I've been playing way too much Theatrhythm lately and as usual, while I love going through certain game soundtracks over and over; there are others I tend to begrudgingly go through for completions. There are also times where I'll go through a soundtrack I love and find they chose a lot of tracks that I don't really feel represent the best the game had to offer. So what this thread is about is revealing which tracks from the series make you twicth uncontrollably when you listen to them or give out a deep sigh as you have to listen to this boring track.
While I have never been partial to regular battle themes in the series, usually going into auto-pilot for most of them, FFX's stands out for me as one that is just a bit annoying. I'm not sure if it's the fact it takes it awhile to pick up and feel "urgent" or if it's the fact that several parts sound way too familiar and the track sometimes feels like a bad remix of an earlier battle theme. While it's hardly the worst battle theme I've listened to, I think I can safely say it's my least favorite in the series. Honestly the music for the blitzball mini-game would have been a better choice for a battle theme.
I don't even know what's going on in this track. It starts off playful then kind of gets serious and the music just feels like a representation of walking, which makes sense cause it's a track that plays on a road. It's just so damn boring though, which is a shame because you just came away from awesome tracks like Besaid island and get to look forward to Macalania wood and Zanarkand but this theme is just boring and the Mi'hen Road is one of longest sections of the game by this point, and one that is largely not terribly story relevant until you reach Mushroom Rock, making it feel like filler, which this track is.
I learned to really hate this track in the first Theatryhthm game, probably cause it popped up with way too much frequency in the chaos shrine challenge section. Musically, there is nothing wrong with it. The melodies and beat are really nice, this track just has the misfortune to have singing in it, which just feels awkward to me for some reason. Probably cause the track feels more like something out of Persona 3 and 4 which used a lot of singing tracks for school days. This theme might represent the bright colorful location it plays in, but the area is rather forgettable for me (as most locations in FFXII tend to be for me) and I feel the track would have worked better had their been no singing cause it makes the track feel like XIII's composer was rummaging through Atlus' trash bin for music. The lyrics being utterly cheesy don't help, but then again, most FF songs are cheesy when lyrics are accounted for.
I love FFV's soundtrack for the most part, except this piece and a handful of others but this one gets played a lot. I don't know what it is, perhaps it just feels like it lumbers too much for me, or perhaps it's because the later world map themes are just overwhelming superior to it, but this track lacks the urgency and bite of the later tracks. It doesn't help that it feels like something closer to the NES era titles, whereas Unknown Lands and A New World feel like the kind of tracks Nobuo will compose for the later installments. It's tied with one other game for my least favorite world map theme...
Oh my lord this track is SOOOO BOOOORRRRING. Most world map themes fit the feel of the world and the story but I can't really put my finger on it for this game due to this track always putting me to sleep.
So what are some tracks you don't care for?
10-10-2016, 06:59 PM
Fynn
FFX's battle theme literally makes me wanna puke.
10-10-2016, 07:05 PM
Vermachtnis
I'm going to catch a lot of flak for this, but I hate "Suteki da Ne."
10-10-2016, 07:06 PM
Formalhaut
Both FFX and FFX-2's regular battle theme are atrocious. I can think of plenty more, to be honest. I'm sure there's one or two FFXII tracks in here.
10-10-2016, 07:10 PM
Karifean
Y'all suck, FFX's battle theme is great.
Can't defend Blue Fields though. Definitely the most boring world map theme of all.
10-10-2016, 07:46 PM
Wolf Kanno
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermachtnis
I'm going to catch a lot of flak for this, but I hate "Suteki da Ne."
Oh no, I totally agree. I actually prefer the instrumental arrangement that is Yuna's Theme. Course the only "songs of the game" I enjoyed are Eyes on Me and Melodies of Life.
10-10-2016, 07:53 PM
Fynn
Throw me into that Suteki Da Ne hate bandwagon. Rikki's got an insanely annoying voice and she really can't maintain a good pitch when you listen to all the concert recordings. The instrumental arrangements are okay, though, since the main melody itself is inoffensive enough on its own.
10-10-2016, 08:12 PM
Formalhaut
It's... eh. The chorus and instrumental sections are the best bits. She can't really carry the verse. Most vocal songs in FF are either 'bleh' or 'okay' for me.
10-10-2016, 09:00 PM
Galuf
I smurfing hate the song in the condie petie in IX.
and most songs from X are boring. But luckily the rest are great
10-11-2016, 01:59 AM
Depression Moon
Quote:
Originally Posted by Karifean
Y'all suck, FFX's battle theme is great.
Yeah, the hell? That trout is the best battle theme in the series.
I don't know about worst. There are a lot of tracks I don't remember so it's probably one of them.
10-11-2016, 03:04 AM
Wolf Kanno
Quote:
Originally Posted by Depression Moon
Quote:
Originally Posted by Karifean
Y'all suck, FFX's battle theme is great.
Yeah, the hell? That trout is the best battle theme in the series.
No, this is the best battle theme in the series.
10-11-2016, 03:07 AM
Forsaken Lover
Having played FFVIII on PC with the music fix/replacement, I came to actually like Blue Fields. The trick is that only the orchestral version is any good. (SPOILER)
It's no Main Theme of FFVII or Crossing These Hills but at least it's bearable now.
As for worst song?
There's no competition.
10-11-2016, 05:53 AM
Depression Moon
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno
Quote:
Originally Posted by Depression Moon
Quote:
Originally Posted by Karifean
Y'all suck, FFX's battle theme is great.
Yeah, the hell? That trout is the best battle theme in the series.
I was talking about regular, not alternates and I must be able to tell the future, because I had a feeling when I said that somebody wasn't going to know I meant regular and then post Man with the Machine Gun.
No, this is the best battle theme in the series.
10-11-2016, 05:57 AM
Fynn
Like Wolf said, X's battle theme is just incredibly disjointed and slow, making it sound like some weird patchwork of Uematsu's unused tracks. That and he used some pretty terrible sound chips for X. In general, I get the feeling that he wasn't too happy with having to share this project so he half-assed it. Because it really sounds lazy above all things.
And really, I think slow battle themes can work, this one is just atrocious. Compare that to the Dragon Quest VII battle theme which plays at a very moderate tempo, and yet it has enough going on when it comes to melody and harmony that it keeps battles exciting. (I also generally think Sugiyama does basic battle themes better than Uematsu.
Of course, this is all subjective. This explanation is just because you guys are so baffled with how we can hate it, so here are the reasons :p
10-11-2016, 09:04 AM
Wolf Kanno
Quote:
Originally Posted by Depression Moon
I was talking about regular, not alternates and I must be able to tell the future, because I had a feeling when I said that somebody wasn't going to know I meant regular and then post Man with the Machine Gun.
Yeah it is tempting fate on an FF forum. ;)
Though technically the theme is Laguna's regular battle theme, not his fault his son is listening to crap music when he fights. :colbert:
Uematsu's battle themes are all pretty good, he's at least better about it than Mitsuda who hasn't composed a stellar battle theme since Chrono Trigger. That man can compose some unflinchingly powerful pieces but always seems to struggle to make a regular battle theme you don't want to quickly mute after a few hours of play. Course no one has anything on Meguro when he's not trying to be cute...
10-11-2016, 03:33 PM
Rocket Edge
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf Kanno
No, this is the best battle theme in the series.
Definitely. Along with VIII's 'Force Your Way' they are two of my favourite battle themes.
I didn't mind Blue fields, it was just meh. Agreed with some on you on FFX's battle theme, it was horrible. One I didn't care for is the opening rock theme in FFX. The name escapes me.
10-11-2016, 03:39 PM
Fynn
FFVIII's regular battle theme is pretty cool too.
10-11-2016, 03:40 PM
Galuf
My brother hates Don of the slums. Because he does
Soooo now im gonna listen to it
10-12-2016, 01:06 PM
Loony BoB
I love some music in FFXIV but the daytime field music is generally far, far too repetitive to encourage me to keep music on. Idyllshire during the day is probably the worst for me. It really needs more variation in beat. It shocked me upon finding out on YouTube that it's over three minutes, because it really does feel like the same thing over and over and over and over and over and urgh. I'd say you only really notice 50 seconds of it and most of that is just a couple of different instruments playing the same beat, with about 10 seconds of a different melody.
The night theme is significantly more pleasing on the ears, but it still suffers the repetition of melody. I like it because I have a thing for piano-focused music but yeah, it showcases the general problem. In an MMO, you really need to have a LOT more variation in the music if you're going to be hearing it over and over for months/years.
