Nobuo Month 3/6
By Slunks 4 Comments
11. Zeromus – The Black Mages (Final Fantasy IV)
This song in particular has such a great feeling to it. It starts out a tad grungy, then goes straight into this freeform rock. I often talk about how Uematsu was limited and when you hear a more recent version it’s easy to see how it was meant to be. This song has heavy regards to the same thing – seriously, go find the original and you can instantly realize what he was going for.
12. A Return, Indeed... (Piano) – Lost Odyssey
Piano works aren’t only amazing when their well-written, but mainly when they’re amazing when their story is. That’s how I’ve always listened to instrumentals in general; a book that requires ears. Down the line in this song, there’s a beautiful build-up, and it wraps up with an amazing, light melody. Pieces such as these make me wish I could play piano so bad, despite that’s something generic to say.
I’ve always been able to compose this stuff in my head, but never form it together and convert it into real-life. It makes me realize how much time musicians in general spend with their equipment to get so used to it that they are able to skillfully transfer what’s in their head through their instrument. Not only that, but to do it so well that you’re regarded higher than other people who’ve worked so hard to be great at the same task. I think Nobuo has always been one of those people – it definitely shows.
13. People of the North Pole – Final Fantasy X
I don’t think any song in the world gives me as many chills as this one does. I remember falling in love with this one the second I ran into it during FFX – I had one of those “sit on the screen and don’t move” moments. It felt amazingly fitting for the scenario, and it built up Khimari’s background enough to basically make this his theme. Instead of going on about how much I love this song, I’ll end what I think by saying that it earns my personal gold medal for best song of the album. - Amazing, really.
If you were ever looking for a sample of the soul from a game’s composer, it’d be found in the main theme of the title. I imagine that writing a theme is hard work – you have to be sure that it’s not generic, yet have a familiar tone to keep it memorable. I think the snare drum sets the seriousness, but when the vocals break in, it comes back to fantasy. It blends back and forth, but damn does it sound good.
15. The Birth of a God – Final Fantasy VII
Truly energitic. This song really, really made the fight against Bizzaro Sephiroth intense. I know a lot of people never found the fight to be hard, but being a little kid and not having the best materia yet being level 99 (which makes Sephiroth the hardest he can be) put me in one of the toughest fights I’ve been in. Despite I was in the fight for over many months not knowing about gold chocobos or Knights of the Round, the music never got old to me and always built the fight up to be a fun challenge. So private thanks to Nobuo for making something so tedious to be entertaining.
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I apologize for the lateness. I've been working my ass off as always and haven't had the time to keep up with the month. On top of that, I like play games, so a bit of my time has gone towards Rock Band 2 and WAR. *Two songs weren't playing correctly. They are now fixed. Thanks for the patience.
As always, credit goes out to Nobuo Uematsu, along with other like-minded composers such as Junya Nakano and Masashi Hamauzu, who've not only received help from a legendary musician, but contributed their fair share of what you've listened to today. The glue of which holds the music and context together is also credited to masterminds such as Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yoshinori Kitase, and Kazushige Nojima. Final thanks goes to Square-Enix for placing these amazing guys in their well-deserved spotlight!