Customer Reviews

Final Fantasy VIII

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This soundtrack is simply breathtaking! I can believe how much I enjoy listening to these songs. I bought the FFVII soundtrack a while ago, and couldn't wait for FFVIII, so I could here the music! No matter how much I love FFVII's soundtrack, this one is even better! Song's such as 'Liberi Fatali', 'The Landing', 'Force Your Way', Waltz for the Moon', 'Tell Me', 'Premonition' and one of my personal favorite 'The Oath', are just some of the 74 wonderful tracks. I will admit that even with all the good, there is some bad. The song 'SeeD' is wonderful, but it's hard to listen to repeatedly. 'Junction' is a bit dull, but it's short enough that it doesn't get on your nerves too much. The track 'Galbadia Garden' is interesting, because it has one of the best openings but then the song goes down hill. 'Jailed', and 'Rivals', are not bad, but there not great either. The only song I really can't stand is 'Residents' which is okay when playing the game, but by it's self it's horrible! I know it seems like I said a lot of negative things, but most of the soundtrack is wonderful. The following, and the songs above, are reason's why you should buy this. 'The Man with the Machine Gun' is Laguna's battle song, and a great one at that. If you ever get tired of the normal battle song don't worry, because this one won't get old. 'The Stage is Set' is another excellent piece. Played toward the end of the games first disc, it is a song played when the group of characters is planning their mission, and their destiny's. 'Fisherman's Horizon' is another beauty, it's soft charm makes it a wonderful song. 'Love Grows' is probably my favorite version of the love theme. It's a lovely tune shared between the two main characters.'Eye's on Me' is not the best vocal piece ever, but it's not that bad. I personally didn't care for it but I know many who do. To me it's a love it, or hate it kind of thing, that only you can truly judge. 'Ride On' is a fun tune, played while the group is in flight. It's one of the best airship songs ever! The songs 'The Legendary Beast' and 'Maybe I'm A Lion' may not be quite as amazing as 'One Winged Angel' from FFVII, but they certainly are incredible final boss tunes. 'Ending Theme' is great, and I'm not talking about the 'Eye's on me' part. 'Ending theme' has a mysterious opening, and a powerful, yet beautiful ending. I must admit, that although this album has some songs that I don't listen to that often, it is so good overall that it should deffinitly get 5 stars.

That's how long they say it took Nobuo Uematsu to write this soundtrack, although it sounds like it took years. The music from FF8 was excellent-you'd put your playstation away, and you'd find yourself humming the songs "The Landing"or "Balamb Garden"..(or your two year old sister would go around humming Liberi Fatali). Then you'd realize that you're only going back to Edea's house so you can hear "Truth". You try to play "Eyes on Me" on the piano-with less than desirable results. Time to fork over fifty dollars(and it's worth it). The sound quality on this album is excellent, it's packaged really nice(they should get a picture of it on here), and don't worry, most of the pamphlet is written in English, including the lyrics to "Eyes on Me" and "Liberi Fatali".

The first time I heard the soundtrack, I hadn't played FFVIII yet (because it was released in the states much later than in Japan), and I didn't really care for it too much. But once you play the game itself and can really associate the tunes with emotions, places and characters, the music means so much much more.

Some of my favorites on the CD are Liberi Fatali (if you ever finish the entire game, try translating the lyrics- they're in latin. It's really cool), Blue Fields, Julia, Breezy, Fragments of Memories, Fisherman's Horizon, Maybe I'm a Lion, and of course... Eyes on Me. The ending theme is also pretty incredible, because it incorporates Eyes on Me, a orchestral remix of Liberi Fatali, the prelude AND the prologue.

Uematsu didn't miss a beat on this one.

...I love them all so much. It's hard for me to choose any one of Nobuo Uematsu's works over one of the others. He's such an excellent composer. He and Yasunori Mitsuda are my favorites, you know. :-)

Anyway, down to business. The game opens with `Liberi Fatali'. This is, arguably, the best song EVER written by Nobuo Uematsu. The lyrics, while in Latin, are very spot on to the game. For those not in the know, here they are:

Wake from your sleep, my children, The childhood years are gone. Wake from your sleep, fated children, The peace is gone. Rise! Search! Go to the true garden, The garden of vernal truth. Fiery truth Burn the evil world. Fiery truth Light the dark world. Goodbye, children, The day has died.

This is one of many translations found on the web, but they all say, basically, the same thing - Nobuo Uematsu and the people who help him with Lyrics are geniuses.

From this song on, the soundtrack actually rather mellows down. The next two tracks, `Balamb Garden' and `Blue Fields' are both rather calm pieces, and don't really help display the tone of the game - militaristic. That comes next, with the second action piece of the album being the battle theme, `Don't Be Afraid'.

From then on, we have a variety of ambient, soft, surreal, militaristic, and just plain odd songs. Some of my favorite tracks include `The Man With the Machine Gun', `Landing', `Starting Up', `Force Your Way', `Never Look Back', `The Stage is Set', and many, many more.

The score fits the game very well, and despite all the naysay about how uninteresting the game is, I thoroughly enjoyed myself as I put over 100 hours on my first time through the game. The music was part of the reason I did so - I got the soundtrack right after having played the game, but when I ordered it, it took nearly a year to arrive. When I got it, the sound was all the sweeter.

Those who like Uematsu's older style (FF IV-VI) or his newer style (FF IX-X) might not like this as much, but since I like all forms of music, I thought it was top-notch.

I was thoroughly pleased with the presentation of this score. In itself, the music was perfectly fitting to a spectacular game, and the album was rendered with fidelity and care. My only complaints were the lack of some rather minor (yet desireable) tracks, such as the instrumental version of "Eyes On Me", as performed by Irvine, Quistis, Selphie and Zell. And, due to their presentation in the game, some tracks are rather repeptative ("Galbadia Garden"), dull ("Drifting), or just plain irritating ("Shuffle or Boogie"). These however, do not mar the album as a whole. Some personal favorites on this album are (undeniably) "Liberi Fatali", "The Succesor"(a poignant and whistful piano solo), the jammin' techno tune "The Man with the Machine Gun", the spooky "Lunatic Pandora", and the battle theme "The Extreme". Any fan of the game should own this, and anyone looking for something different should check it out.

If you have played FF8, you will know what I am talking about when I say excellent music. All of the music on this four-disk CD set is top-notch. Though is is a little expensive, it IS worth it to buy this CD!

This CD is quite expensive and the price has actually been steadily going up every day but I still think it's worth it. What you're mainly going to have to worry about is paying for the import tariffs :(

If you can manage to scrounge up the money, then by all means GET THIS 4-CD SET! I downloaded some of the songs off the internet first just to listen to them and they sounded fabulous. I also played the game itself so I'm actually a bit biased. If you get this soundtrack I would definitely recommend you get the game too. Most of the songs won't really catch your spirit, with the exception of a few (eyes on me, liberi fatali) but they certainly will be quite heartfelt when you listen to them after playing the game because you'll be like "oh yeah, I remember that part!"

Final fantasy has always been a great franchise for dreamers like myself, I'll admit. Dreamers who want something more in real life, which of course is a fairy tale love and a hero who overcomes life challenges in a noble and breathtaking way. Forget Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, Final Fantasy actually makes sense. The dialogue, the stories, the way characters react isn't fake. There are no talking chipmunks or things like that. Initially if you can summon up the interest to buy a Final Fantasy game, then do so! Luckily these games are so, so easy to get sucked into. The opening scene of every FF game to date has been great and these newest games are no exception (ff7-10).

After several years I still must say that the music in this CD still captures my attention like diving into an icy lake on a warm summer day. All of those repressed emotions and hopes, I guess, just come out when I hear these songs.

Someday when you find true love look back on these CD's and remember your dreams and how they came true!

The only soundtrack of Uematsu's that has the same style as this is Final Fantasy X's. But where Final Fantasy X had a large number of bland tracks, VIII only has one or two, but only if you're trying hard to look for flaws.
Most of the tracks in this soundtrack have a far more orchestral feel to them, a refreshing change to the synth of VII and all the soundtracks before it, and each track has it's own spark to love about it.
From the tranquil, if slightly repetitive, 'Balamb GARDEN', to the haunting 'Compression of Time' it's the 7-month work, 74 tracks of the 'John Williams of Japan' Nobuo Uematsu that's most definetly worth the cash.
The only quiblle I'd make is 'Cactus Jack' the only truly bad track on the album. But with 74 tracks I think it's only fair to overlook that minor hiccup, especially when you have the renowned 'Eyes on Me' and 'Liberi Fatali' to compensate.
To summarise, it's an auditoral multiplex no fan of Uematsu should be without, and despite it's more cinematic atmosphere, no veteran Final Fantasy player is going to feel betrayed by Uematsu for the change in direction.
You won't be disappointed.

Okay, I know that all FF soundtracks up to FF8 have been brilliant, but did you ever notice the songs sounding a bit too much like gameboy music?
Well, here in the FF8 soundtrack, real instruments, singers and orchestras are being put to use in what I believe to be Uematsu's greatest triumph. It really takes away the element in the music that makes it a bit difficul to catergorise as real music.
This soundtrack has everything, with a brilliant enemy theme, shown in 'Succession of Witches', incredible battle themes, shown in 'Don't be Afraid' and 'The Man With the Machine Gun', boss themes - 'Maybe I'm A Lion' and 'The Extreme', and love themes - 'Julia', 'Eyes on Me' and 'Love Grows'.
To sum it up in one sentence, this soundtrack is a true masterpiece. The only disappointing things on it are: 1: 'Jailed' and 'Cactus Jack' and 2: The booklet is in Japanese!
Oh well, can't blame them for not translatng it - this 4 disc set of 85 tracks IS an import, after all.
Congrats, Nobou!
(chuckle, chuckle)

This soundtrack is amazing. I absolutly love it! While playing the actual game, I really noticed some really cool music and decided I would see if there was a soundtrack available. And here it was! After hearing this, I am a big Nobuo Uematsu fan now! He is a wonderful composer and it's a real wonder he is only famous here in the states for his video game soundtracks. He really should be doing more such as movie soundtracks and things like that. But some tracks such as "Liberi Fatali", "Find Your Way", "Waltz for the Moon", "Force Your Way", and "Maybe I'm a Lion" are just awesome and are great to listen to anytime. I also wish he was recognized more so that he would have the connections to actually orchestrate all of the songs as he did with Liberi Fatali and make it sound really cool. I also believe that this soundtrack is a bit more entertaining and good than the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack. He really seemed to outdo himself here. Anyway, I really reccomend this to anyone who just likes the game or for anyone who likes good music.