Remembering This Game's Music
XIII-2 has done a lot to make me want to replay FFXIII. This is a dangerous temptation and one I am resisting because I know that, if I actually do play the game again, all the things that made me hate it the first time around will come rushing back.
But while XIII as a whole is a double-edged sword, XIII-2 has helped remind me just how unambiguously great the OST was.
It all started when I came back to the Sunleth Waterscape... First I heard the theme of a true hero. It reminded me of when Snow rejoins the party finally and you run around with this playing all the time. God that was great.
Then of course you finally hear the original Sunleth Waterscape theme again. Vanille and Sazh's sections were infinitely better than Hope's and Lightning's and the SW was one of the best areas in the game. This song is a big reason for that.
What really made this thread pop into my mind though was my epic struggle with the Long Gui, the hardest boss I have yet to conquer in XIII-2. You know what made it so I absolutely HAD to win? The fact Saber's Edge was playing. i had forgotten how amazing this theme is. It might be the best normal boss theme in the series. Hearing it as I took on the ginormous Long Gui, it makes you feel all heroic and amazing for killing this poor animal who never did anything to anyone.
And while I haven't heard these songs in XIII-2, I've been indulging in nostalgia for the OST as a whole now. Dust to Dust, the theme of Oerba, is the sole redeeming feature of Pulse in XIII.
Then there's also Eden Under Siege, which I'll always identify with the cutscene of Pulse monsters invading Cocoon, as well as the boss fights with Yaag Rosch. "If I must die, so be it!" Eden Under Siege was the best part of the second half of the game and this track contributes to that.
