Monday, December 08, 2008

Final Fantasy IX- Lindbulm Castle



















Ok! It seems like some people remember this game as one of their favorites. So here I have some more drawings for Final Fantasy IX. Lindblum Castle was a pretty important location in the game- had about 89 BG maps (fully rendererd CG plates) and it was a lot of fun and a big challenge for me because I had to figure out how each locations are connected and how the castle looks with all the things laid out inside. Click on the top image and it will take you to movie clip from the game.

8 comments:

Adam Paquette said...

the artwork in ix had such a deep impact on my aesthetic choices, and would be in my top 5 artistic influences of all time. There was so much emotion, so much nostalgia, and such a sense of 'i want to be there' in this game -- it stays with me to this day. Im so excited to finally see where it came from! I have been following your blog for a few months, never suspecting it would have been you - very pleased to have made the connection!

I wonder if the method of painting in the 3d temps allowed that depth and detail that is so evocative in the FF universe - so much explorable space on each frame, combined with the solidarity of the 3d structure in the fg?

Thanks for making me feel very warm and fuzzy :) Lets lobby square to do another 2d prerendered rpg!
A

Unknown said...

Thank you so much, Adam,
I am glad to get this response from you, the game came out between FF8 and FF10 series which apparently did better in sales than FF9. I thought no one remembers this game..:) Plus Sagakuchi-Creator wanted the characters to be more infants like- homage to the early super nintendo system FF series. I was fortunate enough to get on the team after "Parasite Eve" project. FF9 was definitely interesting set up in terms of team members-mostly Japanese Artists came from Tokyo office, myself and other 20 US team members were completely minorities..we had to have a translator to speak to the art director. I still remember I had to sort of switch my drawing style to be more like how Japanese illustrators work, I learned to draw smaller with a mechanical pencil and it was just huge change for me because their art style was already established and FF9 was going back to old fantasy style. I think that made audience to remember the game and had more personal sentimental impact on them.

About the BG, it wasn't 2D retouch that made the environment looked good, the 3D were all modeled using nurbs instead of polygons.
Although it was just a big project with vast world to cover the expansive adventure, I never got bored coming up with new concepts for different villages and all that.I remember Lindblum was such a huge task for me and I had the castle in my head and went nutts with it..

Cecil

tunamunaluna said...

complete rad-ness, Cecil, complete RADNESS!
of course I remember FFIX! It didn't do too well in sales, I know, but design wise, it was more intricate and interesting. I liked it because it didn't try to be too reallistic. There was much more room for imagination!

I didn't know you worked on Parasite Eve!! Cecil you're ever present in all the thing that are good. Hahahha.

Saul Espinosa said...

just what she said lol ^^^ 2nd that, i loved FFIX because it took it back to the traditional FF styles and job systems of the older games. It had a beautiful fantasy style :]

Unknown said...

Saul and Tuna,

Were you guys too young to remember the game? that was already 8 years ago.. or you guys were lucky to have a older brother played the game or something.. haha

anima-base said...

WOW.
They're my favorite concept arts of your works.
it's very cool and impressive FF environment concept art.

Nathan Andrew said...

You worked on this game? My favorite of the series..nice.

Kali Fontecchio said...

Yes- definitely my favorites of all time!!! You're so talented. I wish I had taken your class while I was at Otis!