Otherworld

The concept of an "otherworld" in historical Indo-European religion is reconstructed in comparative mythology. The term is a calque of orbis alius or "Celtic Otherworld", so named by Lucan in his description of the druidic doctrine of metempsychosis.

Comparable religious, mythological or metaphysical concepts, such as a realm of supernatural beings and a realm of the dead, are of course found in cultures throughout the world. Spirits were thought to travel between worlds, or layers of existence, usually along an axis such as a giant tree, a tent pole, a river, a rope or mountains. Red and white are the colors of animals in the Celtic Otherworld, and these colors still animate transcendent religious and political symbols today.

Indo-European reconstruction

Many Indo-European mythologies show evidence for a belief in an "Otherworld" and in many cases such as in Greek, Germanic, Celtic, Slavic and Indic mythologies a river had to be crossed to allow entrance to the Otherworld and it is usually an old man that would transport the soul across the waters. In Greek and Indic mythology the waters of this river were thought to wash away sins or memories whereas Celtic and Germanic myths feature wisdom-imparting waters, suggesting that while the memories of the deceased are washed away a drinker of the waters would gain inspiration. The wayfarer will commonly encounter a dog either in the capacity of a guardian of the Otherworld or as the wanderer's guide. Examples of this are the Greek Cerberus, the three-headed hound of Hades, and the Indic सर्वरा "sarvarā, one of the hounds of Yama, whose names may derive from an Indo-European *ḱerberos meaning "spotted". In Indo-European mythologies the Otherworld is depicted in many ways, including peaceful meadows, islands and buildings making it hard to determine how the original Proto-Indo-European Otherworld was viewed. However the ruler of the dead was possibly Yemo, the divine twin of Manu the first man.

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy X (ファイナルファンタジーX, Fainaru Fantajī Ten) is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Soft (now Square Enix) as the tenth entry in the Final Fantasy series. Originally released in 2001 for Sony's PlayStation 2, the game was re-released as a high-definition port for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita on March 18, 2014, under the name Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster. It was also re-released for the PlayStation 4 in May 2015. The game marks the Final Fantasy series transition from entirely pre-rendered backdrops to fully three-dimensional areas, and is also the first in the series to feature voice acting. Final Fantasy X replaces the Active Time Battle (ATB) system with the "Conditional Turn-Based Battle" (CTB) system, and uses a new leveling system called the "Sphere Grid".

Set in the fantasy world of Spira, the game's story revolves around a group of adventurers and their quest to defeat a rampaging monster known as Sin. The player character is Tidus, a blitzball star who finds himself in Spira after his home city of Zanarkand is destroyed by Sin. Shortly after arriving to Spira, Tidus joins the summoner Yuna on her pilgrimage to destroy Sin.

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジー, Fainaru Fantajī) is a science fiction and fantasy media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games (RPGs). The eponymous first game in the series, published in 1987, was conceived by Sakaguchi as his last-ditch effort in the game industry; the title was a success and spawned sequels. The video game series has since branched into other genres such as tactical role-playing, action role-playing, massively multiplayer online role-playing, racing, third-person shooter, fighting, rhythm and anime.

Although most Final Fantasy installments are stand-alone stories with different settings and main characters, they feature identical elements that define the franchise. Recurring elements include plot themes, character names, and game mechanics. Plots center on a group of heroes battling a great evil while exploring the characters' internal struggles and relationships. Character names are frequently derived from the history, languages, pop culture, and mythologies of cultures worldwide.

Nobuo Uematsu

Nobuo Uematsu (植松 伸夫, Uematsu Nobuo, born March 21, 1959) is a Japanese video game composer, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is considered one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community. Uematsu, a self-taught musician, began playing the piano at the age of eleven or twelve, with Elton John as his biggest influence.

Uematsu joined Square in 1986, where he met Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi. They have worked together on many video game titles, most notably the games in the Final Fantasy series. After 18 years with Square, he left in 2004 to found his own company called Smile Please, and the music label Dog Ear Records. He has since composed music as a freelancer for many other video games, including ones developed by Square Enix and Sakaguchi's development studio Mistwalker.

Many soundtracks and arranged albums of Uematsu's game scores have been released. Pieces from his video game works have been performed in Final Fantasy concerts, where he has worked with Grammy Award-winning conductor Arnie Roth on several of these performances. From 2002 to 2010, he was in a hard rock band with Square Enix colleagues Kenichiro Fukui and Tsuyoshi Sekito called The Black Mages, in which he played electronic organ and other keyboards. The band played arranged rock versions of Uematsu's Final Fantasy compositions. He has since performed with his band Earthbound Papas, which he formed in 2011.