(Source: finalfantasythings)
“Assault 2 Prototype,” Masashi Hamauzu - Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack PLUS
Masashi Hamauzu revealed in the liner notes for Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack PLUS that this early prototype of what ultimately became “Fang’s Theme” was based heavily on “Assault,” a track he composed for Final Fantasy X (which plays during the rescue scene in Bevelle).
“This was a demo track I created at the beginning of development, before I had a grasp on the game’s mood and setting. It was modeled on the structure of Final Fantasy X’s ”Assault” and titled “Assault 2”. I had still needed a drum part and some other things to bring it closer to the original song, but it ended up needing to be rearranged for the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra anyway (later turning into “Fang’s Theme”), and it never quite got there. It might be fun to try to create a dryer version like that sometime, though.”
-Masashi Hamauzu
(Source: finalfantasythings)
The shortest, whiniest party member in XIII grows up and creates a fal’Cie, becomes leader of the government, has a city’s entire female population throwing their panties at him, and builds a fucking planet.
(Source: finalfantasythings)
“Clash on the Big Bridge -Oriental Mix-“ | Final Fantasy XIII-2 Original Soundtrack PLUS
Like its predecessor, Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be getting an Original Soundtrack Plus to complement the game’s initial soundtrack. Composed by Masashi Hamauzu, Naoshi Mizuta, and Mitsuto Suzuki, the sixteen-track album will release in Japan on May 30th for 2100 yen and include extra songs cut from the game and ones that were featured in DLC.
Square Enix also updated the Final Fantasy XIII-2 Facebook page to include pictures of the album’s jacket and disc. You can also sample the soundtrack by visiting the official website here.
01 Local Cosmos_soft_4Beat
02 Travelogue_GuideVocalDemo
03 The Last Hunter_original long edition
04 Unseen Intruder_instrumental
05 Memories for the Future_another take
06 FirstPV
07 Starting Over_Goh Hotoda REMIX
08 BOSSBATTLE_v2-09_31aug11
09 Crazy Chocobo_UstreamEdit
10 Hopping Chocobo
11 Noel’s Theme_guitar demo version
12 Local Cosmos_other_110725
13 Parallel World CrossFadeDemo
14 yuza_050
15 Clash on the Big Bridge – Oriental MIX -
16 Noel’s Theme – Final Journey -_AbstractSetOne
WHO WORE IT BETTER?
On tonight’s exclusive edition of WHO WORE IT BETTER?, we compare two different equestrian portraits from two different time periods done in two different art mediums! To the left is the oil on canvas Malmaison version of Napoleon Crossing the Alps by French artist Jacques-Louis David (1800), and to our right is the CGI portrait of Claire Farron (codename “Lightning”) from Square Enix’s Playstation 3 title, Final Fantasy XIII (2009)!
We first take a look at David’s portrait of France’s first emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte! Won’t you just look at the detail on his orange cloak fit only for a self-proclaimed consul! The painting, which is an idealized render of Napoleon’s campaign through the Great St. Bernard Pass in the Swiss Alps, renders Napoleon as focal point and as a means to symbolically boost his image, is depicted disproportionately large to his steed! But check out his famous, bare handed gesture, as if to say, “I, Napoleon, wish not for bloodshed, but for peace throughout all Western Europe!” Such propaganda was prevalent in royal portraiture to boost popularity with the public, and David executes the motif with such chic!
But Lightning is in a class all her own! Unlike Napoleon, the CGI team at Square Enix’s 1st Production Department shows her realistically proportioned to her Eidolon Odin, who in true Norse-based mythology style, is in the form of his horse Sleipnir (while Sleipnir in Norse mythology is actually six-legged, Odin in Final Fantasy XIII has the realistic four). But who needs propagandized body proportions when you have as much control over a wild steed as much as this former Guardian Corps soldier turned fugitive Pulse l’Cie! She remains steady on Odin’s reared back without even so much as a set of reigns, wielding his dual blades with ease and charging into battle with such confidence as if to cry out, “I’m no fal’Cie slave!” Lightning definitely strikes hard in this one! As she would have it, there are some things in life you just do!
Two famous takes on the ever so popular equestrian portrait, but we beg the question: WHO WORE IT BETTER?
