149-636: Square 's role-playing video game Final Fantasy VI , which was released as Final Fantasy III in North America, features fourteen permanent player characters , the largest number of any game in the main Final Fantasy series, as well as several characters who are briefly controlled by the player. Final Fantasy VI was the first game of the series to feature character designers other than Yoshitaka Amano . While Amano drew most character artwork, monster designer and graphic director Tetsuya Nomura created
298-586: A box-office bomb , the film damaged Square's finances, and led to the closure of Square Pictures. Following both the failure of The Spirits Within and a delay of Final Fantasy X (2001) for the PlayStation 2 , Square suffered a financial loss for the first time, prompting Sakaguchi, Takechi, and director Masatsugu Hiramatsu to resign from their positions. Sakaguchi was kept on as executive producer for Final Fantasy , while Takechi and Hiramatsu were retained as external consultants. This period left Sakaguchi in
447-623: A joint-venture partnership with Electronic Arts ; Square Electronic Arts published Square titles in North America, while Electronic Arts Square published Electronic Arts titles in Japan. The partnership emerged the year following Electronic Arts winding down a similar partnership with Victor in December 1997. Shares were distributed between the two on a 70/30 basis relating to their role; Square Electronic Arts had Square owning 70%, while Electronic Arts owned 30%. Electronic Arts Square would also develop
596-646: A novel of the same name by Hideaki Sena ; Front Mission , which began on the Super Famicom but was transferred to the PlayStation beginning with its second entry ; and the Final Fantasy spin-off series Chocobo , starring an incarnation of the titular mascot character . As Square was estranged from Nintendo at the time, the company supported other platforms including the WonderSwan and Windows . Late in
745-504: A "dangerous fever", because it created isolation of the author. The surrealist leader André Breton coined the anagram Avida Dollars for Salvador Dalí , to tarnish his reputation by the implication of commercialism. While anagramming is certainly a recreation first, there are ways in which anagrams are put to use, and these can be more serious, or at least not quite frivolous and formless. For example, psychologists use anagram-oriented tests, often called "anagram solution tasks", to assess
894-479: A better telescope than those available to Galileo, figured that Galileo's earlier observations of Saturn actually meant it had a ring (Galileo's tools were only sufficient to see it as bumps) and, like Galileo, had published an anagram, aaaaaaacccccdeeeeeghiiiiiiillllmmnnnnnnnnnooooppqrrstttttuuuuu . Upon confirming his observations, three years later he revealed it to mean Annulo cingitur, tenui, plano, nusquam coherente, ad eclipticam inclinato (Latin: It [Saturn]
1043-457: A child still inside the mansion and escape in six minutes. If time runs out, Sabin will lose his grip, causing a Game Over. However, according to an interview with the developers, originally, letting time run out in this event would cause Sabin's death, and returning to the town later with Edgar in the party and sleeping there would trigger a night-time cutscene where he digs among the rubble to find his twin brother's body, but they changed it because
1192-634: A contract between the two companies. Eidos Interactive notably handled the Windows ports of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII . In Europe, Square's local branch self-published a number of games including mainline Final Fantasy titles. It also partnered with third-party companies including Eidos, Crave Entertainment , and Infogrames for either publishing or distribution of different titles. In 1989, Square established SquareSoft in Redmond, Washington , to provide development and publishing support in
1341-562: A dedicated CGI film studio called Square Pictures in Hawaii; his aim was to both develop The Spirits Within and help with further development of Square's CGI technology. By the end of 2001, Square Pictures was dissolved and merged into Visual Works. Square USA's Hawaiian branch developed the CGI short "Final Flight of the Osiris" that later formed part of the 2003 anthology film The Animatrix . The branch
1490-410: A desire to work on their own projects. These included Takahashi and Tanaka, Fujioka, Nishi, Kikuta, Mitsuda, and Mana artist Shinichi Kameoka. In April 2000, Suzuki was appointed Square's new President, while Takechi became a company chairman. Also at this time, two outside directors were appointed, Kenichi Ohmae of Ohmae & Associates and Makoto Naruke of Microsoft . The corporate reshuffle
1639-547: A free life, relegating himself to the burden of rule. Edgar later reveals the facts of this rigged gamble to Sabin. As Figaro's monarch, Edgar publicly maintains a strong alliance with the Gestahlian Empire, but secretly provides support and aid to the Returners, a rebel group seeking the liberation of conquered city-states. He fancies himself a ladies' man, earning a reputation as a die-hard womanizer. While attempting to arrange
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#17328487123081788-471: A hero, an unshakable sense of humor", as well as introducing the Gambler job class that would appear in later titles in the series. Nintendo Power listed Shadow as one of the best ninjas on Nintendo consoles. In an article on Dissidia Final Fantasy , IGN editor Ryan Clements called Terra one of the most recognizable and well-loved characters to join the army of Cosmos. In another poll the same year, eight of
1937-512: A kingly symbol), where Armand de Richelieu became Ardue main d'Hercule ("difficult hand of Hercules"). Examples from the 19th century are the transposition of " Horatio Nelson " into Honor est a Nilo (Latin: Honor is from the Nile ); and of " Florence Nightingale " into "Flit on, cheering angel". The Victorian love of anagramming as recreation is alluded to by the mathematician Augustus De Morgan using his own name as an example; "Great Gun, do us
2086-590: A large number of these programs are available on the Internet. Some programs use the Anatree algorithm to compute anagrams efficiently. The program or server carries out an exhaustive search of a database of words, to produce a list containing every possible combination of words or phrases from the input word or phrase using a jumble algorithm . Some programs (such as Lexpert ) restrict to one-word answers. Many anagram servers (for example, The Words Oracle ) can control
2235-469: A lead artist, and Nojima as scenario writer. Released worldwide in 1997, Final Fantasy VII was a worldwide commercial and critical success, bringing Square international fame. Also in 1997, at Square's invitation, Takechi returned and took Mizuno's place as President. Three new hires during the period were Shinji Hashimoto , Yasumi Matsuno , and Masashi Hamauzu . Hashimoto joined in 1995 as promotions producer for Final Fantasy VII . Matsuno, along with
2384-452: A meeting between Terra and the Returners' leadership, the Empire's court mage, Kefka, makes a surprise inspection of Figaro, seeking Terra. With Kefka's subsequent torching of Figaro, the alliance between the two nations is broken. Edgar helps Terra make contact with the Returners, reuniting with Sabin along the way, and later helps the party reach the western portion of the northern continent after
2533-468: A merger of two companies "at their height". Despite this, the merger had its skeptics, particularly Miyamoto who did not want to see his controlling stake diluted in a merged company. Miyamoto's issue was resolved by altering the exchange ratio to one Square share for 0.81 Enix shares, and the merger was greenlit. Square Enix was formed on April 1, 2003, with Enix as the surviving corporate entity and Square dissolving its departments and subsidiaries into
2682-480: A name truly written into his letters, as his elements, and a new connection of it by artificial transposition, without addition, subtraction or change of any letter, into different words, making some perfect sense appliable (i.e., applicable) to the person named." Dryden in MacFlecknoe disdainfully called the pastime the "torturing of one poor word ten thousand ways". "Eleanor Audeley" , wife of Sir John Davies ,
2831-711: A number of other developers, had left Quest Corporation following the release of Tactics Ogre (1995), and worked with Sakaguchi on Final Fantasy Tactics (1997). Hamauzu joined in 1996, and worked on Final Fantasy spin-off titles and the SaGa series. Sakaguchi, working on other projects, took on the role of executive producer for the series beginning with Final Fantasy VIII , and Hashimoto stepped in as producer. Hirata went from an administrative position to lead producer, focusing on diversifying Square's library into new game genres. Several properties were introduced during this period. These included Parasite Eve , based on
2980-414: A number of translators. Following the release of Final Fantasy VII , which saw criticism for its localization, Square created a new internal department to encourage higher quality. Initially having only two employees, it grew steadily over the years. Individual games still ran into difficulties due to their large text sizes, difficulties translating some culture-specific elements, potential censorship, and
3129-654: A popular Latin anagram against the Jesuits : Societas Jesu turned into Vitiosa seces (Latin: Cut off the wicked things). Puttenham, in the time of Elizabeth I , wished to start from Elissabet Anglorum Regina (Latin: Elizabeth Queen of the English), to obtain Multa regnabis ense gloria (Latin: By thy sword shalt thou reign in great renown); he explains carefully that H is "a note of aspiration only and no letter", and that Z in Greek or Hebrew
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#17328487123083278-408: A proper noun or personal name into an appropriate sentence: They can change part of speech , such as the adjective "silent" to the verb "listen". "Anagrams" itself can be anagrammatized as "Ars magna" (Latin, 'the great art'). Anagrams can be traced back to the time of the ancient Greeks, and were used to find the hidden and mystical meaning in names. They were popular throughout Europe during
3427-477: A remake of Final Fantasy Adventure . Also in 2000, Mizuno founded AlphaDream , engaging Fujioka and going on to develop the Mario & Luigi series. Staff members from Square Pictures, including The Spirits Within co-director Motonori Sakakibara, established Sprite Animation Studios in 2002. After his resignation from Square, Takechi founded music label Dreamusic in 2001 with Kazunaga Nitta. Mitsuda founded
3576-489: A rigged coin toss to determine whether he or Edgar would not inherit Figaro's throne. He initially trains under the world-famous martial arts master Duncan Harcourt along with his son, Vargas. Over time, Vargas grows increasingly jealous of Sabin's martial prowess, seemingly slaying Duncan in a wrathful fit and fleeing to the mountains, with Sabin in pursuit. It is during these events that the Returners, accompanied by Sabin's brother Edgar, encounter him. After Vargas' defeat, Sabin
3725-516: A stake in Bushido Blade developer Lightweight , founded in 1995. It sold that stake to software company Forside in 1999. Front Mission developers G-Craft were initially independent, developing the original Front Mission with Square collaborating through their Solid subsidiary and acting as publisher. Square bought out G-Craft and incorporated it in 1997 during production of Front Mission 2 . Other affiliates associated with Square between
3874-498: A state of low morale. In late 2001, Suzuki stepped down as President, and was replaced by Wada. Yosuke Matsuda became Senior Vice President. Kenji Ito also left during this period to work as a freelance composer. Prior to the film's release, rival company Enix was proposing merging with another game company to alleviate development costs, opening serious discussions with Square in 2000. Square's financial losses with The Spirits Within prompted Enix to halt discussions. Under Wada,
4023-607: A string of projects that Square produced exclusively for Nintendo consoles, including the portable Game Boy . In 1990, Square moved its offices to the Akasaka district, and then to Ebisu, Shibuya in 1992. In April 1991, Square merged with an identically-named dormant company in order to change its share prices. As a result of the merger, Square's foundation was backdated to the other company's July 1966 founding date. At that time, Square drew some of its development funding from loans from Shikoku Bank. Due to increasing development costs,
4172-547: A subsidiary called Solid and focusing their work on cooperating with external developers. In 1995, Square established DreamFactory as an affiliate studio, which developed fighting-based titles for the PlayStation and PS2. DreamFactory became an independent company in 2001 after Square transferred their shares. Square later founded subsidiary Escape in March 1998 with DreamFactory staff. It only produced Driving Emotion Type-S (2000) before being liquidated in 2003. The company held
4321-464: A sum!" is attributed to his son William De Morgan , but a family friend John Thomas Graves was prolific, and a manuscript with over 2,800 has been preserved. With the advent of surrealism as a poetic movement, anagrams regained the artistic respect they had had in the Baroque period . The German poet Unica Zürn , who made extensive use of anagram techniques, came to regard obsession with anagrams as
4470-569: A war-torn African nation. The Death Trap was the first game published under the Square brand. Its sequel, Will: The Death Trap II , was released the following year to commercial success. Many of Square's early titles were produced for PC devices, and focused on the action genre. In 1985, the company negotiated a licensing agreement with Nintendo to develop titles for the Famicom ( Nintendo Entertainment System ). The company shifted to developing for
4619-630: A writer and later director, artist Tetsuya Nomura began as a graphic designer, and Tetsuya Takahashi and Kaori Tanaka were both artists and writers. Takashi Tokita became a full-time employee at the company, and Hiroyuki Ito began his work as a game designer. Chihiro Fujioka worked on several projects including co-directing Super Mario RPG . Kenichi Nishi worked in minor roles on Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG . Masato Kato , who joined in 1993, became scenario writer for Chrono Trigger . Artist Yusuke Naora first worked on Final Fantasy VI . Kazushige Nojima , known for his work on
Characters of Final Fantasy VI - Misplaced Pages Continue
4768-493: Is a moogle who lives within the caves of Narshe with the rest of his species. He is distinguished from other moogles in his ability to speak human language, which was taught to him by the Esper, Ramuh, in his dreams. During the game's introductory sequences, he and other moogles help Terra and Locke escape from Narshe. Later in the story, Mog can be saved from a villainous thief, Lone Wolf, or abandoned to acquire an item. Either way, Mog
4917-417: Is a former general of the Empire, who was genetically and artificially enhanced into a Magitek Knight following a magic infusion. Co-director Yoshinori Kitase revealed that he put much effort into creating Celes, and that she is his favorite character in the game. Edgar Roni Figaro ( エドガー・ロニ・フィガロ , Edogā Roni Figaro ) is the young king of Figaro. Edgar was originally supposed to be a womanizer, but this
5066-400: Is a mere SS. The rules were not completely fixed in the 17th century. William Camden in his Remains commented, singling out some letters— Æ , K, W, and Z—not found in the classical Roman alphabet : The precise in this practice strictly observing all the parts of the definition, are only bold with H either in omitting or retaining it, for that it cannot challenge the right of a letter. But
5215-426: Is a thief who prefers to identify as a "treasure hunter". Like Terra, Hironobu Sakaguchi was also a major contributor to the character's creation. He bears a personal vendetta against the Empire for assaulting his hometown, which killed his amnesiac love interest Rachel. Her last word is Locke's name. Driven by the conviction that failing Rachel led to her death, Locke seeks to protect Terra and Celes as he fights with
5364-500: Is a thirteen-year-old feral child who lives among the animals on the Veldt. Yoshinori Kitase, one of the game's two directors, spent the most time developing Gau, stating that stories like Flowers for Algernon and tales about children raised by wolves were the inspiration for the character. Setzer Gabbiani ( セッツァー・ギャッビアーニ , Settsā Gyabbiāni ) is a gambler who owns the Blackjack,
5513-691: Is a two-headed monster who appears as Ultros' "friend" while fighting the party as they are going to the Floating Continent, the final stage of the World of Balance. Typhon does not speak often, but according to Ultros, has a volatile temper. After the game shifts to the World of Ruin, they end up working as a receptionist and combatant in the Colosseum. Ultros, sometimes under the name Orthros, and Typhon have since appeared in other games. They appear as optional bosses in Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls under
5662-462: Is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word anagram itself can be rearranged into the nonsense phrase "nag a ram". The original word or phrase is known as the subject of the anagram. Any word or phrase that exactly reproduces the letters in another order is an anagram. Someone who creates anagrams may be called an "anagrammatist", and
5811-408: Is again encountered in the depths of the moogles' abandoned hollow in the World of Ruin. His class is "Geomancer", which has skills learned based on the terrain and attacks that incorporate it, such as landslides, sandstorms, avalanches, and forests. Gogo ( ゴゴ ) is the first of two hidden characters in the game, who is encountered should the party be engulfed by a creature on Triangle Island called
5960-470: Is allowed to be an anagram of "Arouet, l[e] j[eune]" (U = V, J = I) that is, "Arouet the younger". Other examples include: Several of these are "imperfect anagrams", letters having been left out in some cases for the sake of easy pronunciation. Anagrams used for titles afford scope for some types of wit. Examples: In Hebrew, the name " Gernot Zippe " (גרנוט ציפה), the inventor of the Zippe-type centrifuge ,
6109-460: Is an anagram of the word "centrifuge" (צנטריפוגה). The sentence "Name is Anu Garg", referring to anagrammer and founder of wordsmith.org Anu Garg , can be rearranged to spell "Anagram genius". Anagrams are in themselves a recreational activity, but they also make up part of many other games, puzzles and game shows. The Jumble is a puzzle found in many newspapers in the United States requiring
Characters of Final Fantasy VI - Misplaced Pages Continue
6258-495: Is an elderly gentleman living in the village of Thamasa. He is Relm's grandfather and, along with the other inhabitants of Thamasa, a descendant of the ancient Mage Warriors who fought in the War of the Magi. Relm Arrowny ( リルム・アローニィ , Rirumu Arōnii ) is a ten-year-old artist from the village of Thamasa and Strago's granddaughter. She is the youngest playable character in the game. When
6407-682: Is named Sephirot , the Goddess Sophia and the Demon Zurvan . In its review of the Game Boy Advance release, IGN says Final Fantasy VI ' s "cast of characters is huge and varied, and though several of them do draw from traditional RPG archetypes, this was the game that helped define those archetypes in the first place". In the GameSpy review of the Game Boy Advance version, it
6556-402: Is one of the three top generals of the Empire, the others being Celes and Kefka. Unlike his compatriots, Leo refused to undergo Magitek infusion. He is fiercely loyal and possesses a strong sense of personal honor, and conducts himself with a measure of restraint otherwise absent in the Empire. He is later betrayed by the Empire, and killed by Kefka. Banon ( バナン , Banan ) is the leader of
6705-522: Is prompted to join the cause against the Empire, and after a period of separation where he meets Shadow, Cyan, and Gau following the Imperial siege of Doma, he participates in the defense of Narshe. After the world's devastation, Sabin is the first ally Celes is led to encounter, found supporting the crumbling wreck of a mansion in Tzen after an attack by Kefka's 'Light of Judgment'. In this event, Celes has to rescue
6854-409: Is said that "the large cast of characters, that is one of this game's hallmarks, is most impressive because of their individuality, both from a story and from a gameplay perspective, as well as the amount of effort that was put into exploring their personalities, motivations, and histories". Nintendo Power described the characters as some of the more memorable Final Fantasy protagonists ever, citing
7003-590: Is said to have been brought before the High Commission in 1634 for extravagances, stimulated by the discovery that her name could be transposed to "Reveale, O Daniel", and to have been laughed out of court by another anagram submitted by Sir John Lambe , the dean of the Arches , "Dame Eleanor Davies", "Never soe mad a ladie". An example from France was a flattering anagram for Cardinal Richelieu , comparing him to Hercules or at least one of his hands (Hercules being
7152-484: Is surrounded by a thin, flat, ring, nowhere touching, inclined to the ecliptic). When Robert Hooke discovered Hooke's law in 1660, he first published it in anagram form, ceiiinosssttuv , for ut tensio, sic vis (Latin: as the extension, so the force). Anagrams are connected to pseudonyms, by the fact that they may conceal or reveal, or operate somewhere in between like a mask that can establish identity. For example, Jim Morrison used an anagram of his name in
7301-515: Is the first introduced character, a mentally-enslaved Imperial super-soldier gifted with devastating magic. Hironobu Sakaguchi , the creator of the Final Fantasy series, greatly influenced the character's creation. Originally, Terra was to disappear along with the other Espers at the end of the game, but the developers decided it would be a "waste" to have her discover her humanity only to be erased, so she instead lost her powers. Locke Cole ( ロック・コール , Rokku Kōru , also romanized as Lock Cole )
7450-520: Is the ruler of the militaristic Empire. He discovered the gate to the Esper's world, and how to extract magical energy by those he captured. By reviving the use of magic, something considered taboo in the game's world, he was able to forge a large Empire that quickly conquered other countries. Not content with his power, he attempted to take control of the source of magic directly, the Warring Triad. However his subordinate Kefka betrays and kills him to take
7599-410: Is turned over to the player's control at this point, and Cid's ultimate fate is left to the player's ability to care for him in the sequence that follows. Should Cid die, Celes will discover a letter and the key to Cid's raft after attempting suicide herself. If Cid is nursed back to health, he will provide the raft for Celes of his own accord, wishing her farewell. Emperor Gestahl ( ガストラ , Gastra )
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#17328487123087748-410: Is unknown. Banon is temporarily controllable during a mission to transport him from the Returners' secret base to Narshe. His special command, 'Pray', is a powerful healing ability that targets the entire party and does not consume magic points. Cid Del Norte Marquez ( シド・デル・ノルテ・マルケズ , Shido Deru Norute Marukezu ) is the chief magical researcher of the Empire. His pursuits lead to the creation of
7897-601: Is voiced by Shin-ichiro Miki in Japanese and Ray Chase in English. Sabin Rene Figaro , whose name is Macias "Mash" Rene Figaro ( マシアス『マッシュ』・レネ・フィガロ , Mashiasu "Masshu" Rene Figaro ) in the Japanese version, is Edgar's younger twin brother. Soraya Saga, the co-creator of Xenogears , also helped shape Sabin's character. Disgusted by the cold arbitration of his royal succession, Sabin leaves his heritage behind after winning
8046-488: Is well known for its subtle revealing of character relationships and backstories over the course of the story. Cut scenes of character interaction also feature simulated "camera movement", with a similar emotional effect found in movies. During the game's development, the whole team contributed to the stories of the game's characters, which were then adjusted for consistency with the story by Kitase. Instead of just being "ciphers for fighting, players would have more choice in what
8195-661: The Dragon Quest series. Following the success of Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts , negotiations resumed and the merger went ahead on April 1, 2003, forming Square Enix . Square was initially established in September 1983 as a software subsidiary of Den-Yu-Sha, an electric power conglomerate led by Kuniichi Miyamoto. His son Masafumi Miyamoto , then a part-time employee of the Science and Technology Department at Keio University , had little interest in following his father into
8344-493: The Glory of Heracles series, joined as a scenario writer. Future director Motomu Toriyama , who had no experience with game development, began as a scenario writer. In 1993, Square struck a deal with G-Craft to release Front Mission , one of their first major games to be developed by a third party. Square also hired additional music staff. Kenji Ito contributed to both the SaGa and Mana series. Hiroki Kikuta worked on
8493-493: The Mario -themed Super Mario RPG co-produced with Nintendo. Reflecting on this period, Sakaguchi noted that Final Fantasy was the company's most recognized property, while celebrating the fact that the company would still be profitable on the merits of their other successful game series. Additional staff joined Square by the early 1990s, inspired by the successful Final Fantasy series, with several first working on Final Fantasy IV (1991), Yoshinori Kitase acted as
8642-788: The Shadow Hearts series; he left Sacnoth in 1999 following the release of his project Koudelka and founded the music label Nostrilia. Several Xenogears developers, including Takahashi and Tanaka, founded Monolith Soft in 1999 in order to pursue projects outside the Final Fantasy series, developing more games using the Xeno prefix; it would eventually be more well known for the Xenoblade Chronicles series with Nintendo. Kameoka and other developers who worked on Legend of Mana (1999) founded Brownie Brown in 2000. Brownie Brown later worked with Square Enix on Sword of Mana (2003),
8791-402: The Final Fantasy franchise for his maniacal representation of evil. Ultros ( オルトロス , Orutorosu ) , whose name is Orthros in the Japanese version, is a carnivorous octopus who appears multiple times as both an antagonist and comic relief . Each time he appears to fight the party, he is bent on making a meal out of them, making him the first, and, so far, only, carnivorous antagonist in
8940-541: The Final Fantasy series. IGN called him "unintentionally hilarious", noting his lack of any real motivation to follow the heroes and fight them. Ultros appears in Dissidia: Final Fantasy as a summon, again using the name Ultros. Ultros also appears in Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV . Typhon ( テュポーン , Tyupōn ) , whose name is Chupon in the original North American Super NES version,
9089-452: The Final Fantasy series. Miyamoto stepped down as Square's President in 1991 while remaining a major shareholder, and was replaced by Tetsuo Mizuno. In 1991, Suzuki became Vice President. As Final Fantasy became a featured property for the company, Square produced additional projects that became successful series of their own. The Japan-exclusive real-time strategy series Hanjuku Hero , which began in 1988, parodied conventions of
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#17328487123089238-584: The GameCube in late 2001. Square also began production on Final Fantasy X-2 , the first direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game. Final Fantasy X-2 was Sakaguchi's last credited project at Square, and he left the company in 2003. Around this time, Square also began development on Kingdom Hearts (2002), with Nomura making his directorial debut. The game was a collaboration between Square and The Walt Disney Company , blending Disney characters with Final Fantasy elements in an original story. Kingdom Hearts
9387-614: The Mana series and standalone projects. Yasunori Mitsuda started as a sound designer and was lauded for his work on the Chrono series. Yoko Shimomura , formerly a Capcom composer, did her first work on Live A Live (1994). In 1995, Square moved its headquarters to the Shimomeguro district in Meguro . Following the release of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger , Square staff began planning
9536-835: The Middle Ages , for example with the poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut . They are said to date back at least to the Greek poet Lycophron , in the third century BCE; but this relies on an account of Lycophron given by John Tzetzes in the 12th century. In the Talmudic and Midrashic literature, anagrams were used to interpret the Hebrew Bible , notably by Eleazar of Modi'im . Later, Kabbalists took this up with enthusiasm, calling anagrams temurah . Anagrams in Latin were considered witty over many centuries. Est vir qui adest , explained below,
9685-470: The PlayStation 2 launch title X-Squad . In March 31, 2003, coinciding with the Square Enix merger, both ventures were dissolved, with each partner buying the other's shares. In its February press release, Square described the joint-venture as a success. The Square side of the venture was rebranded under the Square Enix name. Between 1986 and 1988, Square led a collective of game developers dedicated to
9834-432: The implicit memory of young adults and adults alike. Natural philosophers (astronomers and others) of the 17th century transposed their discoveries into Latin anagrams, to establish their priority. In this way they laid claim to new discoveries before their results were ready for publication. Galileo used smaismrmilmepoetaleumibunenugttauiras for Altissimum planetam tergeminum observavi (Latin: I have observed
9983-504: The 1990s to develop for Sony Computer Entertainment 's upcoming console PlayStation . Their first major project for the console, Final Fantasy VII , was a worldwide critical and commercial success and was credited with boosting the popularity of role-playing video games and the PlayStation outside Japan. Alongside the Final Fantasy series, the company developed and published several other notable series, including SaGa , Mana , Front Mission , Chrono and Kingdom Hearts . Over
10132-447: The 1997-established Square Pictures studio on a Final Fantasy feature film. Titled Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within , it was planned as Sakaguchi's first push towards cross-media storytelling; however, the project ran over budget and ended up costing Square and co-producer Columbia Pictures US$ 137 million. Upon its release in 2001, The Spirits Within was met with mixed critical reception, and grossed only $ 85 million. Labeled as
10281-578: The American " chaise lounge " by metathesis (transposition of letters and/or sounds). It has also been speculated that the English "curd" comes from the Latin crudus ("raw"). Similarly, the ancient English word for bird was "brid". The French king Louis XIII had a man named Thomas Billon appointed as his Royal Anagrammatist with an annual salary of 1,200 livres . Among contemporary anagrammers, Anu Garg , created an Internet Anagram Server in 1994 together with
10430-558: The Anagram or Posy Transposed in The Art of English Poesie (1589). As a literary game when Latin was the common property of the literate, Latin anagrams were prominent. Two examples are the change of Ave Maria , gratia plena, Dominus tecum (Latin: Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord [is] with you) into Virgo serena, pia, munda et immaculata (Latin: Serene virgin , pious, clean and spotless ), and
10579-759: The Doors song " L.A. Woman ", calling himself "Mr. Mojo Risin'". The use of anagrams and fabricated personal names may be to circumvent restrictions on the use of real names, as happened in the 18th century when Edward Cave wanted to get around restrictions imposed on the reporting of the House of Commons . In a genre such as farce or parody , anagrams as names may be used for pointed and satiric effect. Pseudonyms adopted by authors are sometimes transposed forms of their names; thus " Calvinus " becomes "Alcuinus" (here V = U) or " François Rabelais " = "Alcofribas Nasier". The name " Voltaire " of François Marie Arouet fits this pattern, and
10728-539: The Famicom to benefit from its stable hardware, compared to the constantly changing components of PCs. Square's first Famicom release was a port of the run and gun game Thexder (1985), and its first original game was the scrolling shooter King's Knight (1986). During this period, the team also hired new developers Akitoshi Kawazu and Koichi Ishii , artist Kazuko Shibuya , Iranian-American programmer Nasir Gebelli , and composer Nobuo Uematsu . Yusuke Hirata joined that year as sales manager, and later became
10877-567: The Game Boy in 1991. Ishii went on to develop additional Seiken Densetsu titles, released outside of Japan as the Mana series. A famous game from the period was Chrono Trigger , born from a collaboration between Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii , and Dragon Ball artist Akira Toriyama . Among other standalone titles were the Western-exclusive Secret of Evermore , and
11026-481: The Licentiats somewhat licentiously, lest they should prejudice poetical liberty, will pardon themselves for doubling or rejecting a letter, if the sence fall aptly, and "think it no injury to use E for Æ; V for W; S for Z, and C for K, and contrariwise. When it comes to the 17th century and anagrams in English or other languages, there is a great deal of documented evidence of learned interest. The lawyer Thomas Egerton
11175-479: The Magitek labs and production facilities, along with the development of Magitek armor and soldiers. He is very close to Celes, and turns against the Empire upon witnessing her fight against Kefka. In the World of Ruin, he washes up on the same island as Celes and cares for her throughout the duration of her coma. The others who washed up along with them eventually fall to despair and commit suicide before she awakens. Celes
11324-556: The Narshe assault by means of Figaro Castle's submerging capability. During the World of Ruin, he appears disguised as a mercenary thief-for-hire named Gerad, an anagram of Edgar, to get back into the sunken wreck of his castle. Thereafter he returns to the player's control. IGN described Edgar as flirtatious but heroic, providing comic relief but a strong leader in fighting for the rebels. Edgar also appears in World of Final Fantasy , where he
11473-598: The PlayStation's lifecycle, Square continued to support the console with multiple releases, such as Threads of Fate (1999) and Vagrant Story (2000). The company also began work on PlayOnline , a digital storefront and a platform for online game services and web content. During the late 1990s, Square launched an initiative to give teams of younger staff members a chance to create experimental titles on smaller budgets. Among such titles were Xenogears , Soukaigi , and Another Mind . Around this time, several staff members departed Square due to creative differences or
11622-520: The RPG genre. Kawazu helmed an RPG project for the Game Boy. Released in 1989, Makai Toushi SaGa ( The Final Fantasy Legend ) spawned the SaGa series, which Kawazu would continue to be involved over the years. After the release of Final Fantasy III (1990), Ishii was offered the chance to create his own game, leading to the production of Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden ( Final Fantasy Adventure ) for
11771-532: The Returners against the Empire; Locke seeks a means of resurrecting Rachel as a way to right his greatest wrong. This takes him to the depths of the Phoenix Cave to acquire the "rebirth" power of the esper Phoenix. Although some of the treasure chests here are empty, Locke will give the contents to the party once the dungeon is cleared. In the end, Rachel urges him to move on to find someone new to protect, giving Celes her blessing to watch over him before departing for
11920-487: The Returners, a group of rebels that opposes the Empire's harsh oppression. The party first meets him in the Returners' secret base, where he plans to have Terra try and speak with the frozen Esper in Narshe. He later accompanies them to the imperial capital of Vector when Gestahl proposes a truce, which turns out to be a ruse. He is last seen among the ruins of Vector after the Espers destroy it. His fate after Kefka's rise to power
12069-440: The Square Enix merger, though it declared bankruptcy in 2004 after years of declining sales. In 1999, Square created a number of subsidiaries with dedicated roles: Square Visual Works to focus on producing CGI animation, Square Sounds for music and sound effects, Squartz for quality control and user support, and Square Next to support smaller game projects. Following the success of Final Fantasy VII in 1997, Sakaguchi founded
12218-609: The Triad to further his own desires. Gestahl is later betrayed and slain by Kefka, who gains control of the Triad and upsets their balance, virtually annihilating the planet's surface and reducing it to a wasted, chaotic shadow. After being drained of their power by Kefka in the time following his ascension, they are awakened as mindless husks that attack the party as they traverse the mangled spires of Kefka's tower. The Warring Triad appear in Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward in
12367-565: The West. As Square moved its projects to PlayStation in 1994, SquareSoft moved to Marina del Rey, California, while changing its name twice in one year, to Square LA followed by Square USA. Square USA would notably develop Secret of Evermore . In 1997, a second Square USA branch was opened in Honolulu , Hawaii to focus on new interactive entertainment research, going on to help with CGI development on Parasite Eve and Final Fantasy IX . Square Europe
12516-521: The World of Ruin was already dark. He later finds Duncan alive and well in the World of Ruin, somewhere east of Narshe, having survived Vargas' attack. From him, Sabin learns his final martial technique, the Phantom Rush. Cyan Garamonde , whose name is Cayenne Garamonde ( カイエン・ガラモンド , Kaien Garamondo ) in the Japanese version, is a retainer to the king of Doma, a nation at war with the Empire. He feels immense shame and guilt for failing to protect
12665-554: The Zone Eater. In the game's development stage, Gogo would wander between different pubs in the World of Ruin, disguised as characters that had not yet been re-recruited. After players found them, they would return to the fake one and they would reveal themselves and be recruitable. Umaro ( ウーマロ , Ūmaro ) is a yeti . In the game's world of ruin, when the player goes to claim the Midgardsormr Magicite item, Umaro will attack
12814-542: The afterlife. He is also featured in the rhythm game Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a subcharacter representing Final Fantasy VI . Locke also appears in Dissidia Final Fantasy NT , where he is voiced by Yūki Ono in Japanese and Jonathan von Mering in English. IGN praised Locke as being the connection between Terra and Celes, helping tie the plot together, and having a unique ability to steal from his enemies. Celes Chere ( セリス・シェール , Serisu Shēru )
12963-437: The anagrammatic answer to Pilate 's question, Quid est veritas? (Latin: What is truth?), namely, Est vir qui adest (Latin: It is the man who is here). The origins of these are not documented. Latin continued to influence letter values (such as I = J, U = V and W = VV). There was an ongoing tradition of allowing anagrams to be "perfect" if the letters were all used once, but allowing for these interchanges. This can be seen in
13112-928: The area, captures Maduin, kills Madeline, and takes Terra with him. Maduin is drained of his magic for twenty years before he is finally reduced to Magicite. Maduin also appears as an Eidolon used by Eiko Carol in Final Fantasy IX and as a summon in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance , where she is known as "Madeen". He also appears as an Esper in Final Fantasy Tactics A2 and as a transfiguration of Titan in World of Final Fantasy . The Warring Triad ( 三闘神 , Santōshin ) , individually known as Fiend ( 鬼神 , Kishin , Doom in US SNES version) , Demon ( 魔神 , Majin , Poltergeist in US SNES version) , and Goddess ( 女神 , Megami ) , are
13261-685: The bank sent Tomoyuki Takechi on secondment to be their office manager in 1990. Takechi's secondment lasted until 1994, by which time Square had annual sales worth ¥16 million per year. In August of that year, Square registered with the Japan Securities Dealers Association to offer shares for public purchase. Sakaguchi was by now a prominent figure within the company, and was promoted to Executive President in 1991. His increasing corporate involvement lessened his creative input, prompting him to give greater influence to other staff. Gebelli left Square in 1993, retiring on royalties from
13410-400: The beings responsible for the War of the Magi and the creation of Espers. After the period of near-apocalyptic destruction their conflict caused, the Triad willfully cease their battle and mutually seal away their abilities, reducing themselves to stone statues. It is the magical balance between them that maintains harmony throughout the world. However, Emperor Gestahl, obsessed with power, seeks
13559-534: The best idea. Sakaguchi proposed making a role-playing video game (RPG), believing it to be a viable project after the success of Enix 's Dragon Quest (1986). While skeptical, Miyamoto allowed production of the RPG on the condition it only had a five-person team. Sakaguchi led development, bringing in Gebelli, Kawazu, Ishii, and Uematsu. Production of the game, eventually called Final Fantasy , proceeded in "fits and starts". Sakaguchi eventually received help from
13708-435: The characters would do, and how that would alter the narrative and invest the player more deeply in the story". To make the characters more distinct, their fighting styles and abilities were made different. Balancing so many characters was a challenge, and as a result Celes and Kefka became bigger characters than initially planned. Terra Branford, known as Tina Branford ( ティナ・ブランフォード , Tina Buranfōdo ) in Japanese media,
13857-422: The characters – Locke, Edgar, Celes, Setzer, Terra, Shadow, Sabin, and Relm – were named among the fifteen most popular characters in the Final Fantasy series. In 2012, IGN made a list of their all-time favorite Final Fantasy characters, and included Celes, Edgar, Kefka, Locke, and Ultros. Square (video game company) Square Co., Ltd. , also known under its international brand name SquareSoft ,
14006-507: The company to "never come back". In 1996, Square's final project with Nintendo was Sting Entertainment ' s Treasure Hunter G for the Super Famicom, while the company debuted DreamFactory 's Tobal No. 1 for the PlayStation that same year. Soon after, the company signed a licensing agreement with Sony, who gained the exclusive right to publish Square's next six games in the West. Square continued work on Final Fantasy VII , with Kitase as director, Naora as art director, Nomura as
14155-438: The company underwent restructuring with the intent of streamlining production and resources, and cutting development costs to increase profits. After evaluation of its financial position, and with changes to the console war due to Microsoft's Xbox , Square opened talks with Nintendo for the first time since their breakup in the 1990s. The talks were successful, with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles beginning development for
14304-481: The company was divided into eight development divisions, with two based in Osaka. In 1998, the old development divisions were restructured into Production Departments, and the Osaka branch was closed down. The system was reshuffled again in 2002 to promote "greater understanding", and allow for reassignment between divisions. Among the heads of divisions at this time were Kitase, Kawazu, Tanaka, Matsuno and Hirata. Following
14453-499: The company's publicity manager. In April 1986, Square moved into new offices based in Ginza , noted as one of the most expensive areas for companies to operate; Sakaguchi later speculated Miyamoto was hoping to attract business by appearing affluent. Square was re-established as an independent developer in September of that year with capital of ¥ 10 million, buying the original Square gaming division from Den-Yu-Sha in December. Sakaguchi
14602-409: The completion of Crystal Chronicles , first renamed to SQEX Corporation and eventually dissolved entirely in 2010. Square Sounds was dissolved into the main company in March 2002 as an internal division, a move attributed to cost cutting. All the other subsidiaries were folded into Square Enix during the merger, with Visual Works becoming its own dedicated department. On May 1, 1998, Square formed
14751-410: The development team, the other being Gogo, intended to be "just there for you to select if you want them to be in battle." In an early mockup of the game's cast by Nomura, his appearance was drastically different, having prominent pointed ears and a large welp protruding from the top of his head. This section covers other characters who either play a major role in the plot, or are briefly controllable by
14900-750: The early 1990s to 2000 were font company Kusanagi, and developers Positron and Luciola. In 2002, Ogre Battle developer Quest Corporation withdrew from game development and was bought by Square. Absorbed and repurposed into a production division, their first project was Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (2003). Many Square employees went on to found notable development studios and other ventures. Nishi founded Love-de-Lic in 1995, producing three games including Moon: Remix RPG Adventure . Love-de-Lic staff went on to found other small studios including Skip Ltd. ( Chibi-Robo! ), and Punchline ( Rule of Rose ). Frustrated with Square's rigid hierarchy, Kikuta founded Sacnoth in 1997, which would become known for
15049-542: The electricity business. Miyamoto instead became a software developer at the Yokohama branch of Den-Yu-Sha in Hiyoshi , with a focus on the emerging video game market. Their original offices were based in a former hairdresser's salon. The company's name referred to a golfing term, and represented its aim to face challenges head-on. It also referenced a town square , emphasizing a production environment based on cooperation. At
15198-491: The employ of the Gestahlian Empire. In the Crescent Island and the Floating Continent areas of the World of Balance, Shadow is forced into the player's party. Shadow's fate is determined by player action on the latter area; if they have enough time to wait before leaping to the airship, Shadow will eventually accompany the party aboard the Blackjack and be available for permanent recruitment in the World of Ruin. Gau ( ガウ )
15347-419: The ending's great character moments. Several characters from the game have received standalone praise, such as Kefka who has been repeatedly named one of the franchise's greatest villains. In 2008, IGN placed him sixth on their list of the "Top 25 Final Fantasy Characters" with similar sentiments, but also included several other characters from Final Fantasy VI on the list. Ultros, who placed twenty-fourth,
15496-516: The figures of Cynthia [= the moon]). In both cases, Johannes Kepler had solved the anagrams incorrectly, assuming they were talking about the Moons of Mars ( Salve, umbistineum geminatum Martia proles ) and a red spot on Jupiter ( Macula rufa in Jove est gyratur mathem ), respectively. By coincidence, he turned out to be right about the actual objects existing. In 1656, Christiaan Huygens , using
15645-542: The form of statues on the floating continent Azys Lla, who are virtually identical to the original sprites in appearance. A series of side quests allows players to fight them to earn powerful weapons. In this appearance, they are depicted sa elder primals awakened by the expansion's antagonist Thordan VII, who sought their power after becoming a primal himself. They are given names based on notes from original concept artwork that ended up unused in Final Fantasy VI . The Fiend
15794-467: The future Charles I, worked hard on multilingual anagrams on the name of father James. A notorious murder scandal, the Overbury case, threw up two imperfect anagrams that were aided by typically loose spelling and were recorded by Simonds D'Ewes : "Francis Howard" (for Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset , her maiden name spelled in a variant) became "Car findes a whore", with the letters E hardly counted, and
15943-448: The goal of a serious or skilled anagrammatist is to produce anagrams that reflect or comment on their subject. Anagrams may be created as a commentary on the subject. They may be a parody, a criticism or satire. For example: An anagram may also be a synonym of the original word. For example: An anagram that has a meaning opposed to that of the original word or phrase is called an "antigram". For example: They can sometimes change from
16092-509: The group arrives in Thamasa, she meets them briefly, and they later save her from a burning house. She joins the party after tailing the player in the Esper Cave, despite complaints from Strago, and saves them during a scripted battle against Ultros. These characters are not part of the game's central plot, and are optional to encounter and recruit in any given playthrough. Mog ( モグ , Mogu )
16241-445: The introduction of voice acting with games including Final Fantasy X . Notable localization staff included Kaoru Moriyama, Ted Woolsey , Michael Basket, Richard Honeywood , and Alexander O. Smith . Many Square titles remained exclusive to Japan, for reasons including design complexities, low graphical quality, and technical difficulties. In the 1990s, Square's first six PlayStation releases were published by Sony as part of
16390-545: The merger with Enix, the eight divisions were incorporated into the new company, with two additional divisions brought in from Enix. Square self-published the majority of its games in Japan, and sporadically acted as a publisher for third-party developers. By contrast, their Western presence during the 80s and early 90s was small. RPGs were not popular in the North American market at that time, and Square's presence in Europe
16539-439: The method they used. Anagrams constructed without the aid of a computer are noted as having been done "manually" or "by hand"; those made by utilizing a computer may be noted "by machine" or "by computer", or may indicate the name of the computer program (using Anagram Genius ). There are also a few "natural" instances: English words unconsciously created by switching letters around. The French chaise longue ("long chair") became
16688-408: The more letters involved the more difficult this becomes. The difficulty is that for a word of n different letters, there are n ! ( factorial of n ) different permutations and so n ! − 1 different anagrams of the word. Anagram dictionaries can also be used. Computer programs, known as "anagram search", "anagram servers", "anagram solvers", offer a much faster route to creating anagrams, and
16837-467: The most distant planet to have a triple form) for discovering the rings of Saturn in 1610. Galileo announced his discovery that Venus had phases like the Moon in the form Haec immatura a me iam frustra leguntur oy (Latin: These immature ones have already been read in vain by me -oy), that is, when rearranged, Cynthiae figuras aemulatur Mater Amorum (Latin: The Mother of Loves [= Venus] imitates
16986-631: The music studio Procyon in 2001 so he could work while maintaining his health. After stepping down as president in 2001, Sakaguchi experienced a period of low morale before returning to game development, founding Mistwalker in 2004. The studio became known for the Blue Dragon and Terra Wars series, as well as stand-alone projects such as Lost Odyssey , The Last Story . and Fantasian , whose console and PC versions would eventually be published by Square Enix, making it Sakaguchi's first work with Square Enix in years. Anagram An anagram
17135-510: The name of a type of businessman . Numerous other games and contests involve some element of anagram formation as a basic skill. Some examples: Multiple anagramming is a technique used to solve some kinds of cryptograms, such as a permutation cipher , a transposition cipher , and the Jefferson disk . Solutions may be computationally found using a Jumble algorithm . Sometimes, it is possible to "see" anagrams in words, unaided by tools, though
17284-742: The names Orthros and Typhon, as well as in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn . Ultros appears as a boss in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years and Chocobo's Dungeon 2 , as well as in Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy Tactics A2 . Typhon appears in Final Fantasy VII as a summon . Ultros and Typhon appear in Final Fantasy XIII-2 as downloadable content. Leo Cristophe ( レオ・クリストフ , Reo Kurisutofu )
17433-423: The new company. Around 80% of Square's staff transitioned into Square Enix. Square's final release was the Japanese version of X-2 . During reports on the merger with Enix, Takashi Oya of Deutsche Securities contrasted Enix's tradition of outsourcing development versus Square's approach to developing "everything by itself". When Square was founded in the early 1980s, there was no set development structure, with
17582-470: The next entry in the Final Fantasy series, and entered the emerging 3D gaming market. With the production of Final Fantasy VII , Square decided to shift their projects to Sony Computer Entertainment 's new PlayStation console, prompted by the affordability of CD-ROM distribution, compared to Nintendo's continued use of expensive cartridges . This shift caused a long-standing rift between Square and Nintendo; one Square employee recalled Nintendo telling
17731-623: The only known airship in the world. The party first encounters him after being tricked into kidnapping Celes Chere instead of Maria, the opera diva whom he is enraptured with. Setzer also appears in Kingdom Hearts II as the reigning champion of the false Twilight Town's Struggle tournament, where he fights with Roxas . In Kingdom Hearts , he is voiced by Ryōtarō Okiayu in Japanese and Crispin Freeman in English. Strago Magus ( ストラゴス・マゴス , Sutoragosu Magosu , Japanese name Stragos Magus )
17880-513: The original designs and many story episodes for Shadow and Setzer Gabbiani , and field graphic designer Kaori Tanaka created the original designs of Edgar Roni Figaro and Sabin Rene Figaro . A character named Angela was developed, but was ultimately cut from the game. She was to be like a "big sister" to Cyan and wield a whip, allowing the story to explore Cyan's vulnerability and private side. Co-director Kitase wanted to create many characters that could stand up to be main characters and ensure
18029-406: The other team at Square led by Tanaka, which included Shibuya and newcomer debugger Hiroyuki Ito . Production on the game lasted roughly ten months. While shipments of 200,000 units were planned, Sakaguchi persuaded Square to double that number. Final Fantasy was released in 1987 to commercial success, selling over 400,000 copies in Japan. It saw greater sales success in North American when it
18178-495: The party. Once defeated, if Mog is present in the party he will be commanded by the moogle to join the protagonists as a playable character, due to adoring Mog as a boss. Umaro cannot be controlled during battle and can only equip relics. However, two of these relics, which only he can equip, grant him powerful special attacks. One of these attacks, granted by the Rage Orb, allows him to fling a party member at an enemy: this does not hurt
18327-404: The people of Doma, particularly the king and his wife and son, and later on for failing to stop Kefka from destroying the world. Shadow ( シャドウ , Shadō ) is an assassin and mercenary for hire, who is always accompanied by his faithful dog, Interceptor. During the first half of the game, Shadow operates on a freelance basis, at times available to the player for a fee and at times appearing in
18476-399: The player, but without the full range of options that playable party members have. Kefka Palazzo ( ケフカ·パラッツォ , Kefuka Parattso , Cefca Palazzo in Japanese materials) is the main antagonist of the game. He is a sociopathic nihilist who served the Gestahlian Empire as Court Mage until he used the Warring Triad to devastate the world. IGN describes him as "dominating" the history of
18625-401: The power for himself. Maduin ( マディン , Madīn ) , an Esper , and Madeline ( マドリーヌ , Madorīnu , Madonna in US SNES version) , a human woman, are Terra's parents. They meet after Madeline accidentally stumbles into the Esper world, and Maduin nurses her back to health. Though other Espers do not trust her, Maduin defends her, and they soon conceive Terra. Eventually, Gestahl invades
18774-609: The production of games for the Famicom Disk System. The Square-owned label, called Disk Original Group (DOG), included Square, HummingBirdSoft , System Sacom , Microcabin , Carry Lab, Thinking Rabbit , and Xtalsoft . This coalition was able to pool financial resources, allowing them to overcome the prohibitive costs of acting individually. The Famicom Disk System was rendered defunct by 1988 due to increased storage capacity in standard Famicom ROM cartridges. In January 1994, Square acquired developer Cobra Team, turning it into
18923-768: The search results, by excluding or including certain words, limiting the number or length of words in each anagram, or limiting the number of results. Anagram solvers are often banned from online anagram games. The disadvantage of computer anagram solvers, especially when applied to multi-word anagrams, is their poor understanding of the meaning of the words they are manipulating. They usually cannot filter out meaningful or appropriate anagrams from large numbers of nonsensical word combinations. Some servers attempt to improve on this using statistical techniques that try to combine only words that appear together often. This approach provides only limited success since it fails to recognize ironic and humorous combinations. Some anagrammatists indicate
19072-404: The story did not revolve around one character, so each character could have something to bring to the table. According to Yoshinori Kitase , one of the game's two directors, one of the themes of production was "everyone is the main character". Kitase also believes that this approach with the game's characters is one of its lasting appeals. Despite having a large cast of playable characters, the game
19221-504: The team saw popular success with the role-playing video game Final Fantasy in 1987, which would lead to the franchise of the same name being one of its tentpole franchises. Later notable staff included directors Yoshinori Kitase and Takashi Tokita , designer and writer Yasumi Matsuno , artists Tetsuya Nomura and Yusuke Naora , and composers Yoko Shimomura and Masashi Hamauzu . Initially developing for PCs, then exclusively for Nintendo systems, Square broke up with Nintendo in
19370-471: The ten-person staff freely shifting between roles and projects. This eventually evolved into two loosely-defined production groups, led by Sakaguchi and Tanaka, respectively. Following the release of Final Fantasy IV , Sakaguchi divided the production team, assigning different staff members to the Final Fantasy , SaGa and Mana series. A secondary studio was founded in Osaka in 1990, with Final Fantasy Legend III (1991) as their first project. By 1997,
19519-520: The thrown party member and can even damage an enemy a fair amount. The second attack, granted by the Blizzard Orb, allows him to strike all enemies for ice-based damage. During development, Umaro was originally meant to be much harder to recruit, roaming different areas of the game's world map and needing the player to use a food item to bait him to join, a concept later reused for Gau. Umaro was one of two characters created without any backstory in mind by
19668-400: The time, video games in Japan were usually created by a single programmer. Miyamoto, on the other hand, believed that graphic designers, programmers, and professional story writers would be needed to keep up with advances in computing and video game development. During these early years, the group was compared to a family business ; one of the early hires, Shinichiro Kajitani, joined because he
19817-425: The unscrambling of letters to find the solution. Cryptic crossword puzzles frequently use anagrammatic clues, usually indicating that they are anagrams by the inclusion of a descriptive term like "confused" or "in disarray". An example would be Businessman burst into tears (9 letters) . The solution, stationer , is an anagram of into tears , the letters of which have burst out of their original arrangement to form
19966-470: The victim Thomas Overbury , as "Thomas Overburie", was written as "O! O! a busie murther" (an old form of "murder"), with a V counted as U. William Drummond of Hawthornden , in an essay On the Character of a Perfect Anagram , tried to lay down rules for permissible substitutions (such as S standing for Z) and letter omissions. William Camden provided a definition of "Anagrammatisme" as "a dissolution of
20115-452: The years, many staff left to found studios such as Monolith Soft ( Xeno ), Sacnoth ( Shadow Hearts ), Mistwalker ( Fantasian ), and AlphaDream ( Mario & Luigi ). In 2001, the company saw financial troubles due to the commercial failure of the feature film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within , which ultimately led Sakaguchi to leave the company in 2003. The film's failure disrupted merger discussions with Enix , publisher of
20264-604: Was Shimomura's last project as an in-house composer before going freelance in 2002. Also released in 2002 was the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XI , the company's first MMORPG . Conceived by Sakaguchi, it was developed by the Chrono team and led by Ishii. Final Fantasy XI and its first expansion was Kato's last work for Square before leaving in 2002 to go freelance. Following the commercial success of Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts , Square and Enix resumed talks and agreed to merge their two companies. Wada described it as
20413-409: Was a Japanese video game developer and publisher . It was founded in 1986 by Masafumi Miyamoto , who spun off part of his father's electronics company Den-Yu-Sha. Among its early employees were designers Hironobu Sakaguchi , Hiromichi Tanaka , Akitoshi Kawazu and Koichi Ishii , artist Kazuko Shibuya , programmer Nasir Gebelli , and composer Nobuo Uematsu . Initially focusing on action games ,
20562-503: Was a friend of Miyamoto, and later compared the company at that time to a "college club". To recruit for this new organizational structure, Miyamoto organized a salon in Yokohama and offered jobs to those who demonstrated exceptional programming skills. This led to the part-time hiring of university students Hironobu Sakaguchi and Hiromichi Tanaka , as well as Hisashi Suzuki, who would go on to become Square's CEO. Miyamoto's initial plan
20711-516: Was appointed as a Director of Planning and Development, and Hisashi Suzuki became one of the company's directors. Due to the high cost of Ginza rents, the company was forced to move into smaller offices in Okachimachi, Taitō . Square began struggling financially following multiple commercial failures for Nintendo's Famicom Disk System peripheral. Miyamoto asked the company's four directors for game proposals, with plans to have their staff vote on
20860-668: Was cited as the example in Samuel Johnson 's A Dictionary of the English Language . They became hugely popular in the early modern period , especially in Germany. Any historical material on anagrams must always be interpreted in terms of the assumptions and spellings that were current for the language in question. In particular, spelling in English only slowly became fixed. There were attempts to regulate anagram formation, an important one in English being that of George Puttenham 's Of
21009-425: Was considered to be cliche and evolved into him having lost his mother as an infant. He later fell in love with an older woman who was killed in a "political rivalry", and she remained his version of an ideal woman. Years before the game's events, neither he nor his twin brother, Sabin, bore desire for the crown. Edgar determined the succession with the flip of a double-sided coin to grant his brother's deeper wish for
21158-666: Was founded in 1998 in London , England, focusing on publishing in Europe. A publishing brand called Aques was established by Square in 1996. The name was an anagram of Square's name, as well as an acronym for "Advanced QUality Entertainment and Sports", representing the company's diversification outside of role-playing games. That same year, Square established a distribution company called DigiCube , with convenience stores as their main strategy. The subdidiary expanded into book publishing, stocked games from other companies, and at one point published games under its own brand. DigiCube survived
21307-464: Was intended to strengthen Square's overseas connections and bring in technical and administrative support for future digital and online content. Alongside this, Yoichi Wada joined the company as a company director and eventually COO. In August 2000, Square was listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange 's first section, which includes the largest companies on the exchange. In addition to leading production on Final Fantasy IX (2000), Sakaguchi also worked at
21456-767: Was limited. The original Final Fantasy was published in North America in 1990 by Nintendo of America close to the launch of the Super Nintendo, resulting in its two sequels being passed over for localization at that time. After opening their North American offices, Square began publishing selected titles under the "SquareSoft" brand. One of their third-party North American releases was the original Breath of Fire by Capcom, who were busy enough to outsource publishing and localization to Square. The Redmond office later closed, with some localization staff choosing not to relocate to California. Square initially did not have an internal localization department, instead outsourcing to
21605-399: Was praised for bringing "much needed" comic relief for the title, described as being augmented by Ted Woolsey 's translation for the North American localization. Celes placed fourteenth, and was stated as providing one of the greatest memorable scenes and musical pieces in the game through the impromptu opera scene. Setzer placed twelfth, described as having "that most crucial of qualities in
21754-466: Was praised through the anagram gestat honorem ('he carries honor'); the physician George Ent took the anagrammatic motto genio surget ('he rises through spirit/genius'), which requires his first name as Georgius . James I's courtiers discovered in "James Stuart" "a just master", and converted "Charles James Stuart" into "Claims Arthur 's seat " (even at that point in time, the letters I and J were more-or-less interchangeable). Walter Quin, tutor to
21903-537: Was released in 1989, selling 700,000 copies. Two other Japanese successes from 1987 were Rad Racer and The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner . The success of Final Fantasy prompted development of Final Fantasy II (1988), which established many of the series recurring elements . This and four more Final Fantasy titles would appear on the Famicom and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super Famicom), culminating in Final Fantasy VI (1994). These were among
22052-412: Was shut down in 2002 following a failed attempt to find a film studio partner. In 2002, Square Next was rebranded as The Game Designer Studio, with ownership between Square's Product Development Division 2 and Kawazu. The aim was to allow for development of games for Nintendo consoles without impacting production on Sony platform games. The Game Designers Studio was absorbed back into Square Enix after
22201-413: Was to recruit from Keio University, but this never materialized. Square's first attempt at a game was an adaptation of the television game show Torin-ingen . As Miyamoto had not secured the license to adapt it, the show's producers forced Square to cancel the game, prompting its team to be reshuffled. Square's first completed game was The Death Trap (1984) for NEC PC-8801 , a text adventure set in
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