ReMix: Final Fantasy 'Stronghold of Chaos'
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- Game: Final Fantasy (Square, 1987, NES)
- ReMixer(s): DarkCecil13
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'Battle', 'Chaos Temple', 'Fanfare'
- Posted: 2002-02-21, evaluated by djpretzel
DarkCecil13 has waited a long time for this. Those of you who've been following the site awhile will remember that, a long time ago, DC13 submitted a ReMix that wasn't his (it was actually off a professionally arranged album). Many, many people yelled at him (rightfully so) and the mix was removed from the site. Now, I would expect someone who'd done this to give up, figure that there was no way of apologizing or making up for it, and move on, but he actually stuck around, and after apologizing a few (hundred) times, sat down and started to make his own mixes. Now, he's not Mozart, but this is the first of his pieces I've listened to that show's he come a long way and has some decent arranging skills. This FF arrangement has several upsides, and a couple downsides, but on the average is a ride worth taking. The beginning may be the strongest point - the intro features nice, peaceful analog synth pads, which are abruptly interrupted by the full arrangement, with an acoustic kit, strings, a running orchestral snare and cymbal crashes, and an electric bass. The sound quality is decent, sometimes heavy on the reverb. The strings are conspicuously delayed from left to right for the first minute, and the transitions at 3'00" is questionable (the other transitions are rather good though). The surprise 'second ending' is a little odd, but a neat touch. For me, the first minute worked the best, as the running snare line was perfect as was the intro. The other sections, where it tries to rock a little harder, displayed the above characteristics more vividly. BUT, little details like the great runs - with nice drum fills - at 1'43", show some solid arrangement skills. I'd say with slightly better sounds, better mixing, and just a few changes here and there, this mix would be deadly, and would advise DC13 to focus in those areas. But, this mix shows great progress on his part, is worthy, and represents hard work, and a lot of patience. DC13 writes: "After two allegedly completed version, I finally finished it up (Thanks to many -- Matt Pollard, Ken-san, ViolentRage, among others). Fixed strings, and some timing issues since last version. ReMixed From Final Fantasy:1) Badguy Castle Theme: 0:00 --> 1:25, 2) Battle Theme: 1:25 --> 2:58, 3) Fanfare Theme: 2:58 --> 3:25, 4) Inn Theme: 3:25 --> 3:33"
Discussion: Latest 11 comments/reviews; view the Samples aside, once the song launches into the main thrust after the slow intro, I feel the song exhibits major medleyitis. It just repeats the same section of the song, and then suddenly transitions to another song. It reminds me a lot of those midis from the late 1990s where people would just do these mega medleys of various songs and not do a great job at transitioning or exploring much of the source material.
- Bahamut on September 21, 2009
- justinj212 on January 10, 2009
- Evil_Cronos on December 7, 2008
- DragonAvenger on August 24, 2008
In any case, this is the only medley on the site (that I can think of -- challenge me please) that I really enjoy. Like Gray Lightning said above years ago, this has aged well. The low production values don't bug me nearly as much as they did with "Saga Prelude" for some reason. The drums are better than most because DC13 actually plays them, btw. I don't know if he recorded himself for this mix or not (it's been too long), but the point is that he knows how to make it work as a result of his playing.
The transition from dungeon scene to battle scene sounds spot on -- others aren't quite as good which is too bad (though the transition from battle scene to victory is better than the original's, which had none at all). I agree with others who say that the last moments could be a little stronger. I do like their inclusion however...it's hard to say how I'd prefer it handled. A good mix overall that I'm still listening to (and should have written a review for the instant I joined...hopefully none of DC13's other stuff is on my Christmas review list).
- BardicKnowledge on December 9, 2007
- OA on April 23, 2007
- Xx~~Zangetsu~~xX on February 2, 2006
- GrayLightning on April 20, 2003
Thanks for listening. :D
- DarkCecil13 on June 9, 2002
Though this one suffers from very questionable sample quality, and even more questionable transitions, DarkCecil13 shows off some very good arranging skills. There's some real power here, though some better samples would make it even stronger. I could have done without the fade out ending and the last little bit, though - that to me is the weakest part of the mix, and it's never good when the ending is the weakest part. Still, this song is well worth a download.
- orkybash on May 26, 2002
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