FFXII OST

[Buster Sword]

I thought I'd make this separate to the FFXII thread, you can merge if you wish etc.

But in all honesty, I don't see why it is regarded as one of the "weakest" FF OST. Imo it's different and it goes well with the game, I mean tracks like Dalmasca Estersand, Eryut Village, Seeking Power, To The Place of the Gods etc are freaking epic.

Discuss.

 

[Max Payne]

Because Uematsu didn't score it. That's why so many people consider it "weak".

 

[Buster Sword]

I know, but that's just stupid imo, to call it "weaker" just because Uematsu has moved on, what did you think of it btw?

I mainly liked it because it was "different".

 

[Max Payne]

I loved everything about FFXII including the soundtrack.

 

[Buster Sword]

So you actually liked it? *steps back*

Was their anything in particular that caught your interest though, you must have a fave.

 

[Dark and Divine]

Though not one of my favourite OST's, I think that the soundtrack worked pretty well with game's locations and events.

I specialy like the game's version of Prelude, with the choir of children and such. It became my favourite Prelude version, along with VII's.

Other than that, i quite enjoyed the theme that plays during the game's intro. Very climatic and epic, imo.

 

[Tetsujin]

There were some awesome pieces of music.
The Esper battle theme was rather epic, and also like the music in Rabanastre. There's more but I can't be arsed to list them all.

All in all this soundtrack was really good.
I actually even bought the limited edition of it.

 

[Buster Sword]

Yeah you see, I thought I was the only one, because I've seen alot of bitching on youtube how XII's OST fails, when it actually doesn't, seems to me ppl fear change haha.

 

[Tetsujin]

There's so many people who say FFXII fails, just because it's different.

It's kinda annoying, I neither want the games nor the music to become stagnant. I want change and new stuff every now and then.

 

[Buster Sword]

Yeah, they seem so close minded, I mean, every FF is kinda different to some degree, 'cause I admit I didn't like IX's design, but it was still a great game.

Yeah, change is a dangerous game, but repetiveness can be just as bad. I do hope XIII is "good" though, just so the critics can stfu

 

[Max Payne]

There's so many people who say FFXII fails, just because it's different.

BAWWW THE GAME PLAYS ITSELF, BAWWWWW THE BATTLE SYSTEM SUCKS, BAWWWW WHY IS VAAN EVEN HERE, BAAWWWW THE STORY IS BORING, BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

 

[Buster Sword]

Vaan is WAY better than cry baby Tidus, who cries because his father looks like Jackie Stalone, srsly, he was a good hero. Even though he isn't the "main" hero. Even though I like the ATB, ADB is also very epic.

 

[Cat Rage Room]

The reason why the FFXII OST is regarded as weak is because it's music uses a different set of immersion. Composers like Nobuo, Mitsuda, Ito, etc uses music that's in your face, distinctive, and defines the scene. FF12's composer (which is also the composer for FFT, and such) uses music that's more in the background, and enhances the scene or locale instead of defining it.

While that style is more subtle, it can also indeed be forgettable, which is a common criticism of that style of music in the musical community.

(Also I liked the game, but I thought the License system and the system of character growth in general was terrible.)

 

[Masamune]

Look at it this way, Uematsu's standard of music simply would not work in FFXII. It's very distinctive music that would grate when you're travelling across Ivalice. The only track that comes close to Uematsu's style is the Lowtown theme, but that's one of the most short-lived locations so it works.

I think the music of FFXII is tremendously unappreciated. It blends into the background effortlessly, and provides the necessary atmosphere.

 

[ForceStealer]

The reason why the FFXII OST is regarded as weak is because it's music uses a different set of immersion. Composers like Nobuo, Mitsuda, Ito, etc uses music that's in your face, distinctive, and defines the scene. FF12's composer (which is also the composer for FFT, and such) uses music that's more in the background, and enhances the scene or locale instead of defining it.

While that style is more subtle, it can also indeed be forgettable, which is a common criticism of that style of music in the musical community.

This, well put. The music in XII succeeds in that it usually has me in whatever mood I'm supposed to be in, and if I listen to it on its own I can appreciate how good it is. But I won't be humming the tunes to myself, nor if I just hear a song will I immediately recognize the town or something its from (though I do whistle Rabanastre's theme now and then for whatever reason).

As opposed FF's usual music, in which from the few opening notes I immediately think "Kuja" or "Wall Market" or something.

You guys know I'm not XII's biggest fan, but I have no qualms with the soundtrack. It reminds me, unsurprisingly, of Tactics, which I adore.

 

[Hawkeye.]

I've never understood the dislike for the music that so many fans seem to have. I thought it was a refreshing change of pace with it's more subtle approach.

 

[HylianMogget]

I really liked the FFXII OST; it's not my personal favorite FF OST, and as far as Sakimoto goes I prefer the Vagrant Story OST, but it fit the game extremely well . It is quite different from the usual FF OST, but Uematsu's approach wouldn't have worked - considering the amount of time you spend in each area, the music would've gotten extremely repetitive.

 

[Wiegraf]

I know that this is old, but I would love to talk about the FFXII soundtrack again. I absolutely LOVE it. Sakimoto is amazing and he outdid himself with this ost. It is unfairly treated badly because Uematsu wasn't on it. There are so many amazing tracks in this game. Battle For Freedom, Destiny, Theme of the Empire and just so many more to name. I hum and/or whistle FFXII stuff really often. Of coarse the same can be said of Sakimotos work in general.

I actually wrote him on Facebook and told him how great he was and he replied and told me thanks for encouraging him

Sorry for bump, but I wanted to give my two cents, and maybe restart this thread.

 

[Splintered]

Really? I didn't particularly like it, and I liked XII. I thought there was nothing hugely memorable, and some of the music was flat boring through my grinding sessions.

However, I do think he had a lot of good background music, which music is suppose to be anyway. It reinforced the mood of the entire game. Unlike other osts in ff where you could listen to them separately, you are meant to listen to XII as a supplement. Which makes sense for this game.

I'll have to check out the songs you pointed out though.

 

[Madame Mayor]

I own the soundtrack myself and I loved it. It's memorable to me, and when I listen to it I'm taken back to the feel I had when playing the game.

I think Mog explained it well. It's not catchy music that you might hum along to, it's music that blends in with the rest of the art.

 

[Wiegraf]

Honestly I think that the reason people aren't always crazy about it is due to the sound compression which changes the songs and makes them quieter and less amazing (though I like it in game as well)

BTW I think that it is very catchy. I whistle/hum the songs from FFXII more than any other main series.

 

[Ghost X]

I swore I posted in this thread, hopefully I didn't post in another thread =P. Anyways, though the FFXII OST is good, I don't think its special. I think its quite generic. Nothing really sticks to memory, like in the previous FF games. I'd honestly have to listen to the whole thing again, since I hardly remember any of it, which I think says more about the music than my memory =p.

That doesn't mean I don't have my favourites, which I do think are special, and they are the Esper songs, especially 'Esper Battle'.

 

[Username]

ff12 Soundtrack was so bad that i could of written it better using my own poo as a pen.