ReMix: Final Fantasy VI 'Mystic Forest (Back to the Roots mix)'

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Game: Final Fantasy VI (Square, 1994, SNES)
ReMixer(s): Steve Pordon
Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
Song(s): 'The Phantom Forest'
Posted: 2002-02-27, evaluated by djpretzel

Wow. This is hands-down my favorite mix by Steve, who's had some good ones. Why? It's very dynamic, emotional, moody, the mixing is great, and the general overall feeling is very professional and very intense. Love it. Not a drum track to be found, no techno trickery, in fact - no synths whatsoever. This is straight guitar, acoustic and electric, instrumental, and it's powerful. The mixing of the acoustic in particular is what made this so engaging to me - with fret sounds and movements clearly audible, the piece picks up an aire of closeness and immediacy that works well as a bed for the distant, distorted electric with more reverb. Some of this sounds like an excerpt from a Led Zeppelin song, and to me, that's saying the world. Highly recommended, hope to see more in the same style. Yes.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.

Zero Traveler;783763 wrote:
At first I thought it was one of the songs off one of my Silent hill soundtracks.

The intro is actually very similar to a song off SH2--same notes, different lengths and not quite the same pattern. I never noticed until I played the SH2 one on the guitar for one of my CotMM collaborations.

- Legion303 on June 19, 2011

Just discovered I had this on my Ipod.
At first I thought it was one of the songs off one of my Silent hill soundtracks. Haha. If you did a Final Fantasy/Silent hill Crossover this would be a great theme for it.

- Zero Traveler on June 2, 2011

Interesting intro. Very creepy and mood setting although it feels out of place with the type of remix this is. It disappears very abruptly, but that's not a deal breaker. The acoustic guitar sounded great when it came in. The electric guitar could definitely use more high end as it has very little headroom. Now, all of that said, this production quality is much better than most of the past mixes from Steve and I have to give mad props for that! The playing, while not perfect, is VERY solid. Intonation in the guitars is strong and the song flows really nicely. All in all, definitely one of the best mixes we've heard from Steve up to this point. Keep it up mate!

- tweek on August 24, 2010

I don't see what the big deal with the opening is - it sounds spooky and haunted, which is what the source tune is all about. And anyway, what's wrong with being odd? :D
I've always liked this. It's a very simple arrangement, but very effective. The guitars are layered nicely. The slightly off-kilter sound works for making it feel like you're in some kind of forest at night and things are not quite right (hey that rhymes).
There's not much to it, but what's there is quite good.

- ella guro on December 5, 2009

I like the combination of the acoustic and electric guitar here. The acoustic covers the back end quite nicely while the electric takes the forefront of the melodies. There isn't much change to the main melodic line, which I would have liked, though it would be contrary to the "(back to the roots mix)" title. What's up with the opening, though? Pretty odd, in my opinion. Other than that, a nice listen.

- DragonAvenger on December 5, 2009

Nice acoustic tone; it fits the mood perfectly. I thought the lead tone was slightly thin, but it gets the job done just fine. The intro was a bit long and maybe too heavily processed to be recognizable, but overall a good mix.

- OA on December 12, 2007

Royal Sovereign wrote: "Back to the roots" indeed...this mix was, I think, what the original composers had in mind for what the original track was to sound and feel like.

My thoughts exactly.
It never crossed my mind that "Phantom Forest" could be done with guitars. But now it's done and it sounds quite nice! I agree that the beginning kinda cuts too soon but that's only a minor mistake. The rest of the remix is very flowing.
By the way, this remix inspired me to write a poem! That has to be a good sign...

- isthan on June 20, 2006

Excellent...now we have a guitarmix of PhantomForest. Excellent.
Pretty guitar, cool elctric guitar, or maybe there´s two? I´m agreeing with everyone else, that was one weird intro. It would be better if it just faded away, instead that it´s abruptly stops. Maybe not a big deal, the song was great anyway.

- Bummerdude on October 8, 2005

"Back to the roots" indeed...this mix was, I think, what the original composers had in mind for what the original track was to sound and feel like.
Very nicely done.

- Royal Sovereign on August 13, 2005

Very mysterious but I love it! This is such a great song, veeery relaxed. You don't have to be familiar with the whole FF6 track to enjoy this song, definatly worth the download!

- jordex on May 5, 2005

This song is great. It maintains its integrity all the way through. The electric guitar played off of the acoustic is wonderful. Truly one of the best songs on this site.

- Elvenstar! on August 20, 2003

I think this gives out multiple feelings...
The intro makes you feel pretty desolate, scared, alone, and whatnot.
Then the soothing acoustic guitar line comes in. It brings you back up from the intro.
And then the electric guitar comes in-which just accentuates the acoustic like nothing else.
Like DJP said, this feels like it could be something taken from a Led Zeppelin song at times.
I love how it fits together, but I just wish it could be a tad bit longer.

- Necronomicon on October 25, 2002

OooOoOo, a very pretty song. Something to fall asleep to, but in a good way. I just love the clash between the acoustic and electric guitar. I can imagine them going at it with broadswords in slow motion. Bwarharharhahrahrharharhhrahrharhahrar. Very nice. 8.5 out of 10.

- Landon on October 7, 2002

I don't know about you guys but, I really like this remix.

- lazE on July 19, 2002