Month old news but: Looks like Sakimoto could become Square's new music guy, Uematsu has left the company after two decades. My thoughts.....

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://rpgfan.com/news/2004/1959.html"> ... 59.html</a>

This guy deserves a lot of respect; in my opinion it was his music that really made the Final Fantasy series something special in its earlier stages. He was a very key player. Yet it was much later that I think he really came into his prime.

Final Fantasy 8 really showed how important music was to a video game; the music fits in absolutely flawlessly with every environment, character, and event. This game, I would argue, has the best musical composition of any game ever made. This includes what I would argue as the most moving scene yet put into a videogame, and that is the ending sequence of Final Fantasy 8; it is absolute brilliance, and Uematsu himself has in the past stated that this is his favourite moment in the series.

Anyways, I hope this isn't the last time we hear from Uematsu, perhaps it will be a good thing that he is out on his own now. However, I just hope he doesn't slip into obscurity like Mitsuda who hasn't really come up with anything spectacular lately, Xenogears is the last I can remember (which in my opinion was his best work).</div>

[Flip]

<div style='font: 10pt Tahoma; text-align: left; '>I agree that he did a fantastic job with the earlier games, but i think he stayed just a bit too long. I cant remember any memorable tunes with FF9 or 10 like i easily can with 6, 7, and 8. It will be interesting to see how the new guys style will be and if it mixes well into the FF series.</div>

[Don]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Let's see... FF9 the overworld theme. FF10 offhand I'd say Zanarkand and A Fleeting Dream is quite memorable. Not sure if those were composed by Uematsu though since he had help on FFX</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>I thought Uematsu was overrated when FF7 came out. Konami's musicians dominated at that point. In fact, the only memorable recent Square soundtrack has been FFT and CC, so I'm glad they are getting FFT's composer for this one.</div>

[Zeus]

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>FF7 only had one ggod one: One Winged Angel. I liked most of the FF9 ST, Particularly the overworld and Memories of Life. FF8 also had a few good songs I heard on the ST. Other than 7, he's been good IMO</div>

[Flip]

<div style='font: 10pt Tahoma; text-align: left; '>Konami is still king, too,as far as i'm concerned. C:LoI may not have been that good of a game, but the music still kicked major ass.</div>

[Gentz]

<div style='font: 11pt arial; text-align: left; '>I always thought Mitsuda was better than Uematsu anyway</div>

[Torgo]

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Indeed.</div>

[Torgo]

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>To Zanarkand was the only piece that stood out for me in FFX. It was simple, but damn, it was beautiful.</div>

[Don]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Mitsuda sucked in Xenosaga, they got a new musician for Xenosaga 2 (though Xenosaga doesn't exactly use much music in the first place)</div>

[Blotus]

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>Add Cosmo Canyon to that and I agree. Otherwise garbage... just like the game itself! :)</div>

[Blotus]

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>Suikoden 3 was a letdown in the music department compared to its predecessors.</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Mitsuda did an outstanding job with Xenogears (Possibly my second favourite next to FF8), and a pretty damn good one with Chrono Trigger (Probably in my top 20 favourite). Other than that his compositions are fairly average to below average.</div>

[Don]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>at least boss music were okay in S3, but other than that I don't remember much from that game.</div>

[Don]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>I thought Aeris and Cid's theme are pretty good, and JENOVA.</div>

[Tortolia]

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Like the rest of the game, FF9's soundtrack wasn't very memorable. FFX has one of my favorites, though. I think part of that is the great sound quality from the PS2 equipment, though there's some great tunes to go along with it.</div>

[Manshoon]

<div style='font: 14pt "Times New Roman"; text-align: left; '>Summoned Beast Battle (FFX) is one of the best boss themes I've heard in a game.</div>

[Don]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>I think I like FF8's final batte (UItimecia part) better because it's not a variation, even though the main boss theme is worthy to be repeated.</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>I liked the boss music in Final Fantasy III as well; Ultimecia and Kefka's multi tiered final boss music made it more interesting than the other games. The fourth and final tier of Ultimecia's music is my favourite end boss music.</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>Castlevania:LoI (had to look that one up) was a lot better than many people give it credit for. Unlike C:CotM, it was actually beatable, without trying to find annoying ways to cure yourself.</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>FF8, then XG? I just don't know about that. FFT, CT, CC, and even in some respects Parasite Eve, probably top that. But, then again, we all have different tastes, and I've only played both games once.</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>There wasn't any songs in XS that grated my nerves, and actually I thought some parts were actually well done. There are plenty of songs in FF7 that make me wail in pain.</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>Suikoden 1's main battle music was probably one of the best battle music of any game. It was colorful enough that you could hear it a thousand times and you wouldn't get sick of it. I've even got sick of some of FFT's themes, though I've put in well over 200-300 hours in that game.</div>

[Zeus]

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>So was Castlevania 64, and it had kick-ass music to boot</div>

[Zeus]

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>I think FFIV's overall soundtrack was the best</div>

[Kupek]

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Lament of Innocence was a sin against god, man and beast.</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>FFT is one I like a lot as well. I found the music to be very well done. Ogre Battle 64 has very similar music, I think some of the music in FFT was reused in it.

Chrono Cross, I can't really say I like the music in the game, from when I played the game I remember liking two themes, the opening themes on each the first and second disc. The second one sounded a lot like Chrono Trigger music, and it brought back some nice memories. Aside from that, I can't really say I found anything that stood out about the other pieces.

Then there is Chrono Trigger, I liked that one quite a bit as well, but I do not think it is better than a few in the Final Fantasy series' music. It still is one of my favourite games for music.</div>

[Eric]

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>Definately one of that game's high points.</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>The first time I played through it back 12-14 years ago or whenever, I played only to hear the different music.</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>Oh, come ON! C64 was much worse. The music was good, the gameplay was good, and the story was even good, unlike Castlevania: Symphony Of Dracula's Scream.</div>

[Eric]

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>Ummm, which castlevania are you dissing? Besides the shity 64 versions obviously.</div>

[Kupek]

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>The presence of a worse one doesn't excuse Lament of Innocence. The music was forgettable (already forgotten!), the gameplay was repetitive, and the story was trite. I kept playing the game only for the vain hope it would get better. I sold it for a GB Player. Much better investment.</div>

[SineSwiper]

<div style='font: 10pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light", "Century Gothic"; text-align: left; '>"No! It cannot be! AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" (This is an unbearable strain to extend the caps, but I'm doing it as hard as I can.)</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>I don't consider that one to be a real Castlevania game; more like a really bad spinoff like the CDI Zelda's.</div>

[Don]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Die monster you don't belong in this world!</div>

[Kupek]

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>But unlike the CD-I games, Lament of Innocence was made by some of the same people responsible for SotN. That's one of the reasons I was so dissapointed: I had high expectations.</div>

[Torgo]

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>I thought it was more blah than terrible. The peak of mediocrity, if you will.</div>

[Torgo]

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>You know, it would have been a much better game if they had just added in the experience system and actually made the effort to make the rooms look different.</div>

[Flip]

<div style='font: 10pt Tahoma; text-align: left; '>yeah, and i didnt like how the monsters respawned after you left a room, when you had to back track (which wasin every level) i found myself just running around them instead of killing.</div>

[Kupek]

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Yeah, I agree somewhat. That almost makes it worse to me, though. Had it been a truly terrible game, I never would have subjected myself to the entire thing. But now I'm bitter that I did.</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Sine, what did you find worse about Castlevania 64?</div>

[Eric]

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>Ahhhh you're just dissing the voice acting?</div>

[Torgo]

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>I thought it had shitty characters and plot, but I kept playing because I thought it would get better. It also helped that the battle system was pretty good at the time(except for the magic system). By the time I got to the end boss though, I was so bitter that after I lost the first time, I just gave up and sold it on eBay.</div>

[Julius Seeker]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>I had similar feelings about Grandia 2 and Chrono Cross.</div>

[Don]

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>It's like almost impossible to lose to the actual last boss fight if you've the maxed out your healing.</div>