[News] FINAL FANTASY XIII Composers Announced (Hamauzu / Shimomura)

I think that it is about time that Final Fantasy received a new flare in it's music. Uematsu is a talented composer but he has his limits. I have no doubt that Hitoshi Sakimoto's soundtrack for FFXII will be excellent and brings something new to the series. Hamauzu and Shimomura styles i feel will work very well with each other.

Uematsu was overworked in FF9, though don't get me wrong, i loved that soundtrack. He had a few good tracks in FF10, but they were often repetitive.

As long as Shimomura doesn't use MIDI quality sound that she used in KH2 (I'm sorry but that sound quality was dissapointing), I'll be happy. Hamauzu will no doubt want to use live sound in the soundtrack

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Originally Posted by RyuFAN

As long as Shimomura doesn't use MIDI quality sound that she used in KH2 (I'm sorry but that sound quality was dissapointing), I'll be happy. Hamauzu will no doubt want to use live sound in the soundtrack

Shimomura wasn't the one who used that sound quality. It was the synth guy.

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Quote:

As long as Shimomura doesn't use MIDI quality sound that she used in KH2 (I'm sorry but that sound quality was dissapointing), I'll be happy. Hamauzu will no doubt want to use live sound in the soundtrack

A lot of Hamauzu's magic (or anti-magic to some people) is his close role with Ryo Yamazaki, the synthesizer operator for Dirge of Cerberus, UNLIMITED: SaGa, Musashiden II, and some of FFX. His synth is unbelievably realistic, especially in DoC, and they have a special bond (read this to learn more). I'm sure there will be numerous live performances too, likely involving an orchestrator, though Shiro Hamaguchi is away right now.

As for Yoko Shimomura, I'm curious as to what synthesizer operator will work with her. None of her works have really shone in terms of synth quality, though I prefer Yamazaki's synth for Kingdom Hearts far more than Takeharu Ishimoto's for Kingdom Hearts II. Given Ishimoto has been officially upgraded to a composer, though, I think it'd be wise to anticipate Yasuhiro Yamanaka (Code Age Commanders, Front Mission 5) or Mitsuto Suzuki (a newcomer).

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I don't get all the Unlimited SaGa hate here. I found it vibrant and full of energy, in a time when a lot of OSTs seem to be painted with just one color.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I find it really interesting discussing composers' dependence on synth operators, as that does seem to be the norm for Japanese game composers. Over on this side of the world, it's the composer himself that has to account for everything regarding the quality of sound. Life would be much easier to just write the music and let someone else make it pretty. But I digress...

I'm pretty certain that Hamauzu's guy doesn't even use synths anymore, at least for his orchestral sounds. Those are pretty clearly full sample libraries. Whether they're commercial (VSL, EWQL, etc.) or privately sampled is the question I have. You can do some amazing stuff with programming on those though, I've heard some stuff from even string quartets that sounds close to lifelike. In DoC, there's also several live instruments mixed into some of the more mellow tracks, which certainly helps a great deal.

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Originally Posted by Mr. Maul

A lot of Hamauzu's magic (or anti-magic to some people) is his close role with Ryo Yamazaki, the synthesizer operator for Dirge of Cerberus, UNLIMITED: SaGa, Musashiden II, and some of FFX. His synth is unbelievably realistic, especially in DoC, and they have a special bond (read this to learn more). I'm sure there will be numerous live performances too, likely involving an orchestrator, though Shiro Hamaguchi is away right now.

As for Yoko Shimomura, I'm curious as to what synthesizer operator will work with her. None of her works have really shone in terms of synth quality, though I prefer Yamazaki's synth for Kingdom Hearts far more than Takeharu Ishimoto's for Kingdom Hearts II. Given Ishimoto has been officially upgraded to a composer, though, I think it'd be wise to anticipate Yasuhiro Yamanaka (Code Age Commanders, Front Mission 5) or Mitsuto Suzuki (a newcomer).

I'd actually love for Yamazaki to work with Shimomura again. In fact, if it would not be too much of a burden, I think it woud be great if he worked with BOTH Hamauzu and Shimomura. It would at least provide a consistent sound canvas to the PS3 elements of the FFXIII compilation.

Oh, and I've also captured the music from the trailer. As such, though, it's pretty low-quality, but there's enough there to enjoy the Hamauzu-ness.

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The few really great tracks of FF X included stuff by Hamauzu, so this could be good news.

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This game music will bomb for sure. Hamauzu eh? Personally I always compare his works toward the amazing Saga Frontier 2 OST (Ok, it sounds not fair, but that I always do, because I think it's his masterpiece.) Unlimited Saga is fine, but DoC falls my expectation. I hope he will bring his classical style to this game.

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Listen to the damn trailer music. It's Hamauzu awesomeness damnit.

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I am speechless by this music in the trailer. It sounds a little like the style of SaGa Frontier II. I can't wait to hear more !

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

Originally Posted by eriol

This game music will bomb for sure

By this do you mean it will bomb (bad) or it will be "the bomb" (good)?

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Just had a listen to the trailer mp3. Couldn't really make out the music too well from earlier clips. I must say the music is pretty good. It's impactful and catchy, and doesn't quite have the same cinematic trappings of FF7: DoC but does sound anime-like. If the rest of the soundtrack is anything like this mp3 I don't think I'll be too disappointed with the final product.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Does anyone else think the beginning of the music sounds like Ikaruga - Chapter 1 - Ideal (from 0:12 to 0:24)?

Personally I don't think this track will appear anywhere in the game, as it seems perfectly cut for just this trailer. The melodic violin passage represents the constant action that went on, while the calmdown part shows a beautiful picture of the forest. Back to action again, the trailer showed the main character confronting a kind of huge monster machine...

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Hamauzu?
Shimomura?

I'm sold on both soundtracks. I just hope we won't have to wait too long for them!

FELIPE NO

I can't wait to hear FFXIII. Hamuazu's stella deus classical style should prove to be very impressive on this game.

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Originally Posted by Omega Weapon

I can't wait to hear FFXIII. Hamuazu's stella deus classical style should prove to be very impressive on this game.

Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata scored Stella Deus, not Masashi Hamauzu.

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I just want to know, who was the genius that came up with the name "Final Fantasy Versus XIII"? Shouldn't it be "Final Fantasy XIII Versus"? And it takes too long to write out. "FFvs13"? That's not an abbreviation, that's an abomination.

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Originally Posted by Kaleb.G

I just want to know, who was the genius that came up with the name "Final Fantasy Versus XIII"? Shouldn't it be "Final Fantasy XIII Versus"? And it takes too long to write out. "FFvs13"? That's not an abbreviation, that's an abomination.

Because versus means "opposed to" in latin or something and I guess it means Final Fantasy is against the number 13! :lolsign:

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How does Omega Weapon work with SE if he doesn't know Stella Deus was scored by Sakimoto?

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I'm pleased and looking forward to it! I never really got into FXII's score at all as a whole piece so I'm hoping for something with a bit more structure and tune to it.

Si

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by DarknessTear

Shimomura only has one style. Xylophones and violins. Of course, I'm not saying she isn't awesome.

Are you kidding me? Dude, play Parasite Eve--you'll hear a whole new side of Shimomura. She can do dark and haunting better than just about any other RPG composer I've heard, save for Yoshitaka Hirota. And she has a helluva way with techno beats. If you can't track down a copy of PE, at least listen to "Under the Progress" and "Ultimate Being" from its soundtrack. I can provide them if need be. You won't believe it's the same composer.

Unless you were kidding. My sarcasm/satire detector isn't working today, so I may well have just made an ass of myself. If so...well, laugh, I deserve it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I did enjoy a good part of the FFXII OST, but the problem I think a lot of people had with Sakimoto's work is that he tends to do very layed music, and most VGM tracks are composed around a melody, which he didn't seem to do much. It usually provides for a 'deeper' feel in the mood of the song, and alllows for unique complexity, but given that FFXIII looks to be very action-based (Especially Versus), I think a strong emphasis (Though not exclusive) on Melody in the tracks should be important, and I'm especially pleased to hear about this.

Also, Wikipedia used to have a list, but it seems to have vanished, so can anyone post what track Hamauzu composed from Final Fantasy X? I know his works from Unlimited Saga and Shimomura from Kingdom Hearts, but I want to see exactly which songs it was from FFX that Hamauzu composed. Thanks if you can find me that. The google does nothing for me right now >_>

FELIPE NO

Just ripped the latest trailer music for FFXIII
Final Fantasy XIII Trailer Music ~EXTENDED~.mp3

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Was sounding kinda Uematsu-ish before the violins came in. I like how they're rotating through different composers. Gives each title a fresh sound.

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Sounds good. Shimomura's piece for Versus XIII is promising, too:
Gametrailers.com - Final Fantasy Versus XIII - Dengeki Special Edition Trailer

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