The conductor of Final Fantasy concert tour Distant Worlds has let slip that a Final Fantasy XII remake is on the way - only to “rectify” his statement on Facebook after fans took to social media to recirculate his comments.
Talking to the crowd during a Distant Worlds concert held in the US last week, conductor Arnie Roth stated: “There’s a Final Fantasy XII remake underway, too”. Predictably, excited fans instantly took to re-posting his comments via social media. Final Fantasy XII is one of the more popular installments in the long-running JRPG franchise, having amassed a loyal following and even spwaning a pseudo-sequel on Nintendo DS: 2007’s Revenant Wings.
The composer’s comments don’t seem to have gone down well with the series’ publisher Square Enix, however. Roth later “clarified” his statement via a post on the official Distant Worlds Facebook page, saying that he misspoke.
Dear friends,
In response to comments posted by fans, I want to rectify a statement made from the stage Saturday night at our Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy concert in Pittsburgh.
Following conversations with composer Hitoshi Sakimoto regarding new concert arrangements of music from Final Fantasy 12, regrettably, the term “remake” was used in error during one of the announcements that took place from the stage during the concert.
We sincerely regret any confusion this has caused.
Arnie Roth
Producer and Music Director
Distant Worlds: music from Final Fantasy
It should be noted that the follow-up statement from Roth falls short of outright retracting his previous comment though - so there’s still every possibility that a Remaster is indeed in the works, and that the composer merely let the news slip before Square Enix was ready to officially announce it.
Square Enix is currently hard at work on a remake of Final Fantasy VII, and last year the publisher released a remaster of Final Fantasy X/ X-2. In fact, Final Fantasy XII is one of the few core entries in the series to have not received a re-release on more modern hardware.
Originally released on PS2 in 2006, Final Fantasy XII received critical acclaim. Set in the world of Ivalice, where a number of Final Fantasy games have taken place including Final Fantasy Tactics (and also the excellent PS1 game Vagrant Story), Final Fantasy XII was something of a departure from the series norm. Battles took place in real-time, and characters were freely customizable thanks to the Zodiac system, in a manner not dissimilar from modern MMOs.
To decide exactly what he meant for yourself, watch the clip below where Roth spoke to the audience during a Distant Worlds concert in Pittsburgh.
