Final Fantasy Music - Best Of - I Need You!

Jason Tandro · Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:35 am

Okay guys, so I am planning on doing one of my classic "Medleys". I have made a variety of them where I mash the best tracks in a certain game, series or genre into one long playlist. It's not exactly a medley, but that's the best word I can think of.

For example:
Snow Medley, Part 1

Well I have also done series-wide medleys, including one for Sonic, Mario and Zelda (which aren't up on Youtube, but I can share them if you are interested.

For my newest one, I am going to do a Final Fantasy mega medley. I've done a couple of medleys for indiviudal games (8 and the 13 trilogy) but I want a full series one. The problem is, I don't have a working musical knowledge of some of the titles and there are SO MANY AMAZING TRACKS that picking the lot will be very hard.

HERE'S WHERE YOU COME IN!!!

Here are the games that I'm going to feature in the Medley:
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy II
Final Fantasy III
Final Fantasy IV
Final Fantasy V
Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy VII
Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII
Dirge of Cerberus - Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VIII
Final Fantasy IX
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XI
Final Fantasy XII
Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy XIII-2
Lightning Returns
Final Fantasy XIV

(In short, all the console Final Fantasy's, none of the handhelds except Crisis Core, and the MMOs)

Of any of the Final Fantasy Games You've Played, please try to list your Top 5 favorite tracks for each game. The Games I need the most help on is Final Fantasy 1-3, Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:27 pm Post subject:

...FFXIV has SO much good music. Also, would you prefer Original XIV 1.0 or A Realm Reborn 2.0 and on? Cause both have some fantastic stuff.

EDIT: FFXI as well. Lots of good tracks in there, though I'm not quite up to par with Seekers of Adoulin (I haven't played it) but XI had fab music.

...EDIT THE SECOND: regardless of choice for XIV, I know at least one of my 5 will be Answers, because hell yes it should ALWAYS be on the list (it's the ending for 1.0, and the opening movie for 2.0.)

Jason Tandro · Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:47 pm Post subject:

inferiare wrote:...FFXIV has SO much good music. Also, would you prefer Original XIV 1.0 or A Realm Reborn 2.0 and on? Cause both have some fantastic stuff.

EDIT: FFXI as well. Lots of good tracks in there, though I'm not quite up to par with Seekers of Adoulin (I haven't played it) but XI had fab music.

...EDIT THE SECOND: regardless of choice for XIV, I know at least one of my 5 will be Answers, because hell yes it should ALWAYS be on the list (it's the ending for 1.0, and the opening movie for 2.0.)

Let's say we mix and match. Say four from each version?

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:57 pm Post subject:

Can do! May need to uh, get you the music in other ways since SE is kind of stingy on having their music on YT and all. But I'll try to do what I can for XIV because picking JUST 4 songs out of a pretty extensive soundtrack will be difficult

I say that, since the Before Meteor one (1.0) has 104 tracks. A Realm Reborn + From Astral to Umbral has nearly double. But I'll do my best o7

edit: May have to add a category for "this piece of awesome music is in both 1.0 and 2.0 and is still just as goddamn awesome as it was back in 1.0!" because there's a few like that.

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:23 pm Post subject:

GIANT EDIT: Apparently the forums don't like me link dumping

so I may have to post multiple times.

Main Titles:

Final Fantasy I:
The Prelude (of course. You couldn't start it off without that! It's what defines the series anymore.)
Battle I
Gurgu Volcano
Undersea Shrine
Overworld Theme

Bonuses: Victory!!
Temple of Chaos. (If you've played Theatrhythm, you'd recognize it as the Chaos maps music.)

Final Fantasy II:
Cave Theme
Magician's Tower
Overworld
The Rebel Army
Emporer Battle

Final Fantasy III:
Eternal Wind (Overworld Theme) (DS version)
The Crystal Tower (DS version)
Aria, the Maiden of Water (DS version)
Doga and Unei's Theme (Let Me Known the Truth) (DS version)
Boss Battle 2 (DS version)
This Is the Final Battle (DS version, best if you pair it with Final Battle 1 and 2 tbh)

Bonuses: Black Mages version of the Last Battle, and FFXIV's version of the Last Battle. FFXIV's Eternal Wind, FFXIV's Battle 2, FFXIV's Crystal Tower theme, and FFXIV's Doga and Unei. For reference, the raid that just concluded this last patch (2.5) was The Crystal Tower, complete with all the FF3 nods. Also, Once You Meet Her, the vocal song based on Aria, Maiden of Water from the FF album "Pray", Eternal Wind from the FF vocal album "Love Will Grow".

Final Fantasy IV:
Main Theme (Overworld) (DS version)
Into the Darkness (DS version)
Golbez, Clad in Darkness (DS version)
Mystic Mysidia (DS version)
Illusionary World (DS version)
Troian Beauty (DS version)

Bonuses: Long Distance, from the FF vocal album "Love Will Grow".

Final Fantasy V:
Lenna's Theme
Battle On the Big Bridge (BECAUSE OF COURSE)
The Last Battle
Cursed Earth
My Home, Sweet Home

Bonus: FFXIV's Arrangement of Battle on the Big Bridge for the Gilgamesh (yes, same Gil) fight there.

Final Fantasy VI:
Phantom Forest
Terra's Theme
Slam Shuffle (Zozo is probably my favourite town because of the music.)
THE WHOLE GODDAMN OPERA-- er, The Dream Oath: Maria and Draco Opera because that was seriously impressive for a SNES game.
Mog's Theme

Bonus: Wanderer of Time, from the FF vocal album "Pray", Seven Jesters from XIV which is one giant arrangement of Mog's Theme, as is the actual battle theme for the boss kupo-- er, Good King Moggle Mog XII

Final Fantasy VII:
Flowers Blooming In the Church
Main Theme (Overworld) (I just noticed, but in almost all of the entries thusfar, the Main Theme has been listed...)
J-E-N-O-V-A
Judgement Day
The Highwind Takes to the Skies
You Can Hear the Cries of the Planet

Final Fantasy VIII:
Liberi Fatali
Shuffle or Boogie
The Man With the Machine Gun
Roses and Wine
Silence and Motion
Maybe I'm A Lion
The Extreme

...I had a really hard time limiting myself. FF8 has one of the best soundtracks in the series imho.

Final Fantasy IX:
The Place I'll Return To Someday
Vamo' Alla Flamenco
Freya's Theme
Hunter's Chance (Festival of the Hunt)
Kingdom of Burmecia (what can I say, Freya's theme is probably the hardest hitting in the soundtrack for me, and Burmecia is a variant of her actual theme.)
The Final Battle (I always found the battle with Necron to have such amazingly creepy music, it's found its place here. Better than that meh final battle piece from VII

)
You're Not Alone! (BECAUSE OF COURSE IT WOULD BE IN HERE.)

Bonus: I'm a HUGE fan of the FF3 piece for Doga and Unei, and while the XIV version for the Crystal Tower raids is amazing and quite beautiful, the FF9 remix version of it is probably my overall favourite: Doga and Unei. Also, it's not actually part of the FFIX soundtrack, but it's the B-Side song on the Melodies of Life single sung by Emiko Shiratori. I don't expect to find it in the medley of course, but hell if it'll keep me from sharing it: Galway no Sora. I do have the CD single if you'd like a higher-quality version of the song as well!

Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:27 pm Post subject:

Final Fantasy X:
To Zanarkand
Ominous
Daughter of the Great Summoner
Guadosalam
Challenge
Jecht's Theme
Someday the Dream Will End

Final Fantasy XI:
...hoo boy. I can't promise this list will be short. Not with 4 expansions.

"FFXI Opening Theme" ~ Legend-The Crystal Theme, Memory of the People, Memoro de la Åœtono, Memory of the Wind
Gustaberg
Heaven's Tower
Castle Zvahl
Awakening
Yuhtunga Jungle (guaranteed to make almost any XI vet froth at the mouth!)
The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah
Hall of the Gods
Movalpolis
Faded Memories ~ Promyvion (some of the best dungeon music)
Bustle of the Capital
Fated Strife ~ Besieged
Forbidden Seal
Flowers on the Battlefield
Autumn Footfalls
Ragnarok

Final Fantasy XII:
The Dalmasca Estersand
Rabanastre Downtown
The Skycity of Bhujerba
Eruyt Village
The Forgotten Capital

Final Fantasy XIII:
The Vile Peaks
Vanille's Theme
The Archlyte Steppe
Sulyya Springs
Dust to Dust (probably the one place I spent most of my time at in XIII)

Final Fantasy XIV 1.0:
Navigator's Glory ~ Theme of Limsa Lominsa (I'm probably biased because I started in Limsa with my legacy character but I did like 1.0's music for Limsa)
Emerald Labyrinth (Field music for The Black Shroud)
Twilight over Thanalan (Field music for Thanalan proper)
Rise of the White Raven

Final Fantasy XIV - A Realm Reborn (2.0):
Weight of a Whisper/Of His Will/of the World/Heartless/Under the Weight Teeeechnically I'm cheating here, but the pieces of Titan's Fight theme pretty much go together as a whole; they're the different phases of the fight.

The crowning piece of course, is Weight of the Land. BOW DOWN OVERDWELLER!
Thunder Rolls ~ Ramuh And here's where I show I'm the biggest nerd for constructed fictional languages: the opening stanza is in Ancient High Sylphic from the FFXIV universe. But the song is actually really well done. Soken outdid himself with it.
Ultima
The Lost City of Amdapor (I don't know of any official name, since it's not on any of the soundtracks yet)
Pa-paya (It will be stuck in your head and you'll LIKE IT

Something a little lighthearted instead of boss themes and dungeon music. This played during the Easter event last year. I have successfully brought down Shiva to this music as well.)

Final Fantasy XIV - General:
These are themes played in both 1.0 and 2.0 and aren't specific to either version (though they likely came from 1.0, they're used in both.)

Steel Reason
Fallen Angel
Without Shadow

Spin-offs and Sequels:

Final Fantasy Tactics:
Opening Movie
Trisection
Attack Team (it's too damn short though

)
Tutorial
Under the Stars
Staff Credits

Final Fantasy VII - Crisis Core:
The Price of Freedom
Fulfilled Desire
Sky Blue Eyes
Controlling the Iron Beast

Final Fantasy VII - Dirge of Cerberus:

Calm Before the Storm
Silent Edge
Lifestream
Lucrecia Crescent
The Immaculate
Terminus
Hope for the Future

Final Fantasy X-2:
Memories of Waves and Lights
Anything Goes for Leblanc!
Rikku's Theme
The Farplane Abyss
Epilogue ~ A Reunion

Final Fantasy XIII-2:
New Bodhum
Eclipse
Ruined Hometown (sure did say Oerba was my favourite area and it still is in 13-2)
Noel's Theme ~The Last Traveler (I both loved and hated going into 700AF because I heard this and got both sad and "It's so pretty!" ...I was also that asshole that went and "OH PARADOX LET ME FIX IT" and... killed all of his friends.)
Labyrinth of Chaos (this track messed with me so much; it's creepy and the sound of it was just... yeah. I like it.)

Final Fantasy XIII - Lightning Returns:
Chaos
Sunset Prism
Sunset Path
Awaiting the Celebration
Snow's Theme ~ Final Words (Snow's my big dumb manly man and I cried like a bitch before and after I fought him.)
Claire Farron

...AND THERE YOU HAVE IT.

Jason Tandro · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 5:12 pm Post subject:

My god Raini... you should be doing the medley, not me, lol!

And yes to your comment on FF8. I love the soundtrack. Frankly 6, 7, 8 and 9 have the best soundtracks altogether in my opinion.

Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 7:42 pm Post subject:

WHAT CAN I SAY, I like music and I like the music from the Final Fantasy series.

I dunno if you're going to throw it on Youtube or anything after, but if you need composer credits, vgmdb.com is fabulous for that. I know Uematsu did like 97% of the music on my list, but for FFXI, XII, XIII, and bits of XIV he didn't (I think X wasn't fully him either; he had another composer helping, but I could be wrong.)

Hopefully the XI and XIV tracks are good for you too! XI has a lot of great music, and was hard to narrow down (that could also be nostalgia talking, but the good memorable tracks are there.)

And while I'd love to be able to say "put in the vocal themes!" Squenix has a thing about not using Answers for anything

Regardless, people still do it, but for good measure: Answers (FFXIV 1.0 to FFXIV A Realm Reborn's theme song), and Distant Worlds for FFXI (at least Chains of Promathia, but it's the only expansion to have an actual theme song iirc.) It's not the ACTUAL version of Distant Worlds, but that version is just as nice as the original.

...though you may be able to get away with using what the fans refer to as "Answers - Dalamud's Hymm" since it's not technically the actual song, just bits of it on a creepy stormy background. Or, the 2014 event for a year of A Realm Reborn service had it without stormy background noises.

OK I'M DONE WITH MUSIC GEEKING I PROMISE.

Jason Tandro · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 9:38 am Post subject:

This behemoth is going to be broken into about 5 acts, each of which is expected to be around 2 hours (With the exception of Act 1 which is FF1 through FF3). It won't be going up on Youtube but when I'm done I'll be hosting the links on my Drive for anybody who wants them.

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 8:45 pm Post subject:

Sounds good

I'll be looking forward to it!

EverPhoenix · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:47 pm Post subject:

Late to the party. I think Raini has everything pretty much covered, but I want to chime in with 2 more FF8 songs that I think belong here.

Find Your Way
Force Your Way

Hell, let's make it 3

Jason Tandro · Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 12:01 am Post subject:

EverPhoenix wrote:Late to the party. I think Raini has everything pretty much covered, but I want to chime in with 2 more FF8 songs that I think belong here.

Find Your Way
Force Your Way

Hell, let's make it 3

Oh I totally concur!

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 12:29 am Post subject:

If I didn't think I wouldn't be taken seriously if I had put "just put the whole damn FF8 soundtrack in here", I probably would have. "Julia" is one of those pieces that really does hit me hard because I'm a sucker for piano-based music, and well... piano version of Eyes On Me? Yes, please.

Jason Tandro · Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 9:21 am Post subject:

inferiare wrote:If I didn't think I wouldn't be taken seriously if I had put "just put the whole damn FF8 soundtrack in here", I probably would have. "Julia" is one of those pieces that really does hit me hard because I'm a sucker for piano-based music, and well... piano version of Eyes On Me? Yes, please.

Ah yes I know of your love affair with piano music. That's why your opening movie theme for TE:B was entirely piano.

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2015 3:58 pm Post subject:

Don't get me wrong, I love other well-composed pieces of music, but piano is just... a whole lot of swooning.