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I strongly recommend that you watch Alex Ball's new guide on using a virtual orchestra. It's a bit long, clocking in at 50 minutes, but trust me: There isn't a more clear, comprehensive video on the internet regarding this subject. As he discusses at one point, the orchestral flourishes that are difficult or impossible with multisamples are essential to composing music like this; reminiscent of the Romantic Era and "The Golden Age" of film scoring. He even recommends libraries specifically dedicated to this task.

They're just more experienced in the field of knowing what that stuff is, having done it themselves. Additionally, that may be a solution where trying to recreate it in MIDI (or, to say it simpler, in your music program) is just plain unlikely to achieve the results you'd like. For needs like that, many people and companies have recorded humans performing them for the reason that programs and humans have different strengths and weaknesses for instrument performance. Even expensive MIDI orchestration books recommend finding a recorded phrase sample for some of those things as opposed to wang-banging the software and note grids to try to replicate it. Sometimes it can be done, but other times it really is just not worth the effort. In this particular song, oddly enough, Uematsu is NOT using the Sound Canvas that he uses for at least 90% of the rest of the soundtrack. I wager he used a real orchestra or at least premiere (at the time) orchestral phrase sample CDs that recorded real orchestras.

That's called a "run". It is a fast scalar "run" as the name implies. Many modern sample libraries contain either run simulators for strings and winds or pre-recorded runs. You can create your own run simulation by playing a fast scale with a mix of staccato notes and half-trill samples. Be sure the the timing is fairly messy as no one can play that precisely. Ultimately though, a pre-recorded run will sound most realistic.

You two offered WAY more knowledge then I anticipated. Thanks a bunch! Jesus, you must have a good set of ears. I couldn't pick out all that as well as you did. Though I am not musically trained, so that probably plays a part in it. Thanks for the awesome break down of it!

Deadline in 8 minutes. Ive got something cooking, but will there be an extension?

Just my 2 cents here, but the "swell" you speak of in the strings is a minor 2nd trill (fast alternating notes a semitone apart), and in terms of notes, what I'm hearing is an ascending scale in a minor key (seems like E relative minor, meaning you start on E and end on E, but use notes in G major, having only F#). Among the textures, what I perceive is a harp glissando on the left, a flute (or perhaps piccolo) playing the scale legato in the middle, and probably some violas playing legato on the right (ending on a perfect fifth below the flute)