FINAL FANTASY XII Soundtrack

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Floating_Redness

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Hello, Everyone,

Just saw a few Messages comment on the Soundtrack, so I thought I'd give it it's own Thread. So, what do you think of it? Looking forward to your answers/comments!
 
I personally think it's the most sophisticated in the series in terms of technical composition. I've been a musician for years now and I mostly listen to composers and artists with complex technical song writing. I have an appreciation for technical musicianship rather than "catchiness" and it ends up being more catchy to me.
I'm not saying Uematsu's merits as a musician is just that he's catchy he's in a very good spot actually, the best musicians are the ones that are both technical and appealing to a wider audience or "catchy". But Hitoshi Sakimoto is more technical than Uematsu which is what I personally prefer.

I have heard little of what resembles Hitoshi's style, the man crafted his own unique sound and is quite diverse. Listen to his work on Valkyria Chronicles, Romeo X Juliet and Vagrant Story I bet you couldn't tell it's the same person. The soundtrack of XII is nothing short of excellent IMO. All the tracks are orchestrated (be it a full orchestra or software) which keeps true to the mature realistic theme of the game (consistent).

The tracks range from grand epic and bombastic (Final Fantasy XII main theme), to ambient dark and suspensful (Giruvegan's mystery/ The Feywood), to upbeat (Rabanastre), to powerful and authoritative (Theme of the Empire) to shit your pants threatening (Esper Battle) to beautiful and mysterious (Eruyt Village) to melancholic and sorrowful (Seeking Power) and so much more. The arrangements of Nobuo's pieces from earlier titles are also a delight.

I was extremely pleased with the soundtrack as I was extremely pleased with the game. It is my personal favorite and I'm currently studying it. Again I do not view Nobuo Uematsu as any less of a musician FFVII's 'The People Fight more' is what made me want to be a musician in the first place but Sakimoto gets my no. 1 spot on my list.

One last thing, although my favorite out of Nobuo's in game songs is 'Melodies of Life' 'Kiss Me Goodbye' is just beautiful and full of melody. Nobuo made an excellent choice with Angela Aki to do both English and Japanese versions. It's overwhelming how much emotion these two can put into a song.
 
Agree with GameMage on all accounts. The compositions were intricate, thematic and most of all - perfectly matched to their respective areas in the game. They're so effective in setting the stage.

You listen to something like The Cerobi Steppe and there are so many things going on - so many layers yet pulled together flawlessly, that it's just hard to comprehend where it all came from.

There are a ton of hidden/underrated gems as well that never make all the "Top 10" lists and such: A Land of Memories (Nabreus Deadlands), Sochen Cave Palace, The Secret of Nethicite (Lhusu Mines).....just a very deep roster of great themes.

Not a day goes by where I don't pull up the playlist on youtube and listen through chunk of it while I work.
 
I bought the soundtrack after playing the game. It's wonderful to listen too. Really puts me back into the fantasy and wonder of the game.
 
Even though this is one of the more recent FF soundtracks and the production quality is top-notch, I wasn't actually all that impressed by it overall. Most of the songs are great for running around in different areas leveling up or pursuing hunts, but there are very few tracks that I could consider to be truly emotionally gripping, other than "Eruyt Village," "Abandoning Power," "The Sochen Cave Palace," "To The Place of the Gods," and "To The Peak." I think it's great that so many pieces of music were composed for the game, but a lot of them sound very similar to me, and fade into the background somewhat; whereas in many of the earlier FFs the scores often controlled the emotional dynamics of the cutscenes pretty much all on their own, in the absence of voice acting, detailed facial expressions, and sophisticated dialogue.
 
i actually think this OST created a gender divide among the fanbase. i love all of the little nuances and sub-melodies that play underneath the main theme, and the drum beats. they make the soundtrack exciting and adventurous, something that female fans of the series might not have been looking for because previous OST's were known for their more personal nature, emphasizing a single melody. i'm not saying all females hate the OST or that all males love it, just pointing out a possibility.
 
most of the tracks on the OST where pretty catchy, found myself either whistling or humming along to them. Liked the song that was played during the credits nice calm piece of music after kicking ass like usual from Square Enix
 
The FFXii soundtrack is so underrated :oy:

For me its one of the best in the series. The boss battle theme is just plain epic as well as the end credits song. I really like the OST becuase I think it does a great job in building up the atmosphere which none of the other OSTs seem to achive to the standard of Xii's.
 
I really didn't enjoy it, and I'm amazed so many people did. None of the tracks stuck out for me. I spent hours in dungeons, yet not a single one ever found its way into my head to loop around at all. They were forgettable and bland to me, lacking that emotional quality to music.

I found the game overall to be bland though; maybe this affected my overall mood toward the game.
 
It just depends on what kind of music you like. FFXII's OST is more orchestral and uses more sub-melodies than other FF soundtracks. If you dislike orchestral or largely prefer rock/synth, then XII won't make much of an impression on you.
 
I found the ost/soundtrack to pretty good, over all the orchestral music was a nice touch to the game play and situational scene's and battles. However some of the songs are lacking in my opinion, however the originality still sticks around. (gives off an old book feeling)
 
The soundtrack for Final Fantasy XII was definitely a lot different from the music of the previous series. This one is more orchestrated and symphonic, and i like it :) everything is a lot more deeper and complex, and each track of music suits the scene in the game exquisitely.
it reminds me of the music in final fantasy tactics advance, and maybe its supposed to since the story lines are alike.
 
I'm glad quite a number of users commented on this, and I have to say, I agree with most of them on the fact that music does a pretty good job of matching your surroundings, as well as being very deep, and well-thought out. You can tell this by the different levels of music within a single track, for example, it's not all the same throughout a track, although you may still get the same feeling because it goes with the place you are in so well, but the melody changes maybe once or twice from the start of the track, right through to the end. As well as using real instruments, as well as the thought that has gone in to this Soundtrack, makes this one the best in all the FINAL FANTASY's there have been, and that has not been made easily as most of the Soundtracks in recent times have been excellent, excluding X-2 and XIII.

Please feel free to add more comments as, as always, I am really looking forward to any more comments people wish to add.
 
Hmm:mokken: i wasn't really impressed with it. Maybe i'm biased because imo the game was horrible. Well I think the music was alright, but could have been better. i forget the name to it but the opening theme was quite good. To end it i will say this: the music was good but it was not magical. That is what previous FF soundtracks have sounded like.
 
One of my favourite FF soundtracks. However, I preffer the more scenic and easy-going tunes as opposed to harsh theme music of the Imperial Army or something. Eruyt Village is defenetly for the win and perfect for the scenery of the viera village.
I love instrumental music anyway. The more instruments there are, the better. FFXII OST was delivered with power and passion, and each track was unique.
 
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I don't really have anything to compare it to, aside from the Crisis Core OST, but in all honesty, I love the FFXII OSTs as much as I do the game. Overall, I just find it to be rather uplifting, yet melancholy, when necessary. Personally, I'm quite partial to the Theme of the Empire, and also the Eruyt Village theme. Considering how well they are implemented into the game itself, I think that it really does make for a brilliant OST.
 
Definitely the weakest aspect of the game.

With this, I don't want to say the music is horrible, not at all. There are parts where the music fits. But this game doesn't have that epic music, that will stay in your head and with whom you will feel attached to, like 'To Zanarkand' for an instance.
 
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