It was the last Final Fantasy soundtrack that Uematsu was a main composer for until Final Fantasy XIV, as he resigned from Square Enix in November 2004. Just takin' things one boss fight at a time. [40] The game has sparked the release of a soundtrack album, an arranged album, two gramophone record albums of music from the soundtrack, a piano album, and a single of the game's theme song "Because You're Here" (君がいるから, Kimi ga Iru Kara), sung by Sayuri Sugawara. The first compilation album produced by an outside group was The Best of Final Fantasy 1994–1999: A Musical Tribute, released in 2000 by Sherman F. Heinig; the newest is Voices of the Lifestream, an unlicensed download-only album from OverClocked ReMix released in 2007. [33], Uematsu, along with Naoshi Mizuta and Kumi Tanioka, composed the score for Final Fantasy XI (2002). Uematsu considered it a side job and was skeptical it would become any sort of full-time position. … [43] The full official soundtrack with all 104 tracks from the original version of Final Fantasy XIV was released in a single Blu-ray compilation on August 14, 2013. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a rhythm video game, developed by indieszero and published by Square Enix for Nintendo 3DS and iOS.Based on the Final Fantasy video game franchise, the game involves using the touch screen in time to various pieces of music from the series. The primary composer of music for the main series was Nobuo Uematsu, who single-handedly composed the soundtracks for the first nine games, as well as directing the production of many of the albums. RELATED: 10 Games To Play If You Love Kingdom Hearts III. [14], Final Fantasy X (2001) marked the first time in the series' history that Uematsu was not the sole composer for the soundtrack. The following is a list of battle themes and boss themes used in Final Fantasy XIV. "Best of" collections and arrangements for guitar solos and piano duets are also available. [14], Having now gained experience with the Super Famicom sound chip, Uematsu felt that the sound quality of the soundtrack for the next game in the series, Final Fantasy V (1992), was much better than that of IV. By 2010, at least eight Final Fantasy soundtrack albums had debuted in the top ten of the Oricon albums chart: Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version, Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack, Final Fantasy VIII Original Soundtrack, Final Fantasy IX Original Soundtrack, Final Fantasy X Original Soundtrack, Final Fantasy X-2 Original Soundtrack, Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack, and Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack, the latter debuting at #3 on the chart. However, when we hear the live versions of this song (which will likely be similar to the remake versions), it reminds us once again why this game is so well-loved. Released on the PlayStation 2, the score was assisted by Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano. While the rest of the music for this game was sub-par, or at least nothing entirely revolutionary, its this ballad that had us bawling for days and scouring YouTube for a live version. However, the soundtrack and the graphics came in clutch, as this was the first modern-gen game to premiere in the Final Fantasy series boasting such. Many will argue that it doesn't get enough credit while others will argue it wasn't great, but this is all about the sound. Having previously worked on the Kingdom Hearts series, among various other titles, Final Fantasy XV was her first project for the series. In 2012, "Aerith's Theme", written by Uematsu for Final Fantasy VII, was voted into the number 16 position in the annual Classic FM (UK) "Hall of Fame" top 300 chart. According to Uematsu, the choice of language was meant to symbolize the developers' hope that their online game could contribute to cross-cultural communication and cooperation. Find Final Fantasy bio, music, credits, awards, & streaming links on AllMusic - Toronto-based violinist/singer/songwriter Owen… We could only imagine what an eventual remake would be like, especially if the in-game soundtrack is anything like the Distant Worlds version... We can hope, can't we? [34] The game and each of its four expansion packs have produced a soundtrack album; the discography for the game also includes two piano albums, an album of unreleased tracks, two arranged albums, and a single for its vocal theme, "Distant World", which was composed by Uematsu and performed by Japanese opera singer Izumi Masuda. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), a computer animated science fiction film, was scored by Elliot Goldenthal,[70] and Final Fantasy: Unlimited (2001), a 25-episode anime series, was scored by Nobuo Uematsu, Shiro Hamaguchi, and Akifumi Tada. [14], The soundtrack of Final Fantasy VIII (1999), unlike that of VI and VII, did not include character themes, as Uematsu felt they would not be effective. A selection of tracks from the album was released in the single-disc Reunion Tracks by DigiCube the same year. 50 Tracks. With extensions being added every year, we're expecting nothing but greatness as far as future soundtracks. [12], After the success of Final Fantasy I, Uematsu remained with the series to compose the soundtrack to Final Fantasy II (1988). Kumi Tanioka is the main composer for the series, having composed the music for all of the released games. The Music of Final Fantasy has been, since the release of the initial game in the series, an integral part of the experience.Most of the games' original soundtracks have garnered critical praise ranging from video game magazines to professional music reviewers. Final Fantasy III (1990) was released two years later and featured a soundtrack from Uematsu that has been lauded as one of the best soundtracks of any NES game. [36] Sakimoto experienced difficulty following in Uematsu's footsteps, but he decided to create a unique soundtrack in his own way, although he cites Uematsu as his biggest musical influence. Nobuo Uematsu, now joined by Masashi Hamauzu since Final Fantasy XV, have both created nothing short of brilliant, beautiful, and inspired work. Because that's where it belongs. These albums include a soundtrack album and two arranged albums. [14], In 1994, Square released Final Fantasy VI (1994), the last for the Super Famicom, and the accompanying soundtrack has been considered one of the greatest video game soundtracks ever composed. [14], Advent Children featured a song by former Japanese rock band Boøwy's singer Kyosuke Himuro in its ending credits, the Dirge of Cerberus soundtrack contained two songs by Gackt, including its theme song "Redemption", and Crisis Core's theme song, "Why", was performed by Ayaka. [39] Although its main theme was originally announced to be composed by Nobuo Uematsu, Uematsu instead gave it to Hamauzu to compose after being selected as the composer for Final Fantasy XIV, making XIII the first game in the main series to not have any work by Uematsu. It was a game that went back to the 'fantasy' roots of the series and had a flawless soundtrack to match. Both songs were sung by Jade Villalon from Sweetbox in the English version of the game, and are available as bonus tracks on the Japanese release of her album Adagio. Similar to the final boss music for FFVIII, 'Dancing Mad' was a song that had us on the edge of our seats. [35] Violinist Taro Hakase also contributed a piece named "Symphonic Poem 'Hope'", featured during the game's ending credits. After the success of the 20020220 Music from Final Fantasy concert in 2002, a recording of which was produced as an album, the Tour de Japon: Music from Final Fantasy, was launched in Japan in 2004. "Victory" is included on the second disc of the Final Fantasy Vinyls collector's edition s… Oh, yes. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. Music for the spin-off series and main series games beginning with Final Fantasy X was created by a variety of composers including Masashi Hamauzu, Naoshi Mizuta, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Kumi Tanioka, and Yoko Shimomura. While the media capabilities of the PlayStation allowed for CD quality music, Uematsu opted instead to use Sequence format. [9] The discography of the original game only includes soundtrack, best of, and piano albums. [86] The station was relaunched in July 2006 and still remains on the site. Uematsu was hired through his "Smile Please" studio to score the original Final Fantasy XIV, the first game in the series in a decade to have a score completely composed by him at release. Before Crisis's soundtrack was composed by Takeharu Ishimoto, while Advent Children was scored by Nobuo Uematsu, Keiji Kawamori, Kenichiro Fukui, and Tsuyoshi Sekito. The music of the video games Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II was composed by regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu, who would go on to be the exclusive composer for the next seven Final Fantasy games. Uematsu, along with Calloway and Koji Fox, also returned for the title theme to the game's 2015 expansion, Heavensward, titled Dragonsong.[45]. He said it was a way to make some money on the side, while also keeping his part-time job at the music rental shop. Many have also inspired orchestral, vocal, or piano arrangement albums as well. [14], Final Fantasy XII (2006) was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, with six other compositions by Hayato Matsuo and Masaharu Iwata. This music disc is near impossible to miss. [67], Other spin-offs of the main Final Fantasy series include Final Fantasy Adventure (1991), a spin-off game later also considered as the first game in the Mana series, which had references to Final Fantasy removed in its remake, Sword of Mana. [53], The music of these games has been primarily composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto, who also composed the main-series game set in Ivalice, Final Fantasy XII. She states that the "epic soundtracks of games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Assassin's Creed and God of War, all owe a debt to Uematsu, who made the world wake up to the power of video game music." However, the soundtrack and the graphics came in clutch, as this was the first modern-gen game to premiere in the Final Fantasy series boasting such. A Video Game Symphony world tour from 2006 onwards, for which Nobuo Uematsu composed the opening fanfare that accompanies each performance. Normally, FFVII should rank somewhere above average for its game music. FFVIII is a bit of an underrated game. Just get near it and you will get an option to play any music disc you have. The soundtrack included the first attempt in the Final Fantasy series to include a vocal track, "Aria di Mezzo Carattere", which has been described as "one of Uematsu's greatest achievements". Unlike the other Chocobo games, they had a joint soundtrack album release, while Chocobo Tales had a previous download-only "best of" album. Uematsu contributed 51 tracks, Hamauzu contributed 20 tracks and Nakano contributed 18 tracks to the game. [1], When Nobuo Uematsu was working at a music rental shop in Tokyo, a woman working in the art department for Square, which would later become Square Enix, approached him about creating music for some of their titles in development, and he agreed. No tracks from X or other games in the series were used in the game. The series' music ranges from very light background music to emotionally intense interweavings of character and situation leitmotifs. Final Fantasy XV was her first project for the series. This song captures the essence of all that is Final Fantasy. Music from the series was played in the first four concerts of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra's Orchestral Game Music Concerts series from 1991 to 1994, and each concert has been released on an album. Interestingly, it was a side-quest boss whose music comes to mind when we think of FFXII. [109] Uematsu and his Final Fantasy music subsequently appeared at number seven in 2014,[110] number nine in 2015,[111] number 17 in 2016,[112] and in the top half of the list for every subsequent year through 2019. For the music list of the arcade version, see /Arcade. She notes that "Aerith's Theme" from Final Fantasy VII in particular is "one of the most famous pieces of video game music ever written" and is rooted in Romantic music. [57] She did not compose the soundtrack for The Crystal Bearers; Hidenori Iwasaki composed it instead. In the 2004 Summer Olympics, the American synchronized swimming duo consisting of Alison Bartosik and Anna Kozlova were awarded the bronze medal for their performance to "Liberi Fatali" from Final Fantasy VIII.[87]. 'Roses of May' and 'You're Not Alone' are enough to make a grown man cry... and many have.