Chaotic Disintegrate

Where chaos stops and more chaos ensues. Where Filia plays the electric keyboard.
Where anything goes.

-//o_O\\7 *Home of the Awful, Mediocre and Pathetic* -//u_u\\7

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Final Fanatisty, Part II ... a continuance.
Well, actually, I was lazy and didn't wanted to chuck everything into one big post. Besides, I've posts to burn due to my laziness so ... why not be lazy, if it helps me get over what wrong I've done? Oh, what a loser.
Anyway, here we go again, more ranking of great pieces of music from our favourite games of all!

Best Walkabout Music :

"Yay! This should be the other piece you hear really really often, since most FF life, like real life, is spent on either resolving conflicts (by killing all your enemies) or simply getting from here to there. The earlier FFs had several 'worlds', so that you had several walkabout musics. Later on, even if there is only one 'world', after a while as part of the plot the 'world' changes irreversibly so while all places and locations are the same, the music is different. Therefore, I shall attempt to evaluate both (and sometimes all three) while again considering the amount of time spent listening to them so that there is some form of weightage."

6. FFVIII
"There is only one walkabout music in this game, and for the life of me I can never remember it. FFVIII isn't the one to look for if you want music that will knock you off your feet, unless you are a Faye Wong fan."
5. FFIV
"You can't really fault it, since it is the earliest game here after all. The main walkabout theme is pretty nice, somewhat emotive in fact, but the underground theme is fairly ordinary, and the moon theme is, well, weird. What really holds FFIV's walkabout music back is the fact that the theme resets each time you get into a fight, which means you never heard the whole thing. What a pity, since all I've ever heard of the underground music is up to ... um ... the first trill."
4. FFV
"Haha ... the walkabout theme in the first world is so laid-back and easy going it reflects Butz's and friends' relaxed nature in the process of saving the world, especially with that old geezer Galuf along to provide comic relief. That in the second and third world, however, isn't fantastic firstly because again I never remember it. It probably sounds better in dungeons."
3. FFVI
"Again, a great emotive pieces as your walkabout song. However, it is also one that you will never heard the ending to, as you spend very little time walking about in the World of Balance. The theme for the World of Ruin isn't that dull, but the problem is that it also serves as the music for the Falcon which is a total waste in my opinion, since it flubs disastrously as airship music. See below for more."
2. FFIX
"The first part of the FFIX theme song Melodies of Life serves as the walkabout song, and you don't really find it a very significant song until the end. But, in fact, I preferred the original walkabout tune to Melodies of Life, since it was lighter and more vibrant ... in fact more emotive than Melodies of Life which is just, well, that kind of happy, optimistic song overflowing with saccharine. Great stuff."
1. FFVII
"Now, there is really, really, really a gulf between one and two. The FFVII walkabout theme is a masterpiece, no question about it. For starters, it's more than five minutes long! It is part of the de facto theme song of FFVII along with the Highwind music, and it is well worth it to sit through to listen to the end. While I was scrolling around the map on the Tiny Bronco, I certainly did. It just goes on, carrying you along, and when it actually ends and repeats again it comes as a great surprise ... as well as a massive shock as you have just been walking around doing nothing for several precious minutes. Download it and listen."

Best Airship Music :

"The humble, um, airship is often your main means of transport in FF games, and so it makes sense to evaluate that as well as a form of comparison between the games. Airship music is generally supposed to be optimistic, inspiring ... "and stuff", since it's main purpose is to make you feel good and provide you with a sense of accomplishment, as giving you a vehicle that can take you almost anywhere is basically breaking nearly all transportation barriers. Some games also have more than one means of transportation, in which case I'll consider them all as 'airships' despite the pretty obvious inaccuracy."

6. FFVI : The Blackjack
"Setzer and his airship the Blackjack are probably the best incentive to become a gambling king. The feel-good music of the Blackjack shows how you can live life as a breeze, do as you please, and be so relaxed that one actually gets tricked by a double-headed coin. The other airship, the Falcon, actually uses the World of Ruin walkabout music as its theme which, as I already said, is neither original nor really great. What a waste."
5. FFIV : The Airship, The Big Whale
"Great, fast music that really blends in as you spin your airship round and round the continent. The problem? After spinning your airship round and round, you realise the whole tune is less than twenty bars long, and the repetition starts to get ... well ... nauseating. The Big Whale is more of the same, grand, optimistic, and very, very short."
4. FFV : The Airship, The Hiryuu, The Submarine
"An honest confession ... I never ever listened to the whole of the airship music. Because I never even flew the airship for that long! But listening to it separately, it is actually pretty nice. I used to despise the mournful submarine music, but after a while I started memorising it and ... gasp ... humming it everywhere. It's an acquired taste, I guess. What is really impressive, however, is the Hiryuu music, the only 'airship' music that actually, well, can sound sad when you slow it down enough. Then again, the Hiryuu must be the most pathetic airship of all since it can't even cross mountains the Black Chocobo can. It's not very long, but for as much as it lasts it really sounds grand."
3. FFIX : The Hilda Garde III
"It sounds like a lift off the Ragnarok theme from FFVIII, but then again the Ragnarok is theme is one of the best in the whole of FFVIII (which isn't a game of exciting music, anyway). It's a bit more loud and jarring than the Ragnarok but the happy optimistic nature of the song goes better with FFIX's characters, who are infinitely more cheerful that Squally sitting and mourning in the corner. But this is an evaluation of songs, not characters. Furthermore, if you know where to go, you will never heard the full song of the Hilda Garde III. Least pleasant of all, you lose the airship after going to Terra (the planet, not the character!), and it is replaced by the Invincible which hands down has the worst music of all airships ... and the same one as the second walkabout theme. But it is great while you can still hear it."
2. FFVIII : The Ragnarok
"The trills at the beginning sound a little corny, and it takes a while to get to the real song, but when you're there you know this is going to be one of the best airship songs ever heard. It is all of optimistic, inspiring and emotional, and hearing it actually made me feel glad and relieved that Squall and you-know-who managed to get back to earth safely ... she should have been lost in space forever, damn it. Considering how late in the game you get the airship, however, it is again highly unlikely that you will hear the full theme. Pity."
1. FFVII : The Highwind, The Shinra Sub
"The Highwind music is as good as the theme song for FFVII ... it's the same as the one Cloud plays on Tifa's piano, remember? Blah, I shouldn't have to rant about how great it is, notice my description of airship music as 'and stuff'? You just have to listen, you must listen. And, with the Highwind coming in halfway through the game and sticking with you for the rest of it, you can. The satisfaction of getting halfway to beating Sephiroth and the anxiety of the challenges in the half ahead are equally expressed. And it modulates. I am an absolute fan of music with modulation ... if the original piece of music is to my liking, of course. No contest."

Best Chocobo Music :

"The, uh, not very humble Chocobo, is, of course, your other main mode of transportation for the rest of the game. In the earlier games, Chocobo riding was compulsory to reach the next part of the game. In FFIV and V, you actually had to chase after the chocobo to catch it which was hellishly difficult since it travelled in a random direction and you had to corner it. Later on, it became optional, and sometimes its only purpose was to allow you to access secret areas or secret prizes in the game. Catching it also became easier. Nevertheless, the pervasive Chocobo music has remained with numerous remixes so I shall evaluate each of them anyway. Wark!"

6. FFVI : Techno de Chocobo
"I heard only five seconds of this. Why? Because that's the time it takes to get from Figaro Castle to Figaro Cave. And after that, you never have to touch a chocobo again in the whole of FFVI, and you probably won't need to seeing how you get the airships less than half-way through each world. I certainly don't hate chocobos, but maybe like the poor moogles in FFVII and FFVIII they should just have left the chocobo out of this one."
5. FFIX : Ukelele de Chocobo, Aloha de Chocobo
"The chocobo music as great because it is funny and fast, and of course it is the catch-theme of the FF genre as a whole. So what's the worst thing to do to it? Cut it in half, and slow it down, which is what happened in FFIX. Sure, it's still the same theme, but it's just ... well ... uncomfortable having it slow. Riding around on the chocobo isn't supposed to be the most relaxing adventure of all (actually, it's 'sat and watched the waves of the world'). It's not as if we're expected to feel sad for poor Choco, right (er, we aren't ...)? KWEEEEHH!! (Kweh ...)"
4. FFIV : Chocobo, Chocobo, Samba de Chocobo, Big Chocobo
"The FFIV Chocobo music is basically the original one, the Black Chocobo music being a slightly faster and souped-up version of it. So, as far as rankings go, this should be considered the zero-mark, with everything below in the negative and everything above in the positive. But FFIV does have the Fat Chocobo music, however, a funny and nonsensical piece that also appears in FFIII but isn't heard after this one. Too bad ..."
3. FFVIII : Odeka de Chocobo, Modes de Chocobo
"The Chocobo forest music isn't too great, since I mostly have bad memories of it after getting cheated by the bloody little Chocoboy quite a number of times and getting that stupid Choco-ziner stolen yet again. Grr ... I just want to slice him up with the gunblade. However, once you do get the chocobo you're treated to one of the better chocobo themes. The only bad thing? Squall looks absolutely ridiculous riding on a chocobo ('Whatever ... Wark!') ... not so much that the Squall is too serious, it's that the Chocobo is far too cute for a seemingly real-life character like him."
2. FFV : Mambo de Chocobo, Boco's Theme
"'Take a trip around the world in a Chocobo!' says the weird guy in Mirage Town. And that is what teaches you to love the Chocobo music, if you don't already. Better yet, you're riding on Boco, the friendly chocobo who just happens to be Butz's best friend in his absence of an ability to find a love interest in his three travelling companions. And the Black Chocobo music which, as usual is just a souped-up version of the original, teaches you to add the 'ooh!' at the end of the Chocobo song. Well!"
1. FFVII : Electric de Chocobo, Waltz de Chocobo, Cinco de Chocobo, Fiddle de Chocobo
"The Waltz is the one you hear when you first talk to the chocobos at the Chocobo Farm, and the Cinco is the one you hear when you travel and at the Chocobo Sage's house. Neither of these are particularly great, the Cinco messing around with the timing of the song such that you get a somewhat cute but strange-sounding version of it. What really stands out are, of course, the Fiddle which is the music you hear when chocobo racing. Yeah! Ride em, Cloudy! And of course the Electric is the one when fighting with chocobos, and in the only numbered FF when you can actually fight against chocobos (but not kill them, unfortunately, even with Omnislash). The fact that they actually managed to make a fun-sounding fight theme out of chocobo music is a fabulous achievement, made greater still by the really funny scene of Cloud and friends beating up monsters to the chocobo theme while tossing greens to keep the little pest busy. I would say the only thing missing from FFVII's chocobos would be some degree of identification with the player, just like Boco in FFV and to a lesser extent Choco in FFIX, so they won't behave like brats that run away the moment you let go of them. But you can't have everything."

Most Emotive Music :
"Er, you know how there are some pieces of music in the game that are intentionally made to make you feel sad, and cry, and all that. Sometimes it can be admittedly embarrassing to get worked up over a game, but when that happens, we not only recognise the powerful intricacy of the plot, but also the successful interweaving of the music to help stir those emotions over each individual character (since, arguably, the story of all FFs could be told using a single template). However, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, and when it doesn't ... Nevertheless, as a credit to Uematsu for tugging the heartstrings of all us little foreign children we shall take a special look at those little melodies designed just to make us cry."

6. FFVIII
"I wasn't sad at all for FFVIII. Period. The saddest thing was probably seeing Squall simply waste away after finding out he cannot live without somebody he had been throwing insults at all the time since he met her. Ah ... the saddest song, then? Go look at the other sections. FFVIII isn't one for great music."
5. FFIV : Gilbert's (Edward's) Theme
"Like FFVIII, FFIV isn't a particularly sad game, however, at least it has a sad theme for when people 'die', or leave your party, and it usually accompanies Rosa and Rydia (typical ... those chauvinist game desginers!). I probably felt the most sad at the end, with Kain, and with the 'prelude' music playing even though it is supposed to be a happy occasion. But since the 'prelude' doesn't count since it appears in all the games, I suggest the song Edward plays when he mourns the loss of his dear Anna ... and gets whacked by a Sea Hag who apparently doesn't like his voice much. And Edward isn't remembered for being sad, but not much more apart from being the most spoony bard ever."
4. FFV : The Hiryuu, the Music Box
"A lot of NPCs (and one PC) die in FFV, and thus the sad theme gets pretty frequent use. The problem, however, is when you overuse a theme its effect gets nullified. Which explains why after FFV the sad theme was phased out and replaced with a slower remix of each character's theme song to give a more mournful feeling. For characters, although I don't think much of Butz or Lenna, I did feel bad for them during their flashbacks with the aid of the songs above."
3. FFIX : Garnet's Song, Pandemonium
"Moving on to character-specific sad themes, I'd say that those are a great improvement over simply using a 'sad' theme that gets repeated and lacks significance to each particular character, and that you eventually get bored of (for me because it sounds too much like dungeon music). That done with, I have only bad things to say about the 'sad' themes in FFIX. Garnet's song, the second half of Melodies of Life, is fine with me ... however, I had much rather the person didn't sing it. Garnet is sixteen, and the singer sounds like, what, forty? It doesn't match, and the song even got reused for when Eiko was singing. Now that is freaky. The song that plays on the Pandemonium when Zidane is told that he's the destroyer of the world is basically a more trancy version of the tortured flashbacks that Cloud experiences in FFVII. It was great, and I really felt bad for Zidane ... until he got off his uncomfortable seat (where does his tail go, hmm?) and started acting like a fool, calling the poor kids nasty names and being rude to all of his comrades. And you have to fight three battles to it. See below for my view on fighting battles to sad music."
2. FFVII : Aeris' Theme, Red XIII's Theme, Cid's Theme
"Red XIII's music upon finding out the truth about his 'dishonourable' father and Cid's at his contemplation about going into space are some of the most emotive pieces in this game of incredible music. Aeris' theme ... well, some would say Aeris' theme is the most sad piece they have ever heard out of Final Fantasy. But I disagree. I put it here because, yes, I did feel sad. Very sad, since Yuffie was in my team, and she, well, was really sad (try Tifa-Yuffie for guaranteed tears). However, I don't rate it highly because I didn't feel so much sad as angry. Really angry. At Sephiroth, the bastard. And, as you can tell, anger and sadness often come together but angry feelings and sad music just don't go together. The worst thing is that you have to fight Jenova: Life to her theme song. What the hell? I'm supposed to feel sad for Aeris lying in the corner when my team is getting reduced to double-digit life by a suitably-placed Aqualung? The sounds of whacking and spell-casting are what really ruin the appreciation of any sad piece of music even more than angry and nasty emotions. A total, thorough waste. Still, sadder than anything preceding it."
1. FFVI : Coin Song, Aria de Mezzo Carattere, Cyan's Theme, Gau's Theme, Rachel's Theme, Daryl's Theme
"The 'Coin Song' is the slow version of Figaro Castle's music, Daryl's Theme is a slow version of Setzer's. I don't know why they had to put all of the best character songs ever created together, but they did. To find out more about just why I find the slow versions of FFVI characters' theme songs so moving, read some of the earlier rankings to see my views about the characters in the first place. For example, with Celes and Rachel's music, it shifts the focus from whether Locke and Celes actually love each other, as one would think, to the degree of pain both and Rachel have suffered, thus causing sadness rather than endless speculating about character compatibility. The ability to turn from grand, funny, or easy-going to sad with just the subtraction of a few beats per minute is an incredible one."

Music I Recommend :
"Okay, this one is short and unranked. i'll just mention a few songs from each game that I really, really like, that I haven't mentioned already. More often than not, these are also the tunes that I can remember despite not having played the respective games for, well, a month or so ... hehe *scratches head*. Since I obviously don't know the real names of the songs, I'll just mention the place where you can hear them. So you could compare, and see if my tastes are similar to yours. Obviously, this doesn't include songs that appear in (almost) every game, like the victory fanfare, the crystal song and the 'prelude'. Take a look!"

FFIV : Red Wings, Baron Castle, Mt. Hobs, *Mysidia Town*, Palom and Porom, *Dwarf Castle*, Dr. Lugae
FFV : The Pirates, *Hurry up!*, Hiryuu Mountain, Karnak Town, *Library of Ancients*, *Gilgamesh's Theme*
FFVI : The Empire (both mixes), Mt. Kolts, *Returner's Hideout*, Jidoor Town, Zozo, Mog's Theme, *Thamasa*, Relm's Theme, Gogo's Theme
FFVII : Shinra Inc., Mako Reactor (don't ask ...), The Turks, Yuffie's Theme (both mixes), Junon (both mixes), Rufus' Welcoming March, Gold Saucer, *Cosmo Canyon*, Wutai, *Ancient Temple*, The Weapons. Why so many? Because the exact midi is available on the internet =P
FFVIII : *Triple Triad*, Dollet Town, *The Concert* (guitar, violin, flute, tap), Lunar Station
FFIX : Tetra Master, Steiner's Theme, Zorn and Thorn, Friendly Monsters, *Quina's Theme*, Treno, Gargan Roo, *Black Mage Village*, Eiko's Theme

"As a general pattern, I like funny (as in, humorous) sounding music, light soothing music, music with consistent rhythm, and music in melodic minor. That means I usually like the music for castles, mountains, and ancient places, which tend to follow this pattern, as well as the theme songs of funny characters. And of course the card games, preferring Triple Triad to Tetra Master (the game, as well). As you can see I put *asterisks* to show my two favourite songs, the exception being FFV where the Hurry! music isn't my favourite ... but it scares the hell out of me every time I hear it (thanks, Queen Karnak ... all your fault). I dislike drawn-out music, which is the dull kind you usually get in dungeons, as well as music that repeats very quickly, of which FFIX is a great sinner (Burmecia and Pandemonium come to mind). I dislike all saxophones. Sorry, jazz lovers, but I detest jazz in all its forms. FFVI and FFVII have fantastic music as a whole, I can safely say I like all FFVI character music, and absolutely all FFVII music except for those that appear during Sephiroth and Cloud's flashbacks (I ... dislike ... Sephiroth ...). Anyway, as a conclusion, I'd say it's all by Uematsu Nobuo, it's all good. So enjoy all of it."

posted by Charlotte | 3:35 pm

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Disclaimer : The Slayers and Filia Ul Copt and all images thereof are the property of Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. I don't own any of them, although if I had a choice I would want Filia ...
~//n_n\\7

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