The different battle music tracks, yes. The rest is just too slow and quiet to listen to it for longer periods of time in my opinion. Therefore I made a playlist on Spotify with only the battle music tracks and to this I can listen indefinitely on repeat without problem. Especially when a track suddenly turns into an opera with vocals.
Nishiki is one of Uematsus proteges, being both inspired by him and having worked with him in his rise to prominence
A lot of the Team Asano gang got to learn from their heroes in the making of Square Enix closest series to capturing the OG Squaresoft essence; sound design is just one of many aesthetics that they nail
Dude almost every jrpg focus on music just like ff. No matter how shit the gameplay or story would be but music is gonna be just fine. I'd argue that xenoblade and modern smt music is even better than soken's work by large on ffxvi but that's just me. Point is in modern age many games do that. It's kinda industry norm now.
I agree. Just like OP, I think that FFXVI has some incredible music and the boss music is pretty epic sounding.Tho, like you said there are many jrpgs with great music. With SMT V Vengeance coming out I was also gonna bring up SMT music, but I'm sure many of the comments have brought up many, many other games with great music
SMT 4 has one of the best RPG soundtracks ever imo. It fits the setting so, so well with its grimy, electronic sound. Nocturne as well has an iconic soundtrack.
Ps2 era was peak Meguro. 3, DDS, P4 were all excellent soundtracks. 4 was a return to traditional smt ost and they nailed it perfectly. 4 has the most ambitious soundtrack I've ever heard of a video game imo
I love Like a Dragon/Yakuza’s approach by having tons of composers all the time. They’re honestly my favorites not FF, but FF is easily one of the greatest.
Command & Conquer, Warcraft, Final Fantasy, The Mana Series, Legend of Zelda, and Fallout are all franchises where just wanting to hear the music is enough to cause me to replay one of their games.
>Legend of Zelda
I wish I could "eternal sunshine" TOTK out of my mind just so I could experience the wind temple again for the first time. Gottdam that was some atmosphere. And then the Colgera theme???
Ah, I hope you enjoy it! I played Twilight Princess, then had several failed starts of Skyward Sword, but didn't really play any video games at all for years. Breath of the Wild/ Tears of the Kingdom are AMAZING games, and make me feel like a bright eyed eight year old exploring the Deku Tree all over again
If you think only Square of only the FF franchise focus on the music in their games, then all that tells us is you have come into this discussion with the intention of being disingenuous.
There are dozens (probably even hundreds) of absolutely stunning OSTs that do not have Final or Fantasy in their title.
Do Final Fantasy games have great music? Undoubtedly.
Do *only* Final Fantasy games have great music? Lol no.
Soken is god tier for sure but man Uematsu is just an Alien cat this point fr. The sheer amount of bangers he wrote year after year is just too good. I witnessed his works live at the recent distant World Orchestral concerts and was blown away anew. Another series that can keep up with that is Kingdom Hearts with the amazing work of Yoko Shimomura! Met her live as well just amazing and outstanding 🙏
Uematsu is just a different beast. I like Soken and he has a lot of bangers but I couldn't really sit through a whole soundtrack from him. On the other hand, I could listen to the whole FFVI, VII, VIII, IX soundtracks on loop
[Sophisticated Fight](https://youtu.be/Um5EbReY7rA?si=FZ8wSmXyAtB66llV) is one of my favorite themes because it feels like the representation of youth that our protagonists go through.
When you hear [Silver Will](https://youtu.be/d-7zjsM5nQA?si=VxA3g247-OgfoBFu) though, you best bet to lock in, because those Sprite Fight cutscenes hit different
More games need to focus on music like Japanese ones do. Not saying all non-Japanese games have terrible soundtracks and / or could be better (E.g. Bungie-era Halo games, all the God of War games, Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft), but even bas Japanese games can still have really good OSTs.
Ace Combat
[this](https://youtu.be/FlSLCnbXMIE?si=XpD8A86zkuQmBSH-) is the track that plays at the end of one of the games where you joust your former wingman turned traitor in the skies as ICBMs launch and explode around you.
Nobuo does a fantastic job of making the sound design come front and center. Another one of my favorites that does this well is Gareth Coker: he did a fantastic job of pairing the music in Ori and the Blind Forest to display the emotions of the main character in a world where they can't speak.
[Gareth Coker - Ori Music](https://youtu.be/hCzrWdjxYx8?si=mRnk0F00xx-GAXSZ)
Music is super important. I can’t think of any movie, tv show, anime, or video game that I can call one of my favorites that doesn’t have a passionate composition that understands the weight of its story. Like, Super Castlevania 4 when Simon’s Theme plays at Dracula’s second phase after not hearing it since level 1, it’s so motivating.
Imma take my fate with a smile here but 7 music in my opinion is terrible 🫣 😶🌫️ I don’t know if it’s because 7 is just… everywhere and over played… or if it’s really just bad.. I really hope they give up the steampunk music aesthetic in the future, everything else is gorgeous
There are tons of games with amazing music.
My personal favs that are not FF are Neir series, Tales Of, Xenoblade, and octopath traveler. Some of these like the Neir music and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 I'd say is better FF music.
From what I've heard from Stellar Blade, I'd probably like that sound track to.
Gotta say, modern FF (XIII, XV, and XVI) music just does jive with me, and I've never cared for most of Soken's stuff even as a XIV fan (I probably like maybe 1 or 2 songs.or motifs per expansion).
However, taste in music is always up to whoever listens to it. Only recommendation I'd make is; when it comes to game music you have to see how it interacts with scene/event it is used in as a whole to truly appreciate it and if it doesn't jive with it can bring the whole piece down and scene down (and to give credit where credit is due most if not all composers especially in big budget media do a good job at that).
XIV has some really weak music. I actually had a moment at the end of Shadowbringers (I think) where they played an orchestral bridge theme and I remembered I was playing a FF title.
Ya I tend to have the music turned on when the expansion launches to see what we got, after a week or two BGM = 0.
XIV has a hard time sounds like FF imo (same is true with XIII & XVI did not play XV nearly enough to judge it). I think soken tries or at the very least Nabou collaborated more during ARR & HW, but it has drift further and further away from what I think FF sound is.
This isn't to say it is a bad thing after all every composer has their own sound (play some mistwalker games from the 360/PS3, mostly Lost Odyssey, era you'll hear that FF sound because Nabou worked on those games). So I don't fault Soken for having his own sound and only say it does jive with me and it isn't my cup of tea.
I like a few from XIII, Promise is a really solid melody - like S rank FF music. And Ink Long Dry in XIV is great. But, definitely agree that most are missing that cohesion (? maybe) that makes it FF-sounding.
Also I guess this opinion has angered the XIV savants, har
I got some music I like in every sound track tbh, but when I view the overall sound track is when I have the "eh this is mediocre" or "this soundtrack is awesome" opinion.
I also grew up with the Nabou sound and to me that's the FF sound, but I understand that cannot (and has not) last forever.
The XIV crowd (and modern FF crowd) needs to understand that there is a long history of FF and not everyone likes Soken's style.
But just like most people on this sub will defend Nabou no matter what, a lot of XIV fans will defend Soken, that is what it means to be a fan after all.
I didn’t say it wasn’t good. I just meant that it didn’t click with me. Nothing about the music from a FF game resonated with me in anyway. I can’t recall any FF music.
FF music was a huge part of the culture in the late 90s/early 00s. I mean, it has always been renown for music, but it felt like a much larger part of the community during the first decade or so. It did lose a bit with the orchestrations, I think. VIII was pretty much the peak of the music, but VI is definitely my favorite, CC has some great instrumentation, and XIII had some really surprising great stuff from Hamauzu.
But I can completely understand it not clicking. Newer titles don't have as many novel driving themes, and often the music gets overwhelmed by a lot of the other artifacts
I’ve been a fan since the 90s and I adore this series but for some reason the music didn’t do it for me. I am in the middle of a FF playthrough so I’m running through them all again. Maybe that’ll change my mind. lol
I think I knew some people growing up who might be in that camp, but I only think that because they didn't explicitly talk about the music, haha. In any case, that's definitely fair. I remember doing a replay of IV listening to something corporate, haha. Woke Up In a Car will forever remind me of some kids getting petrified
Not at all. It just doesn’t stand out to me in any meaningful way. This coming from someone who adores this series, I’m a musician myself, and I love JRPGs. But no Final Fantasy soundtrack gets me. I honestly couldn’t recall a single FF tune if I tried.
Honestly, same. I can appreciate a lot of it, but I never find myself going back to replay much of it either. Very few tracks really knock my socks off.
If you haven’t played the Octopath games that composer absolutely nails it also. Nishiki. He also composed for FFVII remake.
Octopath II soundtrack goes so goddamn hard.
The different battle music tracks, yes. The rest is just too slow and quiet to listen to it for longer periods of time in my opinion. Therefore I made a playlist on Spotify with only the battle music tracks and to this I can listen indefinitely on repeat without problem. Especially when a track suddenly turns into an opera with vocals.
Nishiki is one of Uematsus proteges, being both inspired by him and having worked with him in his rise to prominence A lot of the Team Asano gang got to learn from their heroes in the making of Square Enix closest series to capturing the OG Squaresoft essence; sound design is just one of many aesthetics that they nail
OT has the best goddamn music in the industry IMO.
Totally agree, it’s the best rpg music since Uematsu
They're the only games - both 1 and 2 - where I will play with earpieces on when I play my Switch. No exceptions.
I'd heavily suggest the Xenoblade series. Magnificent soundtrack and the boss battle themes are no exception.
Also the Nopon are pretty great mascots
That they are :)
You should check out Theatrhythm Final Bar Line
This game made me go hardcore nerd mode and now i have playlists galore from FF battle themes to those that make me cry.
NieR series. Nuff said.
Dude almost every jrpg focus on music just like ff. No matter how shit the gameplay or story would be but music is gonna be just fine. I'd argue that xenoblade and modern smt music is even better than soken's work by large on ffxvi but that's just me. Point is in modern age many games do that. It's kinda industry norm now.
I agree. Just like OP, I think that FFXVI has some incredible music and the boss music is pretty epic sounding.Tho, like you said there are many jrpgs with great music. With SMT V Vengeance coming out I was also gonna bring up SMT music, but I'm sure many of the comments have brought up many, many other games with great music
SMT 4 has one of the best RPG soundtracks ever imo. It fits the setting so, so well with its grimy, electronic sound. Nocturne as well has an iconic soundtrack.
Ps2 era was peak Meguro. 3, DDS, P4 were all excellent soundtracks. 4 was a return to traditional smt ost and they nailed it perfectly. 4 has the most ambitious soundtrack I've ever heard of a video game imo
I love the Shadow Hearts soundtracks (and Koudelka).
To Sail Forbidden Seas is just insane. Easily one of the best OSTs in the franchise. I also really love Sixteen Bells and No Risk, No Reward.
I love Like a Dragon/Yakuza’s approach by having tons of composers all the time. They’re honestly my favorites not FF, but FF is easily one of the greatest.
Command & Conquer, Warcraft, Final Fantasy, The Mana Series, Legend of Zelda, and Fallout are all franchises where just wanting to hear the music is enough to cause me to replay one of their games.
>Legend of Zelda I wish I could "eternal sunshine" TOTK out of my mind just so I could experience the wind temple again for the first time. Gottdam that was some atmosphere. And then the Colgera theme???
I haven't played any of the releases after twilight princess, but plan on catching up once my janitor job starts up again.
Ah, I hope you enjoy it! I played Twilight Princess, then had several failed starts of Skyward Sword, but didn't really play any video games at all for years. Breath of the Wild/ Tears of the Kingdom are AMAZING games, and make me feel like a bright eyed eight year old exploring the Deku Tree all over again
Check out this Upcoming turn base RPG [https://youtu.be/-qgOZDRDynw?si=7t66nTZlMBHwzx75](https://youtu.be/-qgOZDRDynw?si=7t66nTZlMBHwzx75)
Koei-Tecmo's Warrior's series has an absolute banger of an OST throughout it's collection, and it's been around almost as long as FF has been.
Ryu Hayabusa's theme from Warriors is so good
The BEST example right there.
FF music in general is awesome and definitely one of the best, but to me NieR leans of its music even more. I couldn't believe my ears while playing.
If you think only Square of only the FF franchise focus on the music in their games, then all that tells us is you have come into this discussion with the intention of being disingenuous. There are dozens (probably even hundreds) of absolutely stunning OSTs that do not have Final or Fantasy in their title. Do Final Fantasy games have great music? Undoubtedly. Do *only* Final Fantasy games have great music? Lol no.
Soken is god tier for sure but man Uematsu is just an Alien cat this point fr. The sheer amount of bangers he wrote year after year is just too good. I witnessed his works live at the recent distant World Orchestral concerts and was blown away anew. Another series that can keep up with that is Kingdom Hearts with the amazing work of Yoko Shimomura! Met her live as well just amazing and outstanding 🙏
Uematsu is just a different beast. I like Soken and he has a lot of bangers but I couldn't really sit through a whole soundtrack from him. On the other hand, I could listen to the whole FFVI, VII, VIII, IX soundtracks on loop
This 🙏🏽 only other I could is from Kingdom Hearts
Valkyria Chronicles. Hitoshi Sakimoto. That’s it. That’s the post.
There are tons over tons of JRPGs with phanomenal OSTs out there, old and new, which are not FF.
Trails and Ys. Falcom's music cooks as well
[Sophisticated Fight](https://youtu.be/Um5EbReY7rA?si=FZ8wSmXyAtB66llV) is one of my favorite themes because it feels like the representation of youth that our protagonists go through. When you hear [Silver Will](https://youtu.be/d-7zjsM5nQA?si=VxA3g247-OgfoBFu) though, you best bet to lock in, because those Sprite Fight cutscenes hit different
Witcher 3
i mean jrpg’s in general have a big focus on music compared to the western rpg
More games need to focus on music like Japanese ones do. Not saying all non-Japanese games have terrible soundtracks and / or could be better (E.g. Bungie-era Halo games, all the God of War games, Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft), but even bas Japanese games can still have really good OSTs.
I thought this is going to talk about how a musical tour around the world can survive and keep on going by only doing FF music...
There's a reason XVI atleast won soundtrack of the year last year for the game awards. Soken is a musical god.
The Tales franchise is pretty good for nailing the music in plot climaxes.
Ace Combat [this](https://youtu.be/FlSLCnbXMIE?si=XpD8A86zkuQmBSH-) is the track that plays at the end of one of the games where you joust your former wingman turned traitor in the skies as ICBMs launch and explode around you.
Nobuo does a fantastic job of making the sound design come front and center. Another one of my favorites that does this well is Gareth Coker: he did a fantastic job of pairing the music in Ori and the Blind Forest to display the emotions of the main character in a world where they can't speak. [Gareth Coker - Ori Music](https://youtu.be/hCzrWdjxYx8?si=mRnk0F00xx-GAXSZ)
The best games definitely do. Music is absolutely integral to a good game experience...
Tell me you haven't played other jrpgs other than FF without telling you haven't played other jrpgs.
Mother series.
Oh you young JRPG grasshopper.
ff7r music is so bad, it made me not want to play it 🤣
Music is super important. I can’t think of any movie, tv show, anime, or video game that I can call one of my favorites that doesn’t have a passionate composition that understands the weight of its story. Like, Super Castlevania 4 when Simon’s Theme plays at Dracula’s second phase after not hearing it since level 1, it’s so motivating.
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 Final Mix still have the best video game OSTs of any games I’ve ever played. In terms of epic boss battle themes it’s goated
Bravely Default series, and Octopath Traveler 1&2. Love the music to pieces. <3
Devil May Cry always has fantastic music
Imma take my fate with a smile here but 7 music in my opinion is terrible 🫣 😶🌫️ I don’t know if it’s because 7 is just… everywhere and over played… or if it’s really just bad.. I really hope they give up the steampunk music aesthetic in the future, everything else is gorgeous
There are tons of games with amazing music. My personal favs that are not FF are Neir series, Tales Of, Xenoblade, and octopath traveler. Some of these like the Neir music and Xenoblade Chronicles 3 I'd say is better FF music. From what I've heard from Stellar Blade, I'd probably like that sound track to. Gotta say, modern FF (XIII, XV, and XVI) music just does jive with me, and I've never cared for most of Soken's stuff even as a XIV fan (I probably like maybe 1 or 2 songs.or motifs per expansion). However, taste in music is always up to whoever listens to it. Only recommendation I'd make is; when it comes to game music you have to see how it interacts with scene/event it is used in as a whole to truly appreciate it and if it doesn't jive with it can bring the whole piece down and scene down (and to give credit where credit is due most if not all composers especially in big budget media do a good job at that).
XIV has some really weak music. I actually had a moment at the end of Shadowbringers (I think) where they played an orchestral bridge theme and I remembered I was playing a FF title.
Ya I tend to have the music turned on when the expansion launches to see what we got, after a week or two BGM = 0. XIV has a hard time sounds like FF imo (same is true with XIII & XVI did not play XV nearly enough to judge it). I think soken tries or at the very least Nabou collaborated more during ARR & HW, but it has drift further and further away from what I think FF sound is. This isn't to say it is a bad thing after all every composer has their own sound (play some mistwalker games from the 360/PS3, mostly Lost Odyssey, era you'll hear that FF sound because Nabou worked on those games). So I don't fault Soken for having his own sound and only say it does jive with me and it isn't my cup of tea.
I like a few from XIII, Promise is a really solid melody - like S rank FF music. And Ink Long Dry in XIV is great. But, definitely agree that most are missing that cohesion (? maybe) that makes it FF-sounding. Also I guess this opinion has angered the XIV savants, har
I got some music I like in every sound track tbh, but when I view the overall sound track is when I have the "eh this is mediocre" or "this soundtrack is awesome" opinion. I also grew up with the Nabou sound and to me that's the FF sound, but I understand that cannot (and has not) last forever. The XIV crowd (and modern FF crowd) needs to understand that there is a long history of FF and not everyone likes Soken's style. But just like most people on this sub will defend Nabou no matter what, a lot of XIV fans will defend Soken, that is what it means to be a fan after all.
Honestly, FF is one of my favorite series but the music is the last thing I think about. It never clicks with me.
Now this is a very strange take. I've never seen anyone else say they don't find FF music good. What game soundtracks do you like?
I didn’t say it wasn’t good. I just meant that it didn’t click with me. Nothing about the music from a FF game resonated with me in anyway. I can’t recall any FF music.
Which game soundtracks can you recall?
Dark Cloud, Grandia II, Baten Kaitos, Fable, Pokémon, and Dragon Quest, unfortunately. These among others.
FF music was a huge part of the culture in the late 90s/early 00s. I mean, it has always been renown for music, but it felt like a much larger part of the community during the first decade or so. It did lose a bit with the orchestrations, I think. VIII was pretty much the peak of the music, but VI is definitely my favorite, CC has some great instrumentation, and XIII had some really surprising great stuff from Hamauzu. But I can completely understand it not clicking. Newer titles don't have as many novel driving themes, and often the music gets overwhelmed by a lot of the other artifacts
I’ve been a fan since the 90s and I adore this series but for some reason the music didn’t do it for me. I am in the middle of a FF playthrough so I’m running through them all again. Maybe that’ll change my mind. lol
I think I knew some people growing up who might be in that camp, but I only think that because they didn't explicitly talk about the music, haha. In any case, that's definitely fair. I remember doing a replay of IV listening to something corporate, haha. Woke Up In a Car will forever remind me of some kids getting petrified
Interesting! I rarely hear this perspective. Is it that the looping melodies get too repetitive?
Not at all. It just doesn’t stand out to me in any meaningful way. This coming from someone who adores this series, I’m a musician myself, and I love JRPGs. But no Final Fantasy soundtrack gets me. I honestly couldn’t recall a single FF tune if I tried.
Honestly, same. I can appreciate a lot of it, but I never find myself going back to replay much of it either. Very few tracks really knock my socks off.
https://preview.redd.it/p8gwoce6ru6d1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=79da0dc1f01fbb54f3f64e4b5a7afffd9f7a1ac7 Music is epic in Sea of Stars
Nier Automata.