Final Fantasy XII OST

[CyAnIdE]

I was wondering what everyone here thought about the Final Fantasy XII soundtrack.

Did you like it? If so, why? If not, why not?

[Soma]

I've never actually listened to it, though I played a good 50-60 hours of the game and enjoyed quite alot of it there. I should probably pick that one up. Not to derail this thread but has anyone heard the FF12 revenant wings OST? I really wanna get that.

[Fishy]

I actually really enjoyed it. I was a bit skeptical when I read it wasn't by Nobuo, and it took me a while to come to like it.

Its much more intense musically then the other titles, especially the battle themes. I find myself liking really odd tracks like the Sandsea music. I dont think I'd like it as much if it didn't fit the game so well though.

[Dunnowhathuh]

Same here, haven't listened to the actual OST but have played a lot of the game. To be honest, I'm not a big fan or at least, I liked the soundtracks to the other FF's a lot more. Nothing really struck me with the FFXII soundtrack. I think it's cuz I was always a big fan of the upbeat battle music each FF had. With the removal of the battle screen, there was only really the world music left to listen to. Also, the lack of the Uematsu effect really made the soundtrack lose out for me. But I'm probably in a minority here, I'm sure you can find plenty of people who do like the soundtrack.

[The Orichalcon]

I'm a fan of the album. There are lots of throwaway tracks, but plenty of really good ones too. It's purely the FFXII OST responsible for placing Hitoshi Sakimoto second on my last.fm Top Artists list.

[I-n-j-i-n]

IMO Sakimoto's worst work objectively speaking.

It had like two or three truly memorable tracks at most. Compare that to about 30 of them for FFT.

[The Orichalcon]

IMO Sakimoto's worst work objectively speaking.

It had like two or three truly memorable tracks at most. Compare that to about 30 of them for FFT.

I had a quick run through the tracklist. I found the following tracks memorable, with the bolded ones the ones that I found myself humming or singing in my head a lot.

Royal City of Rabanastre

Boss Battle

Lowtown Rabanastre

Dalmascan Westersand

Nalbina Fortress

Nalbina Underground Prison

Theme of the Empire

Chocobo FFXII Version

Esper Battle

Jahara, Land of the Garif

Eruyt Village

Clash on the Big Bridge

Time of Rest

White Room

Sochen Cave Palace

A Moment's Rest

Neighbourhood of Water

The Cerobi Steppe

A Land of Memories

The Feywood

Ashe's Theme

To the Summit

The Esper Battle music in particular was absolutely outstanding. Best track on the album by far. So dramatic and cinematic.

[The Mutericator]

Actually, I've been using the OST as my Counterstrike Source music for about a year and a half now. Works pretty much perfectly when you set it too low to hear over gunfire but loud enough that you can just catch it when everything is quiet.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I can't believe I haven't chimed in on this one yet. Oh well, here goes.

I think the best word I can use to describe the Final Fantasy XII soundtrack would be "epic". Indeed, such an epic game necessitates an equally if not more epic soundtrack in order to really give it that perfect touch, and Hitoshi Sakamoto has done nothing less than just that. There are many people that didn't enjoy the soundtrack, and their arguments are not without merit. After all, we're all used to Nobuo Uematsu providing scores that focus on the emotional side of things(which isn't entirely bad mind you), and it can be said that FFXII's soundtrack is a departure from that feeling that Uematsu conveyed.

That being said, this soundtrack is yet another piece of awesome work by the same guy who did the scores for Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story(apparently they all take place in the same world, so why not have the same composer interpret the sound?). From the new version of the prelude and prologue(which sound great) all the way to the credits theme, Symphonic Poem "Hope" which is a beautiful 5 movement piece that has to be one of the greatest tracks in a video game I've ever heard, it's all a winner. Sakamoto usually loves the orchestra feel, particularly brass and wind sections, which you can hear throughout most of the game. a few of my favorite pieces are the Opening theme, Dalmasca Estersand, Cerobi Steppe(real purty), Eyrut Village, Golmore Jungle, Arcadia, Balfonhiem(which is pretty much just an extended version of "A Secret Practice)... You know what? I just love the whole thing.

Hitoshi Sakamoto did an amazing job with quite possibly one of the better Final Fantasy games to be released. If you love a soundtrack of an epic scale, and enjoyed the FFT and Vagrant story soundtracks, then you should definitely give this OST a listening to.

I can tell you right now that Sakamoto is definitely up in my top 3 VG composers list now without question.

[Barnsalot]

I didn't like it very much, but I'm really pretty biased. Were I a fanboy of anyone/thing, it would be Nobuo Uematsu.

Final Fantasy XII, the entire game, not just the soundtrack, went in an incredibly different direction than earlier Final Fantasies had. Despite that, it has been received extremely well, both by long-time fans as well as new fans to the series. I'm just not a part of that demographic. I couldn't pull myself to finish the game because it just didn't feel like Final Fantasy to me.

I'm not saying it's bad. It's just not for me.

[CyAnIdE]

IMO Sakimoto's worst work objectively speaking.

It had like two or three truly memorable tracks at most. Compare that to about 30 of them for FFT.

Just so you know, opinion and objective don't belong in the same sentence, as all opinions are subjective

I quite enjoyed the FFXII soundtrack. But it wasn't the most memorable of all the soundtracks I have listened to. I just don't think the music fits the style I'm used to hearing in a FF soundtrack. That's not to say that I dislike the soundtrack BECAUSE of the game. But saying that his diversion from the FF standard wasn't necessarily a good one.

[siven7]

I have a tough time rating FFXII among the gauntlet of FF games. See, the game is graphically more realistic and I thought that the music represented a more ambient feel - it's less pixels and catchy tunes.

With that, I felt that it was more like a movie score than a VGM score - it wasn't that there were a lot of "whistable tunes," but I feel that the game had a more realistic feel and... well, that was cool for the project.

I really love the Imperial Theme and Cerobi Steppe - fantastic works. I found that while I was in Archades, I hummed the melody for days after

Yeah, I really liked it - not as strong as FFT, but still very good. I think that Sakimoto had big shoes to fill and he did a good job writing for the franchise, nicely done

[I-n-j-i-n]

Just so you know, opinion and objective don't belong in the same sentence, as all opinions are subjective

I quite enjoyed the FFXII soundtrack. But it wasn't the most memorable of all the soundtracks I have listened to. I just don't think the music fits the style I'm used to hearing in a FF soundtrack. That's not to say that I dislike the soundtrack BECAUSE of the game. But saying that his diversion from the FF standard wasn't necessarily a good one.

I know it's subjective. I was merely going by the criteria of a track actually holding a tune and not being background noise, which was what most of FFXII's tracks were. Then again, FFT was a direct collaboration between Sakimoto and Masaharu Iwata. Iwata still helped with FFXII, but apparently didn't do as much as he did with FFT.

[Shadow Wolf]

Personally, I thought it was pretty damn epic. It definitely didn't sound like Uematsu. There was massive variation, and I just loved the whole thing. I can't get more detailed than that cuz it's been 6 months since I listened to it.