Customer Reviews

Final Fantasy Tactics: Original Soundtrack

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Final Fantasy. Nobuo Uematsu. The two go hand in hand. But wait, what's this? A soundtrack by Masaharu Iwata and Hitoshi Sakimoto? Who are they? You may not be familiar with them now, but after listening to these two great CD's, you'll want to commit their names to memory.

The first disc has most of the more popular tracks. As a general rule, if the track name was translated into English, that track is usually pretty good. However, as I've found with most video game soundtracks, you come across something that you don't remember hearing in the game. For me, those are the best tracks. For one, they make you want to play the game all over again just so you can see where that track was implemented in the game.

Some of the tracks are a little redundant, meaning that they use one or two "theme songs" and create different versions of them. Usually this bothers me, but the "theme songs" in Final Fantasy Tactics are so good that you don't mind at all. A few of the tracks at the beginning of Disc 1 sound like they would be right at home in the Braveheart soundtrack. Like another reviewer mentioned, Disc 2 is much more downbeat--compared to the first Disc. But one track on disc 2 that REALLY stood out was track 14, "Shock!" I don't ever remember this being played in the game, but listening to it just puts a smile on your face because it sounds so beautiful.

Of course, all of us that have played the game remember the adrenaline-pumped battle music. Songs like "Back Fire", "Apoplexy", "Run Past Through the Plain (a.k.a. Sweegy Woods)", "Decisive Battle", and "Unavoidable Battle (a.k.a Germinas Peak)". All of the above tracks are exactly as you heard them in the game, except that for some reason "Run Past Through the Plain" sounds a little soft compared to my MP3 version.

The soundtrack comes with a little pamphlet with the different tracks (alas, most of the song names are in Japanese, save a few). But as a nice bonus, you also get a folded poster with almost all the Job classes, and what the males and females look like in that class.

Listening to this soundtrack, one can't help but wonder what Nobuo Uematsu would have done if he had been in charge of the soundtrack. But personally, I like how Iwata and Sakimoto did it and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Disc One (75:13)
1) Brand Logo ~ Title Black 1:09
2) Backborn Story 1:34
3) P.R. Movie 0:47
4) Unit Introductions 3:50
5) Player Creation 1:45
6) Prologue Movie 2:52
7) Chapel 1:00
8) Enemy Soldiers Attack 0:59
9) Trisection 2:37
10) Officer Cadet 1:57
11) Attack Team 0:48
12) Unavoidable Battle 1:45
13) Battle's End 0:24
14) Main Character's Theme 1:12
15) A Chapel 2:33
16) Meeting with Algus 2:03
17) World Map 0:53
18) Shop 0:52
19) Soldier Agency 1:03
20) Fur, Meat, and Bones Trade 0:56
21) Formation Screen 0:57
22) Brave Story 1:18
23) Pub 1:01
24) Data Screen 0:57
25) Desert Land 2:51
26) Alma's Theme 1:12
27) Doubtful Atmosphere 1:53
28) Decisive Battle 2:22
29) Cry of a Bitter Heart 0:55
30) Remnants 3:05
31) Anxiety Before the Battle 2:02
32) Tension 1 2:41
33) Game Over 0:21
34) Tutorial 2:10
35) Random Waltz 1:52
36) Ovelia's Theme 2:41
37) Apoplexy 4:10
38) Zalbag, the Holy Knight 2:03
39) Run Past Through the Plains 1:58
40) Scheme 2:42
41) Delita's Theme 1:42
42) Back Fire 3:01

Disc Two (75:50)
1) Memories 1:45
2) Dicedarg's Theme 1:27
3) Antipyretic 3:40
4) Saint Ajora's Theme 2:51
5) Bloody Excrement 2:46
6) And I Ran Away 0:28
7) Espionage 2:25
8) Descent 3:20
9) Ovelia's Worries 3:41
10) Under the Stars 3:14
11) Battle on the Bridge 3:30
12) Cardinal's Anger 2:41
13) In Pursuit 2:33
14) Shock! ~ Despair 2:19
15) Holy Ajora's Theme - Deluxe Edition 1:10
16) Cry of a Bitter Heart! 2:40
17) Requiem 3:13
18) Terror 1 2:08
19) The Pervert 3:53
20) Antidote 3:09
21) Thunder God Cid's Theme 1:52
22) Treasure 2:47
23) Night Attack 2:49
24) Terror 2 2:02
25) Ultima - The Nice Body 2:17
26) Ultima - The Perfect Body! 3:26
27) Last Battle's End 0:17
28) Epilogue Movie 1:36
29) Staff Credit 5:38

The name Nobuo Uematsu is so synonymous with the fantastic musical scores of the Final Fantasy series that to not see his name on a soundtrack is something of a shock.

Yet the music of Final Fantasy Tactics is not the typical Final Fantasy score. Whereas most titles in the series rely on a mixture of melodic themes, dramatic action sequences, and brooding, dark overtures, composers Hitoshi Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata treat listeners to a selection of what may best be described as epic themes. Reflecting the broad storyline of the game itself, their music is perfectly mated to the game.

Listeners ultra-loyal to the Uematsu conceptualization of Final Fantasy music may find this soundtrack somewhat strange, but the score stands on its own legs and offers a wonderful alternative to the typical Final Fantasy fare.

I have owned this 2-disc set for about two years now, and it became my favorite CD(s) ever as soon as I started playing Disc 1. Final Fantasy Tactics is a huge and heroic game, and its soundtrack is equally epic in scope.

Just as the heart of the game is intensive combat, the CDs are riddled with battle themes. From the hair-raising "A Chapel" to the adrenaline-pumping "Apoplexy", this music brings back fond memories of the dozens of hard-fought battles one must endure playing this game. Much like its source material, the overall mood of the soundtrack is VERY dark and gloomy, but occasional moments of hope, heroism, and even humor shine through the darkness. It is of interesting note that the tone of Disc 2 is much, much more dismal than that of the first, sometimes to the point of being outright depressing. But again, that is how the latter stages of the actual game flow as well, so the music is appropriate.

As far as the sound quality, Final Fantasy Tactics OST is mostly superb. The quality of the synthesized instruments is so lifelike, that one can seldom tell this music was not performed by an actual orchestra. It does have an engineering flaw, in that the music level was recorded a little too high, and there is occasional bass distortion. But Iwata and Sakimoto did an outstanding job in composing this game's music, and this set belongs in the collection of anyone who loves game music. I would even recommend it to classical afficionados who are willing to try a new flavor. Yes, it's that good.

I very rarely buy a soundtrack, especially to a videogame, however this one left me with no choice but to do so. This easily the best videogame music I have ever listened to. I guess one reason behind me buying this is the fact that unlike many PSX games, this one you can not listen to as a backwards compatible CD (All the final fantasies are this way) and the poor music CD that came with Anthologies left me wanting more. No this is well worht purchasing even if you don't like the game, the music is more than enough to make this worth owning.

Basic info: Music and score by Masaharu Iwata and Hitoshi Sakimoto. 2
discs. Disc 1: 74:53 (42 tracks). Disc 2: 75:37 (29 tracks). About
half of the tracks are listed in Japanese, but you can get English
track names with a CDDB-equipped audio CD player on your computer.

I
just wrote a review for "Chrono Cross" and contrasted that
game's gentle Celtic guitar with the march-driven synths, strings,
horns, and ominous church-bells common in other game soundtracks.
"Final Fantasy Tactics" is a prime example of the
latter.

Indeed, while FFT's themes are rich and melodic, there is an
unmistakable ominousness and sadness to the music, which you'd
probably expect with song titles like "Ovelia's Worries",
"Cry of Pain", "Terror", and "Bloody
Excrement". It suits the game of course, since Tactics is the
Final Fantasy game where the heroes struggle in a deeply corrupt world
towards very unhappy ends. Sometimes that's the mood I'm in, and it
can be great headphone music, but this isn't the game soundtrack
you're going to be playing with friends in your hotel room at the
anime convention, that's for sure.

More than most other game
soundtracks I own, FFT is dominated by looping battle-theme songs.
That shouldn't be a surprise, since Tactics spends far more of its
game-time in 30-60 minute battles than in the exploring and
running-around-the-town activities of other RPG's, but it naturally
affects the needs of the soundtrack, and thus the collection
represented here.

...the DigiCube
release (and not some SonMay pirate version), [with] the proper packaging
includes a lovely poster on brown parchment-like paper of the various
job illustrations, with male and female geomancers, monks, time mages,
etc. Mine also included a small collectible card of the summoned
"moogle" character.

If you played this game, then you already know how great the music is. If you haven't, find out. I'm not one to use superlatives, but this is the BEST OST out there. Masaharu Iwata and Hitoshi Sakimoto deliver non-stop great themes. From the enchanting "Team Making" to the hard hitting "Apoplexy", you are taken on a journey. 2 CD's, 71 tracks, all lovely, it's something you can listen to all day. You'd sware they used an orchestra, the instruments sound incredible (especially the french horn and the violin). Good luck getting your hands on this one, there's a reason it's hard to find, it's that good.

You'd think that with the sheer number of hours I spent playing Final Fantasy Tactics, I wouldn't need the soundtrack to keep the game's majestic score running through my head. There was something about this particular soundtrack though, that made me sure I'd want to have it on hand long after I was finished with the game.

The soundtrack's best attribute is that it does far more than just bring to mind specific "scenes" from the game. It's a work of art in its own right, and is the perfect background music for the epic fantasy novels I tend to read (the Record of Lodoss War soundtracks also work great in this regard).

Another thing that sets this soundtrack apart from a lot of other video game soundtrack is that it sounds like a film score. You hear an orchestra rendering a well-crafted symphonic score, not a cheap, synthesized version full of "bloops" and "bleeps". The Final Fantasy Tactics soundtrack isn't just the audio version of the game, but is a unique soundtrack on par with any of today's Hollywood scores.

If you're a serious fan of the game, you'll want to check out this great soundtrack. It should also appeal to anyone interested in anime and/or epic fantasy scores.

FFT is one of my favorite rpgs of all time. it has the best soundtrack ever. my favorite songs are delitas them,counts anger,ovelias theme, and zalbag the holy knight. I hope square soft makes a new rpg like fft. i would deff reccommend this cd to anyone whos a fan.