Nobuo Uematsu

30 Day Video Game Challenge: Day 8

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Day 1

<–Day 7                                                                                                                    Day 9–>

Day 8: Best soundtrack.

Noooooo!  The impossible question D:  There are so many good soundtracks, and I believe I addressed this question before myself on one of my Final Fantasy Fridays.  There I named FFIV as the game in the franchise with my favorite soundtrack, but VII has many honorable mentions, VI is the game that fully got me into soundtracks in the first place, and Final Fantasy in general just has amazing music.

You can’t talk about soundtracks without bringing up Legend of Zelda, because Zelda is just as good as Final Fantasy when it comes to the music.  Most of the songs on my YouTube writing/editing playlist are from those games.

This medley has gotten me through many an editing session.

This is the best version of Kakariko Village you’re ever going to hear.

This is the most serene song every composed.

This is obviously just a sampling of wonderful music.

So what game has the best soundtrack?  Ironically, impossible for this music lover to answer.  I can hear the merit in any great composition.  Not only that the music perfectly fits whatever mise en scene it’s been written for.

What game/game series do you think has the best soundtrack?  Discussion time!

<–Day 7                                                                                                                    Day 9–>

Final Fantasy Friday: Favorite Soundtrack

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A Final Fantasy (et al) post to welcome you to the glory of Friday (if you don’t have weekends off then may this hopefully brighten the midst of your work week) with more located here!

I am doubly thankful today is Friday and I was able to work from home.  I’ve been sick with something for two weeks or so, and I’m wondering if it’s the flu mitigated by the flu shot I got back in November.  I’m also asthmatic.  Such a bad combination if that’s the case.

Anyway, as I continue to stall on my Final Fantasy Astrology series, I have another FF question for you all.

Which Final Fantasy has your favorite soundtrack?  Would it surprise you to find out mine is Final Fantasy IV?

final-fantasy-iv

While my favorite song of all time is from another game (that’s going to be another question, so I’ll leave it for you to ponder), FFIV has the best music overall (in my opinion).  The Overworld, Baron Castle, the battle music, the boss music, the ending theme/credits, and so many others.

What Final Fantasy soundtrack resonates the best in your ears?  Let’s discuss the genius of Nobuo Uematsu (or Hitoshi Sakimoto if XII has your favorite music) in the comments!

P.S.  I’m also a fan of Koji Kondo, the composer for Legend of Zelda.

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The Major and the Minor Switch

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This is one of the many articles/review that I have reblogged from Caffeine Crew, the collaborative geek blog I write for.  I am in the process of editing/updating them to truly post here on my personal blog.

The minor key plays grim hostess to most of my favorite songs. Like many I find it to be the register of rue and darkness, and that just speaks to my eclectic tastes. I decided to catalog just what percentage of my regular playlist was minor one day, and the results were pretty substantial.

One day I was puttering around TV Tropes where I spend a good portion of my time, and I ended up in the video games section of the Awesome Music page, and there was a link to a G major version of “One Winged Angel.” I listened to it and just…no. No, no, no. It’s just wrong, and wrong in a different way than the wrongness the song is trying to project. This did get me thinking though about other instances where major songs are switched to minor, minor song are switched to major, and songs that use both throughout. I’m going to post both the original song and the switched version where applicable in my attempt to break down what I’ve found.

Note: I am not a music theory expert.  I actually failed that class, but I have played piano since the age of 5, have good enough relative pitch to figure out most melodies by ear, and am a pretty decent vocalist.

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Final Fantasy Friday: Final Fantasy (I) Review

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Final Fantasy Reviews

Final Fantasy II Review–>

This is the part of a long-term project to play and review/analyze all the Final Fantasy games.  Whenever possible, I will play the original version, but in cases where it’s not available and/or there are time constraints, I’ll use a port and/or watch a Let’s Play, both of which contingencies will be indicated in the review.  Ideally, I will attempt to play a portion so that I can remark more accurately on the gameplay experience.  These will be long-form reviews with detailed plot analyses, so please be wary if you do not want spoilers.

 

Final Fantasy I Cover

Quick note: I really, really tried to find just an original Final Fantasy banner, but to no avail, which is why the one you see above has sprite characters from later games.  I hope you won’t judge me too harshly.

First a little history lesson of the now very ironic title. Final Fantasy was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi in 1987, first published in Japan by Square (now the infamous Square Enix). It was so named because it was to be the failing company’s “final” fantasy, but was so successful that it revitalized the corporation and allowed it to stay afloat. Sakaguchi readily admitted that he was not really good at making video games, but he knew how to tell a story. Nearly three decades later, you would be hard pressed to adequately disprove that. With music composed by Nobuo Uematsu and character designs by Yoshitaka Amano

Seriously, look at this

Seriously, look at this

you (retroactively) can’t go wrong.

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Final Symphony

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This is one of the many articles/review that I have reblogged from Caffeine Crew, the collaborative geek blog I write for.  I am in the process of truly posting these here on my personal blog.  While they will be edited for any prior missed errors, I will not be really updating them beyond that so some information could potentially be outdated, erroneous, or defunct.

 

Note: This review was graciously featured on Spielemusikkonzerte’s Facebook page on February 28, 2015 to my supreme and humble delight.

The day will come when I do not spend the entirety of it listening to Final Symphony, but that is not this day. The day will also come when the music does not bring me to tears, but that is not this day either. I made the “mistake” of listening to samples of all the songs on iTunes, and it could not be endured…my lack of this music. It had to be bought; it had to be experienced, and subsequently I had to speak.

Final Symphony consists of arranged music from Final Fantasies VI, VII, and X: an opening overture, one from VI, three from VII, three from X, then three encores from VII, X, and a medley from the series. It is performed by London Symphony Orchestra, and every single song is good. Now there are some that are better than others and some I do not particularly care for, but it is a credit to the composer Nobuo Uematsu and the arranger that even the songs that hit my ear less stellar are still worlds ahead of most of the music I hear. You do not need to be a fan of Final Fantasy, nor do you need to be a connoisseur of video game music in general to enjoy this bliss. In fact one of the reviews on iTunes stated the very same. This album is for people who love good music and enjoy the classical arts. Thus far every single review there has given it five stars.

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