Animation · blog · Manga · Proxymité Japon ·

Music History - Final Fantasy

The music of the Final Fantasy series covers a number of titles, popular compositions, and soundtracks released through the popular Final Fantasy RPG games developed by Square Enix . New music has been produced since the release of Final Fantasy I in 1987. The game series has also inspired video games, films, merchandise , and fan art . The music of Final Fantasy refers to the music of the Final Fantasy video game series accompanied by various soundtracks, arranged and compilation albums. The music varies greatly, ranging from light background music to peaceful instrumental music and intense rock battle music. Nearly every game has been accompanied by soundtrack albums, accompanied by orchestral vocals or piano arrangements. Compilation albums have also been released. The history of "Final Fantasy music" can be roughly divided into two eras, the Uematsu era and the post-Uematsu era.

The Nobuo Uematsu era

Nobuo Uematsu While working at a music store in Tokyo, a woman offered him the job of creating music for Square, which he accepted. At first, he considered the job a side gig, skeptical that it would become a full-time job. While maintaining his other jobs until he finally landed a full-time position at Square, he was the sole composer for Final Fantasy until 2001, when he was joined by two others.

In the first game, Hironobu Sakaguchi advised him to create a basic city and battle-themed music, while giving him plenty of room for creativity, and also informed him of the technical limitations of the Famicon system. Uematsu's work on Final Fantasy III is considered one of the best soundtracks for any NES game ever released. The technological changes on the SNES resulted in a composition process that Uematsu described as "excruciating."
The music of Final Fantasy IV had a Celtic influence and was performed by Maire Breatnach, resulting in the release of a piano-arranged album, as has been the case for every Final Fantasy title since. After gaining experience with the SNES's sound technology, he felt that the music of Final Fantasy V was an improvement over the previous game.

The Final Fantasy VI soundtrack is considered one of the best ever released in video game history and was the first to include a vocal track, "Aria di Mezzo Carattere." By the time Final Fantasy VII was released, the games had begun to be developed on the PlayStation, which allowed for higher-quality music, but Uematsu preferred the sequence format. He noted that the move to CD format was "definitely the biggest change" in the video game music industry. He went on to produce the music for Final Fantasy VIII and IX before being joined by other composers.

After the Uematsu era

Final Fantasy X , released for the PlayStation 2, the soundtrack was composed by Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano. Uematsu produced 51 tracks, while Hamauzu produced 20 tracks and Nakano 18 tracks for the game. The other two music producers were chosen to add variety to the game's music, which includes a soundtrack album, piano and vocal arrangement albums, and an EP of Uematsu's tracks. Uematsu, along with Naoshi Mizuta and Kumi Tanioka, were responsible for the soundtrack of Final Fantasy 11. This was the last title for which Uematsu was the main producer, as he resigned from Square Enix in 2004. The game's opening music features lyrics in Esperanto.

Hitoshi Sakimoto, the main composer of Final Fantasy XII, struggled to fill Uematsu's role but decided to create a unique score. Final Fantasy XIII (2009) was composed by Masashi Hamauzu, and Uematsu was hired by his studio "Smile Please" to compose the entire score for Final Fantasy XIV, the first game in a decade to be entirely composed by him. Yoko Shimomura was the main composer of Final Fantasy XV, composing approximately 80% of the title's music. She contributed to the music for Kingdom Hearts, a game merged between Square Enix and Disney. Final Fantasy XV marked the first project she contributed to for the series. She was brought on board in 2006 and continued to work throughout the entire 10-year development cycle.

History of the Final Fantasy Soundtrack

Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II - Although composed separately, the music of Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy II was released together. The official soundtrack for the first two Final Fantasy games was not released until October 2002. However, an album titled All Sounds of Final Fantasy I•II is an arrangement of the soundtracks and was composed, and was released under the DataM/Polystar (and later NTT Publishing) label on February 28, 1989.
Final Fantasy III - Final Fantasy III The original version of the game was published by Square Co./NTT Publishing in 1991 and is a compilation of almost all the music as it can be heard in the game. It was later re-released by NTT Publishing in 1994 and 2004.
Final Fantasy IV - The Final Fantasy IV Original Sound Version is a compilation of all the music from the game and was published by Square Co./NTT Publishing in 1991. It was later reissued by NTT Publishing.
Final Fantasy V - The Final Fantasy V Original Sound Version is a two-disc album containing 67 tracks composed by Uematsu and originally released by Square Co./NTT Publishing in 1992. The album was also later reissued by NTT Publishing in 1994 and 2004.
Final Fantasy VI - The Final Fantasy VI Original Sound Version is a compilation of all the music from the game and was published by Square Co./NTT Publishing in 1994, and later re-released by Square Enix in 2004.
Final Fantasy VII - The Final Fantasy VII Original Soundtrack The album contained four discs containing over four and a half hours of music. This album was originally released in 1997, but was later reissued in 2004.
Final Fantasy VIII - Final Fantasy VIII The soundtrack, like all those before it, was composed by Uematsu. It is comparable in length to Final Fantasy VII and was first released in 1999.
Final Fantasy IX - The Music in Final Fantasy IX is the final soundtrack composed entirely by Uematsu. The soundtrack was originally released on four discs by DigiCube in 2000, and was reissued by Square Enix in 2004.
Final Fantasy X - Final Fantasy X score is the first example of a Final Fantasy soundtrack not composed entirely by Uematsu. Composed by Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano, the soundtrack was released on four discs by DigiCube in 2000 and was later reissued by Square Enix in 2004.
Final Fantasy XI - The *Final Fantasy XI Original Soundtrack is a compilation of almost all of the music from the game and was released by DigiCube in 2002. The album was later re-released by Square Enix in 2004.
Final Fantasy XII - Hitoshi Sakimoto primarily composed the music for Final Fantasy XII , although Uematsu composed the main theme. The Final Fantasy XII soundtrack was released on four discs in 2006 by Aniplex.
Final Fantasy XIII - The music for the video game Final Fantasy XIII was composed by Masashi Hamauzu. The soundtrack was released on four discs in 2010 under Square Enix's own label.
Final Fantasy XIV - The music of the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV was originally composed by Nobuo Uematsu, although he was assisted by several other composers, including Masayoshi Soken and Naoshi Mizuta, for later expansions of the game.
Final Fantasy XV - Yoko Shimomura composed most of the music for Final Fantasy XV. The soundtrack was first released in December 2016, but several versions have been released over the following years.