You probably heard by now that FFIV was remade for the DS and released in December 2007, on the 20th if I'm not mistaken. On January 30th, they released the soundtrack for the DS remake. I've been listening to it all week-end, and ended up not playing FFI at all. Oh well. I love music, what can I say?
The soundtrack includes 2 CDs and a DVD. I couldn't watch the DVD because it's of a different region than my DVD player. I figure if I ever get a new computer and have a DVD player in it, there might be a way to go around the regional encoding with a patch or something. What do I know, I'm computer illiterate.
I've got a lot of time to waste, so this is going to be a long review.
The Jacket
First, there's what I call an outer case; it's made of a thin cardboard, dyed an off-white colour. It features the lineart version of the Dark Knight and Paladin Cecil illustration by Airi Yoshioka. You know, the image where Paladin Cecil looks like a chick? The lineart itself is purple. "Final Fantasy IV Original Soundtrack" is written on the cover in metallic blue letters. It's shiny, and I like it.
On the back, we have the Mysidian Legend. Or at least one version of it. Since I'm not a native English speaker, I'm uncertain if it's gramatically correct as far as archaic English go, or if it could be called Ye Olde Engrish.
The legend goes as follow:
Birthed from womb of Dragon's maw and borne unto the stars
By light and darkness cast aloft are dreamtide oaths resworn
Moon is swathed in ever-light, ne'er again to know eclipse
Earth, with hallow'd bounty reconciled
Now, the CD jacket itself is also made of cardboard, with plastic cd holders inside. On the top, you have the FFIV DS logo. On the back, you have the names of the FFIV DS team. Inside, first, you have the Dark Knight and Paladin Cecil illustration again, this time in colours, on the left, and on the right, you have the lyrics of Tsukino Akari (Ending version). I know hiragana, katakana, and a few kanji, but I cannot read Japanese, so I can't tell you what it all says. The background is dark blue and the lettering is white. It also includes the name of the team who made the song, a mini biography of Megumi Ida, and info about the Tsukino Akari single (which I also own, and it's great).
Then, when you flip open the case, you have on the far left, again in white letter over dark blue, the track listings for the 2 CDs and DVD. Again, written in Japanese. I'll list the title as they were called on the original soundtrack of 1991, if applicable, and I'll improvise for the others.
The other three panels, where the plastic CD holders are, just feature screenshots of the opening movie. Makes me wish I could actually watch the DVD now, because it features the opening movie, and I figure it is of better quality than what you can find on YouTube.
The Discs
As I said, there are three discs; two CDs and one DVD.
The first disc is white, with the 3D models of Paladin Cecil, Dark Knight Cecil, Rosa, Kain, and Cid in blue, on the right side, and silver lettering on the left. The second disc features Adult Rydia, Gilbert/Edward, Edge, Yang, and the twins, this time in green. The third disc has Rubicante, Scarmiglione, Barbariccia, Cagnazzo, and Golbez in sepia.
Before I babble about each track, I'm taking this occasion to talk about some things I greatly appreciated from this version as opposed to the original. First, most of the tracks loop at least twice, something which was lacking in the original version. The Prelude, for example, didn't even loop once in the original. This means longer tracks for your hearing pleasure.
Note I said most of the tracks; there are of course some exceptions, like the first track, and Tsukino Akari, which didn't need looping at all because they are special tracks. They don't need to play continually like the in-game music.
There's also a very Final Fantasy IV Celtic Moon feel to the album. If you loved Celtic Moon, like me, you'll most likely love the DS soundtrack because a lot of the tracks sound similar to the arrangements by Máire Breatnach.
The Soundtrack: Disc 1
2. The Prelude: This is, in my opinion, the best version of Prelude (or Crystal Theme as some people call it) in any FF game. I always liked the FFIV version, with the harp-like intro, but the FFIV DS version takes what is good from the original and made it 10 times better. The harp sounds, well, crystal-ish, but it doesn't sound as artificial as it did in the original version. The melody is very soft, and sounds orchestral. "Orchestral" equals "good" in my book. I'm a sucker for classical and instrumental music in case you never noticed.
3. Red Wings: Very militaristic, with the percussions and brass. As an ex-drum corps member, I should love this song. But I was disappointed, because the brass sounds very artificial. The mellophone player in me was screaming bloody murder. We're in 2008; you'd expect synthetizers to do a better job than this. We have the technology to make a synthetizer make a harp sound crystalline, but not to make the brass sound like, well, brass. You'll hear me rant a lot about the brass in this album, I'm warning you in advance.
4. Kingdom Baron: This version sounds very similar to the original, but again, it suffers from the artificial sounding brass that plagues this album. The snare drum sound is a tad too loud for me, and can be a bit distracting, but otherwise, it's tolerable.
5. Theme of Love: I'll be honest with you; I used to not particularly care about Theme of Love. I never liked how it sounded in the original. But this version is pure win with the harp and violins. They added a few bars for an intro, and it really made the song for me. It also has the Celtic feel I mentionned earlier. Celtic music fits FFIV very well, I think.
6. Prologue...: Also known as Theme of Final Fantasy to some people. Just like Prelude, I always thought the FFIV version was superior to any version of the other FF games, but FFXII's is a close second (because it was basically an orchestral-like version of FFIV's, but that's another story). Again, the brass at the beginning sounds a bit too artificial for my tastes, but this is still the great, heroic track I've always loved. It gave me goosebumps. Goosebumps is good. It still makes me want to exit Castle Baron with Cecil and Kain to go slay some Mist Dragon. Ah, nostalgia...
7. Welcome to Our Town!: Another track inspired by Celtic Moon. In fact, I think it's actually the same arrangement as Celtic Moon, but adapted for the DS. I'll have to relisten to that album, I guess. Another track I never cared for in the original, I can't say I care for it more in this version. But again, I rarely care for town themes. The few intro bars are a nice addition.
8. Main Theme of Final Fantasy IV: Another one of my favourite tracks. It sounds epic. It gave me goosebumps. It's greatly improved from the original. I'd listen to it on repeat for hours. I only have positive things to say about this one, so I'm gonna stop there.
9. Fight 1: Welcome to artificial land. The percussion sound fake, the brass is annoying synthetizer sound. It made me cringe. This is one of the best regular battle theme in the entire series, and they managed to ruin it. Junya Nakano, you disappoint me. Nobuo-san should smack you.
10. Fanfare: Junya Nakano strikes again with bad synthetizer-brass. 'Nuff said.
11. Hello! Big Chocobo: It sounds exactly like it did in the original, except with more echo.
12. Chocobo-Chocobo: Before the Chocobo Theme was called stuff like Samba de Chocobo, Cinco de Chocobo, Ukule de Chocobo and other names depending on what type of music Nobuo was inspired from, it was just called Chocobo-Chocobo. We could rechristen this one Jig de Chocobo because it kind of sounds like an Irish Jig. Or Bad Synthetizer Violin de Chocobo would also be appropriate. I never quite liked the original anyway, so I'm not overly disappointed by this one.
13. Into the Darkness: It sounds similar to the original, but the melody is softer, and there is a bit more eccho added. This is another track I think that was greatly improved.
14. Fight 2: AKA The Boss Battle Theme of FFIV. All I have to say is: WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!? The track would have been awesome if it wasn't for the brass. When there's no pseudo-trumpet, it sounds fantastic, but the rest of the time, it makes me cringe. 'Rae is one picky brass player.
15. Ring of Bomb: This is another track I never particularly cared for, but I think it was improved from the original. The melody is more harmonious, even for a suspense-ish theme.
16. Rydia: One of the prettiest versions of everyone's favourite green-haired summoner's theme I've heard, but on this soundtrack I actually prefer Theme of Love. The few intro bars at the beginning are very nice, and the tempo is a tad slower than in the original. It's more instrumental than the original too, which is always a big plus.
17. Castle Damcyan: Also a bit slower than the original, a bit more instrumental, and easier on the ears. It sounds dramatic, like it should.
18. Cry in Sorrow: They really made this one sound ten times better than in the original. It sounds like a lullaby, but it's still a very melancholic track.
19. Melody of Lute:I never knew why they originally called it Melody of the Lute in the original, especially since it sounded more like a harp. Gilbert/Edward plays the harp in the game anyway. This one still sounds a bit like a harp, but a bit more like a lute. It's still pretty.
20. Mount Ordeals: No, just... no. Sounds too techno for a game like Final Fantasy IV. Damn those synthetizers. The marimba at least sounds like a marimba, for once.
21. Fabul:This version sounds a bit more like traditional Chinese music than the original, but the flute's melody sounds more like it came from Saudi Arabia. Hey, the Middle-East is considered to be in Asia, so I guess it fits. This version doesn't get on my nerve, unlike the original.
22. Run!: You can tell it was Kenichiro Fukui who arranged this one because the brass doesn't sound nearly as artificial as Junya Nakano's. It's, again, a tad bit slower than in the original, but it's barely noticeable.
23. Suspicion: Another one that is a tiny bit slower than the original. The bass is a bit too distracting in this one, however.
24. Golbeza, Clad in Dark: I never thought you could make pipe organ sound more fake... Seems Nakano is bad at brass, and Fukui is bad at organ. Oh well. The arpeggio is faster than in the original, so it sounds too me like the notes aren't as clear as they were in the original, which is a big disappointment for me because that was the best part of Golbez's theme. If you can ignore this track's flaws, however, it still sounds like some badass villain music.
25. Hey, Cid!: Okay, so Fukui can't do brass well either. I'm going to blame Hirosato Noda instead, because he (or she, I can't tell with those Japanese names) is the synthetizer operator for this soundtrack. My deepest apology to Nakano and Fukui for blaming them until now. I never thought you could make this track sound more annoying, but they managed it. The pseudo-tuba at the beginning made me laugh out loud, at least, because it was so horrible.
The Soundtrack: Disc 2
1. Mystic Mysidia: I love this one. The xylophone is nice, but for some reason there's an off "woot" sound that plays every now and then. It used to be more like a "hoot" in the original. You know, like a owl. Owl and wizards fit so well together; everyone who read Harry Potter knows that! Why did they take out that sound? This is me sulking, but still liking the song.
2. Long Way to Go: I call this one the Mysidian Elder's theme. It was greatly improved from the original, but sounds more militaristic due to the snare drum in the background.
3. Palom and Porom: Except for the fake brass, I also think this one is an improvement. The xylophone and flute sound like they're arguing, just like the twins.
4. The Dreadful Fight: I think, despite the brass, this one is the best battle theme so far on this album. It was also the best battle theme in my opinion in the original, but I'm satisfied about how it sounds now. Makes me want to fight the four fiends once again. Note to self: go play FFIV after finishing this review.
5. The Airship: I never liked airship theme in FFIV, but this version sounds rather nice. That's all I'm going to say because I don't know what else to tell you about this track.
6. Troian Beauty: This is my favourite track of the entire album, as well as my favourite track on any version of the FFIV soundtrack. I just love Troian Beauty. I love this one so much that whenever I play FFIV, I go to Troia Castle just to listen to the music for hours. The only other song in a game that made me do that was Corridors of Time from Chrono Trigger, which is the song that plays when you go to the floating islands where Zeal Kingdom is in 12,000 B.C. But enough about CT, this is FFIV. This is another track with a definitive Celtic feeling. The harp is as lovely as ever. when I listen to this track and close my eyes, I can picture a white castle with tall columns made of white marble, covered with vines, and with waterfalls. My dream place, in other words, and how I always pictured Troia in my head. I'm going to stop now or I'll never talk about the rest of the soundtrack.
7. Samba de Chocobo: I don't know how I feel about this one. I think it's a tiny bit slower than the original, and sounds a bit more like samba. But I preferred the original for his wackiness, I guess.
8. Tower of Bab-Il: Bad brass and echo. Why? I loved this track in the original. It sounded majestic. I was expecting something much better for this version.
9. Somewhere in the World: This is the track that plays whenever you see Golbez and Kain plotting bad guy stuff in FFIV. It seems most of those short tracks were improved to make them sound less annoying in this version, which I'm thankful for. It's still filled with suspense, as it should.
10. Land of Dwarves: This is another one that sounds a bit too techno to fully fit into FFIV, but it's surprisingly pleasant to listen to. I never liked the original, but this one, I can tolerate.
11. Giott, the Great King: Uuuuuurrrrrkggrble...
12. Dancing Calcobrenas: Yum, percussions and a haunted flute melody. It's still as creepy as the original.
13. Tower of Zot: Whereas Tower of Bab-Il sounded 100 times better in the original, Tower of Zot sounds 100 times better in this version. Due to Shimmer, I can picture Kip and TsuMeTai walking in the dark halls of Zot now when listening to this track.
14. Illusionary World: I used to find this track extremely boring. The tempo was too slow and it made me want to sleep. Now, the tempo is a bit faster, so it's not as boring. The melody sounds a bit odd, but I guess it fits considering what it represents in the game.
15. The Big Whale: The only brass in this soundtrack that actually sounds good. A good arrangement, faithful to the original.
16. Another Moon: This one also sounds very close to the original, with more echo. The music is a bit more instrumental, so that's a great improvement, in my opinion.
17. The Lunarians: I remember how in the original I thought this one sounded like crystals making music. It's still the case in this version, except much better.
18. Within the Giant: The trumpet sounds actually pretty good in this one. Go figure; the one track where music sounding techno-ish would have been normal (you can't get more technologically-advanced than a freaking mecha), and it sounds almost like the real thing.
19. The Final Battle: If you've paid attention to my whining about the brass on this soundtrack, you should be able to predict what I'm going to say. The brass ruined this battle theme. Otherwise, it sounds great, albeit slightly less epic than the original, and a tad slower too, I think.
20. Epilogue 1: The next three tracks used to be just one in the original. This is the part from the beginning until the part where you see Kain climbing Mount Ordeals. I'm disappointed that it just fades away at the end. In the original, before the part with Kory and the moons, there was somekind of mini-finale with four notes and a few bars of the harp fading. If you heard the original, you probably know what I'm talking about. This track would have greatly benefitted from those last few bars because it otherwise ends too abruptly. Besides that, it sounds good. The brass isn't too fake-sounding.
21. Epilogue 2: In the original, this was the music playing from the part with Kory and the moons until the wedding, just before the credit rolled. The melody in this part, especially when Theme of Love plays, right before Prologue... is as lovely as ever. I got the goosebumps again. And the Prologue... part made me grin like an idiot because I could picture myself beating the game again and seeing all the characters come to Baron to congratulate Cecil and Rosa.
22. Epilogue 3: That's the part of the original where credits rolled. It's still being used for the credits in the DS version, mind you. It actually sounds much better than the original, despite the synthetizer-brass. Yes, I'm definitively going to be playing some FFIV after this.
23. Tsukino Akari - Ending Version: This is an abridged version of Tsukino Akari - Final Fantasy IV Ai no Theme which was inserted during the credits. I think it's the same length as the video clip of the song, too. I find that Megumi Ida has a lovely voice, and the song is beautiful. The full version is even better, so I recommend you get it one way or another. (I have the .mp3, if anyone is interested. >_>)
24. Fanfare 2: The next four tracks I don't know what they're called. This one is the fanfare that plays when Cecil becomes a Paladin, and when Cecil and co. arrive just as FuSoYa and Golbez defeat Zemus. This was not in the original soundtrack. It sounds okay.
25. Chocobo Forest: The music that plays when you enter chocobo forests. It wasn't included in the original soundtrack either. It sounds a bit too techno for my tastes. I feel like I'm at the disco rather than in a forest.
26. Dance Music: I know Nobuo was inspired by a classicla song for this one. I can't remember which one. Was it Flight of the Bumblebee? Oh well. It wasn't included on the original soundtrack either. It sounds okay, I guess.
27. Goodnight!/What?/Sadness/Fanfare 3/Fanfare 4: This track is five little tracks in one. First, you have the music that plays whenever your party sleeps. Then you have what I call the "what?" music which plays whenever something unexpected happens. I'm trying to think of an example of when it's used in game, but I can't think of any. I *think* it plays just before you fight Yang in Baron? Meh, I have a bad memory. What I call "Sadness" is the sad music that plays when something sad happens. Generally, it's followed by Cry in Sorrow. "Fanfare 3" as I call it is the fanfare that plays when a character joins your party or you get a special item. "Fanfare 4" is another fanfare music, but I think it was only used in the DS version of the game since I don't recall it from the SNES version or GBA version. None of these short tracks appear on the original soundtrack either.
Conclusion:
It was a good album, but it could have been better. I've whine about it a lot in this post, but the brass sound terrible. They could have done a better job, even with Synthetizers. FFIII DS did it much better. But the Celtic feel of some tracks make up for it, and the music is generally of improved quality compared to the original. I'd give it a 7.5/10 because it's a good soundtrack despite its flaws.
No comments:
Post a Comment