The music of Final Fantasy has become the life work of Japanese composer Uematsu Nobuo. Between Final Fantasy I – IX, Uematsu was the main creative force behind the music of the series, and he created benchmarks and broke ground that few other game series have lived up to musically. Here are the top ten most important musical moments in the Final Fantasy franchise.

10. Final Fantasy – Preludes and Victory Themes

Little connects the various worlds and stories of Final Fantasy games but one familiar recurrent element is the title screen music known as preludes, the battle music, and the victory fanfares. The preludes are always a form a light harp music of crystalline delicateness, winding up and down like the never-ending tale of the Final Fantasy worlds. The battle music is dark and exciting, reminding you of your struggle against whatever forces of evil are at work in that world.

The victory fanfare is, as one would expect, a cheerful horn-blast followed by a sort of marching melody. The value of these is that for a series with precious little to tie it together, these melodies provide the necessary familiarity for the player to stir up those feelings of anticipation and achievement from previous titles. Without them, it just wouldn’t be Final Fantasy.

9. Final Fantasy II – Overworld

An odd choice, perhaps, but the overworld theme for Final Fantasy II is where Uematsu began writing music based on elements of the story rather than simply the generic MIDI music of the original Final Fantasy. FFII is one of the first RPGs to have more than a perfunctory story, with dark undertones, twists, character deaths, and betrayal. It remains one of the few truly dark overworld themes within the series.

8. Final Fantasy V – Clash on the Big Bridge

A variation of this song (also known as Battle with Gilgamesh) also features in FFXII when fighting against Gilgamesh, the only truly recurring character in the Final Fantasy franchise. Gilgamesh travels through the Rift between Final Fantasy worlds, popping up in many of the games between V and XII.

As the only recurring character (“Cid” is a different person each time and chocobos aren’t really characters per se), he holds a special place in the heart of fans of the series. This music has become his theme, and is well suited to his somewhat goofy, bumbling personality.

7. Final Fantasy IV – Dreadful Fight

This song spans all the feelings you might have had while playing through the “dreadful fight” towards the end of FFIV–it’s energetic, intimidating, climactic, hopeful. Memorable music for a memorable battle, Uematsu’s work really speaks for itself here.

6. Final Fantasy VI – Dancing Mad

A piece fitting of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer (an influence, by Uematsu’s own admission), this sprawling, epic tune sets the mood for the final boss fight in Final Fantasy VI, one of the most highly regarded entries in the entire franchise. The opponent is Kefka, a psychotic jester-mage come god bent on destroying the world. One of the most familiar, memorable, and defining moments of the franchise, this music is a perfect fit for the four-part final battle against an unhinged god.

5. Final Fantasy VI – Aria di Mezzo Carattere

This song is part of a full, actual opera written for Final Fantasy VI by Uematsu. It has been performed live several times, with lyrics sung in Japanese, English, or Italian. This is one of the first songs written for a video game intended for live dramatic performance, and shows Uematsu’s seriousness about the music of Final Fantasy. The four-part opera scene in FFVI is one of the most iconic, memorable moments in Final Fantasy history, accompanied by some of Uematsu’s best work.

4. Final Fantasy VII – One Winged Angel

There’s a good chance this is the most epic final boss battle music there has ever been. Psychotic, megalomaniacal, and lumbering with power, this song plays all through the final boss fight of FFVII (in which, at one dramatic moment, a comet plows through each planet in the solar system and then lands on your team… wow). There are many reasons for the fervent group of Final Fantasy fans claiming FFVII is the best in the series; the epic final boss fight and its music is one of them.

3. Final Fantasy VIII – Liberi Fatali

This orchestrated opening cinematic was an awesome spectacle to those awaiting the sequel to FFVII. Square had clearly learned from their success with VII, and wanted to make the cinematic sequences look even better, and make the music even more powerful. While VII felt like an experiment into the third dimension, VIII and its music have a more self-certain air to them, which shows through in this composition.

2. Final Fantasy VII – Aerith’s Theme

A beautiful and tragic song for a beautiful and tragic character, this is one of the most memorable pieces of music from Final Fantasy VII. Aerith’s Theme is played at multiple points throughout the story, deepening the emotional connection between the player and the characters. This is a great example of Uematsu’s music truly enhancing the gaming experience in a way dialogue cannot.

1. Final Fantasy IV – Theme of Love

A wonderful piece of music to match the moving and layered story of Final Fantasy IV. One of the subplots of FFIV is the development of a love relationship between Rosa, the white mage, Cecil, the lead character (who undergoes a transformation from black knight to paladin), and his friend Cain, the dragoon.

Cain watches from a distance as the relationship between Rosa and Cecil develops, keeping his peace out of respect for his friend and shame for his actions during the game. Theme of Love serves as a leitmotif for this developing relationship throughout the game, and it is so well-loved that it is actually taught to children in Japanese elementary school music classes.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/el_finco/

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At a time when entries into the Final Fantasy series are leaving fans disappointed, frustrated, or just apathetic, now might be the time to look back to the series’ roots, to the games that were able to build a 20+ year empire of Japanese RPGs in the first place.

Everyone has their opinions about VII, VIII, and IX, and most gamers out there are familiar with them. However, I-VI are games that you might not have played in a long time, if ever. With recent re-releases for modern platforms, such as the Nintendo DS and the iPhone, it might be time to rediscover where this series came from, and what made it great in the first place.

Final Fantasy

The game that saved Square. ‘Final Fantasy’ was the last hope of a floundering Japanese software company who left it up to their producer, Sakaguchi Hironobu, to save them from bankruptcy. This is the game that did the trick and made Square a powerhouse of JRPGs.

This first entry into the series founded the video game concept of a vast world, protected by a group of rag-tag adventurers, with noticeable use of elements from Dungeons & Dragons. Final Fantasy’s main rival at the time, Dragon Quest, on the other hand, featured a single hero and a less intuitive user interface, which might have led to FF’s initial superior popularity. This title is currently available on the Wii Virtual Console and for iOS.

Final Fantasy II

The second title in the series was never originally released outside of Japan until 2002 for the Playstation and is now available on the Playstation Network and iOS. This one comes highly recommended for its unique leveling system, which is based on how often a certain trait is used–if you use a sword most, your sword skills will go up; if you take a lot of damage, your health goes up.

Sound familiar? The wildly popular RPG Skyrim uses a similar system, and it adds a certain amount of personal customization to the leveling of your character. Final Fantasy II has a great story and is the first game in the series to feature Chocobos and the recurring character, Cid.

Final Fantasy III

First released outside of Japan in 2006 on the Nintendo DS, the original Famicon version is available through the Wii Virtual Console, and a port of the DS version is available with improved graphics for iOS. These first three games all feel like an intentional improvement on their predecessors, with a focus on character customization and control.

FFIII introduces the Job System, allowing players to customize their team of four Onion Knights with 23 different jobs, allowing 279,841 different party configurations to play through the game with. FFIII is a sort of archetypical Final Fantasy game, a touchstone for what “is” Final Fantasy.

Final Fantasy IV

A considerably modified and censored version known as Final Fantasy II was released for the SNES in North America in 1991, and various versions are now available for the Nintendo DS, the Wii Virtual Console, and the PSP. Final Fantasy IV is a dramatic tale with twists and turns, a few weird moments, superb music,  and a rotating, but memorable cast of characters with predetermined Jobs.

This is the first FF where story is more important than character customization, but the sense of exploration is maintained, as is the series’ notorious level of difficulty and level grinding, except in the American ‘EasyType’ version. In fact, this is the title that arguably pioneered story-driven RPGs on any console, so for fans of strong plots in games, this is a must-play.

Final Fantasy V

Customization makes an improved return in Final Fantasy V with the Job system, and the Active Time Battle system carries over from FFIV, with an additional visible gauge allowing players to see when their next opportunity for attack is coming up. In this sense, FFV is a good example of a Final Fantasy game taking the best elements of its predecessors and building on them.

Only in November of last year did FFV become available on the Playstation Network in North America, and there are no other current generation systems  for which this title is available, unfortunately. The favorite game of series creator Sakaguchi Hironobu until FFIX, this is a rare gem worth playing if you can get your hands on it.

Final Fantasy VI

The grand poobah of retro Final Fantasy games and considered one of the best video games of all time, this game was originally known as Final Fantasy III in North America. Final Fantasy VI is in some ways a proto-Final Fantasy VII, in that players can swap out characters from a large cast to form a party and equip “magicite” and “relics” to teach and customize abilities, similar to materia in VII.

This game is also the origin of Biggs and Wedge (who, similar to FFVII, die early on), a Limit Break system of sorts, Ultima Weapons, and others. FFVI was just released on the Playstation Network in North America in December 2011, and on the Wii Virtual Console in June 2011.

Judging from these old games, it seems that it was only recently that Square forgot how to use all the best elements of previous FF games to make a new one. I-VI paved the way for the series’ popularity. Yet, in recent entries to the main series, the keystones that made these games great seem to be all, but absent.

The next Final Fantasy should respect its roots beyond just sticking a Chocobo in one of the characters’ hair. Free exploration of a huge world map, fully customizable characters, a deep and gripping plot, and  bits of the best gameplay elements from each game–that’s what the next FF should look like if Squeenix wants to put its main series back on track.

Hopefully, the awesome Final Fantasy Type-0 for PSP will get a release outside of Japan, and the next console entry will look something like it as well.

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