Square Sound Team

Hello everybody, welco..

Who the hell are you ?

Sigh..... I'm Zaki, from Live A Live.....

Don't mind him..... he has an ego prob.....

Heh, another one huh, they should start a club, LOL !

Do you two mind ?!  I'm trying to do an introduction here....

Hmph !  Oh well, you're Kentar, aren't you ?

The one and only, babe !

Hey, you leave her alone, she's mine !!

Pogo, please be nice, Kentar here is a friend of Dragon God, who owns this place...

Oh I'm sorry..... my name is Beru, pleased to meet you, Kentar  :)

....... May I speak now ?

Sure, knock yourself out !!  RLMAO !!

Ahem..... here, you'll find a small description of each of Square's talented group of musicians.

First off, might as well start with the one who is known best, Mr. Nobuo Uematsu !

Mr. Uematsu is well known for his works on the Final Fantasy Series, he seems to have no trouble at all
creating a melody. I'm sure he has millions of fans throughout the world, like Dragon God here who
really appreaciates his hard work. He is currently busy scoring Final Fantasy XII at the moment, no details are known
wether he is accompanied or alone.

Next is Mr. Yasunori Mitsuda, Beru, if you please ?

Mr. Mitsuda is probably the youngest among the group and has become famous for his works on
Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Tsugunai, Shadow Hearts (with Mr. Yoshitaka Hirota) and Xenosaga.
His strenght seems to be for creating a mood with his music. Mr. Mitsuda has cooperated with Mr. Sakimoto and
Ms. Oshima in Legaia Duel Saga. He directed Mr. Sakimoto in the Breath of Fire : Dragon Quarter project.
Recently, he is busy helping out Yoshitaka Hirota on Shadow Hearts II.
       

Heh heh, the one who gave us life, Ms. Yoko Shimomura. How bout it, Pogo ?

Ms. Shimomura is also among the " giants " at Square, she is known for her works on
Live A Live ( That's us !! ), Front Mission (with Ms. Noriko Matsueda), Super Mario RPG,
Parasite Eve and Legend of Mana and lastly, Kingdom Hearts.
Her main strenght are her piano pieces, mostly in Parasite Eve and Legend of Mana
which are simply marvelous. She also has what it takes to make awesome battle
themes ( Pain the Universe, anyone ?? ).

Next on the list, Mr. Kenji Ito, anyone wants to introduce him ?

Me me me me !!!!! I wills introduce Mr. Ito. ^^

Hey there Lun, how's it going ?

It okies Kentar, how bout you ?

Good as always.

Okies. Mr. Ito is famous for his works on Saga series. His battle themes really kick ass !!

He also did FF Adventure, it's good stuff.

Ok. I'll take care of Mr. Hiroki Kikuta .

Mr. Kikuta is known for his works on Seiken Densetsu 2 and Seiken Densetsu 3.
His more recent works are Soukaigi and Koudelka. His strenght is simply creating many
soothing pieces as well as energetic ones and uses a lot of bass in his work. Mr. Kikuta
is also a game producer, as he founded the company Sacnoth, responsible for Koudelka
and Shadow Hearts. Mr. Kikuta is currently developping a new game as director, designer
and music composer, no other details are known as this time.

Ok.... who's left ? *looks at the list* Ah yes !  Mr. Tsuyoshi Sekito.

I'll take care of this, Zaki.  Mr. Sekito is known for his work on Brave Fencer Musashi.
He uses alot of electric guitar ( at least it sounds like so ) in his battle themes resulting in some very
enjoyable music. He also took part in Chocobo's Dungeon II with 3 others. And he composed for both
All Star Pro Wrestling games, the first with Mr. Kenichiro Fukui and the second on his own. He also
helped out ol' Nobuo in the FF Origins project, thus arranging Nobuo's Final Fantasy II score.

Next up is Ms. Noriko Matsueda. She's not too well known unfortunately.
Her projects are Front Mission (with Ms. Yoko Shimomura), Bahamut Lagoon, Front Mission 2,
Racing Lagoon and The Bouncer. She is very good at composing epic and modern tracks. Also
her main forte is jazz and she defenately shows it in all her works. Her last project, Final Fantasy X-2,
was unfortunately disapointing. I for one hope that she'll pick up from this musical flop on her next project,
whatever it might be.

Ok, whom else is there ?  *looks at the list*  Mr. Junya Nakano. Beru ?

As far as Dragon God knows, Mr. Nakano did the music for Threads of Fate and Another Mind, which
is very soothing and relaxing. He also participated in FFX (with Mr. Uematsu and Mr. Hamauzu).

Ack ! I forgot about Mr. Hitoshi Sakimoto.

Mr. Sakimoto is very well known ( as well as Mr. Masaharu Iwata ) for his work on the Ogre Battle
series, but with Square, he did Final Fantasy Tactics ( with Mr. Iwata ) and Vagrant Story. His chief
strenght is simply being able to compose classical as well as dark and foreboding music. He also had
worked on Treasure Hunter G (Square's last effort on the Super Famicom) with Mr. John Pee (Don't laugh ! 8P),
Mr. Iwata and 4 other unknown composers. Mr. Sakimoto has worked with Mr. Yasunori Mitsuda and Ms.
Michiru Oshima in Legaia Duel Saga. Sakimoto also scored Breath of Fire 5 under the direction of Yasunori
Mitsuda. Recently, he scored Final Fantasy Tactics Advance with the help of Mr Uematsu, Ayako Saso and
Kaori Ohkoshi of Super Sweep Inc.

Ok, now we have Mr. Masashi Hamauzu. He has written the *excellent* score to Chocobo's
Mysterious Dungeon and Saga Frontier 2. He also participated in FFX (with Mr. Uematsu and Mr. Nakano).
He is VERY talented with a piano and creates beautiful music. Mr. Hamauzu's latest is Unlimited SaGa for PS2.

Another worthy composer is Kenichiro Fukui, his works include Einhander and All Star Pro Wrestling
(with Tsuyoshi Sekito). His main strenght is composing excellent techno music.

There's even more unknown composers working or has worked at Square. Two of them are Yoshihiro Sato and
Shinji Hosoe. Yoshihiro Sato has only done Cyberorg so far, but we clearly see the man is well trained in composing
awesome hard rock music, as well some semi-relaxing and epic music. Shinji Hosoe heads Super Sweep Inc. , a
company made of former Namco composers, including Takayuki Aihara, Ayako Saso and Nobuyoshi Sano. Hosoe's
talent is that he can write various types of techno, from psychadelic to death techno. His best known scores are
iS : Internal Section, Bushido Blade, Ridge Racer, Dragon Spirits, Driving Emotion Type-S and Technic Beat.
Two composers of Super Sweep deserve special mention : Takayuki Aihara and Nobuyoshi Sano, as they were
involved in Cavia's Drag-On Dragoon(Drakengard).

One of the less known composers at Square-Enix is Kumi Tanioka. She started off in Chocobo's
Mysterious Dungeon 2, then she moved on to Dice de Chocobo, then All-Star Pro Wrestling. Final Fantasy XI
will make her famous, but so will her latest project, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles on the GameCube ! Her style
seems to be a mix of mysterious, celtic, exotic and medieval melodies, which she delivers with amazing grace.

Another obscure composer who has collaborated with Square is Takayuki Nakamura. Before he joined
DreamFactory, he used to work for Sega, especially for the Virtua Fighter series. His connections with Square
are Tobal 2 and Ehrgeiz. He seems to be able to create a wide palette of musical styles, but he seems to prefer
techno, rock and jazz, which are very fast-paced.

Another obscure composer who collaborated with Square was Riow Arai. He is a
popular mainstream dance musician in Japan. Yet, his solo works has made him known worldwide.
His only project was Front Mission Alternative. The Front Mision Alternative soundtrack is a unique
listening experience, I will admit that it is repetitive, yet it still manages to hook the listener to the very end.
In all honestly, Riow Arai is a very talented composer, even though his specialty is techno. I invite anyone
interested to visit his website and give his samples a open-minded listen. I find them quite interesting, and
quite unique. Drop by at his Message Board and tell him your thoughts about his samples.

At least the next one-shot-only guys had LOTS of experience in the vgm world, they are
Koji Hayama and Hayato Matsuo. These guys worked on Front Mission 3, which was a very enjoyable
blend of orchestral and techno themes. Not much is known about Hayama, but Matsuo was a key composer
for Quest as he accompanied Iwata ans Sakimoto on several Ogre Battle games, namely the original and the
N64 episode. Matsuo is powerful from start to finish, and always leaves an impression of awe with his themes.
Other projects by Matsuo include Dragon Force II and several arrangements on a few Panzer Dragoon vocals.

Two to go, Mr. Naoshi Mizuta and Mr. Ryuji Sasai.

Mr. Mizuta did the *very* ambient music for Parasite Eve 2 and has worked with Mr. Uematsu and Ms. Tanioka in Final Fantasy XI while Mr. Sasai did the music to Final Fantasy Mystic Quest ( with Mr. Yasuhiro Kawakami ),
Rudora No Hihou, also he did Final Fantasy Legend 3 with Chihiro Fujioka and Bushido Blade 2.
Both of these composers are good in their own right.

I don't think I forgot anyone, did  I ?

Ok, time to get back.