Nobuo Uematsu Splitting With Square Enix

FreyarHunter writes "According to Gamespot, Nobuo Uematsu and Square will be separating. Nobuo was the person responsible for the mostly awe-inspiring music for the Final Fantasy games. The report indicates that he will be moving to a company called "Smile Please". While this was first thought to be a rumor it was later announced on Uematsu 's fansite that it is true. He states that it isn't "quitting", but more of a graduation. There are hints in this article saying he will still do work for Square, but at his own pace. The good news is that he still plans to write more music for video games, perform more concerts, and produce the second Black Mages Album."

This sounds like a good thing for the industry...

[kirk444]

It sounds to me like there's a good chance that some of his music can show up in a wider variety of work now. To me, this can only mean more games with fantastic music. If there's one thing that can add to a game, it's music and the environment it can help create. Seems to be a win-win all around. (I assume it's too late for half-life 2 to get some, eh? 'kidding')

Can't blame him for leaving

[rfunches]

Over the past few years Uematsu has been "phased out," if you will, from the Final Fantasy series. He didn't do much for FFX (there were two other composers on the game as well) and IIRC had no involvement on FFX-2. Other than the "Memory" song and the harp prelude in FFXI, Uematsu was only listed as producer. For FFXII I don't even think he's involved (please correct me if I'm wrong). He obviously wants to do other projects -- a few years ago, the CD "Phantasmagoria," and now the Black Mages album -- and is probably taking a hint from other high-profile game industry names (composers, producers, the head artistic people) leaving the large corporations like Square Enix and forming their own small, independent companies, and working on a freelance basis. Uematsu gets more time to produce what he wants with his name on it when he wants, and Square Enix still gets their Uematsu music, just on a freelance basis.

What is the big deal?

[Chuu]

Like many around here, I have stacks and stacks of RPG's that I've played through (and still playing, just picked up Dragon Quarter) through my life, but I just cannot understand why people put this guy on a pedestal. While a lot of his music is good, a lot of it is essentially elevator music. Also, have you heard some of the stuff that he has put out seperate from video games? I once gave a listen to his album 'Phantasmagoria,' and it was quite awful . . .