Explain this, please:

"I think he [Uematsu] hit the pinnacle there during Final Fantasy IV (2 US)."

"I think the peak of videogame music composition was Uematsu's Final Fantasy VI."

???

--Imad "(e)magius" Hussain, who'd wager a lot of people wrote in about this...

Well crap, I really want to kick myself. Between band and MML2, I haven't even looked at the internet since thursday. Oh, look! An RPG music debate! With people comparing it to other genre's. Oh crap, they compared it to other genre's. Oh, and they also wrote about it changing from simple miditastic tunes to more and more glorious compostitions. And I wasn't there. ;_;. Anyway, I have a point I'd like to make. Please?

*ahem*

Most game music from the past were nothing more than simple tunes, underlined by a simple bass line or counter melody. This was simply because thats all that the NES or earlier systems could handle, without sacrificing gameplay. Yes, there are exceptions. But go listen to the Zelda theme, Matoya's cave, or even something from good ol' Megaman 3. The melody and accompaning theme may change, but there's always 2 and only 2. But now to my point. Most music then was meant to accompany the game. To be something for the little 5 year old to drown out the rest of the world while playing. Well, now that technology is changing and sound programmers and composers can develop more orchestral sounding scores, we're seeing things change. Now, things like Vagrant Story's ending theme*, Liberali Fatali, or Melodies of life are there not to be an escape while you play, but as something to listen to while your NOT playing the game. Of course, if you never play the game such things have lesser meaning to you, but thats how far in such a short while technology has advanced. We now have stuff like SoTN, which trows just about every kind of gothic music it can find at you, or its opposite Chrono Cross, which to has a more acoustic feel to it and devulges in mulitple ethinic origins. Or Vagrant Story, which I keep mentioning becuase it had just about the most realistic music ever. Anyway, thats my rant.

Old VG music= Mindnumbing escape while you squash gomba's.

New VG music= Compribale to most film scores, but with out the trouble of paying 7$ for a bad movie that you can't turn around and sell.

*Can someone PLEASE tell me if the ending to Vagrant Story was the game engine or an actual band? I havn't seen reference to it in the credits, which is what they generally do with arrangments, so I would really like to know.

-XZellDx, who could, quite litteraly, talk about this forever.

AK,

Just to fill you guys in (and anyone that was wondering), I tried CC on my PS2 after 3 hours of straight Valkyrie Profile'ing and I was pretty amazed at how the PS2 handled the game after I turned on all the extra options (fast loading and textures).

For one, all the MDEC's are screwed up. They load super slow and only go at 3/4ths speed w/ occasional pauses. Also, the intro screen (one with the logo and the ocean scene) is unbearably slow. It runs at about 5 fps which shocked me. So, I load up a new game+ and start playing. Opening MDEC...stuttery so I skip it. The next thing I notice is how weird the font looks. It looks a lot skinnier than the original font was I guess b/c of the texture smoothing. However, the big improvement I noticed was the loading times. Right when you hit an enemy, the screen does that little zooming thing but the good thing is the zoom thing only goes half way - the battle scene loads immediatly. Also, most of the time the camera does some weird tricks to move around the arena but the PS2 loaded those up super fast and before I knew it, I was at the command prompt. I'd say it shaved at least 3-5 seconds. Not bad.

Too bad VP has no real improvements though. Oh well, its a good game anyway.

Derek

Ok I've been away awhile (I joined the Air Force) so I don't know if anyone has written this in yet. I TOLD YOU SO ABOUT DQ7! :) I just remember you saying all the time you thought FF9 was going to outsell DQ7. So what is your reaction to FF9 and DQ7 sales?

Pendy
Maintainer of the Dragon Quest Dragon Warrior News Network

Hey AK, I want a squeezy servbot too, but I didn't preorder Megaman Legends 2. Do you know if I can still get one some how, or am I out of luck? =(

-Wesley

Seeing as how Chris never prints my letters since he apparently wants me to die a thousand horrible deaths, I thought this would be a good opportunity to share my taste in game music with my pal, AK: (THAT IS YOU): Let me go on the record for saying, there IS GREAT GAME MUSIC FOR GAMES OTHER THAN MAINSTREAM FF's!! In fact I would say FF compositions PALE in comparison to some games such as Suikoden. Persona is another game that hardly got any recognition for its music and for the game itself. Vandal hearts is another fine example of an deserving game which was not well received. How about Earthbound? There is great music and rpg's outside of Uematsu and Mitsuda stuff, people. Bottom line: Sukoden 1 and 2 is home to the most beautiful music I have ever heard. Now if only someone would write up some accurate tabs for it I would be one happy musician. (Not that I'm not already a pretty happy musician.)

-Nick Herman

While I was shooting hoops yesterday (I cry over missed layups, but not melted slurpies) I had a deep and awe-inspiring idea:

What if Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra performed the Doom Castle Theme, from Final Fantasy Mystic Quest?

You see, FFMQ wasn't much of a game, but it did have the awesome Doom Castle music, which made the 2 days of mind-numbing rental play worth it. If S&M reunited to perform the tune, and released it to the public, it would be...awesome..awesome beyond words. Obviously, in reality this would never happen: FFMQ isn't enough of a phenomenon in the state of Wyoming, let alone the entire U.S., to merit such a performance (and now there's even questions of Metallica's devotion to its fans).

Despite its absolute lack of sense, the idea invigorated me to ask: if you could create a "RPG S&M" soundtrack, which bands would you hire to play which tunes? Money, album length and death are not issues here, you could get the Beatles to play the Suikoden II Theme of Perversion (God only knows why).

My other choices: Dave Matthews Band/Eyes on Me (none of Squall's friends could play that sax like Leroi Moore would..ahhh...), and Led Zeppelin/Final Fantasy Theme (plenty of awesome chords there).

~JM Stalker

P.S. Hope you're watching the SNL Presidential Bash, heh.

Hey AK,

Since everyone else is talking about game music I figure I might as well throw my 1/2 a cent in.

I love Uematsu, and I love Mitsuda, but I think the pinacle of music was FFVIj (3US). There is not one theme I disliked in that entire soundtrack I believe. Each theme fit the person or area so well. The veldt sounded kinda of primal and wild, shadow's son was lonely, Cyan's tune made one think of medieval times and all the chivalry, and so on. I love the music, and while FFIV and VII and VIII had some good tracks, none were as good musically as FFVI. But FFIV is still the best game, and I doubt 9 with detract from that glory. I am a fanatic and damn proud of it.

Efrate, still trying to get a dang pink tail after all these years.

AK,

Your point about FFIV's cave music is right on. I'd also like to add Golbez's theme and the Red Wings theme to the list, but that's just me. Oh right, the boss music, too.

Anyway, you are apparently of the majority opinion that FF6's music was the apex of the game music genre. And although I love, and own, the FF6 soundtrack, I disagree.

It's not that FF6's music is bad - far from it. I could rattle off a dozen songs AND whistle the melody without trying. It's that I think there's better stuff out there. Maybe not in music quality, but in musical style, in willingness to do something *different.* To me, FF6 seems like more FF music, yay, I've heard this before. It's great, but aside from a few tracks, I can't listen to the CDs straight through. (The Piano Collections, though, are a different story. I could listen to that for years on end - but anyway.)

Front Mission - the original, not Gun Hazard - had some very, very interesting musical twists to it. Jazz, for one. The "Bar" music was a very light, jazzy theme, which strangely but truthfully mixed perfectly with the turn-based mecha combat core of the game. I think the best music in video games is the music which matches the scene, which is why I try never to buy a soundtrack before beating the game itself. (one reason why I don't really like my FF8 OST anymore, I got it two months before I got FF8. Oops.) And Front Mission did that. When it needed to be military, it was military. When it needed to be upbeat and kinda goofy, like the Bar and Store themes, it was. I really like the FM soundtrack because it pulled that off.

Terranigma, a European import I'm sure very few people have heard about, had absolutely ASTOUNDING music! I don't know who the composer is (Enix made it, if that helps) but it was incredible. It beats FF6 in my book hands down because the music can not only stand on its own, but also fits the scenes ... perfectly in 95% of the cases. Same with Chrono Trigger, but that's because I think Yasunori Mitsuda's 'the thing that explodes!' (Bad Turkish translation of 'the bomb' ... I love exchange students.) I know that Uematsu did tracks for CT, so I'll categorically exclude them, because the themes I'm thinking about in particular (Time Circuits, e.g. Zeal theme, for one) are Mitsuda's.

Oops, I've hit my tangent limit for the e-mail. So, to recap: 1) FF6 is not, in my opinion, the best. It's good, but if I'm putting a CD in my CD player, chances are it's not FF6 if it's game music.
2) Front Mission = Really, really, cool. Wish I could find the OST.
3) Terranigma = AWESOME. Wish I could find that OST too.
4) Mitsuda = AWESOME and he's got so much potential ahead of him.

-Peter, who is probably one of the few who also thought Parasite Eve's score was darn good too.

Ah! But, besides Front Mission: Gun Hazard, there is also Chrono Trigger! Besides Mitsuda, Uematsu composed the following songs:

1-17 Silent Light
2-02 Mystery of the Past
2-04 People Who Threw Away the Will to Live
2-08 Bike Chase
2-16 Underground Sewer
2-21 Burn! Bobonga!
3-02 Tyran Castle
3-07 Sealed Door

And to beat that, there is a third composer! Introducing...Noriko Matsueda! Composed 1-18 Boss Battle 1, which was later arranged by Uematsu into its techno-ish style it is today! (Original was orchestrated.) Thank you, thank you. ^^ *Bows*

Jeremiah Roque