Interview conducted by EGM printed on the sept 2008 issues of EGM. Interview copyrighted by EGM. .

EGM: If you could work on any kind of dream project, what would it be?
Nobuo Uematsu (NU): Last December was Final Fantasy’s 20th anniversary, so we had a 20th-anniversary gathering, and all the creators went out to drink. So there was me, Sakaguchi, [FFXI Producer Hiromichi] Tanaka, and all the old-school Square members. If I could do something again with those guys, that’d be my dream project. My dream project would be to work on a game with all of them again because our skills have grown a lot over the past 20 years, but our motivations toward making games haven’t changed—in fact, they might’ve even grown. So I think it’d be pretty awesome to work with them again.

EGM: How often—and this is an important question—do you use your theremin?
NU: I haven’t played it at any performance—like my concert—at all. I’ve been trying to use it, but it’s difficult to manage. So I’m waiting to use it, but I want to use it at one of my Black Mages [Uematsu’s personal instrumental band—Ed.] concerts.

EGM: Have you gotten out lately? Are there any movies that you want to see?
NU: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Back in the day, when I was making final Fantasy with Sakaguchi, we were always talking about the Indy Jones films. Like, in the first five minutes, it’s always “boom, action.” The first five minutes were able to grab the viewer’s heart—just grab them right there. So I was always saying to Sakaguchi that I want to make a game like that. I’m not sure if we ever succeeded or not. But I wanted to the first five minutes to give the impact, where you just want to play this game and get hooked in the first five minutes. That’s what we’ve always been trying to do—be like Indy Jones.