FF Music Saddest Final Fantasy songs.

Yu Narukami said:
Hmm I'd have to say

Your Not Alone-FFIX,This was perhap's the most depressing song I heard on FFIX,when Zidane loses his hope even be it brief it was sad how he shunned his friends and fought alone.

Every time I hear that song that cutscene comes up into my head D=
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This. It gives me goosebumps when I hear it.

I find it hard to pick 1.

From 7 i'd say it was either Off the edge of despair (i'd say this one probably edges it. Seeing Tifa care for a Cloud so helpless is pretty emotional), interrupted by fireworks (especially in hindsight. The date with Aeris after you know what's going to happen to her makes this a really emotional piece in my opinion) or on the other side of the mountain. (I'm not quite sure why but this piece really gets me going. If I remember rightly it's played at some times where Cloud is facing up to his shortcomings and mistakes?)
8 - I think it's Julia although i've not given the OST a good listen for a long long time. Great soundtrack but Julia stood out for me. Especially in hindsight knowing what happens between Laguna and Julia.
9 - You're not Alone for the reason quoted above. Rose of May stands out to me too, although maybe not as sad as you're not alone.
10 - This one is easy. There aren't that many great sad pieces so i'd have to go with Someday the Dream will end.

Can't forget Price of Freedom from Crisis Core!

Thanks, i'm depressed now. So many great songs. FF Music is great. I'm not big on instrumentals usually but the music is so well implemented in the majority of cases that it brings back alot of memories.
 
It's gotta be the world map theme from FF7. It makes my heart sad for some reason...I think it's because of the mix of hope and mystery sound it gives. It goes into such a dark mood later on, and it fits FF7 because such deep, sad things occur within the game/story, but there is also some hope in the song, too.
 
Night of Seclusion (Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core) is hands down the saddest piece in Final Fantasy history. It is so poignant and moving with subtle instrumental harmonies that create a mood of pure isolation and almost desperation. The violin in the background is what get's to my feels every time though and is what makes this piece also one of my most favourite Final Fantasy tracks.

 
If I had to go with the straight up, overtly saddest song, I'd definitely go with:


Partially because of the simplicity of the structure. Partially because of the complex chords used. Partially because of the effective use of silence. And partially because the scene this song takes place in is complimented well by the piece. The pauses mirror the struggle to breath, the simplicity echoing the emptiness of space.

However, I much more subtly sad song would in my opinion be:


This song is to me the anthem of Final Fantasy VII. It perfectly expresses the themes and tone of that game. Though it may come off as gentle and bright in many ways, there are a lot of dark undertones coming from the strings and such in some sections. It feels like extremely fragile happiness; a facade that is only barely holding together in the face of unending, blackened depression. I think that contrast is what -for me- truly makes it the saddest song in the series.
 
Honestly, when I first saw the thread, one song came to mind and I read through the thread, and finally saw it on the 2nd page.

iSmiff said:
10 - This one is easy. There aren't that many great sad pieces so i'd have to go with Someday the Dream will end.
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Just hearing it when you arrive to Zanarkand and as you approach the temple, even during the battles without stopping. And knowing this is the end of the line for Yuna and you're escorting her to her death, it just has such a sad sound, the progression of it. It's just such a bummer.

I did see a lot of good choices throughout the thread though that didn't immediately pop into my head. Kudo's for the one who pointed out Epitaph from FFVI, one of my favorites from the soundtrack and indeed a very sad sounding track.
 
A rather unusual one but:
I don't know why, but I can never listen to this, I think it is related to the context used within the game where you see a young Tifa in grief.
 
The saddest one for me is the FFX's ending theme. Every time I hear it I remember the scenes of the aeons disappearing and that moment when Tidus hugs Yuna - that gets me every time :cry:

 
It took me a short while to really think about this one. I'm sure in a year (or less) I may change my mind, but like Gal said, I think Crisis Core's Night of Seclusion is on top as my saddest Final Fantasy song.

Though... I really struggled between that one and The Price of Freedom. The Price of Freedom has a lot of Night of Seclusion in it, and initially I wrote it down first, but I think with Night of Seclusion being softer than The Price of Freedom makes it more somber.

That violin...



 
I’ve no idea how I haven’t replied to this one yet!

In truth there are hundreds of FF tracks which can be called ‘sad’ in one way or another. I'll list a few which are particularly memorable to me. Interestingly, quite a few of them are emotive variants of character themes and they are associated with important scenes in their respective games.

From FFVI we have Forever Rachel. The sad story surrounding Rachel (being a former love of Locke) is over swiftly, yet her theme is haunting and memorable.
Similarly Epitaph is a variant of Setzer's theme and is used to tell the story of his fallen rival/lover Daryl.
But to me the one which truly struck a chord with me in a big way was Coin Song. This is the variant of the Figaro brothers' theme (Edgar and Sabin) and is used during the scene when they flip a coin to determine which of them should be king following their father's death, determining their fates for the rest of their lives. The fact that Edgar rigged the coin toss so that the outcome benefited both of them does not undermine the sentiment behind the scene.

From FFVII there is The Great Warrior. This is the theme which plays when Red XIII/Nanaki sees the petrified remains of his dad and learns for the first time that he was not a coward at all and had instead died defending Cosmo Canyon. His stone-daddy even cries an actual tear because the scene (and music) is so sad!
Likewise, Sending a Dream into the Universe. This variant of Cid’s theme is insanely powerful. It channels his lifelong dreams of going into space, how they were squashed when he was tantalisingly close, his consequent poor treatment of Shera (who he blamed), then the eventual realisation that Shera had actually saved his life that day, and finally the achievement of his ambition. It's a great track and it gives you a lot to think about.

In FFIX I find the themes used for the planet Terra (Terra and Bran Bal, The Village Without Souls) to present the sense of the decaying planet. The ghost of Terra was clinging to life, just about. Tragically, the entire planet was, in a manner of speaking, in a coma and relied on Gaia as a sort of life-support machine. These tunes are this planet's final, depressing dirges. Sad swan songs so that its memory can live on in the experiences of others. And they are also beautiful.

For FFXIV there is Ishgard’s theme (all of its iterations) but most particularly Night in the Brume. You can really feel the sadness Ishgard’s citizens experienced during a thousand year war during which millions needlessly perished.


But actually, this version really affected me the most and I've only ever heard it during this particular scene:
When the Dragonsong War is finally over and Count Edmont has finished writing its history, the lies which perpetuated the conflict exposed as such in ink. A new age dawns. Exhausted, sad, but also relieved, he closes the book on this thousand year conflict forever and can finally rest.


It's beautiful.

It makes this scene one of the most powerful scenes in FF history, in my opinion, and it is this music which makes it a classic.



This is scratching the surface though. I've just tried to think on the spot. There will be many tracks from many other FF games which I should probably have included if I had posted this on a different day and remembered different tracks.
 
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