NOBUO UEMATSU

SQUARE ENIX

1986 - 2004

Nobuo Uematsu's career at Square started in 1986 after he sent in some demo material. Prior to this, he had been working on TV commercials, but this all changed as Square were impressed and hired him. Nobuo was put straight to work and started scoring games, but his big break came when Hironobu Sakaguchi asked him to compose the soundtrack for potentially the company's last game - Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy I was a hit and Sakaguchi decided that because Uematsu did a stellar job on the soundtrack, he would be the person to take the series forward with the next installment to the series - Final Fantasy II. His services were also retained for Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV, which was the first Final Fantasy game to appear on the SNES.

The Fanbase Grows

The Final Fantasy IV Original Sound Version was a huge hit and Square realized there was a huge market for the music that Nobuo was composing. This prompted them to release the first arrangement album for the series, something which would become very popular in the future.

Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon was arranged alongside Maire Breatnach and gave fans a chance to experience Final Fantasy music how it was supposed to be, without the limitations of the console's sound processor.

Three years later, Final Fantasy: Pray was released. It featured arranged music from the first six games in the franchise, but this time they also had the vocal talents of Risa Ohki to give them an extra bit of flair.

Achieving Critical Acclaim

There is great debate among fans as to Uematsu's greatest work, but Final Fantasy VI and Final Fantasy VII really propelled Uematsu's reputation as not just a video game music composer, but as a full blooded composer. If anything, Final Fantasy VII enhanced his reputation more, as with the introduction of Yamaha's XG MIDI, Nobuo was capable of making his pieces sound much crisper for the first time.

This was extremely evidence with One Winged Angel, which in many people's eyes is the best piece of music Uematsu has ever composed. It was also the first piece in the Final Fantasy series to include the usage of real audio - in the form of the choir.

Final Fantasy VIII - Raising The Bar

With Final Fantasy VII being such a huge success from a musical stand-point, Final Fantasy wasn't just about the games anymore as the soundtracks also garnered much attention and praise, as the franchise was getting a reputation for producing outstanding music.

This reputation continued to grow as people turned on Final Fantasy VIII and were greeted with Liberi Fatali - a stunning orchestral piece composed by Uematsu and arranged by Shiro Hamaguchi. Such is the notoriety of this piece, that it was even used in the Olympics by an American synchronized swimming pair.

Final Fantasy VIII was also the first Original Soundtrack in the Final Fantasy series to have a vocal piece included. The piece was called Eyes on Me, featured the vocals of Faye Wong and was a huge hit with fans of the series and from a commercial perspective. It was released as a single in Japan and sold more than 400,000 copies, showing just how popular Uematsu's work had become.

The Beginning Of The End

Sakaguchi wanted Final Fantasy IX to be seen as a tribute to the eight games that had come previously and the soundtrack reflected this as well. Some of the pieces in Final Fantasy IX were direct copies of those seen in the past, while others simply borrowed parts.

The soundtrack had a massive 110 pieces and it was to ultimately be Uematsu's last full contribution to a Final Fantasy soundtrack as with Final Fantasy X, Uematsu shared the compositional work with Junya Nakano and Mashashi Hamauzu. It is claimed that Uematsu lost inspiration and didn't think he could composer a full soundtrack - many critics were also slightly disappointed with his offerings.

Final Fantasy XI - Passing The Torch

Final Fantasy XI was Square Enix's first venture into the Online market, but it would be Nobuo Uematsu's last major contribution to a Final Fantasy score while being a Square Enix employee.

Despite the game being a completely different prospect, Uematsu's contributions are arguably the most well received out of that featured on the Original Soundtrack, with the Opening Theme, Ronfaure and Airship Theme being three of the more notable compositions.

SMILE PLEASE

2004 - Present

In 2004, Uematsu decided to leave Square Enix, ending an 18 year spell with the company. Uematsu started up his own company called Smile Please, which allowed him the ability to work with other companies as well as Square Enix - should they choose to hire him.

Final Fantasy XII was the first main series game to be released following his departure and the role of main composition was handed to Hitoshi Sakimoto - another freelance musician from Basiscape. However, Square Enix decided top retain Uematsu's services for composing the main theme - Kiss Me Goodbye.

Uematsu has also been hired to composer the main theme for Final Fantasy XIII and fans hope that he will continue to be involved with Final Fantasy titles in the future.