Dark Horse's Final Fantasy Ultimania Volumes (From the 25th Anniversary set?)

Vivi-Gamer

Vivi-Gamer

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Hi,

Seen that Dark Horse are releasing an upcoming set of FF Ultimania books - now Translated. I was very excited about this at first as I believed it would be them original books which were dedicated to each numeral title. But from some investigation I am gathering that is not the case, that these books are actually a set released later called 'Final Fantasy 25th Memorial Ultimania' - They're broken up in the same way, 1-6, 7-9, 10-14.

I did have them pre-ordered but now I am not sure as I really wanted the original Ultimania books translated - I take it these Memorial Utlimania books are not filled with the detail and lore of the originals? I've popped down links below:

Volume I (Final Fantasy I-VI):
Amazon UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Final-Fantasy-Ultimania-Archive-1/dp/1506706444/
Amazon US - https://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-Ultimania-Archive-1/dp/1506706444/

Volume II (Final Fantasy VII-IX):
Amazon UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Final-Fantasy-Ultimania-Archive-2/dp/1506706622/
Amazon US - https://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-Ultimania-Archive-2/dp/1506706622/

Volume III (Final Fantasy X-XIV):
Amazon UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Final-Fantasy-Ultimania-Archive-3/dp/1506708013/
Amazon US - https://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-Ultimania-Archive-3/dp/1506708013/

This Video gives you a better idea of what to expect visually:
 
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Really? :sad2:

Thanks for the heads up. I pre-ordered Volume 1 (Final Fantasy I-VI) and hoped to find pages of lore to help with my articles and threads on this site, etc. That to me is what 'Ultimania' means. Learning otherwise is quite a disappointment, and I feel a little bit misled!

This is essentially an art book then... Okay. I still like art books as well, and I have a couple of Amano artbooks already, so I'll be able to get enjoyment out of that side of things at least. But this is not at all what I thought I had ordered and had been looking forward to.
 
You get over 300 pages of content in each book, not sure what the problem is. Also the product descriptions on Amazon make it very clear what you're getting. I'm really looking forward to getting these.
 
To be fair the Amazon description for Volume I does read "...this beautiful tome of art, lore, and history. ", which could seem a little ambiguous since there's no definitive description as to what aspect that "lore and history" is of exactly.

I love how comprehensive that video is, very informative given the lack of product description :lew:. The concept art is incredibly stunning and I can't help but fan squeal over all that Amano art in the first volume :inlove: I'm a big fan of Nomura's concepts, but seeing the in-depth background behind bringing Amano's work into the game is incredible. The amount of concept work included for the Final Fantasy VII & VIII section of Volume 2 alone makes this addition completely worth it. These volumes are just jam packed with artwork :hyper:, if it were me or if this stuff floats your boat I would be all over that for sure! ♥ In the end though it depends exactly on what you're looking for :)
 
^^^ Yeah. To explain myself more, I'm definitely going to enjoy it as an artbook.

I was just expecting a big tome of Final Fantasy lore. That's what I'd been led to believe an 'Ultimania' was and the product descriptions seem to avoid warning people about it not being this. So as someone who researches lore as a hobby for articles, etc, learning that I might be getting mainly pictures (lovely as they will be) and not new information not yet generally available in English, that was disappointing.

Now that I know this, I'll simply adjust my expectations and enjoy whatever arrives through the post for whatever it is. Having a more detailed look at that video, there might still be space for nice lore details within that.
 
The issue I have is that the Art in the book while comprehensive is all so titchy, I'd have liked to seen a full page dedicated to each of the environment art - but then of course this isn't an Art Book persay. I don't know, I'm still half and half on it really. What I really wanted was a more text heavy book with rich detail fo the lore of eahc Numbered FF title - which is what I always thoguht the Ultimania books were.
 
I had a huge confrontation with Amazon over this as they didn't even send me a copy, when I made a Pre-Order months beforehand. They simply said they hadn't ordered enough in... They gave me a lot of BS and simply took no responsibility for it. I've put links to the 3rd entry set for April 9th 2019 but would recommend Pre-Ordering elsewhere.

I did finally get my 2nd entry to the series and this was the big one covering my favourite FF titles! Very nice titles to reminisce with as it has character bios, quotations, artwork even storyboards and a few goodies I've yet to see. Highly recommend them.

Also Dark Horse recently published a Biography on Yoshitaka Amano too! Once again a huge lovely big book but with plenty of text covering his artistic begins to throughout his career.

Yoshitaka Amano: The Illustrated Biography-Beyond the Fantasy:
1546436489511.png

Amazon UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yoshitaka-Amano-Illustrated-Biography-Beyond-Fantasy/dp/150670753X/
Amazon US - https://www.amazon.com/Yoshitaka-Amano-Illustrated-Biography-Beyond-Fantasy/dp/150670753X/

There is a fancy Limited Edition too:
1546436624895.png

Amazon UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yoshitaka-Amano-Illustrated-Biography-Beyond-Fantasy/dp/1506707548/
Amazon US - https://www.amazon.com/Yoshitaka-Amano-Illustrated-Biography-Fantasy/dp/1506707548/
 
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Vivi-Gamer said:
I had a huge confrontation with Amazon over this as they didn't even send me a copy, when I made a Pre-Order months beforehand. They simply said they hadn't ordered enough in... They gave me a lot of BS and simply took no responsibility for it. I've put links to the 3rd entry set for April 9th 2019 but would recommend Pre-Ordering elsewhere.

I did finally get my 2nd entry to the series and this was the big one covering my favourite FF titles! Very nice titles to reminisce with as it has character bios, quotations, artwork even storyboards and a few goodies I've yet to see. Highly recommend them.
Click to expand...

My sister had ordered Ultimania Volume 2 for me as a Christmas present. I was told that was her intention but, like you, Amazon messed up the order and said it wouldn't be available anymore until late January or February.
My sister gave me a back-up present on Christmas Day so when it did finally arrive (on New Year's Eve of all times) I paid for it myself.

I haven't had time to read it all yet but I think it looks great. Lots of artwork I haven't seen before. The only concern I have is that the FFVIII section is so tiny compared to the other two... FFVII in particular is HUGE, but since that title is my favourite of the three I am not sad about that. I just wish FFVIII had a bit more too.

I should probably order volume 3 now too in case Amazon has another issue like this.
 
Yeah, It is a little bit upsetting when you compare the size of 8's content to 7's. Final Fantasy VIII Art design is my favourite in the series, I love the sleek designs of all the worlds vehicles and architecture. VIII also features my favourite designs for Summons too and my all-time favourite design in Odin! Still there are a few treats in here like seeing the storyboards for The Assassination Mission.

There is another book I've got called Kusanagi IV, which covers the background art to the 3 games and more. I think Kusanagi was a company Square out-sourced to (Which I didn't know they even did for FF) But the art work on display is a treat!
https://www.parkablogs.com/content/book-review-背景画集-草薙4

The previous books covered Background art for Anime, but the later ones had more Video Game focused Artbooks, their follow-up books features Art from Final Fantasy X & XII too!:
https://www.parkablogs.com/content/book-review-背景画集-草薙-5
 
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Vivi-Gamer said:
Yeah, It is a little bit upsetting when you compare the size of 8's content to 7's. Final Fantasy VIII Art design is my favourite in the series, I love the sleek designs of all the worlds vehicles and architecture. VIII also features my favourite designs for Summons too and my all-time favourite design in Odin! Still there are a few treats in here like seeing the storyboards for The Assassination Mission.

There is another book I've got called Kusanagi IV, which covers the background art to the 3 games and more. I think Kusanagi was a company Square out-sourced to (Which I didn't know they even did for FF) But the art work on display is a treat!
https://www.parkablogs.com/content/book-review-背景画集-草薙4

The previous books covered Background art for Anime, but the later ones had more Video Game focused Artbooks, their follow-up books features Art from Final Fantasy X & XII too!:
https://www.parkablogs.com/content/book-review-背景画集-草薙-5
Click to expand...

Teoh Yi Chie always give some useful recommendation to beginner artists , I read his review article about xp-pen artist 15.6 pro drawing tablet and bought one . I love him also .

parkablogs is a good website to me , I learn a lot from him .
 
My Final Fantasy Ultimania Vol.3 Arrived today!:
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Exciting! Here are a few snaps:
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A great series of books! Dark Horse has been very generous to the FF Community lately :)
 
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