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Final Fantasy XIII music appreciation

SantaC

SantaC

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,763
Following in the steps of this thread; the OST in Final Fantasy XIII is fucking fantastic. I know the game is really divisive, but this thread is about the music, and it is a world class work by Masashi Hamauzu.

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Who thought that the music in Final Fantasy would go down to mediocrity once Nobuo Uematsu retired? Well I admit I was worried there for a while. But Square-Enix managed to bring in just as good talent here.

The OST in Final Fantasy XIII is really varied, with many different styles. From the dreamy music of the Vestige to the upbeat happy beat of Sunleth Waterscape, and to the focused Will to fight piece. If you listen to all songs, you realize how much quality that has gone into this. I'd say that the FF13 music is one of my top5 OSTs ever.


These tracks are among my favorites, and it shows Hamauzus ability to adapt to many different scenarios.

The Vestige


Saber's Edge



Sunleth Waterscape



The will to fight



Archylte Steppe



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Dreamboum

Dreamboum

Member
Oct 28, 2017
22,865
Hamauzu is a god and I will not hear any dissent. FFXIII brought the heat and I will always listen to tracks like the Gapra Whitewood or Dust to Dust, I heard those tracks more than any track from FFs before it (except FFXII's Eruyt Village).

 
Quinton

Quinton

Specialist at TheGamer / Reviewer at RPG Site
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
17,284
Midgar, With Love
XIII's got my favorite regular battle theme but for whatever reason the other battle themes don't do nearly as much for me.
 
Renteka-Bond

Renteka-Bond

Chicken Chaser
Member
Dec 28, 2017
4,273
Clearwater, Florida
When I first played XIII and didn't understand what I was doing, I hated 'Blinded By Light' for not being like the old school FF battle themes. When I got to Pulse and restarted the game when I realized I had no idea what the heck I was doing, I grew to love it and Now the song and 13 as a whole are my favorites in the series. Love me some Lightning.



Dreamboum said:
Hamauzu is a god and I will not hear any dissent. FFXIII brought the heat and I will always listen to tracks like the Gapra Whitewood or Dust to Dust, I heard those tracks more than any track from FFs before it (except FFXII's Eruyt Village).

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One of my now best friends bonded over the game and this song in particular. So good!
 
Sgt. Demblant

Sgt. Demblant

Self-requested ban
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,030
France
Yep, that OST is a gem.
It, the combat system and the visuals are why -as flawed as it may be- I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for 13.
 

Deleted member 4262

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
3,633
Hamauzu is a god-tier composer. I really don't like the XIII saga at all but the music is some of the best in gaming. Sunleth Waterscape in particular is such a feel-good track. <3
 
LuuKyK

LuuKyK

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,785
Brazil
It's easily my favorite OST in the entire series and maybe in gaming. It just blends perfectly with the game and ranges a huge amount of genres, yet it stays cohesive somehow. Love it.
 
Inugami

Inugami

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,995
Looking back, my favorite game OSTs have had violins, and that's probably what elevates this game so high for me. Gameplay it's still the worst playing FF of all time, and the story is garbage with so many unexplained proper nouns that it requires a glossary... but yeah, the music? Great.
 

Deleted member 51789

User requested account closure
Banned
Jan 9, 2019
3,705
Hamauzu is an incredible composer, and he more than lives up to the high level of music in the series - for me, it's easily a top 5 FF soundtrack and it deserves so much more respect than it generally gets
 

Deleted member 249

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
28,828
SantaC said:
I guess it is hard to find a bad OST in the Final Fantasy series.

I havent touched FF15 in two years now, and I dont remember that many tunes. For some reason I only remember the menu lounge track.
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15's OST is also fantastic. The themes, especially the battle themes, and some of the later dramatic beats ones, are amazing.
 
Golnei

Golnei

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,823
SantaC said:
I guess it is hard to find a bad OST in the Final Fantasy series.

I havent touched FF15 in two years now, and I dont remember that many tunes. For some reason I only remember the menu lounge track.
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Especially after all of the extra content released, XV has some amazing tracks from Shimomura, Hiramatsu, Suzuki, Narita, Uematsu, Mitsuda, Makino, Okabe etc. - but compared to XIII, it does lack the focus of a single main composer, with the great tracks accompanied by some not particularly impressive filler and some really good pieces misused or not expanded upon as motifs.
 
Man God

Man God

Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,307
I pushed on through the game entirely on the strength of the battle theme. I could and did listen to that theme for thirty hours without getting sick of it.
 
YellowBara

YellowBara

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,074
The only soundtracks that fit as perfectly as 13 to the gameplay, setting and general atmosphere of the games they are from, to me, would have to be 7, 10 and 12 honestly.

Freaking love the music in this game so much. Hasn't left my phone since the games came out. Adore it!
 
Eppcetera

Eppcetera

Member
Mar 3, 2018
1,911
I'm not sure if there's any other mediocre game I've played that has music I like more than Final Fantasy XIII's. At least the game did something for me.
 
SmokedSalmon

SmokedSalmon

Member
Apr 1, 2019
2,656
Saber's Edge is super good. It was one of those tracks I used to listen to on loop. There's so much emotion in it.

Are the sequels far game too?
 
Whittaker

Whittaker

Member
Jun 21, 2018
811
Hamauzu is a musical genius who has definitely used those talents to prop up a whole mess of stinkers.

He's the Elliot Goldenthal of video game music composers.
 
jb1234

jb1234

Very low key
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,232
I hope they hire him again for XVI. He's done good work since XIII but never with the same resources. Orchestral Hamauzu is best Hamauzu (for me, at least).
 
DSP

DSP

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,120
People were berating OST of this game back in the day. it's not like Uematsu osts, it doesn't have prelude or fanfare tunes, Lost Odyssey is better and similar remarks. People just want the same old thing again. Coming from FFXII which I personally think has really boring OST, this was amazing and refreshing. Hamauzu wanted something new and he delivered. I prefer it over XV's OST by a lot as well which has all those classic tunes btw, I just don't care. I don't value nostalgia, I want to listen to something new. Good thing you can listen to best of FF13 OST in FFXV.
 

Deleted member 17952

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,980
If there's one thing that FFXIII has over any other FF, it's that "Blinded by Light" is best combat BGM of them all.
 
SmokedSalmon

SmokedSalmon

Member
Apr 1, 2019
2,656
milad said:
People were berating OST of this game back in the day. it's not like Uematsu osts, it doesn't have prelude or fanfare tunes, Lost Odyssey is better and similar remarks. People just want the same old thing again. Coming from FFXII which I personally think has really boring OST, this was amazing and refreshing. Hamauzu wanted something new and he delivered. I prefer it over XV's OST by a lot as well which has all those classic tunes btw, I just don't care. I don't value nostalgia, I want to listen to something new. Good thing you can listen to best of FF13 OST in FFXV.
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I remember people hating the vocals as well as the synth sound. I do think even back in the day it had its fan though. Probably the same people posting here now.
 

Dezzy8

Alt-account
Banned
Oct 25, 2018
102
This game is amazing and I will defend it til my death. Hope sucks tho.
 
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