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Nobuo Uematsu: What's his greatest music?

Nothing will beat Ultimecia's Castle theme. NOTHING. Anyone that posts "FF8 sucks, bro" is wrong. You can hate the game but you can't hate the music.
 
aceface said:
My favorite work of his is all 13 minutes of the ending of FFVIII. This is a spoiler but it's a 13 year old game so whatever- the way he worked in the FF theme right at the end is amaaazing. Gives me goosebumps every time. It's the only time he used the FF theme in that whole soundtrack too which just increases the effect. It perfectly fits the final scene in the game too:
Squall and Rinoa kiss
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The camera panning out to watch Garden flying off into the horizon, coupled with the score,
left a lasting impression on me. The whole end sequence was incredibly well done.
 
its going to irk me if i don't post it like this .

Nobuo Uematsu: What's his greatest musical composition..

Kefkas Theme just works well for that character, i also dug Black Mage Village
 
It's ridiculous how many tracks people choose as their favorite in FFVI's OST.

Epitaph's a good one

BTW, is there a definitive Orchestral CD out there of most, if not all of the stuff from the FFVI?
 
I think it's impossible to say what his "greatest work" is since he's a genius and has a lot of great works.

But You're Not Alone from FF IX always seemed special to me.
 
Cedric said:
Instead of posting tracks that everyone loves, I'll just choose those I love but that don't get much recognition.

Melody of Lute - This one is very short, but it's always been one of my favourites
Feel my Blade - This is my favourite FF battle theme. Awesome way to start a game.
Path of Repentance - I think this is Uematsu's best track ever hands down.
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Nice picks, I'm one of the mob who think VI is the best but IV is pretty spectacular too, I really like those romantic sounding songs like Lute and the cave music. IX is up there with VI with the leitmotif goodness and that's a really lovely choice for X, I don't remember that song at all.
 
Cedric said:
Instead of posting tracks that everyone loves, I'll just choose those I love but that don't get much recognition.

Melody of Lute - This one is very short, but it's always been one of my favourites
Feel my Blade - This is my favourite FF battle theme. Awesome way to start a game.
Path of Repentance - I think this is Uematsu's best track ever hands down.
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Via Purifico feels like a puzzle to me. The way it just sort of builds on top of itself. This really simple rhythm just feels so complex. It's the perfect music for the level.
 
NOT ENOUGH MENTIONS OF THE VELDT

ff6-8 are wonderful. ff9 is where he started going off the rails. can't believe people like the 90 weak arrangements of the same theme in that game
 
Final Fantasy IV Celtic Moon

I think that FFIV was his strongest soundtrack since his focus almost entirely came from the idea of fitting leitmotifs with Amano's designs. All of these songs were arranged with Celtic instruments, Gaelic vocals, etc. Totally beautiful but perhaps before many fans' time. Check these out:

Rydia (IMO the best Character Theme)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzoorvxOVnc

Troian Beauty (IMO the best Town Theme)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g21nOlM_T3s&feature=related


Aside from FFIV Celtic Moon, my personal favorite is Theme of Love in Ida Emi's Tsuki no Akari (IMO the best Love Song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5UMohX62kw
 
we.are.the.armada said:
Final Fantasy IV Celtic Moon

I think that FFIV was his strongest soundtrack since his focus almost entirely came from the idea of fitting leitmotifs with Amano's designs. All of these songs were arranged with Celtic instruments, Gaelic vocals, etc. Totally beautiful but perhaps before many fans' time. Check these out:

Rydia (IMO the best Character Theme)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzoorvxOVnc

Troian Beauty (IMO the best Town Theme)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g21nOlM_T3s&feature=related


Aside from FFIV Celtic Moon, my personal favorite is Theme of Love in Ida Emi's Tsuki no Akari.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5UMohX62kw
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I just want to point out that Uematsu didn't do the arrangements for Celtic Moon. Máire Breatnach did.
 
RurouniZel said:
The entire Final Fantasy VI OST.
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This...

Lebron said:
Dancing Mad(FF VI)
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But this in particular.

I'm not Uematsu's biggest fan, but when I sit down and listen to any arrangement of Dancing Mad, even the original, I'm always awed by its complexity, changing tempos, charged organ sections, and different instrumentation. It's a near-20-minute masterpiece, with four sections of pure composition and no bullshit. It is his best work out of everything he has composed based on the effort, instrumentation and composition.

Also, his best vocal song is still going to be Distant Worlds. Every other vocal theme has composed pales in comparison (with the exception of possibly Toberu Mono).
 
VI, by far, is my favorite of his. I have always thought he was overrated, and his FFVIII ost I find particularly annoying, but I think Blue Dragon is his worst.
 
The Mana Legend said:
VI, by far, is my favorite of his. I have always thought he was overrated, and his FFVIII ost I find particularly annoying, but I think Blue Dragon is his worst.
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I've said it before in the community thread, but I really don't like the instrument samples chosen for some of the tracks on the FFVIII soundtrack much. There are a lot of themes that stand out from that soundtrack (ex: Silence and Motion, Dance with the Balamb-fish, all of the battle themes cuz they're cool, The Landing, etc), but when you take into account all of the tracks from that soundtrack (and include stuff like Jailed, Junction, Fear, Unrest, Blue Fields, etc), it isn't very cohesive. Some of the tracks have bad synth and are somewhat boring compositionally in that they can sometimes be repetitive.

For a soundtrack that fixates itself so heavily on bass, I'm a little disappointed in it (because bass is my favourite kind of sound, even moreso than the acoustic guitar).

LOL, I appear to be in the minority for that, though.
 
Dark Schala said:
I've said it before in the community thread, but I really don't like the instrument samples chosen for some of the tracks on the FFVIII soundtrack much. There are a lot of themes that stand out from that soundtrack (ex: Silence and Motion, Dance with the Balamb-fish, all of the battle themes cuz they're cool, The Landing, etc), but when you take into account all of the tracks from that soundtrack (and include stuff like Jailed, Junction, Fear, Unrest, Blue Fields, etc), it isn't very cohesive. Some of the tracks have bad synth and are somewhat boring compositionally in that they can sometimes be repetitive.

For a soundtrack that fixates itself so heavily on bass, I'm a little disappointed in it (because bass is my favourite kind of sound, even moreso than the acoustic guitar).

LOL, I appear to be in the minority for that, though.
Click to expand...

How do you feel about Martial Law? It's one of my favorites, but isn't often mentioned as being good by others. I love the electric piano interlude, in particular.
 
Dark Schala said:
I've said it before in the community thread, but I really don't like the instrument samples chosen for some of the tracks on the FFVIII soundtrack much. There are a lot of themes that stand out from that soundtrack (ex: Silence and Motion, Dance with the Balamb-fish, all of the battle themes cuz they're cool, The Landing, etc), but when you take into account all of the tracks from that soundtrack, it isn't very cohesive. Some of the tracks have bad synth and are somewhat boring compositionally in that they can sometimes be repetitive.

LOL, I appear to be in the minority for that, though.
Click to expand...

Yeah, some of it sounds really bad from a quality standpoint. I even find the battle themes pretty boring.

I think VIII is the point when he started running out of ideas, and a lot of it shows. FFIX had a much better soundtrack, but none of it sounded fresh like VI did, or even VII in some places.
 
Aeana said:
How do you feel about Martial Law? It's one of my favorites, but isn't often mentioned as being good by others. I love the electric piano interlude, in particular.
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The electric piano bit is fantastic and the percussion (all of it) is wonderful, but the rest of it needs work. Honestly, the two instruments mentioned before save it from being repetitive. It's a bit refreshing in a way.

The Mana Legend said:
Yeah, some of it sounds really bad from a quality standpoint. I even find the battle themes pretty boring.

I think VIII is the point when he started running out of ideas, and a lot of it shows. FFIX had a much better soundtrack, but none of it sounded fresh like VI did, or even VII in some places.
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I kinda see where you're coming from. I had a friend in band who really disliked the FFVIII soundtrack partially because some of the tracks sounded messy... and the one you linked was an example. I think the problem here is that that particular theme is in desperate need of better instrumentation and better instrument samples, because a lot of it sounds like good composition.
 
Dark Schala said:
I've said it before in the community thread, but I really don't like the instrument samples chosen for some of the tracks on the FFVIII soundtrack much. There are a lot of themes that stand out from that soundtrack (ex: Silence and Motion, Dance with the Balamb-fish, all of the battle themes cuz they're cool, The Landing, etc), but when you take into account all of the tracks from that soundtrack (and include stuff like Jailed, Junction, Fear, Unrest, Blue Fields, etc), it isn't very cohesive. Some of the tracks have bad synth and are somewhat boring compositionally in that they can sometimes be repetitive.
Click to expand...

That's my main issue with the FF VIII sound track. It has a few good songs, but the instrumentation is really terrible in places. World map steel drums, and overused synth bleeps and bloops just don't feel right. Furthermore, a lot of the samples aren't very good even if the instrumentation is right. Maybe the Playstation sound-chip is to blame...I don't know.

edit: I realized what I don't like about the instrumentation. There's a combination of ultra-clean synthesizer sounds mixed in with ultra-compressed acoustic sounds (drums, piano)...the songs seem to lack cohesiveness as a result. This is a good example of what I'm talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hraz7SZSEbM&feature=related
 
TheExodu5 said:
That's my main issue with the FF VIII sound track. It has a few good songs, but the instrumentation is really terrible in places. World map steel drums, and overused synth bleeps and bloops just don't feel right. Furthermore, a lot of the samples aren't very good even if the instrumentation is right. Maybe the Playstation sound-chip is to blame...I don't know.

edit: I realized what I don't like about the instrumentation. There's a combination of ultra-clean synthesizer sounds mixed in with ultra-compressed acoustic sounds (drums, piano)...the songs seem to lack cohesiveness as a result.
Click to expand...

It's the compression, yeah. Strangely, some of my favorite PS2 OSTs suffer from this a bit too so it isn't the PSX itself. Otherwise in tone, instrumentation, melody, harmony, etc, I have no problems with that OST short of that one song up there.
 
I like his works in FFVIII and a few from FFX.

My favorites (not all):

FFVIII - Liberi Fatali http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjrt8CDsvX0
FFVIII - Where I Belong http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mOxZAE1Y7s
FFVIII - Premonition http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4jvol20r6Y
FFVIII - Under Her Control http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um14E3t5WO0
FFVIII - The Legendary Beast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2es04SS-Jk

FFX - To Zanarkand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-0G_FI61a8
FFX - Someday the Dream Will End http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xRCjjiTR7I
FFX - Besaid Island http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNRaXqbAuFE

Uematsu's greatest works are found at VI and VIII in my opinion.
 
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