[07/11] Nobuo Uematsu not involved with the FFVII Remake

[Linnaete]

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Jeuxvideo, a prominent French video game website, sat down for an interview with the veteran composer of the series and asked him "Allez vous travailler dans le remake de FFVII?" - are you going to work on the FFVII remake? Nobuo replied that he is not.

What this means for the soundtrack of the remake is uncertain. Nobuo's classic tracks are certainly still there and they would be mad to cut or radically remix them beyond recognition, unless they wish to endure the full ire of the fans. It is very conceivable that they will bring someone else in to build on the foundations of what Nobuo created with a handful of original tracks. We'll have to see.

Siliconera | Nova Crystallis

 

[iSmiff]

Fuck sake Why wouldn't he want to? I can't imagine he wasn't asked or they told him no. FF7 has one of if not THE best soundtracks of the series and now i'm worrying they're going to ruin it

 

[Dionysos]

This is bad news for me.

I didn't like the Crisis Core soundtrack. It didn't have the magic of Nobuo's original FFVII score, and they shoved in too many random rocky segments which didn't have any emotional impact. Those sorts of tracks were just background noise music etc with no meaning whatsoever for me.

The reworkings of the original score in Crisis Core were better, but still not as good as the originals in my opinion.

I worry that the FFVII remake will be more along the lines of the Crisis Core soundtrack, but hopefully they will keep as close to the original score as possible. If not, then I'm sure the game will still be enjoyable, but it will not have the emotional or nostalgic impact that many people want from it.

 

[Galadín]

I actually enjoyed Takeharu Ishimoto's iterations of Nobuo Uematsu's work, I would be very enthusiastic if they had him on board for the project. Considering also his work for Type-0 (HD) and Dissidia (012), he's done some very good composing for the Final Fantasy series (at least I think so anyway).

For the nostalgic fans who are probably disappointed over Nobuo's creative genius not being employed in the remake, I don't really know what to say about that, except that I guess it's understandable for an artist to not want to return to something they've already done so well. Fans love the soundtrack a whole, whole lot as it is. Creatively, perhaps the composer doesn't feel like he has anything else to add.

It's clear that the remake is slated to be something new and fresh. Whereas the score will more than likely draw deeply from its origins, I doubt it'll be a blow by blow replica judging by the darker vibe we've seen in the trailer. I also think it unlikely that it'll stray too far from Nobuo's work because that will certainly just piss fans off. This is why I believe Takeharu would be a fabulous choice of composers for the score, since he's revamped many of the iconic Final Fantasy themes so well in Dissidia and has already reworked some of Final Fantasy VII's themes for Crisis Core. I have full confidence in the fellow!

 

[Linnaete]

I wrote (and deleted) a post about composers for some reason, even though this soundtrack will likely just be a case of re-arranging the old one.

Therefore it's probable that there was no need for Uematsu to be involved as he's never really been much of an arranger. Just hire someone who's good at re-arranging and build on Uematsu's solid foundations and there you go. Until they sneak in dubstep for One-Winged Angel or something, lololol.

 

[The Witch]

That doesn't surprise me honestly. I wish Uematsu and Sakaguchi would make some impact on the remake but I don't think that's very likely... then again, if you had asked me if I thought a FFVII remake was in the works 10 months ago I would have said not a chance... so who knows.

Maybe he might give some supervision to the musical elements, maybe he might change his mind and take over all of it. That wouldn't be too hard to do since the game is so early in development (or so Nomura says... even though the trailer proves they have the first half of the game done because it's a cutscene).

I hope Uematsu and Sakaguchi make some kind of appearance on the dev team... I can't see why they wouldn't want to be apart of such a big moment for one of their most acclaimed accomplishments. If I were Sakaguchi I would be terrified that it was going to be ruined.

Ech, anyway--I personally think so long as they do the music like they did for Advent Children---minus the freaking pop-rock ballad at the end--it will be great. All they're going to be doing is rearranging what Uematsu already laid out... they can't really fuck this up. And if they manage to fuck it up then the entire game is fucked.

BUT, all the rearrangements I've heard of the original songs (when they do the world concerts) are great so I'm not worried about the soundtrack it's the actual game I'm terrified for.