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[Falk]

Yeah, 7's Piano Collections was a late bloomer. It also has a very different style.

I personally really like that the Piano Collections became more and more technically challenging as the series went on. FFIV and V (outside of Big Bridge, lol) were beginner-intermediate, and there were some pretty awesome workouts in VI. VIII and IX have some technically difficult pieces, and XIII's Piano Collection is... well, yeah.

 

[Jennipeg]

It's not even the best soundtrack in the FF series

VIII, is definitely the best Final Fantasy soundtrack (VII is a super close second). Sorry VI.

I love that these posts were made one after the other.

 

[PumpkinPie]

Fishermans Horizon is glorious. It totally captures the feeling of a breezy summer day.

 

[DukeLongfellow]

...and XIII's Piano Collection is... well, yeah.

Lol, tell me about it. Don't play as much as I used to but just thinking about Nascent Requiem is making my fingers cramp.

 

[Makoto Yuki]

Arguing which Final Fantasy OST is the best is an exercise in futility.

Yeah, 7's Piano Collections was a late bloomer. It also has a very different style.

I personally really like that the Piano Collections became more and more technically challenging as the series went on. FFIV and V (outside of Big Bridge, lol) were beginner-intermediate, and there were some pretty awesome workouts in VI. VIII and IX have some technically difficult pieces, and XIII's Piano Collection is... well, yeah.

Piano Collection's Melodies of Life is the one song I want to master. I've never been able to play all of it, let alone introduce a gradual crescendo. The day I do though... I'll be like Vanessa Carlton, driving a piano across America playing Melodies of Life.

(furiously googles affordable keyboards because pianos can't fit in current living situation)

 

[ULTROS!]

I'd argue that the last songs of FFVIII (namely The Castle, Maybe I'm a Lion, The Legendary Beast, The Extreme, The Successor, Ending Theme) are among the best in FF. The final boss music montage is personally my favorite in the FF series.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=166474581&postcount=14799

Send help.

I played The Successor in my recital 7-8 years back. It's probably the "easiest" FFVIII piece... And the most unique.

The FFVIII piano collection performance on CD is really top tier though, my favorite FF piano collection performance.

 

[Lionheart1827]

FFVIII is definitely among the best. It has so many highs, and not that many lows. I think I still prefer FFVI and Chrono Trigger to it, but its definitely amazing. Its also the first game soundtrack I ever imported. There's way too many tracks to mention and most people already have, but indeed, amazing soundtrack.

Fishermans Horizon is glorious. It totally captures the feeling of a breezy summer day.

Awesome song, but I always thought the song "Breezy" captured that better

 

[Acquiescence]

As someone who adores VIII, it has to be said, the music is probably the best thing about it. No doubt Uematsu was at the top of his game when he composed that soundtrack.

'Balamb Garden' gets me every time. I think the fact that I hear it so much during the beginning kind of offsets how unbearably slack-paced VIII's opening segment is, because that track is such serenity personified that it feels like a blessing. How can I ever get angry at how slow and uneventful a game is being when I get to listen to that piece over and over again. Oh god, and then there's 'Breezy' too. Nostalgia overload.

 

[TGO]

Love VIII and this is one of reasons why, why haven't they announced VIII HD yet for PS4?

 

[APZonerunner]

A lot of people talk a big game about 6, 7 and 10 (for good reason), but 8, 9 and Lost Odyssey are without a doubt Uematsu's finest works in terms of a complete score top-to-bottom. The way the themes are woven throughout each of those three is mad impressive.

 

[Meowster]

Yeah, 7's Piano Collections was a late bloomer. It also has a very different style.

I personally really like that the Piano Collections became more and more technically challenging as the series went on. FFIV and V (outside of Big Bridge, lol) were beginner-intermediate, and there were some pretty awesome workouts in VI. VIII and IX have some technically difficult pieces, and XIII's Piano Collection is... well, yeah.

The X-2 piano collection is actually one of my favorites. They did a great job arranging those songs. Makes me sad that the public reception of the X-2 OST caused one of them to retire early on.

 

[Jennipeg]

The X-2 piano collection is actually one of my favorites. They did a great job arranging those songs. Makes me sad that the public reception of the X-2 OST caused one of them to retire early on.

Really? That's a shame, everyone that disliked the X-2 soundtrack needs to go and listen to Mt Gagazet and Memory of Lightwaves

 

[jb1234]

Really? That's a shame, everyone that disliked the X-2 soundtrack needs to go and listen to Mt Gagazet and Memory of Lightwaves

There's good stuff in the X-2 soundtrack but there's also a lot of garbage. I feel bad for the composers. A lot of people forget (or simply don't know) that writing music for media is a very collaborative process and they're just following their orders.

 

[wmlk]

I love Fisherman's Horizon for its composition, but how it actually sounds in FFVIII leaves a bit to be desired. Same with tracks like Breezy. Compared to the awesome sounds in Chrono Cross, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Live versions do justice to FH, though.

A lot of people talk a big game about 6, 7 and 10 (for good reason), but 8, 9 and Lost Odyssey are without a doubt Uematsu's finest works in terms of a complete score top-to-bottom. The way the themes are woven throughout each of those three is mad impressive.

It's a shame that the narrative is that Uematsu's work on Lost Odyssey was bad just because his later works aren't as great. Lost Odyssey shouldn't be in the same category as Blue Dragon, The Last Story, etc.

 

[Transistor]

I love FFVIIIs score, but there are so many more that blow it out of the water.

 

[YankeeDonB]

Love Uematsu, love VI, VII, IX, and X OSTs, but VIII just never did it for me. Really not sure why. I can't remember a single melody except for battle theme.

 

[TheGreatDirector]

I love Fisherman's Horizon for its composition, but how it actually sounds in FFVIII leaves a bit to be desired. Same with tracks like Breezy. Compared to the awesome sounds in Chrono Cross, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Live versions do justice to FH, though.



It's a shame that the narrative is that Uematsu's work on Lost Odyssey was bad just because his later works aren't as great. Lost Odyssey shouldn't be in the same category as Blue Dragon, The Last Story, etc.

The Distant Worlds version of Fisherman's Horizon is phenomenal.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

I love Fisherman's Horizon for its composition, but how it actually sounds in FFVIII leaves a bit to be desired. Same with tracks like Breezy. Compared to the awesome sounds in Chrono Cross, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Apparently Ryo Yamazaki is the reason why the music samples sound so good in Chrono Cross and Legend of Mana compared to other PS1 games from Square.

 

[MoonsaultSlayer]

This thread makes me happy and sad at the same time.

Happy because fuck yeah I agree.

Sad because I now realize it's been almost a year since I've been without it on my new ipod. Time to get it back into rotation. (That and most of my VG osts. Dang dying music players)

 

[ZombiePlatypus]

It really is a masterpiece.

 

[kevm3]

For me it's a toss up between ff13-2 and ff6

 

[Elbereth]

For sure, FFVIII OST is the G.O.A.T.

 

[Son Of D]

Love VIII and this is one of reasons why, why haven't they announced VIII HD yet for PS4?

Probably waiting for a mobile port of VIII. No idea when that'll be though since they skipped VIII and went from VII to IX.

 

[Brigandier]

Yep it's a phenomenal OST, Hard to pick a favourite from this OST as it's just solid from top to bottom.

 

[120v]

FFVIII OST was the last one that gives me the total geek out nostalgia feels

IX OST was great too but not on that level

 

[Thabass]

chrono cross OST disagrees with you

Yep. I agree. This is one of the best soundtrack's I have ever heard.

 

[royox]

So OP never played FFVI or heard Dancing Mad?

Dancing Mad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMFCM0SKbnY

Aria di Mezzo Carattere (FFVI opera)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2f-SeMxpkE

My gosh...i should also link almost the whole FFIX ost...

 

[GaimeGuy]

Plus Orchestra versions for 7, I don't think for 8 or 9 though. But there is an OST Plus collection for IX that also includes a ton of small tracks missing from the OST proper.

And of course Black Mages albums have a few tracks redone from all of the above.

FF8 does have an orhchestral album.

 

[plutoknight]

FF8 is so, so, so good.

Heck, even The Black Mages did 3/4ths of the final boss medley of music.

The Extreme is SO good.

I used to scoff at Fisherman's Horizon until I heard it at Distant Worlds last year. Talk about a genuine surprise.

 

[Look! The Pie!]

It's definitely my favourite work by Uematsu, and probably in my top 5 OSTs of all time. Balamb Garden, Love Grows, Premonition and Fisherman's Horizon being my favourite tracks. I first played FFVIII in late autumn/early winter back when it first came out, and the whole OST just evokes so many memories of those long, dark evenings playing the game after school in my friend's living room. It fills me with a sense of warm nostalgia that few other works can match.

Also, I find it so much easier to get up in the morning since I set Breezy as my wakeup alarm. It's like gently being hugged awake on a balmy spring day.

 

[Falk]

FF8 does have an orhchestral album.

I'm so confused I didn't say that

 

[butman]

The man with the machine gun - Maybe the most legendary battle theme ever!

The battle theme of battle themes.

 

[wmlk]

I'm so confused I didn't say that

Weren't you the composer on it?

 

[Vincent Grayson]

While in hindsight I grew to love the soundtracks to the older games, VIII was definitely the first where I was just bowled over by how good the OST was. It was the first soundtrack I ever imported, and I spent the summer before the US release listening to that shit on repeat.

I really hope it gets a PS4 version soon so I have a way to enjoy it on the couch again.

 

[Jennipeg]

This thread makes me happy and sad at the same time.

Happy because fuck yeah I agree.

Sad because I now realize it's been almost a year since I've been without it on my new ipod. Time to get it back into rotation. (That and most of my VG osts. Dang dying music players)

You should check out Successor by the Materia Collective, it's on Spotify. It's 6 disks of Final Fantasy VIII ost reinterpretations, a lot of them are glorious. It has Balamb Garden on the flute with accompanying stings, it's great.

 

[Pepin]

I'm still amazed by just how much atmosphere 'Martial Law' manages to conjure up. I think that was the first time in any game ever I realised how much of a scene you can set with audio cues and a decent OST.

I still remember playing Balamb Garden's soundtrack to myself wandering around my Uni campus for the first time 5 years ago. Instant nostaliga for somewhere I'd never been before. Incredible.

 

[Zelias]

It is a really excellent soundtrack, perhaps not the best in the series (FFXIV definitely edges it imo, some of those tracks are astonishing) but that's hardly an insult in a franchise filled with awesome music.

 

[khaaan]

I think one of the reasons I really love the soundtrack (and the game) is the mish mash of strange and familiar elements. The game world just feels "exotic" and the music helps set that tone. Functionally speaking the world in the game is close to ours but the architecture felt completely alien. Mentally I expect overworld themes to have a sense of grandeur and adventure but Blue Fields doesn't. It sounds a little strange, it sounds a little confusing, and I love it for that. Of course the entire game isn't like that, Fisherman's Horizon and Balamb Garden are more straightforward tonally for the locations they represent and they're darn good at it too.

The one track often passed over track that I want to highlight is unrest. I can't put my finger on why but it always made me feel uncomfortable. I think it might be because (if I remember correctly) the game uses it in both mortal danger situations as well as negative emotion situations. So whenever the track plays it's always the a "this is bad" feeling rather than a more concise "I need to get out of here" vs "I need to sort out my thoughts and communicate". The track also sounds weird.