FANTASIAN Neo Dimensionis a real treat for fans of the JRPG genre. Not only because its producer and writer is the great Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of theFinal Fantasyfranchise, but also because the legendary Nobuo Uematsu composed its entire soundtrack.
These two industry legends have worked together in a lot of different projects (even before the release of the firstFinal Fantasygame back in 1987), and it seems that they still are very close after all this time.In a recent interview with Famitsu(which@Genki_JPNpartially translated into English) Sakaguchi sat down to talk aboutFANTASIAN Neo Dimensionand his relationship with Uematsu.
Sakaguchi told Famitsu that he asked Uematsu for a signed sheet ofFinal Fantasymusic so he could gift it to his granddaughter. But the composer promptly responded, “No, I’ll write a new song for your granddaughter; I’ll also add lyrics,” which is a fun and adorable anecdote that perfectly reflects how their friendship is still going strong after collaborating for almost 40 years. Sakaguchi even mentioned that he may include this song in his next project, although fans will have no idea which song it will be.
FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is the conclusion of 38 years of collaboration
Nobuo Uematsuis one of the most iconic and celebrated music composers in the gaming industry and, curiously enough, he’s almost as synonymous with theFinal Fantasyfranchise as its creator,Hironobu Sakaguchi. They both met back in the 80s when they were working for Squaresoft, but their first collaboration was notFinal Fantasy, but the 1986 scrolling shooter,King’s Knight. Nobody can’t deny, however, thatFinal Fantasy Iis the game that eventually put them both on the map, and for good reason.
Uematsu was the main composer of every subsequent mainline entry in the series, fromFinal Fantasy IIup toFinal Fantasy XI, until he left the company to work as a freelancer. And even after that, he kept making music for other games in the franchise, likeFinal Fantasy XIVandFinal Fantasy VII Remake. On the other hand, Sakaguchi directed and/or produced almost every mainline game, until he left Square back in 2003, although he’s still credited in many otherFinal Fantasygames that the company released after his departure.
But their departure from Square didn’t stop them from working together
But even though both of them eventually stopped working on theFinal FantasyIP, Sakaguchi and Uematsu have reunited many times in other projects that are not related to this franchise.After all, Uematsu made the music for almost every video game that Sakaguchi directed, produced, or wrote, likeBlue Dragon,Lost Odyssey,The Last Story,andFantasian, the 2021 Apple Arcade RPG that eventually becameFANTASIAN Neo Dimension.This game also marked their long-awaited return to Square Enix.
Uematsu recently stated thatFANTASIAN Neo Dimensionwas his last big projectas a video game composerand that he’s going to cut back on his work.So it’s very endearing to know that he’s still so close to his good friend and partnet after all these years. And even if he’s not going to make as much video game music anymore, it would be great to finally hear the song he made for Sakaguchi’s grandchild in a future project.
