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Final Fantasy XIII Composer Leaving Square Enix

FinalFantasy-XIII.net: The composer of Final Fantasy XIII, Masashi Hamauzu, is following in the footsteps of Nobuo Uematsu and, more recently, Junya Nakano and Kenichiro Fukui and leaving Square-Enix. Reports are that further members still of the composer team will also be leaving in the near future.

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Wildarmsjecht5207d ago

But why? Music is an INTEGRAL part of any JRPG in my opinion, and thus far SE has had a wonderful score for all of their JRPG titles...I wonder why these people are leaving suddenly and where they may go now.

Delta5207d ago

He got tried of Final Fantasy getting gimped because of "........"

ClownBelt5207d ago

What the hell is Square Enix doing? I mean letting these talented people out of their grasp is ridiculous.

Nitrowolf25207d ago

lol delta, thank god the ps3 version has lossless audio

mikeslemonade5207d ago

That's okay I like Leona Lewis better which is the only thing I like that they have changed. Every other change they made to the game is stupid and i'm not buying the game. I'm only renting it.

TotalPS3Fanboy5207d ago (Edited 5207d ago )

Leaving before Wada sink this giant ship that is Square Enix.

Hopefully, all these peoples that left Square Enix goes to Sony to work on another great PS3 exclusive: The Legend of Dragoon 2.

meepmoopmeep5207d ago

that's sad, i hope Nobuo will return to do some work for FF games, he is simply awesome

erathaol5207d ago (Edited 5207d ago )

Does it matter which one is better? Both are gimped. No Final Fantasy fan wins on this one.

@ meepmoopmeep

He's working on Final Fantasy XIV

Marceles5207d ago

Seems like the keyboard cat is gonna be composing for Square Enix soon. At least they still have Yoko Shimomura...who knows for how long though

ClownBelt5207d ago

" Hopefully, all these peoples that left Square Enix goes to Sony to work on another great PS3 exclusive: The Legend of Dragoon 2.
"

Ok that doesn't sound bad either. If this will happen in the future, I support him leaving SE. Lmao.

Xi5207d ago

"Hopefully, all these peoples that left Square Enix goes to Sony to work on another great PS3 exclusive: The Legend of Dragoon 2."

Yukio Futatsugi, creator of the dragoon series works for mgs japan...

Nihilism5207d ago

FF still has composers???, I thought they just had R&B mix tapes in the background now....

AAACE55207d ago

Wouldn't it be crazy if all those people left SE and went to work at Mistwalker?

Not trying to sound negative, but do the Ps3 fanboys still feel confident about Versus?

Either way you cut it... SE is going through some turmoil!

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TheHater5207d ago

I wouldn't be surprise if Nomaru leaves also

Michael-Jackson5207d ago (Edited 5207d ago )

Then there's no more Kingdom Hearts 3? NOOOO! I guess it can still be done but it won't be the same without more zippers and cool character designs.

Actually if he leaves, I have little interest in there games.

lightningsax5207d ago (Edited 5207d ago )

This doesn't mean that Hamauzu or anyone else won't ever be composing for a SquareEnix title again. For example, Hitoshi Sakimoto left SquareEnix in 2002 to form his own company, Basiscape, and then went on to compose music for FFT Advance, FFTA2, FFXII (and if anything's good about that game, it's the soundtrack), FFXII Revenant Wings, and most recently Crystal Defenders.

What's great about composers leaving Square is that they're not confined to them. Sakimoto has also composed soundtracks for a few other titles - perhaps you've heard of these: GrimGrimoire, Odin Sphere, Muramasa, and the amazing Valkyria Chronicles soundtrack. All of these share something in common - they're beautiful games, both visually and aurally. He's had awesome opportunities since leaving Square to be on a number of amazing projects that we know and love.

So don't take someone leaving as an immediate departure from Square, and don't take it as Square casting off its composers. If they mutually want to be on the same project, they'll be back. Just independently. More money for the composers, everybody wins!

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70°

The 7 Best Final Fantasy Characters: Unveiling the Legends

While FFVII ranks highly, there's more to the series than one game. Here's Chit Hot's picks for the seven best Final Fantasy characters.

220°

The older it gets, the more I respect Final Fantasy XIII

Alex Donaldson: "Hindsight is a hell of a thing, however, and in the years since Final Fantasy XIII, my respect for the decisions its developers made has skyrocketed. In the two Final Fantasy titles since we see both the brilliance and the folly in alternative approaches - and in Final Fantasy VII Remake, we get a more nuanced understanding of what FF13 was trying to accomplish from many of the same development leads."

Einhander1972122d ago

FFXIII is actually one of the best Final Fantasy games.

I also sort of was disappointed at the time, never as much as the bandwagon. But really all the fantastic 3D rendered cutscenes and I actually liked the characters and the story though convoluted was actually fantastic and the ending was extremely emotional. So much budget and time were put into that game Square had such big plans, I actually have always felt kind of bad for how things played out.

I have been thinking for years how great it would be to get all three games on one disk for PS4 or 5.

Nyxus122d ago

I always liked this game, and I agree, a rerelease for current gen would be nice.

Shane Kim121d ago (Edited 121d ago )

Gotta take off the nostalgia glasses. It's the worst FF. Shiva as a bike, I mean come on.

Elda121d ago

Shiva as a bike is strange but saying FFXIII is the worst FF is not at all a fact, that's simply your opinion.

Terry_B121d ago

*One of the 3 equally bad FF's

DivineHand125121d ago (Edited 121d ago )

When I got my series X a year ago, I bought FF13 for nostalgia reasons but ended up being disappointed. When I first played it around the time it launched, I didn't have a lot of experience with final fantasy games, so I enjoyed it. Fast forward to when I played it again, I found that the game had many unnecessary filler moments instead of just giving us meaningful content.

The game is also very linear and a quote on the article said it best. "It is like a sewage pipe that leads to the ocean until it opens up on Grand Pulse."

The story didn't make much sense either and I believe it is my mistake as I played the FF7 remake on PS5 prior which is a night and day difference in terms of pacing, storytelling and likeable characters even though cloud is aloof.

FinalFantasyFanatic121d ago (Edited 121d ago )

Probably was a mistake to play any of the golden era FFs first (e.g. FF6 through FF10), it makes it harder to enjoy some of the FFs that aren't as good. I think FF12 was where major issues with the series started becoming apparent, and it just got worse from there.

FinalFantasyFanatic121d ago (Edited 121d ago )

I didn't really care for it that much, the only saving grace was that it had a better story than 15 (overall it was better than 15) and possibly 12, and even then, you had to read some of it through primers, like reading a book. Plus the battle system was reasonably fun for what it was, even if it was more the spectacle that was exciting for me (e.g. summoning). And to be fair, the 13 trilogy got better with every games, I still don't like Snow though.

Gamingsince1981121d ago

Ff13 is only good if you haven't played a ff before, or any other games that are decent for that matter.

-Foxtrot121d ago

It is in fact no way the best Final Fantasy game, it's one of the worst

Linear corridors, Cutscene, Fight, Cutscene...rinse and repeat

Dialogue and characters are pretty bad, especially Lightning as the main FF hero, they literally said they tried to make a "Female Cloud" and they failed.

Story was pretty awful

I could go on

I think the only alright thing that came from the game was the music.

Elda120d ago

That's not a fact that's your personal opinion. The game sold 11 million copies between its 2009 release up until 2014 including critically reviewed as an 8 out of 10 or an 80 out of 100. The game does have some issues but it's not at all a fact as one of the worst FF games.

-Foxtrot120d ago

Elda

Not just mine mate

A large majority

So….

Traecy120d ago

N4G commenters such as yourself aren't the majority. The game was well received.

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gold_drake122d ago (Edited 122d ago )

i liked the game alot but i didnt like how they handled the terminology.

i dont mind reading data logs but it had soo many.

but i always loved the music and how it looked. the battle system wasnt too bad either.

but i like 13-2 more :)

i still dont understand why we never got a remaster of the trilogy

Eonjay121d ago

Xbox kinda did. Besides the video files of course which are still best on PS3 due to bluray.

Snookies12122d ago

XIII is a pretty solid game, but XIII-2 is WAY better. XIII-2 was one of the few games I decided to go for a Platinum trophy in, early on. Had so much fun the entire way through getting it too!

Eonjay121d ago

Totally agree. FF 13 was okay but 13-2 is my favorite FF game ever.

shinoff2183122d ago (Edited 122d ago )

I hated this to when it released. I haven't much liked a ff game since ff10 as much , aside from ff7remake. I decided to give it another shot on my series x since it's not on a current ps and was liking it quite a bit(just takes me some time to get over things ) until star ocean 2 remake came out I was all over that.

Square should definitely remaster it or something for ps4 ps5

KillerB121d ago

my favorite jrpg trilogy ever

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70°

Interview: Making music with Masashi Hamauzu

Square Enix Blog: "How do you compose iconic songs that help define a legacy? We speak to legendary composer Masashi Hamauzu about his work on Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XIII, and Final Fantasy VII Remake, and how to make unforgettable music."

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