Final Fantasy IX had the best music of any FF game

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Shoggoth2588

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I would agree. The music in IX is the most memorable to me outside of the two fight-themes in Mystic Quest. Behind the Door is one of the only tracks that gets me every time with feels and I consider Stiener's theme to be mine as well. I really like the soundtracks of most of the Final Fantasy games that I've played though (my favorite FF game is actually Theatrhythm: Curtain Call) but IX is probably my favorite from the main series.
 

Roboshi

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While we're on the subject of Final Fantasy Music, might I suggest the FFVIII OST?

I realise the game has become everyone's favourite whipping boy as of late but the music still holds up with "Eye's on Me" a very nice vocal track and "Balamb Garden" one of the most relaxing pieces of music you will ever hear.
 

RJ 17

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Arqus_Zed said:
D'aaawww, that's so cute, don't worry, once you grow up you'll realise instant gratification isn't everything.
D'aaawww, that's so cute. Don't worry, once you realize that being condescending on a forum is par for the course and makes your responses neither poignant nor witty you might be able to put up with someone who disagrees with your opinion. So until then, you'll just have to forgive me for not having any interest in a game about a 9 year old saiyajin - complete with an SSJ form for his limit break - on a quest to save the world with the most lack-luster and uninteresting band of characters I had ever seen in a FF title...and that's saying something seeing as how I actually managed to choke my way through FF8 with all it's utterly depressing characters and laughable attempt at a love story.

It's not about instant gratification, I don't need to be hooked into a game from the moment I start playing it. But if you can't grab my attention by the end of the first disc then you fail. You're using the same argument as those that say "Oh! FF13 is starts getting really good 40 hours in!" That's at least 35 hours way too late.
 

GundamSentinel

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Aug 23, 2009
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Gizmo1990 said:
Sung-Hwan said:
For a site that universally hates Final Fantasy and is actually on professional board (Sterling and Ben's jobs) to dismantle Square Enix, I wonder why there are these positive threads every once in a while. That aside, I generally love Final Fantasy music; it's a default highlight for any FF game.
I have seen very little hate for Final Fantasy here. What I have seen is hate for the direction that Final Fantasy has taken. You will notice that the majority of posts in this thred are talking about old FF games that were made by SquareSoft not Square Enix. There is a difference. SquareSoft gave use everything upto X. Square Enix has given us J-pop (X-2), bad Star Wars rip off (XII) and just plain bad (XIII).
I don't know if it's unfair or not, but personally I've always perceived much of the negativity about the newer FF games as generally coming down to "it wasn't like the old ones, so it's not a good game". Maybe, maybe not (personally, I've always enjoyed the way Final Fantasy reinvented itself with every new iteration). But I don't think that there has ever been a bad FF soundtrack. Even the newer games have good music. Different? Yeah. Less iconic? Maybe. But still good.

I will say that higher fidelity has probably made game music in general more 'generic' because music has become more orchestral with fewer clear memorable melodies. But it's certainly not bad music.
 

Fappy

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FFIX is great, yeah, but FFVII's soundtrack has a special place in my heart. "Those Chosen by the Planet" sends a chill down my spine every time!

Gotta say though, Nobuo Uematsu's best work is Chrono Trigger. That counts right?



 

MerlinCross

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I'm sorry I can't hear you over the FF Tactics sound track I got playing in the back ground.


Each to their own but I love the Tactics sound track. Hell I listen to this when I'm playing OTHER turn based strategy games.
 

Soviet Heavy

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Sung-Hwan said:
Gizmo1990 said:
Sung-Hwan said:
For a site that universally hates Final Fantasy and is actually on professional board (Sterling and Ben's jobs) to dismantle Square Enix, I wonder why there are these positive threads every once in a while. That aside, I generally love Final Fantasy music; it's a default highlight for any FF game.
I have seen very little hate for Final Fantasy here. What I have seen is hate for the direction that Final Fantasy has taken. You will notice that the majority of posts in this thred are talking about old FF games that were made by SquareSoft not Square Enix. There is a difference. SquareSoft gave use everything upto X. Square Enix has given us J-pop (X-2), bad Star Wars rip off (XII) and just plain bad (XIII).
Last post I'll make for this site, and thankfully for the sake of my health.

I'm convinced Escapist is not the top class journalism site I believed it to be. This person who just wrote this post with absolutely no context or weight, and resorting to pathetic generalizations/buzzwords like "Star Wars rip off" is what I mean by what the mainstream brings in regards to people. He even had the audacity to simply call FF13 "bad," again, with no context or meaning; which, in turn, gives me no reason to take him seriously unless I was a similar sort of sheep that didn't value context and just took everything at face-value. The irony here is I don't even like Final Fantasy 13.
Complains about using pathetic buzzwords and generalizations. Retorts by declaring people sheep. Right.

What does this have to do with Final Fantasy music again?
 

Gizmo1990

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Soviet Heavy said:
Sung-Hwan said:
Gizmo1990 said:
Sung-Hwan said:
For a site that universally hates Final Fantasy and is actually on professional board (Sterling and Ben's jobs) to dismantle Square Enix, I wonder why there are these positive threads every once in a while. That aside, I generally love Final Fantasy music; it's a default highlight for any FF game.
I have seen very little hate for Final Fantasy here. What I have seen is hate for the direction that Final Fantasy has taken. You will notice that the majority of posts in this thred are talking about old FF games that were made by SquareSoft not Square Enix. There is a difference. SquareSoft gave use everything upto X. Square Enix has given us J-pop (X-2), bad Star Wars rip off (XII) and just plain bad (XIII).
Last post I'll make for this site, and thankfully for the sake of my health.

I'm convinced Escapist is not the top class journalism site I believed it to be. This person who just wrote this post with absolutely no context or weight, and resorting to pathetic generalizations/buzzwords like "Star Wars rip off" is what I mean by what the mainstream brings in regards to people. He even had the audacity to simply call FF13 "bad," again, with no context or meaning; which, in turn, gives me no reason to take him seriously unless I was a similar sort of sheep that didn't value context and just took everything at face-value. The irony here is I don't even like Final Fantasy 13.
Complains about using pathetic buzzwords and generalizations. Retorts by declaring people sheep. Right.

What does this have to do with Final Fantasy music again?
Nothing what so ever but it gave me a laugh. Looking at the posts and the threads they have made I am a little proud that the fact that I was to lazy to say why I think FF XIII was bad has caused them to leave. I don't think the Escapist will miss them.
 

BarelyAudible

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Shoggoth2588 said:
(my favorite FF game is actually Theatrhythm: Curtain Call)
I'd argue Theatrhythm: Curtain Call has the best soundtrack because it has 'em all. You may even add a little The World Ends With You, if you like.
 

BeeGeenie

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OP, Imma let you finish, but FFVI had the best soundtrack of all time.

IX was a close second though.
 

Arqus_Zed

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Xiado said:
Arqus_Zed said:
RJ 17 said:
Arqus_Zed said:
RJ 17 said:
It's just too bad that FF9 was a crap game and as such it's soundtrack was - by default - crap as well.
Oh, you silly troll you.
Because god forbid I found that game so incredibly dull and boring that I couldn't be arsed to play passed the first disc. Oh wait, that's exactly the case.
D'aaawww, that's so cute, don't worry, once you grow up you'll realise instant gratification isn't everything. Still, apparently you liked FF IV, kudos, I'd figure someone who couldn't even make it passed disc 1 of FF IX would definitley give up before Cecil goes all pokémon and evolves from Dark Knight to Paladin.

On topic: now that I think about it, FF IX also has my two favorite variations on the Chocobo Theme: Ukelele le Chocobo and Vamo' Alla Flamenco.
If you don't like the first disc of IX you're not going to like the rest; it establishes that nostalgic fairytale charm that's key to enjoying the game. Honestly, he probably just grew up and got jaded between IV and IX, since how good you think these games are has a lot to do with when you first played them. Hell, I hold XII up with the older greats since I played it when I was a teenager and the world struck a chord with me.
I don't know... I'm more of the mindset that it would depend on what exactly it is one doesn't like about the first disc.

For example, if it is indeed the nostalgic, fairytale charm, then yes, I can't imagine you would like the rest of the game. But if it was because, say, you thought it was too cliché (princess + thief with golden heart), you might end up being pleasantly surprised about later plot twists.


Surprisingly strong female cast.
One of the few instances where a princess character actually becomes a queen halfway through the game.
Zidane turns out to be more than just 'the thief with the golden heart'.
The whole Terra thing.
The way Vivi's story arcs are handled (basically the equivalent of a terminally ill child having to deal with the concept of death before reaching maturity).
Etc.
 

go-10

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but, but... I like all the Final Fantasy OSTs'
I think they're all great! Except for XIII-2, that stupid chocobo song was crap
 

Arqus_Zed

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RJ 17 said:
Arqus_Zed said:
D'aaawww, that's so cute, don't worry, once you grow up you'll realise instant gratification isn't everything.
D'aaawww, that's so cute. Don't worry, once you realize that being condescending on a forum is par for the course and makes your responses neither poignant nor witty you might be able to put up with someone who disagrees with your opinion. So until then, you'll just have to forgive me for not having any interest in a game about a 9 year old saiyajin - complete with an SSJ form for his limit break - on a quest to save the world with the most lack-luster and uninteresting band of characters I had ever seen in a FF title...and that's saying something seeing as how I actually managed to choke my way through FF8 with all it's utterly depressing characters and laughable attempt at a love story.

It's not about instant gratification, I don't need to be hooked into a game from the moment I start playing it. But if you can't grab my attention by the end of the first disc then you fail. You're using the same argument as those that say "Oh! FF13 is starts getting really good 40 hours in!" That's at least 35 hours way too late.
Zidane Tribal is 16 actually, not 9 (though I don't know how old he's supposed to be in the flashbacks).

Also: THANK. GOD.

Finally we have an actual argument, finally we get a reason for why you dislike the game! You see, the only reason I was bein' cute, was because I had nothing else to go on. I wanted to reply and have a discussion, but you gave me nothing! Your first post was the equivalent of this: "FF IX sucks, so the the music sucks, nyeh." That's really frustrating, because if someone posts something like that on a topic called 'Final Fantasy IX had the best music of any FF game', you would expect that person to actually have something to day. And now, now we have something to work with. I mean, I still don't agree with you, but you have made a point. Now your comment carries weight. You've got arguments.

So yeah, one, I agree about Zidane's age. I also prefer my RPGs to have a protagonist that isn't still trying to deal with his/her own puberty. Alas, JRPGs seem to have a hard-on for that kind of stuff. Still, in the case of FF IX, it just didn't bother me that much. At least he was fun. At least he wasn't brooding all the time like Squall in FF VIII.

Two, the saiyajin thing (is that how you spell it?) is a bit weird at first, but I personally didn't have a problem with it, since it actually makes sense near the end.

Three, "lack-luster and uninteresting band of characters". Huh... You're gonna have to explain that one to me pal, 'cause I don't get where you're coming from. The FF IX I played had a very diverse cast of characters, all with their own arcs and personality, going through scenes of both drama and humor, exchanging witty banter and generally being just a merry band of misfits. I strikes me as especially bizarre, since you claim to have worked your way through FF VIII. Really? Selphie? Irvine? And characters like Vivi and Freya didn't top that?

Four, well... you still haven't really said why you dislike the music (which was kind of the point of this thread).

Also, on a side note, I really, REALLY do not like FF XIII: complex lore with not enough explanation, story incomprehensible because it is rooted in said lore, little to no exploration, alle side missions are the same, combat offers little freedom, Paradigm/Crystarium system is a dumbed down version of the job mechanic and most characters act like they come out of some B-movie anime. So, no, I wouldn't be using that argument, because it doesn't start getting good 40 hours in.
 

Scars Unseen

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If we are talking arranged versions(not remixes), I'll pit what Distant Worlds has done with FFVI against anything else out there. Even with OSTs, I'll take Dancing Mad over any other end boss theme. That said, FFIX was a great game with a great soundtrack that benefited from being in the sweet spot at end of the PSX cycle when Square had mastered that system.

That said, there is a Final Fantasy that I don't think gets nearly enough credit on the music end of things, and that's Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. The game is simplistic, and it isn't my favorite RPG by a long shot, but the music in the game is solid, if a little different than Uematsu's work.



 

Foolery

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Eh, nah. My vote goes to VIII, for best music in the series. Terrible plot, shitty characters, but damn the music was good.
 

feeback06

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I agree with the title of this thread 100%. I love a lot of soundtracks in this series, but this one is easily number 1.