Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive Volume 1

This is a high quality book that includes art and designers notes for the first six Final Fantasy games. Each game has content in the following areas: • Art - This includes key artworks made for the game. • Story - This is a very brief summary of the plot of the game. • Characters - This shows portraits and design artworks for the main characters and enemies in the game. • World - This displays the world map for the game. • Monsters - This shows monster designs and artworks for the game. • Extra Content - This includes developers notes and idea, character sprites and other things depending on the game. • Memories - This shows key scenes from the game. The content and artwork is easy to navigate and it feels like there is ample space for each game. Naturally the later games do have a little more content but this is owing to the fact that they generally feature more characters and content than the earlier games. If you are a fan of Final Fantasy and have an interest in the artwork and design of the games then this is a must have item for your collection!

I have been following the Ultimania's as a source for Final Fantasy information and an insight into the development of the series for a long time, with the only source being fan translations. Think of them as a magazine-sized guide documenting the making of the games. Finally, these have been translated into English as a bundle, with volume 1 including the Ultimania Guides for Final Fantasy I-VI. They are brilliant; it is really nice getting an insight into how they pushed the hardware as well as early drafts of scripts. And the artwork is excellent; if anything a testament to how close things like monster sprites were to the concept artwork. If you are a fan of the series, I am sure you will enjoy this. And I eagerly await volume 2 which will include Final Fantasy VII-IX. I also really h ope they go beyond, up to XV!

Fantastic product, the presentation is beautiful and a must have for Final Fantasy fans.

I've got quite a collection of video game art books and strategy guides, it's one of my geeky guilty pleasures. This book sits right there at the top of them. It's HUGE, beautifully laid out and full of stunning artwork. I honestly wasn't expecting anything quite as good as this for the price and I'm now very excited for the second book to be released (I'm an FF8 gal). Only negative? Same as all the reviews on Amazon.com- guys, use your brain and package this in something stronger. The delivery driver handed the parcel to me and my book proceeded to drop straight out of the flimsy box. It has slight damage to the top and bottom corners because of this poor packaging. Otherwise, everything is hunky dory and if you're reading this review because you're on the fence as to whether to buy I'll help you out- buy it, you won't regret it!

If you enjoy the FF series you need this and the remaining two other books. Gives a nice overview of the games, characters and story. Will make a nice gift for someone who appreciates the series.

Bought this as a present for my final fantasy obsessed boyfriend and we couldn’t have been more impressed. Beautiful and meticulous attention to detail throughout, even as a non-player I enjoyed reading through the whole thing and admiring all of the work that went into it. Fully recommend for any FF fans and I’ll definitely be buying the subsequent volumes for sure.

Bought this as a gift, and it was absolutely loved! The only downside was the packaging. The parcel arrived looking dishevelled, which unfortunately resulted to damage on the spine of the book.

What can I say? It's a stunning book, and something I've wanted from FF for years. Finally a concise book full of art and lots to read through too. If you are a big FF fan, this is essential, be warned though, it is a large and heavy book.

Si eres fan de la saga, es un libro de arte obligatorio. ✅ Ilustraciones preciosas. ✅ Exposición y orden perfecto. ✅ Aparecen todos los personajes, monstruos, objetos y curiosidades de los titulos del Final Fantasy 1 al 6. ✅ Calidad del producto muy buena, hojas de buena calidad y portada con tapa dura, es un libro bastante grande y con bastantes paginas. ❌ Esta edición esta en inglés ❌ Al tener una portada blanca, suele ensuciarse mas facilmente, recomiendo guardarla bien protegida si quieres conservarla bien.

This is a quick review of the book from darkhorses latest production the Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive. This book coves covers final fantasy 1-6 in various sections. The various sections for all the final fantasy games are listed as follows : 1. Art 2. Final Fantasy (Insert number here) Story 3. Characters 4. World 5. Monsters 6. Extra Content - goes into different sub catagories and varies from final fantasy to final fantasy. 7. Last section is - Final Fantasy (Insert number here) Memories. I have to say I really like this book a lot, but then again It's a dark horse bool publication of course it's going to be good. The pages are THICKKK. When I thought they were glued together or something by accident but nope, these pages are just really that thick. The hardcover is nice, although best to keep it clean since it's mostly all white. My favorite section is probably the character section. Not only does it list which character is conected to who in some way as well as the villians but also it shows Yoshitaka Amano complicated and beautiful artwork bellow each of the characters pixilated forms. It really gives you a perspective in how Amanos art work was translated into these sprites. Even though the section on art is nothing special seeing as I own "The Sky The Art Of Final Fantasy Slipcase Edition" which I recommend btw, It is still no less nice to see his work here too. I do think we get to see more of his monster desgins here though, but also the art covers for each variation of the game like from the Famicon to Android to PlayStation. It also shows the different logos that were in other platforms/handhelds or media devices. Really cool stuff here. The story section is OK, doesn't really go indepth about it though. Nice but overall just an OK section. The world section is pretty cool, showing the entire map of each game. The final fantasy 1 map is super basic, with some green here, dots of green for bushes, some yellow there, etc. Overall a neat little section. The monster section does the same thing with the characters section in the sense that it shows you Yoshitaka Amano fantasic drawings along side the pixel forms they take in the games. Incredibly fascinating if I do say so myself. The extra content section is were you see the technical side of what went to making into these games like the sprite data, the map, color list and so on and so forth. This section varies from final fantasy to final fantasy but it gets really technical about it, really cool. The final section the memories section is just that, memories of the game with random images and quotes of the game. Final Verdict - 10 out of 10 I did check in the back of the book for a final section called creators voices which are short interviews with the grand masters of the final fantasy series itself and how they feel about their work. Really nice. Overall this is a well done book by dark horse books, yet another fantastic release guys. I highly recommend buying this book regardless if your a collector or not. My recommendations? Pre-order Volume 2 of The Final Fantasy Ultimania Archive, it comes out in december but still. As well as Pre-Order any of the upcomimg dark horse books, they are all really good regardless if you played the games or not.

Das Buch ist massiv und sehr schön bearbeitet. Qualitativ top. Der Inhalt wird für Fans der Spiele sehr interessant und lehrreich sein. Die Artworks von Amano sehen unglaublich aus. Dieses Buch kann man nur weiter empfehlen

Superbe ouvrage avec illustrations et détails sur les jeux. Papier de qualité et contenu riche. Un must pour les collectionneurs.

Io ho comprato tutti e tre i volumi, la recensione è unica perché sono strutturati ovviamente in maniera uguale. Storia accennata all'inizio. Se volete sapere cose specifiche della trama non è il libro giusto. Ma se volete vedere i personaggi, i mostri da battere, le armi e tutti gli altri dettagli, questo libro è molto bello.