Rank The Soundtracks

[Forsaken Lover]

Well since the unwashed masses of this forum do not recognize FFIV had an unrivaled masterpiece of a soundtrack, I thought I'd indulge you.

Tell me - what are the best OSTs in the series? Rank the Top 5 if you want or rank all of the ones you've heard.

I've beaten 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12 and 13. I mostly beat 2 and I think I saw all there was to see in 6 so....

Final Fantasy IV
FinaL Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy VI

[Wolf Kanno]

1. VI
2. VII
3. V
4. IX
5. IV

At this point they can go in any order as I am not terribly in-love with the rest except maybe a track or two from each installment. This comes down to the issue where I feel what makes a OST good is when the music is memorable but also deeply connected to the story or world. If I hear a track and can't remember where it is from, then I don't consider the OST very good. So even though some OSTs have good compositions, I consider them weak soundtracks regardless. With that said, I also don't dislike any of the FF soundtracks, all of them have a t least a handful of strong tracks I just feel the top five here have the most memorable soundtracks.

[Karifean]

#5: Final Fantasy IX
With quite an amount of memorable tracks, one of my favorite villain themes in the series, as well as very good battle themes, FFIX definitely has a great soundtrack. Fairy Battle is my ringtone^^

#4: Final Fantasy VI
The character themes! Really. Terra, Edgar, Setzer, Shadow, Kefka, gotta love the character themes in this game. And of course that's not all. The soundtrack of this game has a lot of variety and makes the individual great composition stand out all the more. And did I mention Dancing Mad?

#3: Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X's soundtrack is one I considered average for the FF series for quite a while. However, not only does it have my two favorite track out of all FF (To Zanarkand and Fleeting Dream), it also has very good supplementary tracks. Most of the area crossing themes are quite catchy (Silence before the Storm, Movement in Green, Thunder Plains, ...) and it also has some pretty good character themes and remixes.

#2: Final Fantasy VII
What I admire about FFVII's soundtrack is how it all fits together so nicely. Between Aerith's Theme, Anxious Heart, the overworld theme, Sephiroth's Theme and a ton of other tracks, it always seems to fit the situation perfectly. Not to mention the tracks themselves are very very good.

#1: Final Fantasy VIII
This is not only my favorite sountracks in Final Fantasy, but my favorite soundtrack in gaming in general. Final Fantasy VIII - I find it hard to think of tracks I do not care for. Its themes in all general areas (battle, towns, etc.) are all high above average and it has so many tracks I just outright love. The Extreme is my all-time favorite final boss theme. The Castle (also my favorite track from FFVIII's soundtrack) is my favorite final dungeon theme. And between Don't Be Afraid, Force Your Way, The Stage Is Set, Under Her Control, Shuffle or Boogie, Overture, Mods de Chocobo, Movin, The Oath, The Man With The Machine Gun, ... - I could go on but I think you get the point - it easily deserves the top spot on my list.

[magemasher]

The only soundtrack that stands out to me is 13, A will to fight would be my favourite song of all the games. 9 and 10 are ok but the others are just music on the game for me.

[krissy]

i can't do this
depending on the day i will stream anything from 6 to 13-3, even tactics

except ff10 for some reason i thought it was pretentious

[The Man]

1. VI
2. IX
3. VII
4. V

After that I don't really care. I haven't listened to some of the soundtracks (anything before IV, VIII, and anything after X) in their entirety though.

Not coincidentally, this isn't very far removed from my ranking of Final Fantasy games themselves (swap VII and V to get that).

[metagloria]

For context: http://www.last.fm/user/metagloria
That hasn't been updated in years, but suffice it to say the top few are still the top few, and #1 is still #1 by about that margin.

With that being said, my all-time favorite RPG OST is, surprisingly, Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. I thought the way it fit in the game was perfect, I love the prog-jazz battle pieces, I love the moody atmospheres, I love it love it love it.

But for FFs:

1. VII - I mean, it's unassailable. There are so many good OSTs that it's hard to pick such an obvious one as the best...but then again, there's a reason why it's obvious. This classic set of songs has spawned orchestral albums, metal albums, and hip-hop albums (and probably more) - no other soundtrack can do that.
2. XII - Brilliant orchestration and execution, fits the game perfectly.
3. X-2 - Bring it, haters. This soundtrack is AWESOME, and makes a great game even better. The way it is able to balance poppy energy and dark mystery is exquisite.

I'm going to stop writing now, but just attach any two or three of the following terms to each one as you see fit: "awesome", "exceptional", "stellar", "top-notch", "great tracks", "memorable", "killer", "beautiful", "my jam"

4. VIII
5. V
6. XIII-2
(below here it gets nebulous to actually separate them, so if you have any HUGE problem with the rankings, just realize they're all like...7a through 7n, and I don't really dislike any of them)
7. VI
8. III (best world map theme in the series)
9. XIV
10. Tactics
11. X
12. VII: Dirge of Cerberus
13. XIII-3
14. XIII
15. IX
16. II
17. IV
18. I
19. XI
20. Crisis Core