:: My interview in the japanese gaming mag FAMITSU - F A M I T S U

[Randis]

OMG OMG

I got the Famitsu issue containing my interview this morning! YAY
Knowing Famitsu since my childhood i was very excited to be featured in the magazine
The magazine was forwarded to me by Square Enix Japan







I got a whole page on Page 16, awesome.
The slightly extended interview is also available on the Famitsu website:  
http://www.famitsu.com/news/201301/28027873.html



The Interview starts with a brief introduction, it explains that i won the official Final Fantasy
Superfan contest and links to my entry video. Then there are a couple pictures of my collection,
i have attached the images used to this album.

The interview was held in Paris, where i was invited to come to attend the Final Fantasy
Distant Worlds Concert. I got to meet the composer Nobuo Uematsu there as well.
If you are interested to see photos of my trip and read more details about my prizes and all,
here is a write up: http://www.wecookart.com/ff/ff.html

Part of the prize is also a mention of my name "Randis ALbion" on the staff roll of the game
Final Fantasy XIII The Lightning Returns.





Here are the two nice Famitsu Editors Hiroko Saga and Rie Kawai who were conducting
the Interview with me.
Both were nice and funny and very familiar with older game titles from the famicom
and super famicom times.

I was asked when and what my first FF title was. My answer was that i had played the
first FF at the age of 11 but become a fan with the release of FF IV for Super Famicom
(FF II in the us for snes)

I was asked what i liked about the FF titles -
Playing the SNES final fantasy i really liked the coice of the concep artist Yoshitaka Amano
as opposed to the rather cartoony designs of other games, the beautiful music and you
could really feel that the developer team did put a lot of love into the games like all the
optional and hidden content in FF VI and FF VII.

I was asked what my favorite FF title was -

My top 5:  FFVI, FF Tactics, FFVII, FFXI, FFIV

I was asked why FF VI is my favorite -

I love the Music, the Story, all the optional Content and characters.
The graphics were really good too for back then!
My favorit FF track of all FF is also the ending thrack on FF VI where all the character
themes are included.

I really loved the variaty of characters the old games had, old and young, handsome
and weird, monster and so on as opposed to the pretty teen popstar look of the
recent titles.
i like the playable character Umaro The Yeti  

I was asked how my Fiancee (who accompanied me to Paris) is dealing with my
Hobbie, if she is jealous of the attentine i put into it -

May is really cool with my Hobbies, in fact she did find many of the cool goodies for
my collection. She used to play many of the older titles as well and even did FF cosplay.

Famitsu: Incredible! You guys are the best Final Fantasy couple!

Finally i was asked about my aspiration as the final fantasy super fan -
I grew up with FF, i am a big fan and i understand that many of the other old fans
have a hard time accepting the new directions the FF series took. I open my hearth
to the new and hope to be able to always enjoy the games.




The first question i was asked is how i felt winning the contest, i answered it without using words :D




I was asked what my thoughts were creating the entry video (the video had to be max 1 minute long and supposed to introduce the participant and his reason for the participation)
I explained that as a kid i was very impressed by the old Final Fantasy titles, especially by the art of Yoshitaka amano and the beautiful Music of Nobuo Uematsu and they those were among the motivators that inspired my choice of career. As i kid i had decided that i wanted to become a professional Artist and Game Developer and now many years later i am the founder of 3 studios and been working on lots of games as a concept artist and Art director for clients all over the world.
In the second part of the video i did show a part of my private game collection
If yo are interested to see more of my FF collection you can do it here on imgur
Album 1: http://imgur.com/a/8dl3N
Album 2: http://imgur.com/a/GekEE





The Square Enix Brand Manager Rui Anderson was translating during the Interview.
It was a pleasure meeting Rui in person!




A couple photos show me with Motomu Toriyama and Yoshinori Kitase who presented me with the Final Fantasy Crystal








A picture of my sit together with Motomu Toriyama and Yoshinori Kitase.
My name will be featured in the staff roll of Final Fantasy Lightning Returns



i got this Final Fantasy Memoria Booklet from Famitsu



[img]http://Shortly after the Famitsu Interview i had another Interview with
Bate Bateman for the Square Enix Members. On the right is my Fiancee, May.[/img]



This is the Final Fantasy crystal i got, there was only one made, for me.









Here is some of my artworks featured in the interview
You can see more on my FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Ar...818118?fref=ts




I also brought lots of prints for the Famitsu Editors,
they liked it and i was told that some were hanged in their offices.
















Here is some of my artworks featured in the interview You can see more on my FB page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Ar...818118?fref=ts














---



My interview was also published in a Gaming mag in Taiwan,
Here is a scan made by Cloud Ko



And here is a extended feature of my on a taiwanese gaming site GAMME
http://news.gamme.com.tw/430347

[Randis]

Square ENix introduced me to the Composer Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy, Blue Dragon) in Paris after the Ff Distant Worlds Concert.
I had the chance to shake hands and express my appreciation and to present him with a gift, a canvas print of a painting of himself, painted by myself.

I am a huge big Fan of his work! Listening to his music since my childhood it feels good remembering this moment.





Here is a photo of me and my fiancee May with Susan Calloway ( who performed the lyric at the FF concert),
Nobuo Uematsu and the conductor Arnie Roth





This is the painting i made especially for Nobuo Uematsu, limited to 2 canvas prints with me having the other one

[BaneTheBrawler]

I'm jelly. XI was my first and far and away my favorite FF, though, so I can't really feel too jelly.

That crystal is cool beans, and I really like your art. Particularly the Nobuo one. I may not have played the other FFs that much, but I listen to his music all the time, and love it.

[Randis]

Interview was also printed in the Taiwanese Famitsu!

[Outlaw]

Holy crap!!!!! I looked through the pictures of your collection..

I didn't know some of that stuff even existed.

[Timwakefield]

Sick jacket.

[shidobu]

did'nt know that tonberry picture was your work ... I have it in my desktop background folder. Great work btw

[Dantrag]

Pretty damn amazing. Congrats!

[Randis]

Thanks guys!
@ shidobu
Happy to hear that!
Here are some more of my FF artworks:
http://imgur.com/a/hWjnA

[Vendog]

Wheres her engagement ring? I call shenanigans.

[Outlaw]

Also, it is depressing we never get that kind of cool collectors stuff in the US.

[Lucavi]

You're doing God's work, son.

[Azull]

That moogle knight is badass.

[Randis]

Wheres her engagement ring? I call shenanigans.

we dont wear engagement rings but we are thinking of some special kind of wedding rings now.
she came up with this and if that was a official product then i would totally go with it

http://www.zeldadungeon.net/wp-conte...ding-rings.jpg

[Vendog]

Why Zelda instead of Final Fantasy themed?
BTW the art is awesome.

[Randis]

That was more of a joke Although we liked the zelda rings
i dont think that we would pick game related rings... i am a fan, not so much a fanboy, we draw lines at some point.
Would not name my kids after game character as well (unless its a really cool name of course, like harry potter or Zangief)

[Madeline]

If I've ever been covered in jelly, it's now.

[Byrthnoth]

One thing has been bugging me about the pictures... why do you all sit so far forward on the couches? Were they really uncomfortable or something?

[isladar]

I'm pretty sure he was slightly stoked about the circumstance, Byr.

OP do you have any examples of your non-FF art?

[SephYuyX]

One thing has been bugging me about the pictures... why do you all sit so far forward on the couches? Were they really uncomfortable or something?

Japanese, etc.