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/

The article Final Fantasy: Uematsu Nobuo’s Most Important Compositions appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

With the continued promotion of Final Fantasy XIII-2 (FFXIII-2) and the eventual launch at the end of January 2012, fans are wondering if this game will be any different than past iterations of Final Fantasy. Known for stunning graphics and unconventional storytelling, Square-Enix needs Final Fantasy XIII-2 to do really well on the American market or risk losing veteran fans completely.

Fans lament the disappointing venture of the last two Final Fantasy games to hit American consoles, Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy XIII respectively. A great deal of hype was amassed for the launch of both titles, with similar fan expectations of another epic 3 disc adventure. While both games were fairly lengthy, the feel of the games hadn’t changed very much from the last decade beforehand.

Final Fantasy XIII had the unfortunate habit of pushing you forward and nowhere else. One of the best elements for RPG fans is to earn their items, to build a newer better weapon or to find that extra sword in a town with cave full of monsters nearby. What Square-Enix had removed was the human role of the Role Playing Game and substituted it with purely cinematic cut scenes and character back story.

This isn’t entirely a bad thing but in a series as renowned as Final Fantasy, it stops the player from engaging their character, and from stepping into that character’s mighty and loveable shoes. What you were left with is a sympathetic character being played on a screen in a living room.

Early footage courtesy of Square-Enix does reveal some good changes to the game, most likely owing to fan complaints. Players from FFXIII were notoriously known for telling their friends to still support the game, saying that it would get better as they played when it was more likely that players just played for the sake of playing.

Many veteran fans remarked that previous generation console Final Fantasy games were great and engaging from the very onset of the game and required no break in time at all. This has been a primary concern for fans of the newest game and it is a strong argument against the Square-Enix series.

The general feel of the graphics is expected to be quite cinematic as usual, with a healthy helping of bright colors and fantastic shading. Whatever players may gripe about with each new game, Final Fantasy is sure to deliver on the eye candy. The visuals are something that SquareSoft and now Square-Enix do very well, with stunning textures and fantastical creatures that are out of this world but still familiar to fans. Ifrit by any other name would still be red, have two horns, claws and an affinity for fireballs.

Long time fans that have played any number of Final Fantasy games will recognize the Active Time battle system and the Paradigm Shift system, which is both a blessing and a curse. The issue stems from the repetitive game play that emerges at the onset of the game, leading to eventual stagnant button pressing that isn’t even close to interactive.

The feel of the combat system has changed very little from years past since veteran players have already been using character roles for support, fighter and healer on their own long before the labeling of the Paradigm Shift System. Giving it a title and streamlining the process for XIII helped, but it didn’t seem to be enough for veteran fans last time around. Will it be enough this time?

The game design doesn’t seem to have evolved a lot, which is also a mixed blessing.  Both characters and environments designed so far look to be classical Square-Enix fare with what is most likely linear storyline and wide training fields. The back-story for the cast of characters will be familiar to players from the first title with the hunt for Lightening being the focus that drives the game forward.

Hopefully, unlike another Final Fantasy game with a dash two at the end of the title (Final Fantasy X-2), these characters haven’t gone downhill. One of the newest playable elements is the use of a time travel component to change up the game, which if done well can elevate the game play.

Players from Final Fantasy VII (Cloud) and VIII (Laguna Loire) will find this feature reminiscent of those games, using playable flashback scenes to open up the storyline  further. History is apparently a major corner stone of this Final Fantasy game and fans will hopefully praise rather than curse this new gameplay facet.

Thus far trailers have revealed larger maps that aren’t linear and a combat system that is familiar, but, hopefully, will be different enough for players. The characters are vibrant, relatable and accompanied by stunning visuals that should at least continue the series decently.

Despite the ‘classic’ feel of the game with the addition of the new Time Travel feature, XIII-2 needs to have a good balance of high and low moments with slow and fast pace changes, otherwise the game will be another vapid freight train on a collision course with the end of the story.

The straight and narrow is not a fun line to walk. It’s more engaging to step off that line and than to find your way back later in the game, which Square-Enix hopefully will not ignore this time with XIII-2.

The article The Hopes, Dreams and Fears for Final Fantasy XIII-2 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.