FF 25th Anniversary Memorial Ultimanias

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
It definitely says something to the effect of some parts of Ruby's design being the same as Ultima's. The torso, I think. Can't do a better translation right now.

Anywho, I think it's likely that the Weapons Nomura was talking about in that interview Shademp posted were Ruby and Emerald. Sapphire is never fought in any edition, but Nomura had a detailed design for him right there.
 
But, the "two new weapons" he would be referring to are most likely Emerald (which did not exist) and Diamond (which existed in the story, but was not an actual enemy encounter). There is no known released concept art for either of them.
That is indeed curious that we have no official artwork for either of them. Since Nomura (or whoever is in charge of saving stuff around) seems to have been very consistent with keeping artwork from before the first Japanese release of FFVII, I'd wager now, too, that Ruby was drawn before 1997.

But in the end it doesn't really matter, I guess (we could speculate on and on about it). Now I just want to grab Nomura and demand that he give us ALL THE ARTS. :monster: If he doesn't meet my demands, I'll burn his collection of belts.
 

espritduo

Zetta Member
Yeah, seeing all this new art suddenly come to light in the 25th Anni Ulti makes me confident that there are still tons more they are keeping for some other occasion. For whatever reason, Square has always been pretty free with Amano's stuff, but really stingy with Nomura's stuff. They really need to do a comprehensive Nomura artbook like they did with Amano and The Sky. "The Nomura Sketches". I'd buy it. I'd buy the hell out of it.

A good exampleof the obviously suspicious lack of Nomura concept art is the FFV/VI sections. There is tons of FFV monster art in here, but no FFVI monster concept art besides the ones that were done for FFV and not used, and the final battle concept art. There's GOT to be art for all the other FFVI monsters too, looking at the massive dump of FFV monsters. And the Espers! There's only Nomura art for three Espers - Bismarck, Alexander, and Midgardsormr/Terrato. And the slide they're on is labeled "II", so there must at the very least be a "I". I wanna see artwork for Zone Seek, Tritoch, Maduin! What the frak is Zone Seeker anyways!? I gotta know, Nomura!

FFIV is in a similar state. All the Amano art is there, as usual, but there is NO monster concept art besides the Amano stuff there. IIRC, Nomura didn't really have much involvement in FFIV, being mostly a grunt at that early point in his career, so he might not have much, if any concept art for that. But they had a nice 2-page spread of FFIII monster concept art done by the staff, so why not for FFIV?

FFVII and up are pretty good, actually, but there's definitely got to be tons of FFVII concept art still waiting to be released. Where's Jenova's battle concept art? I wanna see Jenova Synthesis's guts!

I guess they're waiting for the 30th Annivesary Ultimania for that stuff. Ugh.
 

Strangelove

AI Researcher
AKA
hitoshura
i did everything on that page because idk why stop asking me questions :sadpanda:

アルテマウェポン
星が生み出した兵器の1体。胸部中央のアルテマ発射口から『アルテマビーム』を放つ。オリジナル版で実際に戦うウェポンはこの1体のみ。
Ultima Weapon
One of the weapons the planet created. It fires its 'Ultima Beam' from the Ultima Cannon in the centre of its chest. This is the only Weapon that is actually fought in the original version.

サファイアウェポン
星が生み出した兵器の1体。ムービー用の資料として、全身図のほかに、顔のアップのデザイン画も作成されている。
Sapphire Weapon
One of the weapons the planet created. In addition to a full body illustration, a close up design of its face was also created as reference material for the movie scenes.

ルビーウェポン
星が生み出した兵器の1体。アルテマウェポンと同じく胸のあたりにコアのような部位があり、そこから『ルビーレイ』を発射する。
Ruby Weapon
One of the weapons the planet created. Like the Ultima Weapon it has a core-like part in its chest area, and fires its 'Ruby Ray' from it.

極限生命体宝条NA
みずからにジェノバ細胞を注入した宝条が変身を重ねた最終形態。デザイン画の段階では、全属性吸収と魔法攻撃の能力も予定されていた。
Ultimate Lifeform Hojo NA
The final form of Hojo, who injected himself with Jenova cells, after numerous transformations. During the design stages, he was also planned to have the ability to absorb all elemental damage and to use magic attacks.

リバース・セフィロス
生まれ変わったセフィロスの姿。実際のゲームには反映されていないが、肩に記された「ラスボス魂」の文字がちょっとお茶目。
Rebirth Sephiroth
Sephiroth's reborn form. Although it is not reflected in the game, the lettering 'last boss spirit' on his shoulder is a playful touch.

セーファ・セフィロス
神に近づいたセフィロス。片腕のみが翼に変わった姿が、彼のテーマ曲のタイトルにもなっている「方翼の天使」をイメージさせる。開発当初の仮称は「マスター・セフィロス」。
Safer Sephiroth
Sephiroth having neared godhood. Having only a single arm turned into a wing makes one think of a 'One-Winged Angel', which is also the title of his theme song. At the start of development he was tentatively called 'Master Sephiroth'.
 
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Dashell

SMILE!
AKA
Sonique, Quexinos, Pinkie Pie, Derpy Hooves
I don't check this topic a lot but if anyone has any info from FF8, can you let me know?
 

The Twilight Mexican

Ex-SeeD-ingly good
AKA
TresDias
I didn't realize you're an VIII fan, Que. Like, I don't think I even knew you had played it. :monster:

I haven't translated much from its section. Just the bit about Julia's unused grave.

Is there anything you would like me to look for?
 

espritduo

Zetta Member
Heh, guess I can bump this thread to let you all know I finally got around to scanning everything from FFVII and uploading it to the wiki.

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Special:ListFiles/Espritduo

The FFVII stuff goes back all the way to January 10th, a few hundred images down. There's a bunch of Final Fantasy Dimensions enemy and weapon sprites in there too since I'm working on getting them cleaned up for the wiki, and few other stray things here and there, but most of the stuff is all the FF7 stuff from the memorial album.

Next up FF8, and I hope it doesn't take me as long! I did get my FFVIII World Preview Famitsu issue, so I'll be scanning the good stuff from there alongside the Memorial Ultimania stuff. And once the last of the books I ordered come in, I'll do one more shot of all the newest additions to my collection too.
 

Splintered

unsavory tart
Thanks for all your scanning, I really appreciate it.

FFVII_Early_Character_Relationship_Chart.jpg


Oh hay early relationship chart, is that arrow to vincent wat
 

Unlucky

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN
Awesome. Thanks for that :glomp:

I'm glad they changed their early designs of Kalm, Nibelheim and Cosmo Canyon but it was cool to see those early concepts.

And reeeally curious about
Limit_Break_Storyboard_FFVII_Sketches_Unused.jpg
.

Thanks for all your scanning, I really appreciate it.

FFVII_Early_Character_Relationship_Chart.jpg


Oh hay early relationship chart, is that arrow to vincent wat

There's also that guy with an eyepatch with those two guys that I suspect to be Rude and Tseng.. hmm early design of Reno?
 
So the name of Cloud's mother was Claudia Strauss? Sounds like the last name was changed from Strauss to Strife to appeal to a wider audience.
 

espritduo

Zetta Member
For the "Turks" down at the bottom, they are Tseng, then the bald one that looks like Rude is actually named Reno, then the one with the eyepatch is named Rude.

And the one that looks like Vincent there is actually named Sephiroth. So Vincent is sort Sephiroth's daddy....in a prototype-developmental sort of way. Or something.

EDIT: Huh, I never noticed that said SUTORAUSU and not SUTORAIFU for Cloud's mum. Wow, that must have been waaay early in development.
 

Strangelove

AI Researcher
AKA
hitoshura
i see the group linked to tifa called 'guardian', old name for avalanche?

man i wish i could make out the rest of the writing, that's really interesting.
 

Octo

KULT OF KERMITU
AKA
Octo, Octorawk, Clarky Cat, Kissmammal2000
Gah I wish I knew what the connection between Tseng and Tifa is!
 

Strangelove

AI Researcher
AKA
hitoshura
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/_...alfantasy/images/0/0b/Midgar_FFVII_Sketch.jpg

That looks like Midgar had the early name of ザマル (Zamal? Zamar? or a true place-holder name, Za-Maru = The Maru = The Circle?)

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/_...mages/5/52/Chocobo_Sage_FFVII_Concept_Art.jpg

And the Chocobo Sage was 'old materia man' (マテリアじじい).

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/_...alfantasy/images/5/5e/FFVII_-_Aps_Artwork.jpg

"COLNEO'S PET NO. 2 SON OF A BITCH KILL"
 
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espritduo

Zetta Member
http://www.espritduo.com/images/ff7_character_chart_early.jpg

I scanned the chart at a bigger resolution and made it as clear as I could, but I don't think it's going to be that much more legible. I can read the kana just fine, but the kanji's a lost cause, save the x'd out character labeled as "mother" on the right side with an arrow going to the white line between Tifa and Vinceroth ( I don't know whose mother that is, though). I think the line between Tifa and Vinceroth says "Nemesis", but I can't be sure.

EDIT: here's the full page for that Midgar scan. It does mention the name being "ZAMARU" up at the top there.

http://www.espritduo.com/images/ff7_midgar_concept.jpg
 
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Strangelove

AI Researcher
AKA
hitoshura
Whole lot of guesswork going on in his:

Cloud-Tifa = allies (仲間)
Cloud>Sephiroth = best friend (親友)
Tifa-Sephiroh = siblings? (きょうだい?)
Tseng>Tifa = ???
Guardians (*3 blank boxes)>Tifa = protect (守護)
Shinra (*topmost box on left)>Cloud = ???
Cloud/Tifa>Promised Land(*topmost box on right) = ???
Sephiroth-two unknowns = allies
Mother = Captured by Shinra because she is an Ancient (古代種であるが為 神羅に捕えられ)
Mother-Sephiroth = ???
Mother>Tifa/Sephiroth = ???

Tifa seems to have had a lot of Aerith's concepts and plot points at this point, or Aerith had Tifa's name and design.
 

Splintered

unsavory tart
Aaaaaa Hito why are you so fabulous
Tifa seems to have had a lot of Aerith's concepts and plot points at this point, or Aerith had Tifa's name and design.
That Aerith+Sephiroth thing as siblings was a potential plot point that was discarded before, right? Or was that just Aerith liking Sephiroth? It could be that the original female character had characteristics of both and then they decided to split her duties into two once they realized they wanted to kill Aerith.
 

espritduo

Zetta Member
They were both early backstories for 'Aerith', either sibling with Sephiroth or him being her first love.

There also looks like another chart here (not from the book, it's one someone at Square had stashed away) but it's not readable at all:

https://twitter.com/hidemi_mad_dog/status/304829048805285888

HOLY CRAP. That's concept art for the FFVI Espers Tritoch and Zoneseek, along with Golem, Cait Sith, Phantom, Fenrir, Starlet and ...someone with a scythe. I KNEW that stuff existed. Why oh why didn't they include them in the 25th Anniversary Ultimania????
 
Wtf? Did Cloud set Aerith on fire? What is this I don't even...?

I am really curious about this one too. In the last frame it looks like Aerith is dissolving. Is this a post-death limit break by Cloud where he was meant to remember/hear-her-spirit as a motivator to boost his strength? Or was it one of Aerith's limit breaks which would boost the stats of any single fighter comrade? Doesn't help that I can't read Japanese. =/

EDIT: Although after looking over some basic Japanese, it *looks* to me that this was meant to be Aerith's limit break and not Cloud's.
 
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