It’s no less a Romance than any Final Fantasy before it, and as such, it requires a majestic bold score to contain the bursting emotionality of the narrative. This is a sweeping game of child soldiers, sorceresses, the bonds of friendship and love. And of course, “Liberati Fatali” is a bold attempt at out Orff-ing Carl Orff, because Uematsu still hadn’t gotten over “One-Winged Angel.” Though, breaking with JRPG tradition, there is far less Maurice Ravel throughout.įinal Fantasy VIII is a more focused and practiced soundtrack than either VII or VI, but no less expansive. While Uematsu has mentioned artists like Emerson, Lake, & Palmer and Elton John serving as (palpable) influence, what is equally undergirding this soundtrack is a keen ear for the compositional traditions of Classical composers like Doménico Scarlatti or a continued fixation on Stravinsky. It’s definitely a Final Fantasy song, but you almost wouldn’t know it, if you heard it out of context. And always the plaintively hopeful melody and countermelody of reeds. There’s a melody with a warbling, percussive, and glassy vibrato of steel drums with enough reverb to transform the sound entirely. When I think of Final Fantasy VIII, the song that comes to mind is actually “Blue Fields.” The staccato plinking of strings against sporadic and deep cumulonimbus rumbles like elephant steps. Taking a construct to artificially pressure my thinking. How each soundtrack attempts different things and either succeeds or fails. Here I’ve chosen it as a means of thinking about what Final Fantasy is, how it has evolved, and taken root in various areas. Even as a communal exercise, these are things that have most often served the purpose of gatekeeping and establishing fake objectivity, to create an opposition of real value (most frequently born from racism, sexism, etc). One must be cautious with them, immensely skeptical. They can be useful tools, but they have massive limitations. Ranking and canon are conceptually difficult. In some ways, these are the scores that can only be here without indulging in self-deception or the deliberate goal of putting them lower. This is where historical context and cultural relevance bang heads against compositional craft and emotional resonance. But the top five perhaps will always feel a bit safe, inflexible. This doesn’t change that this is where I’m at with this franchise now, or, as I said last time, that this couldn’t change in an instant. In looking back over this final ranking, I can’t help but feel that it is too safe, too obvious. And we finally arrive at the end of our ranking: the best of the best. We’ve looked at the “worst” five Final Fantasy soundtracks, and then explored the strange and inconsistently wonderful middle ground.
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