Most underrated soundtrack?

[Fynn]

So I know that 90% of the fandom has gone mad and thinks one of the worst soundtracks in the series is the best one (madmen!), but thinking about it, I've come to the conclusion that one of my favorite soundtrack in the whole FF series gets very little attention?

So which FF soundtrack do you think doesn't get enough credit?

For me, it's FFV. Sure, everyone remembers Clash on the Big Bridge, but this soundtrack is not only filled with absolute gems, it's also one of the more consistent soundtracks with an atmosphere of light-hearted adventure, wonder, and heroism just constantly present.

I mean, the main theme - Agead on Our Way? So uplifting!

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The boss theme is slow and incredibly intense - definitely stands out from most of the series!

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The ever nostalgic Home Sweet Home

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The very regal sounding Royal Palace

https://youtu.be/m93fU4PbW_o

The hauntingly beautiful I Feel as You Feel

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And one of my favorites, the Dawn Warriors!

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And these are just a few examples. The entire soundtrack is gold and so often overlooked, and I have no idea why. Easily one of Uematsu's best work.

[Wolf Kanno]

Probably the first five entries. II and III especially have some great tracks that are overshadowed by later entries. Hell I feel IV and V suffer from having some tracks that are superb but are always in the shadow of more popular tracks from within their own game.

[Darth Ganon]

I don't see Final Fantasy XII get a lot of praise in this regard unless I'm looking in the wrong places. The OST was one of the saving graces for that game.

Since the thread opened up with FFV, I'll throw in one of my favorites:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEAx5zkMF_0

Also, any excuse to post this one:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Bhyto3Llc

That conductor is just SO happy.

[Loony BoB]

FFXII without a doubt for me. FFVII and FFXII are my two favourite soundtracks. FFXII is absolutely underrated, the songs are just beautiful to listen to in and out of the game. I have a FFXII soundtrack playlist on my PC which I regularly use when doing all kinds of unrelated activities. It just has much more to it than a simple melody.

[Fynn]

Yup, FFXII is another amazing soundtrack that gets overlooked for insanely stupid reasons.

[Vyk]

I'd be tempted to agree, but I hear Final Fantasy XII music in so many places, it makes me think the one composer of the two doesn't have a lot of range. I recognize the same style in Valkyria Chronicles, Odin Sphere, Dragons Crown, Muramasa, Crystal Defenders, every Tactics game. Though the consistency is nice for same-world games like Valkyria, and the Ivalice games, it's weird to hear almost the same music in a lot of VanillaWare games as well. And every time, it catches me off guard as to where I heard this music before and have to look him up, and it instantly makes sense

I like the music, but I hear it so much and it's so similar, it's become something I'm never really interested in acquiring the soundtrack to because it feels like I could just get that music elsewhere

But on topic, as a game, it is definitely one of the more under-appreciated soundtracks in the fandom

[Fynn]

To be fair, it's not like Uematsu, Shimomura, Sugiyama or Hamauzu aren't just as samey. Shimomura probably has the most ranged, but she's classically trained so she knows what she's doing the best. While Sugiyama and Hamauzu are too, Sugiyama is just a super conservatist, while Hamauzu is too busy dreaming up impressionistic landscapes, so they don't care about having range XD

[Karifean]

I'll throw in a vote for FF IX. Such a good OST. But somehow not brought up a lot??

[Lyndis Highwind]

I agree with V! "Home Sweet Home" is one of my favorite FF tracks ever.

[Fynn]

I'll throw in a vote for FF IX. Such a good OST. But somehow not brought up a lot??

I actually always thought IX was rightfully appreciated as one of the best soundtracks in the series, actually. But maybe that's because we have a lot of IX fans here and they just gush about the soundtrack in between gushing about the game, so it just gets drowned out :p

[ham]

Sometimes it's hard for me to listen to music because at some point, all of the sounds just sound like static noise. I usually go by how the music is introduced in a scene and what emotions are running through me at the time. It doesn't happen often but what criteria, if any, do you guys choose when picking what you like?

To add to the discussion I like this track from FF2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onM81DpgSgs

I don't know how to emb the link :|

[Galuf]

Strange I always thought ffv was in the top 3 most popular osts of FF lol

Well yeah ffxii is extremely underrated. Definatly in my top 5 soundtracks of FF.
But ima choose FF2 much like the game itself no one remembers any song from this game. Save pandemonium but thats probably cos of FF9 maybe or Dissidias remix. Which is awesome btw. but yeah. I like FF2 music so meow

[Yubel-Lover]

Definitely FFXII. Things like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfzBkZ1YxXw

And this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ2rw-VDwfA

And this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpXe6VTjvnk

Are really well done and fit the atmosphere perfectly.

[Vyk]

Just a heads up guys, since someone taught me once, and it's not common knowledge, but the YouTube embedding has a youtube tag, much like you would use a spoiler tag. And I believe you just have to put the watch code in it. So with brackets instead of parentheses it would look like (youtube)xtpowu893(/youtube) I believe

[Darth Ganon]

A few more FFXII tracks to enjoy:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qQm3kaxfl4


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgvaZ1F7Ox8


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7J_8IB5i6k


what criteria, if any, do you guys choose when picking what you like?

Mostly it just has to be catchy. Something that tickles my eardrums, but there are some instances where I'm drawn to something due to a moment.

A prime example being Aerith's Theme. It's nice, but I'm not a huge fan of it on its own (it's used earlier in the game and didn't spark anything in me). The moment where it's playing instead of J-E-N-O-V-A during the Jenova LIFE battle and the scenes before and after it is what won me over. That was some powerful stuff to me back in the day.

[Scruffington]

A prime example being Aerith's Theme. It's nice, but I'm not a huge fan of it on its own (it's used earlier in the game and didn't spark anything in me). The moment where it's playing instead of J-E-N-O-V-A during the Jenova LIFE battle and the scenes before and after it is what won me over. That was some powerful stuff to me back in the day.

This is something that Final Fantasy is, or at least used to be very good at: tying music to the story itself. They did this in FFIX, where you could hear "You're Not Alone" for a specific battle instead of the normal boss music.

Here's one of my favorite themes from FFXIII's soundtrack, which I think is extremely underrated when compared to the rest of the amazing OST:


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[ham]

A prime example being Aerith's Theme. It's nice, but I'm not a huge fan of it on its own (it's used earlier in the game and didn't spark anything in me). The moment where it's playing instead of J-E-N-O-V-A during the Jenova LIFE battle and the scenes before and after it is what won me over. That was some powerful stuff to me back in the day.

& @Scruffington

I agree! I think understanding music emotionally is what gets me to like a certain track over another. There's also something else that I wondered and that's how composers decide what to write for music. Do they write according to a scene being played out before them or do they come up with concepts without seeing any actual visualizations of the game itself? I've always wanted to understand their choices and selection of music.

[Darth Ganon]

I'd like to understand music period. I can grasp the creative process of most other art forms (I'm not good at them, but I get it), but the act of creating an unheard of piece of music is 100% lost on me. I'm literally unable to even make up a simple tune that isn't a part of something I've already heard.

Composers are wizards from my point of view.

[Fynn]

I'd like to understand music period. I can grasp the creative process of most other art forms (I'm not good at them, but I get it), but the act of creating an unheard of piece of music is 100% lost on me. I'm literally unable to even make up a simple tune that isn't a part of something I've already heard.

Composers are wizards from my point of view.


It's actually a pretty precise craft with tons of rules that you can definitely learn. Of course, some people manage to just feel their way out, but all music can be analyzed and follows specific rules that can be replicated.

You can trust me on this, I spent 12 years in music school and my wife has a degree in musicology :p It's far less mystical than the general public perceives it as.

[Vyk]

I've dabbled with music here and there, and can come up with melodies in my head, but have no way to bring them to life in any satisfactory manner. I also don't have my instruments or any worthwhile software available to expand on. But I believe there used to be tutorials on Newgrounds from some of the top composers there

[Loony BoB]

Ooh, somehow forgot entirely about FFXIII (and FFXIII-2, to a lesser degree). It has a fantastic soundtrack. The downside is that it's in one of the games most heavy on sound effects and voices. This means that there's a constant sound of your footsteps and characters talking this and that, and with that happening, it really drowns out the music. But when I was playing FFXV, it was the FFXII and FFXIII soundtracks I tended to play the most, and I guess that shows how good they are.

[Yubel-Lover]

Ooh, somehow forgot entirely about FFXIII (and FFXIII-2, to a lesser degree). It has a fantastic soundtrack. The downside is that it's in one of the games most heavy on sound effects and voices. This means that there's a constant sound of your footsteps and characters talking this and that, and with that happening, it really drowns out the music. But when I was playing FFXV, it was the FFXII and FFXIII soundtracks I tended to play the most, and I guess that shows how good they are.

XIII-2 has some of the most amazing pieces of music I've ever heard in a FF game. The themes of Caius, Yeul, Noel and Heart of Chaos are among the best in the entire series imo.