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Final Fantasy’s legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu doesn’t have the ‘strength’ to score a full video game againLeaving his last complete soundtrack as iOS exclusive RPG Fantasian
Leaving his last complete soundtrack as iOS exclusive RPG Fantasian
Image credit:Nobuo Uematsu
Image credit:Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu, the celebrated composer behind the iconic soundtracks for much of theFinal Fantasy series, has said he probably won’t score a full video game again. While Uematsu didn’t rule out creating the main themes for future games, he said that his days of scoring an entire game are likely over - leaving his last complete soundtrack as the OST for mobile-exclusive RPGFantasian.
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Uematsu told German outletZeit Onlinethat while he plans to continue contributing main themes to theFinal Fantasyseries - having recently revisited his theme forFinal Fantasy 7for latest remakeRebirth- he no longer has the “strength” to score a game in its entirety.
“You would have to give it full throttle for two or three years. And I don’t think I have the physical and mental strength to do it anymore.”
The decision doesn’t mark Uematsu’s retirement as a whole, but instead a shift away from video games, as the composer said he would simply prefer to “use the time I have left” to work on projects such as new narrative orchestral performance Merregnon: Heart of Ice - due to premiere in Germany this week - and his band Uematsu Nobuo conTIKI.
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH - Theme Song Announcement TrailerWatch on YouTube
FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH - Theme Song Announcement Trailer
Uematsu reunited with Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi for Apple Arcade-exclusive (at least for now) iOS game Fantasian in 2021, which may now be the last game that Uematsu scores in its entirety. Around the time of Fantasian’s release, Sakaguchisuggestedthat it might be Uematsu’s last full score, expressing that health issues had raised the question of whether he’d be able to work on the game at all. In the end, Uematsu created a complete soundtrack with a 60-piece orchestra.
During last year’s Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival, Sakaguchi revealed thathe originally rejected Uematsu’s soundtrack for the first Final Fantasyin an attempt to get the composer to make the songs “improved”, saying they went “in the left ear, out the right ear”. When Uematsu submitted a revised playlist a week later, Sakaguchi expressed his delight at the “wonderful” score - only for Uematsu to reveal he had changed the order of the songs, but not the actual music. Either way, it apparently didn’t deter Uematsu, who went on to bookend his work composing for Sakaguchi across almost 40 years.
