[Album] Final Fantasy X (SSCX-10054~7)

Tracklist

Spoiler:

Disc One (66:36)
01) "I Want to Tell You Everything" {dialogue} (0:08)
02) To Zanarkand (3:04)
03) The Prelude (3:43)
04) Tidus' Theme (3:33)
05) Otherworld {Bill Muir} (3:15)
06) Hurry! (2:40)
07) This is Your Story (2:20)
08) This Feels Ominous (2:48)
09) Normal Battle (3:21)
10) Victory Fanfare (1:35)
11) Game Over (0:34)
12) Hopeless Desire (3:06)
13) Secret Manuevers (1:27)
14) Deep-Sea Ruins (4:16)
15) We Are Al Bhed (3:24)
16) Enemy Attack (2:41)
17) Blitzball Gamblers (3:53)
18) Besaid Island (4:44)
19) Spiran Scenery (2:49)
20) Song of Prayer (0:43)
21) Illusion (3:46)
22) The Place of Trials (3:33)
23) Song of Prayer - Valefor (0:42)
24) The Summoning (0:38)
25) Daughter of the Great Summoner (3:45)
26) Good Night (0:08)

Disc Two (64:05)
01) Yuna's Theme (3:30)
02) Sprouting (3:16)
03) Sending (1:33)
04) The Calm Before the Storm (3:10)
05) Song of Prayer - Ifrit (0:41)
06) Luca (3:41)
07) Welcoming Maester Mika (1:16)
08) Unwavering Decision (1:12)
09) The Splendid Performance (3:32)
10) Confrontation (2:07)
11) Blitz Off (3:32)
12) Auron's Theme (2:44)
13) Mi'ihen Highroad (3:23)
14) Brass de Chocobo (2:52)
15) Travel Agency (3:05)
16) You May Pass (1:10)
17) Seymour's Theme (3:06)
18) Twilight (4:40)
19) Djose Temple (3:18)
20) Song of Prayer - Ixion (0:40)
21) Shoopuf Riding (4:12)
22) Rikku's Theme (4:02)
23) Guadosalam (3:23)

Disc Three (60:40)
01) Thunder Plains (3:44)
02) Jecht's Theme (2:33)
03) Macalania Forest (3:20)
04) Sea of Mists (2:19)
05) The Temple Band (2:22)
06) Seymour's Ambition (2:14)
07) Song of Prayer - Shiva (0:41)
08) Those Who Draw Closer (2:10)
09) Blazing Desert (3:46)
10) Crisis (4:03)
11) Revealed Truth (4:06)
12) An Onrush (3:29)
13) Wedding (1:12)
14) Attack (4:06)
15) Tragedy (4:03)
16) I Can Fly (1:27)
17) Path of Repentance (2:29)
18) Song of Prayer - Bahamut (0:41)
19) Time of Judgment (3:39)
20) My Father’s Murderer (2:42)
21) Suteki Da Ne {Riki} (5:34)

Disc Four (69:47)
01) Yuna's Determination (3:42)
02) Lulu's Theme (3:52)
03) Advancing Bravely (3:25)
04) Song of Prayer - Yojimbo (0:42)
05) People of the North Pole (4:42)
06) Song of Prayer - Ronso Tribe (0:42)
07) Wandering Flame (4:41)
08) Someday the Dream will End (4:24)
09) Song of Prayer - Yunalesca (0:43)
10) Challenge (4:18)
11) At the Edge of the Abyss (4:38)
12) Darkness (4:28)
13) Song of Prayer - Spira (0:43)
14) Seymour Battle (3:33)
15) The Deceased Laugh (5:46)
16) Song of Prayer - Anima (0:42)
17) Summoned Beast Battle (5:56)
18) Decisive Battle (5:50)
19) Ending Theme (5:30)
20) "Please Remember" {Dialogue} (0:15)
21) Suteki Da Ne Orchestra Version {Riki} (6:19)
Total Running Time: 261:08

Recommended: If some stellar tracks are enough for you to overlook the stylistic inconsistency in the first Final Fantasy score not wholly composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

Released in 2001, Final Fantasy X was the series’ first game on the new Playstation 2 console, and was in many ways a radical departure from what had come before. The Active Time Battle system which had been used in the previous six installments was abandoned, as were the concepts of a world map and a steerable airship. It was also the first Final Fantasy to feature voice acting, and the first for which the obligatory pop song was not translated into English.

Final Fantasy X also saw the beginning of the end of composer Nobuo Uematsu’s tenure: Uematsu would reduce his role in each subsequent game until Final Fantasy XII was composed without him altogether. It may be that his work on Final Fantasy IX, which remains his longest and most complex project to date (over three hundred minutes of music spread over five discs) left him drained, or it may have been his impending departure from Square-Enix to become a freelance musician. In any case, Uematsu recruited fellow composers Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano to aid him. Hamauzu had composed the music for SaGo Frontier 2 several years earlier, and Nakano was a veteran of Threads of Fate; both had been with Square-Enix in one capacity or other since the mid-nineties.

Final Fantasy X is far more modernistic than its predecessors, with a far heavier reliance on atmospheric tracks, contemporary keyboarding, and electronica. This may be due to the fact that Nakano and Hamauzu were more comfortable with this style, or perhaps it’s Uematsu’s reaction to the game’s more technological milieu. In either case, the sweeping, quasi-renaissance sound of IX is nowhere to be found. Uematsu does retain his leitmotif structure, but it’s a pale shadow of its former self--most of the character themes are one-offs, with no later variations (with one exception: “Seymour’s Theme” has far too many variations). Still, some of the themes, like “Auron’s Theme,” with its jagged piano and electronic beats, and “Yuna’s Theme,” which combines light electric guitar and concert bells, are among Uematsu’s best cues.

Uematsu does give the game a remarkable main theme. First heard as a melancholy piano solo in “To Zanarkand,” the theme is far sadder than Uematsu’s usual fare, even when the melody appears in the buoyant “Sprouting.” The theme is also memorably present in the “Ending Theme,” but despite the melody’s strength, neither Hamauzu nor Nakano attempts a variation. The subtheme for the mysterious “fayth” is far less effective--a weak Gregorian-style choral chant, the theme is repeated eleven (!) times with minimal variation.

Junya Nakano composed seventeen of the ninety-one tracks, and collaborated with Uematsu on two more. His tracks have a strong contemporary feel, which is used to good effect in the minimalistic “Luca” and “Illusion” but fares less well elsewhere, especially in the limp “Underground Activities” and “Underwater Temple.” Nakano is more successful with battle themes, contributing the impressive “Enemy Attack” and “Summoned Beast Battle,” the latter of which is the only effective interpretation of the “fayth” theme.

Masashi Hamauzu’s contributions are similar, with a modern slant that doesn’t quite gel with Uemastu’s material. Hamauzu’s skills as a piano arranger are well-known, and he puts them to good use in the whimsical “Thunder Plains,” the highlight of his contribution, and the aggressive, tuneful “Attack.” There are some misfires, though; Hamauzu’s “Decisive Battle” is a laughable piano rhapsody that is completely out of place as a battle theme. His “Challenge” battle theme is similarly weak--essentially a collection of random, distorted noise and repetitive techno loops. The composer is able to write some effective minimalistic music, though: the calm “Besaid Island” and New Agey “Wandering Flame” are both highly effective.

The album also includes several songs, the what-were-they-thinking “Otherworld,” a completely out of place death metal tune, and “Sudeki Da Ne,” the most banal pop song to be attached to any Final Fantasy album thus far. But the album’s real problem is its lack of stylistic consistency--the multiple composers led to a wandering focus and many watered-down and dull (or even inappropriate) tracks. Without a single strong style to hold the disparate music together, Final Fantasy X is just a collection of vaguely-related songs, some of which are strong but few of which contribute to any cohesion. As a result, Final Fantasy X was at the time of its release the weakest Final Fantasy album, though it has since been eclipsed. Though there is a good deal of quality material, the album’s incoherence should make listeners think twice before ordering an expensive import copy.

Rating (out of *****)
Uematsu: ****
Hamauzu: ***
Nakano: ***
Overall: ***

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I like the soundtrack a lot. Most of my favorite songs are Uematsu songs. I, for one, absolutely love "Otherworld". But the best song on the whole soundtrack is The Calm Before the Storm, by far. Just beautiful, and it fits Macalania Forest perfectly. Seymour Battle is another awesome track by Uematsu. Of course, the main theme has already been mentioned.

And often overlooked track is Jecht's Theme. It fits his slovenly, drunken nature perfectly.

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A great soundtrack, IMHO. So many spectacular tracks. I can't choose a favourite composer here, they're all just so good.

I love Nakano's "Illusion"/"Fantasy" and "Summoned Beast Battle"; Hamauzu's "Besaid Island", "Travelling Company", "Scorching Desert" and "Wandering Flame"; and Uematsu's "Blitz Ball Gamblers", "The Sight of Spira", "Djose Temple" (that's right, I went there), "Lulu's Theme" and "Seymour Battle".

As for my favourite of the favourites? "Blitz Ball Bamblers", closely followed by "Lulu's Theme" (an slightly underrated track, I believe)...Uematsu wins for me, I guess.

4/5 (loses marks for repeated use of the "Song of Prayer"...maybe a medley would have sufficed)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Believe it or not, the only tracks appeal to me are actually the one composed by Hamauzu and rarely by Uematsu. I usually only listen to "Sight of Spira", "Bisaido Island", and "Travelling Company", even before I know Hamauzu is the composer. Oh well, in the end I prefer Hamauzu's composing style instead of Uematsu. btw, this is a very nice review Orion, I'm looking forward for more reviews from you.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Yeah, only Hamauzu's work on this soundtrack grabs me. Uematsu's stuff sounds very tired and I've never cared for Nakano.

FFX's soundtrack works fine in the game but one of these days, I need to get around to making a one-CD compilation. The full soundtrack has too much filler in it.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I personally think that the FF OSTs past FFVIII aren't up to par to the earlier titles, and FFX is no exception. It lacks the oomph that other OSTs have, although there are some good tracks in this release, particularly all the character themes.

After reading a list of which composer did each track, I discovered I liked all the ones that Uematsu did. I guess I'm a black sheep ;3

How ya doing, buddy?

This is one of my favorite Final Fantasy soundtracks. I think the collaboration produced a greater quantity of quality tracks than the last several composed entirely by Uematsu. Granted, there were quite a few duds out of the total, and the various Hymn's of Fayth were largely filler; but the majority of cuts are quite well done. While one can point out the stylistic differences between the four composers, they all manage to work well together and carry the game effectively.

4.6/5.0 Overall

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by orion_mk3

There are some misfires, though; Hamauzu’s “Decisive Battle” is a laughable piano rhapsody that is completely out of place as a battle theme.

I strongly disagree. I think this track is a remarcable attempt at originality, and it works perfectly both as a final battle theme and as a mood-setting track. For me, it's the best theme of its kind in the series next to One Winged Angel. Both are epic and fit the mood very well.

Quote:

The album also includes several songs, the what-were-they-thinking “Otherworld,” a completely out of place death metal tune, and “Sudeki Da Ne,” the most banal pop song to be attached to any Final Fantasy album thus far.

My thoughts exactly.

On the whole, I would give this album 7/10, because of its lack of consistency, and I give 10/10 to Hamauzu for bringing fresh air into the series.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by orion

Rating (out of *****)
Uematsu: ****
Hamauzu: ***
Nakano: ***
Overall: ***

AS IF

The OST would've benefitted without any creative input from Uematsu whatsoever. He's basically parodying his own already hackneyed sounds here. The Zanarkand theme is utterly irritating schmaltz; the chocobo rendition could have been a gifted chimpanzee's Fruitloops project. It's Uematsu that doesn't gel with Hamauzu and Nakano.

As regards album consistency, I'd be inclined towards full marks. For four CDs of music, it's a fucking good job. Although the playing time alone begs the greater question of quantity versus quality with video game music. I'd infinitely prefer that the official game soundtrack be a 2CD programme of quality arrangements--leave the raw score to rippers.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I think FFX was definitely Hamauzu's strongest overall work and he was the star here. Really, I can't think of one bad track of his from the whole thing. Even "Decisive Battle" has grown on me (though the piano retains the characteristic of being more "cute" than epic to me).

I liked Nakano a lot better a few years ago, but I can't really listen to his stuff that much anymore. Only contribution of his that I remember off the top of my head and listen to frequently is "Luca". I thought Dewprism and most of his Musashi tracks were far better than his output here.

I liked the whole of Uematsu's work here much more than FFIX, even considering the small bit of it. Only tracks of his I didn't like were the darker, brooding ones...Uematsu just isn't good at stuff like that. Other than that...Character themes, his battle themes, both vocals (Suteki Da Ne was refreshing after Eyes on Me and Melodies of Life, plus I like Rikki's voice...and Otherworld definitely gives the score even more diversity. Nothing wrong with a little heavy metal mixed in) plus some other odds and ends. Hey, a little melodic backbone never hurts.

Overall, the style clashes are something I enjoy and I put this one right behind FFVI in the canon. Individually:

Hamauzu: *****
Uematsu: ****
Nakano: ***1/2
All Together: ***** and a "yeah, why the fuck not".

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I was not a big fan of this at first, but it grew on me after the game and mutiple listens. Now I love the entire effort. All three composers had good tracks and some average tracks. I'll break this down for each composer.

Uematsu - I thought his contributions were pretty good. To Zanarkand is a lovely melody, Otherworld was a surprise, but darn good, especially since I'm a metal fan. The battle theme is pretty good, if a little tiresome. Blitzball Gamblers is among the best of his contributions, as well as Calm Before the Storm. All in all he was good in this soundtrack. I give him ****

Hamauzu - Even though his first track wasn't until the last 1/3 of disc 1, it was excellent, Besaid Island is really good. Then, I can say that he really didn't have a bad track the rest of the way, and People of the Far North is utterly brilliant. I also Really like Macalania Forest and Decisive battle. I give him *****

Nakano - I already knew that Nakano was heavily ambient in his works, and thats no problem with me, I like ambient music. That said, his efforts were decent, three of his best tracks were from disc 1 in my opinion, those being, Tis is your story, Enemy attack, and Illusion, my favorite of those being Illusion, a very icy ambient piece. Luca is also very good. Challenge and Summoned Beast Battle are the last two very good tracks he did, but unfortunately he did have some boring ambient pieces that did nothing though. But overall ****.

In summary, this is an excellent addition to the FF legacy, a bit different, but very fulfilling, and I say that it gets a total score of *****.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.