Waaah～ I need another joker. I'm beginning to wish I'd saved it for this group. I would vote just like Flare, except I'd also throw in Overture (FFVIII), Rebel Army, and Their Resting Place... Actually there's not a single song in this group that I don't enjoy.
Finally used my Joker! Looked at the last 4 rounds this morning, listened to all the songs, and decided to use it for this round because there's a lot here I like.
Johnny C. Bad - I just love this tune.
Terra's Theme
Lifestream - Very calming.
Calm Before the Storm (Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII) - melancholic and beautiful.
Assault (Final Fantasy X) - Love the rousing nature of this song and the part where it plays. Very energetic and pumped me up.
Calm Before the Storm (Final Fantasy X) - Another piece from X I really enjoy, nice background music.
Vanille's Theme (Final Fantasy XIII) - Very much like Vanille.
New Bodhum (Final Fantasy XIII-2) - My favorite vocal song from XIII-2, I like listening to this on my iPod often. It suits New Bodhum very well.
Answers (Final Fantasy XIV)- Very nice vocals.
Alas, here is my top
four. I've voted tactically, for otherwise there would simply be no way to choose only four on merit alone and be done with it.
Assault As the most
magnificent song from FFX, this is my top pick of the group. I am in awe of Hamauzu for creating a piece of such beauty, energy and majesty. When I listen to this, I feel as if I'm soaring.
At first I wasn't sure, but now I'm of the opinion that the
arrangement for the HD remaster is even better.
SquareEnixMusic.com said:
Hamauzu's "Attack" is a superb effort. It fabulously intersynchs impressionistic harmonies, gliding string lines, and glittering piano use with a blaring bass line and various percussive features, creating two broad and opposing spectrums of colour.
New Bodhum I downloaded the FFXIII-2 soundtrack the other day, and when this came on, I sat right up and paid attention. When the
Aggressive Mix followed, I was floored. EDM on a Final Fantasy soundtrack, and with such polish too. Should a DJ ever play this in a club and I'm on that dancefloor, I will be euphoric.
Answers I'm not usually a fan of Uematsu's FFXI/XIV dramatic music; it's mostly too grand and embellished for my taste. But, Answers is an exception and for that I give credit to Susan Calloway, whose vocals here are impeccable. I can't think of a singer more suited to this composition. This song is still over the top, and the spoken word parts are wholly unnecessary, but I kinda don't care when the vocals are this good.
Rebel Army It's not near my actual top four, but I do want a song from FFII in the top 100, and this should be the one. The melody is triumphant; and hey, now we can celebrate reaching the end of Round 1. ^^ If you ask me, the (
PSP version) is superior to the NES arrangement. I particularly like when the melody is stripped back to just an acoustic guitar. It's unexpected and works well to maintain my interest.
For
honourable mentions see above. I can't believe I've just overlooked Lifestream (2nd favourite), The Legendary Beast (4th), Terra's Theme (5th), and Overture (7th). Oi vey. All will be corrected in the next round (except for Overture, which has no chance to survive *sigh*).
For anyone who's interested, here is the "HD"
rearrangement of Calm Before The Storm (FFX). It's very similar to the original but softer.
By the way, could we please have a
better quality video for "Their Resting Place" (FFX-2) added to the playlist? Yet another good song, that one.
The full list of polls can be found here.
