Final Fantasy XIII menu theme composed by Nobuo Uematsu? + sheet music

Today I was checking Nobuo Uematsu’s fansite and discovered that a Final Fantasy XIII theme was added to the sheet music. I printed it and it appears to be the main menu theme (also in the demo) “composed by Nobuo Uematsu/Arranged by Arnold Morrison.” Whether this is a mistake or whether it is indeed composed by Nobuo Uematsu is currently unknown, but in the past all of Uematsu’s sheet music has been arranged by Arnold Morrison.

Uematsu-sama originaly would compose the main theme for Final Fantasy XIII but because he was too busy with “other works” (=FFXIV) he passed the main theme to Masashi Hamauzu. According to Square Enix, Hamauzu composed the entire soundtrack of Final Fantasy XIII.

Rumor, mistake or truth, at least we have the sheet music available and arranged perfectly by Arnold Morrison (as usual)

You can download it on the sheet music page

Andriasang: Tetsuya Nomura’s True Intentions Discovered

I’ve heard from a few people that Tetsuya Nomura is a PlayStation fanboy, which is why Final Fantasy Versus XIII isn’t coming out on Xbox 360 and why Kingdom Hearts 3 is totally going to be released on the PlayStation 3.

Some 2channelers have found solid, irrefutable proof of Nomura’s love of Sony.

That’s Noctis Lucis Caelum, main character of Versus XIII. Why did Nomura go with such a peculiar-sounding name instead of something more fitting like Frank, Chuck or Todd?

Well, it seems that if you reorder the words in the character’s name, you get:

"NOMULA IS SCE CULTIC."

Nomula is Japanese for Nomura. SCE is, of course, short for Sony Computer Entertainment.

From its root, I deduced that "cultic" must have something to do with cults, and sure enough Merriam Webster defines it as "great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (as a film or book)."

I’m not really good with anagrams, but perhaps someone can find something similar for heroine Stella Nox Fleuret.

Source: Andriasang 

FFXIII’s OST: 10 new preview tracks (Updated 1x)

Next month the Original Soundtrack (OST) for Final Fantasy XIII will be released in Japan and today Square Enix released 9 new previews on the official music page for FFXIII. (“TRACKLIST”) The tracks range from dramatically hymns to bombastic boss themes.

According to my translations:

• #11 is “Snow’s theme”
• #13 is “Ragnarok”
• #17 is “Lake Bilge’s theme”
• #18 is “l’Cie’s from Pulse”
• #19 is the Summon boss theme.

 

Merry Christmas everyone! My present will probably arrive next week

Update: The official Final Fantasy XIII OST site was updated again today (28/12/2009) with 10 additional tracks from the second disc.

Some details on Versus and Agito

In an interview with Famitsu, Tetsuya Nomura teased some new information about Final Fantasy Versus XIII:

- The in-game graphics have improved so greatly that you won’t be able to tell in-game and CGI apart.

- A lot of new information will be revealed early  2010 for both Versus and Agito.

- There is a rough release date set for Agito XIII. The game will be completely unveiled in 2010.

- The style of Versus XIII will be more somber, similar to FFVII and FFVIII

If they want to show some footage early 2010, they’ll probably do it on their official (teaser) websites so make sure to bookmark them:

FINAL FANTASY Agito XIII: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/fabula/agito13/

FINAL FANTASY Versus XIII: http://www.square-enix.co.jp/fabula/versus13/

Source:

http://www.ultimateps3.fr/news-ps3-4039-final-fantasy-versus-xiii-sort-du-fourre.html

http://www.ffworld.com/?rub=news&page=voir&id=1643

And for the Kingdom Hearts III fans: Nomura is also working on 2 unannounced projects. One of them is “not new”…

Final Fantasy XIII cut-scene comparisons

A YouTube user has done 2 comparisons between footage from the demo versus and the finalized version that was released last week. The footage doesn’t contain any spoilers if you already played/view the April 2009 demo version. You can notice some subtle differences like more detailed hair textures and improved lightning effects (lightning, not Lightning, okay?)

You can view them, as usual in HD, below:

Don’t YouTube too much for FFXIII videos because some people are stupid enough to put spoilers in the titles or descriptions.

Xbox 360 version FFXIII loses 13GB

Analysis of the Japanese FFXIII Blu-ray reveals that the game uses 38GB/50GB (DL-BD).

8GB is game data while the remaining 30GB are the CGI, in-game cut scenes, and stunning soundtrack. A few month ago Square Enix revealed they were aiming for 3DVD’s (25,5GB) on Xbox360. This essentially means, and was confirmed a few weeks ago, that  13GB would need to be compressed in order to get it running on Xbox360.

Square Enix continues to state that the Xbox360 version wouldn’t lose quality, however, we will only know for sure after viewing endless comparisons when the game hits Western store shelves on March 9th, 2010.

Former Final Fantasy storywriter Hironobu Sakaguchi had the same problems with Lost Odyssey, but it turned out to be a highly enjoyable RPG on Xbox 360.

Source: FOK! Games (Dutch)

Jump Festa: New Versus trailer shown

According to Andriasang and (again) the popular medium Twitter, a short new trailer for Final Fantasy Versus has been shown in Square Enix famous Closed Mega Theatres at Jump Festa. Here are the tweets:

New FFvXIII trailer behind this curtain. I’ll watch it after playing KH. Squenix has the same theater setup as TGS.

The Versus trailer just shows the main guy waiting on a highway and then getting picked up by a car, which then speeds off.

It’s all realtime though and looks stunning, particularly the lighting. The scene is set on a bright day.

The short trailer ends, ‘revelation will come next time.’ Perhaps Versus will show its true form with its next trailer.

Nothing more is known at the moment. Final Fantasy Versus XIII (which I will shorten to ‘Versus’) is in development for roughly 5 years now, and still today some fans praise it even more than Final Fantasy XIII. We’ll find out soon, 2010 will be the year of Agito, Versus and maybe Haeresis?

FFXIII jewelry sweepstakes announced + Japanese sales

 

Last week Sonia from Square Enix announced/tweeted that we would also get something nice. A lot of people thought that it was an English demo version, which was soon denied in another tweed. Today she announced that there will be a competition next Wednesday. Anyone from the United States who participates has a chance to win one of Final Fantasy XIII’s (expensive) jewelry. You will be able to participate on the 23rd on the Square Enix NA members site.

Also Square Enix officially announced that Final Fantasy XIII sold 1 million on day 1 in Japan. Playstation 3’s user base in Japan is approximately 4 million, so 1 million definitely isn’t a bad thing. Still the sales are worse than previous Final Fantasy titles but around FFX and FFXII’s release the Playstation 2 had a much larger user base. 

 

 

Square Enix are set to give away a bunch of cool FF13 merchandise for free as part of their Stylin’ Sweepstakes, a competition to promote some of the FF13 accessories.
The four top winners will receive one of four kinds of FF13 Pendant – as worn in game by Lightning, Snow and Serah – and Nine other winners will get their hands on a snazzy keychain shaped like Lightning’s Sword and a l’Cie-styled Business Card Case.
The sweepstakes begin over on the Square Enix members site on December 23rd. Here’s a link, and good luck!

Final Fantasy XIII comes Home

Yesterday a leaked Famitsu scan revealed that Final Fantasy XIII will be featured in Home with regular items from costume packs, enemy dolls and Eden furniture to a personal space named “Eden: Government Representative Observation Room."

Thanks to Famitsu and Andriasang we now have high quality screenshots and information

First word of Final Fantasy XIII Home items leaked out from Famitsu yesterday. Sony made a more formal announcement of the items today, just as they became available for purchase.

Home users now have access to the following FFXIII items:

• Lightning Costume Set (¥600)
• Snow Costume Set (¥600)
• Eden — One Person Sofa (¥150)
• Eden — Sofa Table (¥100)
• Eden — Shelf A (¥100)
• Eden — Shelf B (¥100)
• Eden — Planter Set (¥100)
• Eden — Taxidermy (¥150)
• Eden — Table (¥100)
• Eden — Chair (¥100)
• Sabotender Figure (¥200)
• Flower Sabotender Figure (¥200)
• Tonberry Figure (¥200)
• Carbuncle Stuffed Animal (¥200)

 

The following will be available on January 7:

• Sazh Costume Set (¥600)
• Sazh Costume Set — Wig with Chocobo Chick (¥100)
• Cocoon Ball (Balance Ball) (¥150)
• Lightning Gun Sword Sword Mode Figure (¥200)
• Lightning Gun Sword Gun Mode Figure (¥200)
• Air Ship Figure (¥200)

As detailed yesterday, Home users will also be able to acquire a FFXIII-themed Personal Space. This is named "Eden: Government Representative Observation Room." The space will be free until the 14th, when it will switch to a ¥600 paid item.

Source: Andriasang and Famitsu

Eden is a big location/town in Final Fantasy XIII but it is still unknown if the “observation room” will also be featured in the full game. Final Fantasy XIII, released today in Japan, will hit North America and Europe in 81 days

According to  the Square Enix support center, no official pricing has been set and the inclusion of the FFXIV campaign code in the Western versions of Final Fantasy XIII still has to be decided.

Source: Square Enix Support Center NA

Follow the FFXIII launch live from Japan

Someone’s recording the launch of Japan’s most anticipated RPG Final Fantasy XIII live from Japan. You can view it here (in bad quality):

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/final-fantasy-13-live-feeds

 

Thanks to DJViagra from gameFAQs.