Short answers, pulled from the story.
Masaharu Iwata is a Japanese video game composer born on the 26th of October 1966, in Tokyo. He is known for composing the soundtracks to Ogre Battle, Tactics Ogre, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Final Fantasy XII, and his compositions for Ogre Battle and Final Fantasy Tactics have been cited as among the most recognized in the tactical RPG genre.
Iwata's first professional composition was the ending theme to Bakusou Buggy Ippatsu Yarou in 1987, written while he was a part-time composer at Bothtec. His first full game score followed with Relics: Ankoku Yousai, also in 1987.
Basiscape is currently the largest independent video game music production company, founded in 2002 by Iwata, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Manabu Namiki. It composes and produces music and sound effects for video games and other interactive media, and allows its composers to take individual freelance work while also collaborating on company-contracted projects.
Iwata and Sakimoto met while Iwata was working at Bothtec, where Sakimoto was a freelance composer working on the company's games while still in high school. They became friends and first collaborated on the 1988 shooter Revolter, published by ASCGroup for the NEC PC-8801.
In junior high school, Iwata was inspired by the Japanese electropop group Yellow Magic Orchestra to buy a synthesizer and join a cover band. Other formative influences included Arabesque, John Foxx, China Crisis, and Bill Nelson.
Iwata used the nickname REZON on several game credits during his early freelance years. The name came from the car driven by the hero of a show he watched as a child; he adopted it because he liked the sound of the word.