Every Major Final Fantasy Logo Explained (And How They've Evolved)

[Music] they say to not judge a book by its cover but what about a video game box art has been a unique selling point for many years and one of the most important aspects has always been the logo this helps to instill a sense of identity and although in recent times the logos we've received for games have been a lot more bland than they were maybe 20 years ago they still do a good job of conveying what the game or franchise is all about final fantasy has always been quite unique in this regard each game has its own logo and almost every aspect is purposeful going beyond just conveying the tone of each game many also tell their own story having a close affinity with the game's plot and such is the intricacy that even small details may be revealing some logos have also changed over time further adding to the intrigue and the first final fantasy serves as the perfect example as it has featured five different packaged logos over the years each with their own backstory and meaning but before we talk more about that i'd just like to give a shout out to abyss desk one of our top tier patreon supporters who suggested that we make this video for the japanese release the name final fantasy was blazed over the box art appearing in full 3d katakana it did so with purposeful jagged edges and fragments splintering off and its colour was a shimmering translucent blue these elements combined to focus around a central theme of the game crystals the logo was accompanied by an elaborate piece of artwork provided by yoshitaka amano it represented one of the warriors of light and to be more precise it represented the warrior class this may not be immediately obvious from the final version but in a prior iteration amino colored the warrior in red instead of blue and it's likely that this prior version was used for his initial reference before he then decided to change the color and add in some more details the background also featured a dragon quite possibly a nod to bahamut and princess sarah a pivotal character whose kidnapping initiated the quest and whose rescue continued it for the north american release the marketing team decided to start from scratch using a different font and a different color the box art also featured none of amino's artwork as the team instead opted for a more generic fantasy feel this was typical of the times and many other japanese games like the legend of zelda and super mario had their box arts altered in a similar manner when the final fantasy was then re-released in japan two years later the logo was adjusted it ditched the embellished crystal themes but did retain the blue coloring the amino artwork was also cropped to make it work with the different aspect ratio of the msx packaging it wasn't until the year 2000 though when final fantasy released on the wundersong collar that we would see what is now considered to be the standard logo for the original game adjusting to recent aesthetic decisions taken by the branding team this saw the logo incorporate the now quintessential final fantasy font in english with a katakana positioned below the warrior concept from the original box art was then placed between the two words featuring a blue gradient this logo then appeared in the west for the final fantasy origins release but for the 20th anniversary of the original final fantasy amino drew a new version of the warrior of light to distinguish this particular release from the others even going so far as to reverse the blue gradient square enix also released a standalone alternative logo that was much larger but less in keeping with the typical visual style and over the years it has seldom been used final fantasy 2 released right in the middle of final fantasy 1 releasing on the nez and the msx but its logo borne no relation to either of them instead of keeping with the crystalline theme or the flat gradient with a simple font both of which were in katakana the marketing team instead opted to use heavily stylized english with the writing resembling a dragon its head adorning the f in final the gradient remained but its color was changed to purple with blue instead being used for the roman numeral accompanying the logo on the japanese box art was another piece of amino artwork this time in relation to firion the game's main protagonist and he was seen wielding the bloodsword perhaps alluding to its hidden power final fantasy 2 was planned to release in north america a few years later as final fantasy 2 dark shadow over polakia it would have featured new branding which would have then been replicated on the upcoming releases of the final fantasy legend 2 and final fantasy 3 but as final fantasy 2's release was scrapped so was the rebrand as with the original final fantasy final fantasy 2 saw its logo updated for its release on the wundersong collar in 2001 but its revised logo had only a slight relation to the previous one as firing was removed and replaced by emperor palamisia this referenced a piece of promotional artwork that amino had created for the original nes release and keeping with the same style employed with final fantasy 1 it had a monochromatic gradient except instead of using blue it used a pink gradient as the color was associated with the emperor due to the pink crystals that adorned pandemonium the logo was then updated six years later for the 20th anniversary release of the game this saw amino create a new piece of artwork that was much more bold and it gave the emperor more real estate on the box while still making him the central figure amino also produced an alternative logo that was much bolder than the one he had created for final fantasy 1. following the release of final fantasy 2 square started to realize they had something and when final fantasy 3 released they decided to stick with the same logo making it a bit cleaner the roman numerals will also make crystalline a reference again to the central theme of crystals as had been the case with the two previous games the logo was accompanied by a lavish piece of amino artwork and much like the first game it again featured a warrior of light this time the warrior of light was jaw wielding a mechanic introduced with the previous game that carried over and they were seen wielding the bloodsword along with what looks like the ancient sword final fantasy 3 then stayed untouched until it was remade for the ds in 2006 but instead of choosing to commission a brand new logo the decision was taken to reuse the original piece of amino artwork this was neatened up and given an emerald gradient perhaps due to the game's association with wind and it was changed to represent lunath one of the game's new protagonists as opposed to a nameless warrior of light as final fantasy jumped into the 16-bit era there were wholesale changes we saw evolved storytelling evolved gameplay mechanics and evolved branding final fantasy 4's when the logo star we've all come to know and love was born it was much more mature and sophisticated compared to what we had seen with final fantasy 2 and 3 featuring a clean font and a subtle piece of artwork that complemented the english lettering the object of this art was kane highwind whose purple dragoon armor also influenced the logos colouring he was neither the main protagonist nor the main antagonist but kane was central to the plot and it could be argued that his redemption arc was much stronger than cecil's what's also curious about this specific box art is that it referenced the final fantasy one and two re-release using chibi versions of the main cast drawn by kazuko shibuya instead of the larger piece of amino artwork and that's why cecil was read as in shibuya's earlier concepts the paladin was initially meant to be coloured as a throwback to the warrior at night from final fantasy 1 and 3 respectively when final fantasy 4 released in north america squaresoft again wanted to use the opportunity to rebrand the franchise this time they went for stylized gold writing with a sword taking the place of the letter t and this appeared in front of a solid red background for its release in japan on the wonder swan collar the logo remained almost the same as the original with only tweaks made to bring it more in line with more recent releases this saw the blanket solid purple tone removed with a font now black and a bluey purple gradient added to kane and it was very similar for its release as final fantasy 4 advance but when final fantasy 4 was remade for the ds the decision was made to change the logo this saw kane removed with the focus instead placed on a new piece of amino artwork that featured cecil kane edge rosa and rydia it was an unorthodox approach and it wasn't replicated outside of japan instead a new logo was created based on a brand new illustration amino had made this returned to the deep purple color although it did fade into a light blue and it placed goldbez as the central focus as well it could be argued that his redemption arc was even stronger than keynes for its sequel the after years a more modern logo was adopted instead of using a character as its central focus it featured two important locations that were pivotal to the game's plot and had a strong association with its ending and you can see from the design that there is a clear allusion to moons when the game initially launched on imode devices the logo was given a blue to purple gradient as an ode to the original's color association but when the 3d remake released its logo was changed and the vibrant red was added to the existing gradient final fantasy 5 built upon the established norm when it was released in 1992 by using a blue font and introducing a gradient on the supporting imagery which was purple it was also a bit more progressive as for the first time the imagery wasn't focused on one of the playable cast or someone who opposed them instead it represented a wind drake these were an endangered species used by the party to traverse the world and one windrake in particular hiroyu was pretty important to the story the logo was also quite different from final fantasy 4 as the wind drake also interacted with the writing wrapping its tail around the a in fantasy alongside this logo artwork was again provided by shibuya with bart's and boko featuring final fantasy v was then re-released on the playstation in japan and on the game boy advance but although the supporting imagery changed each and every time the logo remained intact throughout final fantasy vi then burst onto the scene with a vibrant and expressive logo for the first time it featured a pure black font and the use of blue green or purple was replaced by a crimson red gradient that faded into black it was modeled around tara branford the character who many considered to be the game's main protagonist it featured her riding the magitek armor which interacted with the writing and this served as a reference to the game's opening scene that saw an enslaved terror visit nash alongside bixen wedge in order to obtain an espa unlike the two previous games the box art saw a return to amino's artwork and it was more lavish than ever before it mirrored the logo featuring terra atop her magitek armor as she stood before vector in north america final fantasy 6 was rebranded to final fantasy 3 and it continued the use of the same branding as the previous iteration stylized gold writing with a sword taking the place of the letter t this time however it deviated from the norm and used a textured background as opposed to solid colour and this tied in with the game's advertising campaign which featured mog disposing of numerous enemies with final fantasy now cemented as a staple video game franchise in japan and with its branding solidified the logo of final fantasy vii was made a bit more adventurous due to its significance it was decided that instead of featuring a character as they had done so many times before the logo would instead be focused around a major plot event the summoning of meteor by sephiroth and the impending doom it represented amano did countless concepts of what the meteor should look like and this extended to its size positioning and color in the end they settled on one of the larger variants and it would be colored with a green and blue tone to represent both macro energy and the live stream one small detail was also added that did not appear in any of amino's concept a small circle just above meteor that looks an awful lot like materia perhaps representing the black materia as the compilation of final fantasy vii expanded the concept for the logo was also further explored but the first game to be released deviated from tradition and featured a logo drawn by tetsuya nomola before crisis released in 2004 and it featured two of the 11 playable characters rod and gunn this was a curious choice as these two characters have no particular importance to the story in relation to the others but perhaps they were just numerous favorites advent children was then the next property to be released and this featured an evolved version of the original logo meteor was repurposed to show midgar as a shell of its former self and codes were placed throughout highlighting the genetic disease geostigma that was plaguing the land the material was also changed to represent what looks like a flower perhaps a nod to geostigma's cure last order was then released alongside admin children but it featured a muted logo and crisis corps followed a similar artistic direction when it launched in 2007. durgis cerberus which released between the two featured a more ambitious logo as it was a visual representation of vincent's gun the cerberus the most recent logo used for the final fantasy 7 remake was very similar to the original but it was made 3d and featured a much darker tone an intentional choice to represent that this game would have a much different vibe than the original final fantasy 8 reverted back to featuring the playable cast but it upped the ante by featuring two characters score leonhardt and renault hartley it also featured them in a way that would lead players to expect something that they would have a close relationship something not immediately clear during their initial interactions as the scenario developed the team knew a lot of focus would be placed around the moment that school realized that he cared for ronoa this would see them have an endearing moment aboard the ragnarok but it wouldn't be until they landed that squad realized how much renault meant to him this led to him taking a big risk freeing renault from her shackles at the sorceress memorial and afterwards they embraced at the request of the development team amino used this moment as a point of reference for the logo and after numerous revisions he landed on a design that everyone was happy with it's well known that final fantasy 9 was developed with the notion of returning the franchise back to its roots this permeated throughout all aspects of development affecting ways of working and also the story they wanted to tell central to this were crystals in the earlier days of the franchise crystals were ingrained in almost every story with the warriors of light undergoing a quest to restore them and save the world as the franchise evolved that story mechanic became a bit labored but final fantasy 9 reintroduced crystals in a more subtle manner and it was the impending death of the terran crystal that initiated everything that unfolded it meant the logo had multiple meanings in one sense it was a graphical representation of the franchise's return to roots and in another it represented the spawning of life as within the context of final fantasy 9's lore life was born of the crystals for its arrival on the playstation 2 final fantasy made bold strides when it came to production incredible fmv sequences were created the soundtrack featured much better samples and it even featured voice acting but it also featured one of the largest and most grandiose logos the franchise had ever seen often the focal point of the logo would be an image placed between the words final and fantasy or at least it will be central to the words in general it would also feature a bit of vertical depth but it was never wider than the wording until final fantasy 10. even with earlier concepts of the logo such as this one which still had you know as the focal point it's clear that it was always planned to be a sizeable graphical asset and for the final vision we got to see a magical recreation of yuna's somber sending that took place after sin's decimation of kelika it was impactful as this scene represented yoona's strength and the important role someone has played in the wall of spira outside of just attempting to defeat sin but after learning the truth yuna would have looked back at moments like this with a lot of reflection the logo for its sequel was a bit more blatant in terms of its application highlighting the game's three protagonists in the midst of some action yoona even doing a dodge roll while firing her gun it looks pretty cool but the most interesting aspect of the logo was its colour scheme this was identical to the original but the gradient was reversed something that allowed them to be joined up to create a combined logo with a distinct beginning and an end the next entry was final fantasy xi and this was a much different experience with square keen to broaden their horizons they decided to take final fantasy online and even though they had limited experience final fantasy 11 was a solid entry into the genre its logo represented the scale of the experience and in a unique twist the graphical asset appeared above the final fantasy writing as opposed to intersecting it the logo itself featured numerous warriors from the five playable races as they banded together to try and fight back against the beastman tribes and this was fitting as thousands upon thousands of players would fill each server after many years of yoshinori kitaze and hironobu sakaguchi leading the direction of final fantasy final fantasy 12 represented a significant shift as yasumi matsuno was appointed as director alongside hiroyuki ito it led to a whole new style of final fantasy game being created and its logo followed suit judge gabranth was the central figure highlighting how important his role was within the story and it served as something of a throwback to final fantasy 4's logo where kane featured due to his redemption arc the specific pose was a reference to his fight in the sky fortress bahamut which would end up being pivotal to gabran's character progression due to the judge's imposing armor and physique it made the logo of final fantasy 12 quite striking amino made it even more so by having it so tall in comparison to everything else we'd seen before but what's interesting is that it wasn't even the planned logo amino was waiting to submit numerous concepts but while he was waiting for the representative from square enix to come and pick up his draft he drew another piece in just under an hour it was this logo that ended up being chosen and the team even decided to keep an amino spontaneous brushstroke the theme of much larger logos continued with final fantasy 13 but unlike many prior games it housed very intricate plot details and even influenced the game as opposed to being designed around an existing concept acting as a bold reference to the game's finale the logo featured cocoon fang veneel and the legendary pulseless sea ragnarok that they transformed into in order to create the crystal pillar and save cocoon but instead of featuring the crystal pillar the logo instead turned into sarah's pendant a reference to her overarching importance it made the logo quite striking but what's interesting is that the design amino came up with then influenced the game's ending as the designers recreated amino's artwork within the fmv sequence as opposed to it happening the other way around for its sequel it was decided that lightning should be shown squaring off against her fated rival caius ballard the first time a protagonist and antagonist had featured in the logo the colors were also intentional as they mirrored the in-game representations of kais who was associated with the colour purple and lightning and sarah who were represented by the color pink lightning returns then rewrote the raw book ditching the traditional final fantasy font and the typical gradient coloring by having a more modern looking logo guitars noted that he felt it was necessary as they wanted people to appreciate the newness of lightning returns compared to everything that had come before as with the previous mmo the logo of final fantasy 14 was designed to represent a much larger group of characters coming together it again featured the numerous races that players could play as and they were positioned in a circular formation to show that they needed to rely on each other for support there were also 14 characters referencing the game's position in the main numbered series for the game's relaunchers around reborn the logo remained much the same but its colour scheme was adjusted to crystalline blue a reference to it being reborn this also helped to place a focus on the new subtitle and the appearance of meteor within the text now it's pretty common knowledge that final fantasy xv had a rather tumultuous development cycle and this led to some interesting changes to its logo when it was first unveiled as final fantasy versus 13 its logo was designed to have contrasting colors to that of final fantasy 13 as they were meant to be in the same shared mythology it featured a sleeping woman most likely etro with a blue ore behind her and it also featured a shut eye as a nod to the song somness after its rebrand to final fantasy 15 the graphical acid was retained but it was given an even darker tone the blue orb lost its colour and the sleeping woman was changed to be the oracle lunafreya knoxvilleray upon completing the game the player would then see the game's true logo revealed this featured a sleeping noctis in his royal attire to tie in with the game's ending and that brings us on to final fantasy 16 the next major installment at the moment we don't know well anything much about the story but we can assume that phoenix and ifrit both icons associated with the fire crystal will be central to the plot as such they both appear in the game's logo with phoenix adopting a fiery color and ifrit adopting a much darker one suggesting that it's a nefarious party and with that i think we're done we've covered a lot of logos throughout this video and we hope you found the explanations very insightful let us know in the comments below which logo has been your favorite and if you enjoyed the video be sure to hit that like button and subscribe to our channel i'd also like to thank again abby's desk for the recommendation to create the video if you'd like to have a video created in a similar manner feel free to head over to patreon to find out more alright guys this is daryl signing out a big thanks to all of our patreon and youtube membership supporters and of course a big thanks to all of you for watching this video i hope to see you all again soon for more final fantasy goodness you

Channel: Final Fantasy Union

Views: 504,819

Rating: 4.9619069 out of 5

Keywords: final fantasy logo, final fantasy logos, final fantasy logopedia, final fantasy xv logo, final fantasy 15 logo explained, final fantasy explained, final fantasy logos explained, final fantasy logos ranked, final fantasy logos without text, final fantasy game logos, best final fantasy logos, final fantasy xv logo meaning, final fantasy 7 logo meaning, final fantasy 9 logo, final fantasy x logo, final fantasy 12 logo, final fantasy 13 logo, final fantasy 14 logo

Id: rrlKpKrqsf4

Length: 21min 42sec (1302 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 18 2021