Nobuo Uematsu’s had a long history within gaming that any composer would be proud of. Having worked on most Final Fantasy games in some capacity, he’s covered a wide span of RPG hits like Chrono Trigger, Lost Odyssey and The Last Story.
Recently, he’s been collaborating once more with Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, working on Apple Arcade exclusive Fantasian to create a 60-piece orchestrated soundtrack.
Speaking to Mobile Syrup for an interview, Sakaguchi revealed this might be Uematsu’s last fully scored game, saying:
Before we approached him to work on Fantasian, he was going through some health issues, and there were concerns if he was going to be able to compose everything or if was it even possible for him to work on this.
I think he kind of hinted that Fantasian is maybe the last game that he does from end to end in terms of scoring an entire soundtrack.
Uematsu’s never revealed what specific illness he’s suffered with, previously confirming back in September 2018 that he was taking the rest of 2018 off to recover. Since then, he’s composed individual tracks like Final Fantasy VII Remake’s main theme, so this doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be retiring just yet.
Moving to a more positive note, Sakaguchi confirmed Uematsu has given it his all for Fantasian. Talking further about the soundtrack, he advised the composer has “poured his heart and soul” into the game, revealing it “almost made me tear up a little bit”.
It’s just a shame Fantasian isn’t coming to Switch (at the time of writing, at least), as we’d love to see what these two legendary figures have put together for this upcoming RPG. Whatever happens next in his career, we’ll be praying for Nobuo Uematsu’s health and success.
