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Final Fantasy XI, Square Enix to Dominate Summer Releases

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Square Enix’s music department is gearing up for a pretty ridiculous summer in terms of album releases. It’s a little overwhelming, and we’re still in the dark on some of these albums, but it’s worth noting that they’re on the way.

Specifically, Square Enix is going overboard for the tenth anniversary of their MMORPG Final Fantasy XI. With expansion content included, the game sports about 10 hours’ worth of original music, so there’s plenty to arrange.

Before even getting to those albums, though, it’s worth noting that in Los Angeles there’s going to be a tenth anniversary concert! All FFXI! That’s crazy. I hope to be there, but I’m not sure if I can get out to the west coast. It’s going to be on September 22 (right on the “technical border” of Summer and Fall) at the Zellerbach Auditorium [2]. Tickets went on sale as of a few weeks ago, and there is a VIP ticket level that includes meet-and-greet with Arnie Roth, Kumi Tanioka, and Naoshi Mizuta. If you ever played FFXI for any period of time, this will be an unforgettable event. I’m psyched about it. Also, if you’re still playing FFXI, buying tickets will net you a special in-game item “Maestro’s Baton.” (tickets here [3])

Okay, so now for the album releases. Alongside the planned SQ Chips 2 (CDJapan [4] | Play-Asia [5]), they’re doing a special chiptunes mini-album just for FFXI called “XI Chips -Final Fantasy XI Chiptune-” (CDJapan [6]). There’s also going to be a compilation album (with one exclusive bonus track) called “Sword Songs ~ Final Fantasy XI Battle Collection” (CDJapan [7]). Nice!

Beyond FFXI, this summer will have normal editions and limited editions for “SQ Chips 2 [8],” “Beer SQ [9],” and “Battle SQ [10].” If you head to vgmdb (that’s what those links point to), you can check out the full tracklists for these three albums. We don’t know what the bonus tracks will be for the LEs yet, but we do know they will come on a separate disc. Very interesting things to note about the song selection: first, that Masashi Hamauzu is getting a lot of love. Both Beer and Battle have arrangements for SaGa Frontier II, and the latter also has something from Sigma Harmonics! There are some other great, obscure titles represented across these albums as well, including Tobal No.1, Bahamut Lagoon, Live A Live (an apparent favorite at SE Music for all the times they’ve been including this game on their SQ albums), Seiken Densetsu 3, Rudora no Hihou, Chocobo’s Dungeon, and more! Great oldschool FF selections as well! Audio samples suggest that Beer SQ will be of a similar soundscape to Cafe SQ, whereas Battle SQ will just rock hard. And “Chips” … well, it’s chiptunes!

Purchase Beer SQ (LE): CDJapan [11] | Play-Asia [12]
Purchase Battle SQ (LE): CDJapan [13] | Play-Asia [14]

Purchase Beer SQ (Standard): CDJapan [15] | Play-Asia [16]
Purchase Battle SQ (Standard): CDJapan [17] | Play-Asia [18]

So, those 3 albums are all planned for July. Then, in August, SE is making good on their promise to publish “self-arranged” albums from the Mana series. Last year we got Kenji Ito’s album which covered the first Seiken Densetsu, as well as the Sword of Mana GBA remake and Seiken Densetsu 4: Dawn of Mana. Next up is a Hiroki Kikuta album, entitled Secret of Mana Genesis / Seiken Densetsu 2 Arrange Album [19] (CDJapan [20]). We’re not sure why this doesn’t include Seiken Densetsu 3, but we’re hoping it means that SD3 will get its own album too! On top of that, Kenji Ito is following up on the aforementioned SD arranged album Re:birth with his own spin-off album Re:Birth II / Romancing Saga Battle Arrange (CDJapan [21] | Play-Asia [22]). Yikes!

All this to say, start saving now, it’s gonna be a Squeenix-heavy summer.

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#1 Comment By James O On June 19, 2012 @ 12:36 pm

i don’t think SQ Chips2 has a ltd ed version, just Beer/Battle SQ do.

#2 Comment By Patrick Gann On June 19, 2012 @ 1:13 pm

Upon further investigation, I find that you are right. SQ Chips2 has no LE. At least, not yet.

They might pull out that Tower/Village Vanguard bonus discs though. Which would make the completionist collector in me VERY angry. 😛

Thanks for the correction James!

#3 Comment By Adam On June 19, 2012 @ 9:06 pm

Actually the Beer/Battle bonus CDs tracklists are already listed on the pages although its unclear if its incomplete. Click the button underneath the LE listing.

However, SQChips2 is annoying. There’s two bonus discs with differering tracklists based on whether you preorder at Tower or Vanguard. Click the first button under the shop online banner.

#4 Comment By Jayson Napolitano On June 19, 2012 @ 10:43 pm

Actually don’t see any store bonus for SQ Chips2, only Beer SQ and Battle SQ. The discs appear to be heavy with SQ Party Level 3 event material (which I unfortunately missed because I didn’t know it was happening!).

#5 Comment By Adam On June 20, 2012 @ 11:36 am

@Jayson It’s the pink button on SQChips2 website that says ヴィレッジヴァンガード・タワーレコード (Village Vanguard & Tower Records). It’ll popup the two tracklists. I’m torn at the moment; the Lightning’s Theme and Crazy Motorcycle samples sound great but the tower records has a Mana medley 🙁

#6 Comment By James O On June 20, 2012 @ 2:19 pm

i’m gonna see if I can use CD Japan’s special request service to see if I can get the VV/TR SQ Chips2 bonus discs. it’ll be expensive but i’m just that crazy. =p

#7 Comment By Josh On June 24, 2012 @ 7:53 pm

TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF FF11? I feel soooo old O:

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