Fair enough, To the Palace of Gods is a very good soundtrack, and I do agree FFXII's OST had to balance exploration and combat themes, something which it did well. And I will concede that the uplifting track does work for the first true area in the game, the Dalmasca Estersand.

Honestly, with subtlety I was mainly referring to The Giza Plains. It goes along nice enough, then kicks into an almost militaristic march with drums and and heavy beat. Which is fine in and of itself, but The Giza Plains always felt like filler. Not much really happens, and you have this booming soundtrack - which is very good - but feels out of place when you're just killing a Giza Rabbit. It's like overlaying boss theme music to a mook kill. It's hard to explain, and it looks like at this point we're going to have to disagree on this one!

I think the OST works best when you highlight set pieces. 'Esper Battle' is an amazing theme with choir and a looming sense of dread and fear which works perfectly. 'Ozmone Plains' I felt didn't sound overly dramatic for the area you were in, but 'Mosphoran Highwaste' felt - again - just a tad too dramatic. Though it doesn't feel as incongruous because it was a higher level area.

Overall, I definitely didn't dislike the OST, and I love FFXII, but I don't know. It just doesn't capture me like I'd have expected it to.