The Shrine

Well, I've been playing a lot of Theatrhythm over the last month, and it has me thinking a lot about Final Fantasy music, and which songs I like best.... Well, there's a few hundred of them, and most of them are fairly great, so it is difficult to choose. Although, these 5 are among the best of the series.

5. FF4 - The Red Wings,
I think most traditional RPG players will remember this song.


4. FF7 - Anxious Heart (The Midgar Underworld)
I think of all of the tunes of FF7, this one most accurately painted the game for me.


3. FF4 - Ending Pt. 4
FF4 was the first of the Final Fantasy's (and maybe the first RPG) to have multiple songs to tell the story of the ending - and this is the final movement; and the song which closes out the game.


2. FF8 - Liberi Fatali 2
While we're on the topic of ending themes. FF8 brought in a very interesting take on music -moving from a largely synth/midi style into orchestral themes throughout the majority of the game; and FF8 brings some of the most beautiful musical moments ever put into a videogame - and demonstrates that videogames indeed do incorporate high art. I personally don't think any game has been closed out in more beautiful a way as FF8 was.


1. FF6 - Searching For Friends
This one's a personal favourite. It is the third main field theme of Final Fantasy 6, and it replaces the second theme in the world of ruin once you acquire Daril's airship. the instruments of the 1st main field theme can be heard in the song - the theme of the world before Kefka demolished it - so this song is essentially a song of hope and defiance. This song captures the overall mood of FF6 more than any other song in the game.

From the numbered FFs the one that stands out the most is At Zanarkand (starting screen in FF10). It really goes well with the opening "Listen to my story... this may be our last chance."

There's no shortage of good music from the FF games but I think that one really fits the mood of the game, and it occupies the opening slot so it stands out more than others.

Pretty much all of the FF6 character themes are great. Relm and Gau, especially, are so fitting for their characters, but Terra, Celes, Shadow, and Cyan's themes are my favorites.

Chrono Trigger has amazing character theme's, too. I'll always love Frog's, if i could play a penny whistle really well i'd be playing his theme nonstop.



Even though i wasnt a big fan of the game itself, Chrono Cross's opening theme is probably my favorite of all time.

My favourite Chrono Trigger song was Schala's theme (Left). My favourite Mitsuda song overall is Bonds of Sea and Fire (Right).




For Opening themes of non-FF games, I really like Suikoden 3 (left). And yeah, FFX had some really great music as well, I like this song (Right).

Jesus, that Xenogears link really sent me back. I think the music is what i miss most about the old games. Gameplay can get repetitive (meaning, replaying a classic isnt always feasible for us nowadays), so i find that pulling up the old music every now and then achieves the same nostalgia!

Square isn't the only source of great VGM:




And let's not forget FFT. I could fill a full page of favorite songs from that soundtrack:



Or their spiritual successor, Odin Sphere:



Or Okami:

Nostalgia overload.
God dammit guys.

My favourite FFT song was Princess Ovelia's theme.



Some non FF games with music that I like - Skies of Arcadia; and can we forget Wild Arms? =P

f Olivia, best track in FFT is this!

Aside from Under the Stars I don't really have much of a favorite from FFT. All the battle music sounds more or less the same and everything else occurs too infrequently to remember them. I think Ovelia's theme was played like twice and it's not always played just because she's there so you don't really get attached to anything. Tactics had a lot of raw musical talent but the overall presentation was nothing special.

Here's another one I really like. Probably my second favourite from FF7, and one of my favourite songs in the entire series.

It just dawned on me that there is a person in the FF8 credits "Project Leader: Anus P." and it shows up on the preview for the video up in the original post =P