Yoshitaka Amano should be known to all true Final Fantasy fans. Even if you don't know the name, you certainly know the art, as he was responsible for all those classic conceptual pictures up until Tetsuya Nomura replaced him. Amano did not lend his pencil to Final Fantasy XIII, but that hasn't stopped him revealing what it would be like if he did.
In the latest Famitsu, Amano has redrawn FF XIII characters in his own inimitable style. The game's main cast has been given his distinct look and the results, one must say, are pretty badical. For the nostalgic among us, this really does bring back memories, right?
Not that I think Nomura does a bad job, but Amano's classic drawings are difficult to forget.
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Contest:
5:00 PM on 12.09.2009
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His character designs are somewhat weird, but I think he absolutely excels at monster designs. Some of the creatures in that artbook are stunningand pretty damn scary.
I definitely recommend the book if anyone finds it around, I found mine at a random Barnes & Noble.
Imagine a FF game cel shaded with his style.....
Amano made "generic jrpg style" classy.
@texasgoldrush
I agree. His FFVI art is some of my favorite.
http://goingreen.tripod.com/amano/celes.jpg
Seriously that Final Fantasy III Nintendo Player's Guide, I would just stare at his artwork, especially for the two main women.
Imagine if they made all of Final Fantasy XIII with this same art style =O I wonder if Squeenix could pull that off?
http://www.amanosworld.com/
or
http://www.arts-wallpapers.com/galleries/yoshitaka_amano/index.html
I have nothing against Nomura, games like The World Ends With You would look TERRIBLE in Amano's style, but Nomura's FF artwork is the reason why people associate JRPGs with cliche anime art.
@hpv
I'd love a 2D PSP or DSi game that looked like that.
I think it's the faces mostly, the women look unappealing while the men look even MORE like women.
Ah, yes. Very good.
Also, Amano not baing the main artist for FF anymore is probably the best thing that could have ever happened to him. Uematsu eventually had to dodge the bullet Amano would have gotten hit with. Nomura actually doesn't do a bad job, people just like to go batshit hate on him for some reason.
He actually a better job when left to his own projects and is not joined at the hip with Kitase for a project. Most of the Compilation of FFVII was a mess save for Crisis Core. Kingdom Hearts and The World Ends With You are Nomura's own thing and he does pretty well with them.
I really prefer they both kept their distance from Final Fantasy, FFXI and FFXI were a breath of fresh air for the series. Perhaps not appreciated by all, but new and different experiences all the same. Nomura only did the race concepts for FFXI, but the FFXII lead artist has certainly surpassed those designs with what he's doing for FFXIV.
I like to compare his art to the artist who designed the characters for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and subsequent Castlevania games, because they are both beautiful, unique and both eventually got replaced in favour of dull anime style art.
Of course Nomura isn't bad, and you can argue his style lends itself better to computer generated animation, but the animu schtick doesn't draw out the same emotions as the old FF artwork did.
I think they're both great. My favorite game Amano's done his Final Fantasy 9.
Anyone who hasn't seen Angel's Egg,please do see it.Nothing is more whacked up than references to Christianity(courtesy of Mamoru Hoshii himself),and how Amano's artwork feels like in motion.The game would cost much,much more than what FFXIII and possibly FFXIV combined..........
Honestly, I didn't even know of Nomura until Final Fantasy X. I looked at the characters and was thinking "Why the hell did they use the same dull-as-hell characters designs from Final Fantasy VIII?" "They were both done by Nomura" was the response I got - it kinda instantly made me dislike the guy.
I do like some of his work. I found Parasite Eve and Brave Fencer Musashi to have good character designs, and The World Ends With You had... unique line-art, I guess. The characters still seemed way too "Kingdom Hearts"-ish, but at least the thick line-art made it somewhat interesting. I just don't like his zippers & belts getting too close to a series that used to be dominated by Amano's ethereal designs.
Yes,once again,I come to bear hate upon Kingdom Hearts........
But seriously,Nomura's designs got repetitive at FFX.I welcome back Amano with my arms wide open.