FANTASIAN Neo Dimension proves that Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu’s friendship is still going strong, even after 38 years

FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is a real treat for fans of the JRPG genre. Not only because its producer and writer is the great Hironobu Sakaguchi, the creator of the Final Fantasy franchise, but also because the legendary Nobuo Uematsu composed its entire soundtrack.

These two industry legends have worked together in a lot of different projects (even before the release of the first Final Fantasy game back in 1987), and it seems that they still are very close after all this time. In a recent interview with Famitsu (which @Genki_JPN partially translated into English) Sakaguchi sat down to talk about FANTASIAN Neo Dimension and his relationship with Uematsu.

Sakaguchi told Famitsu that he asked Uematsu for a signed sheet of Final Fantasy music so he could gift it to his granddaughter. But the composer promptly responded, “No, I’ll write a new song for your granddaughter; I’ll also add lyrics,” which is a fun and adorable anecdote that perfectly reflects how their friendship is still going strong after collaborating for almost 40 years. Sakaguchi even mentioned that he may include this song in his next project, although fans will have no idea which song it will be.

FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is the conclusion of 38 years of collaboration

Nobuo Uematsu is one of the most iconic and celebrated music composers in the gaming industry and, curiously enough, he’s almost as synonymous with the Final Fantasy franchise as its creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi. They both met back in the 80s when they were working for Squaresoft, but their first collaboration was not Final Fantasy, but the 1986 scrolling shooter, King’s Knight. Nobody can’t deny, however, that Final Fantasy I is the game that eventually put them both on the map, and for good reason.

Uematsu was the main composer of every subsequent mainline entry in the series, from Final Fantasy II up to Final Fantasy XI, until he left the company to work as a freelancer. And even after that, he kept making music for other games in the franchise, like Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy VII Remake. On the other hand, Sakaguchi directed and/or produced almost every mainline game, until he left Square back in 2003, although he’s still credited in many other Final Fantasy games that the company released after his departure.

But their departure from Square didn’t stop them from working together

But even though both of them eventually stopped working on the Final Fantasy IP, Sakaguchi and Uematsu have reunited many times in other projects that are not related to this franchise. After all, Uematsu made the music for almost every video game that Sakaguchi directed, produced, or wrote, like Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, The Last Story, and Fantasian, the 2021 Apple Arcade RPG that eventually became FANTASIAN Neo Dimension. This game also marked their long-awaited return to Square Enix.

Uematsu recently stated that FANTASIAN Neo Dimension was his last big project as a video game composer and that he’s going to cut back on his work. So it’s very endearing to know that he’s still so close to his good friend and partnet after all these years. And even if he’s not going to make as much video game music anymore, it would be great to finally hear the song he made for Sakaguchi’s grandchild in a future project.