, Nintendo sort of "punished" him by giving him work that wasn't of any real significance. But obviously Yokoi couldn't tolerate that, so he left to create yet another handheld. I heard a term for it before... window seat job? Something like that. Either way, Nintendo didn't fire him or try to convince him to leave. They were just passive-aggressive. o_O

Ed Oscuro

11-02-2004, 05:44 PM

SoulBlazer

11-02-2004, 06:01 PM

What about that Chrono Trigger soundtrack they were selling at the same time as FF4 a couple years ago when Final Fantasy Chronicles came out? Is that a complete soundtrack? Does it list the authors?

Aussie2B

11-02-2004, 07:56 PM

Yokoi wasn't forced out. :/ Due to the failure of the Virtual Boy, Nintendo sort of "punished" him by giving him work that wasn't of any real significance.
I saw that one coming. Still doesn't change the fact that the situations here are totally different - Yokoi was made very uncomfortable; I don't see how that doesn't qualify as being "forced out," but that's beside the point - Uematsu is leaving as a famous and respected musician who has many years of solid work under his belt.

Yokoi left 'cuz he had to, Uematsu has just decided that he wants to be his own boss.

Like I said, Uematsu has been getting less and less work of any significance just as Yokoi was. There's no real knowing the exact details of the situation, but am I the only one who finds it suspicious that after years of being the exclusive composer for Final Fantasy, Square starts giving the work to new guys while Uematsu does fewer and fewer songs with each game? And then all of the sudden he leaves the company? Either Uematsu is sick of Square or Square is sick of Uematsu and thus giving him the shaft when it comes to involvement in the projects that he traditionally was the top dog in.

Aussie2B

11-02-2004, 08:00 PM

What about that Chrono Trigger soundtrack they were selling at the same time as FF4 a couple years ago when Final Fantasy Chronicles came out? Is that a complete soundtrack? Does it list the authors?

The US Tokyopop release? That's a "best of", and I doubt it gives the info about who did each track. There's also a Japanese OST of the PlayStation Chrono Trigger, which is a "best of" plus some arranged tracks. I have the original full Japanese soundtrack of the Super Famicom version.

Jorpho

11-02-2004, 10:36 PM

I rather liked the FF9 soundtrack myself.

kainemaxwell

11-02-2004, 10:41 PM

Well, least he's doing freelance so he's able to perform his work how he want sit hopefully.

Ed Oscuro

11-02-2004, 10:48 PM

There's no real knowing the exact details of the situation, but am I the only one who finds it suspicious that after years of being the exclusive composer for Final Fantasy, Square starts giving the work to new guys while Uematsu does fewer and fewer songs with each game?
Of course conspiracy theories are the natural choice! Looking over his recent resume - Square-Enix games as well as CD releases - it looks like he's kept rather busy in recent years.

If you're going by number of game soundtracks released each year, look at this (from S-E's .com site):

1985 Genesis (PC)
1986 King's Knight
Blasty (co-composer)
Alpha (NES)
(PC)
(PC)
1987 ALIENS
Rad Racer
King's Knight Special
Tobidase Daisakusen
3D World Runner
Apple Town Story
Cleopatra no Mahou
FINAL FANTASY I
(PC)
(NES)
(PC)
(NES)
(NES)
(NES)
(NES)
(NES)
1988 Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School (co-composer)
Hanjuku Hero
FINAL FANTASY II (NES)
(NES)
(NES)
1989 FINAL FANTASY Legend
Square's Tom Sawyer (Game Boy)
(NES)
1990 FINAL FANTASY Legend II
FINAL FANTASY III (Game Boy)
(NES)
1991 FINAL FANTASY IV (SNES)
1992 FINAL FANTASY V (SNES)
1994 FINAL FANTASY VI (SNES)
1995 DynamiTracer (SFC SatellaView)
1996 Gun Hazard (co-composer) (SNES)
1997 FINAL FANTASY VII (PlayStation)
1999 FINAL FANTASY VIII (PlayStation)
2000 FINAL FANTASY IX (PlayStation)
2001 FINAL FANTASY X (PlayStation 2)
2002 FINAL FANTASY XI (PC, PlayStation 2)
2003 Hanjuku Hero vs. 3D (PlayStation 2)

The trend towards fewer and fewer soundtracks each year didn't spring up overnight. I believe this is largely due to the increased complexity of sound on newer systems.

Jorpho

11-03-2004, 11:27 AM

Curious. What is this "Aliens" game? And what is "King's Knight Special"? (The original NES King's Knight wasn't anything special, as I recall.)

MegaDrive20XX

11-03-2004, 11:35 AM