I’ll tell you more while I’m lazy at work.

When it comes to Final Fantasy music, of course we have to mention Nobuo Uematsu, the godfather of FF music.

Uematsu has been the producer and theme song composer of all FF OSTs in SE Club, and has profound piano skills.

The early Final Fantasy, due to its age and backward technological level, used low-capacity cassettes as the medium, and its musical quality was naturally mediocre, with only a large number of MIDI and instrument recording effects added.

After resolutely abandoning Nintendo's stubbornness in cassettes and landing on optical disc media, the high capacity naturally provided a high-level production space for music. Starting in 1997, music that can be listed as OST in the true sense has been Produced on FF7, high-level orchestral music and piano are used in it. As a composer and arranger, Uematsu has truly demonstrated his musical charm starting from FF7.

For FF7, there is no real theme song. Several main songs are just game inserts. The most important thing for FF7 is the main theme "Fate of the Star" that runs throughout the game. The simple and melodious piano melody, lingering sadly, sounds like an ordinary ballad today, but in that era, for the game players who came from that time, this main melody became their favorite for the past ten years. The haunting and haunting sound.

After the brilliant sales of Final Fantasy 7, which was trying to break through, in 1998, producer Hironobu Sakaguchi made a bolder breakthrough: abandoning the character design style that he had adhered to for many years, and using Nomura Tetsuya's full-body full-scale human figure. Designed to completely adultize the game. At the same time, Nobuo Uematsu once again handed over a classic: a true theme song EYES ON ME was born. The song continues to follow the lyrical line that has been widely praised. The melody is warm, but it does not have the desolation of Final Fantasy 7. In terms of arrangement, the piano is used as the main tone, and a concert orchestra and violin band are summoned to accompany the song, just for this song. The melody subverts the traditional FF, without any rock or dynamic elements, and the lyrics are also based on pure love for the first time. At first glance, it can almost be described as a digression. For such an innovative piece, Cube Company, after careful consideration, decided to invite Faye Wong, who was very popular in Asia at that time, to sing it. Although Faye Wong was the Queen of Asia at the time, her popularity in Japan was quite limited. Cube Company’s motive for this move is self-evident: to bring FF8 into the international market, especially the Chinese market. There is no doubt that they succeeded. In 1999, FF8 was officially released. Faye Wong's incomparable voice interpreted the ENDING love song just right, coupled with the exquisite CG, which moved countless people in the country and began to pay attention to Final Fantasy.

The music of Final Fantasy 9 can only be described as twists and turns. After successfully introducing FF8 into the international market, many traditional FF fans in Japan began to question the future direction of FF, thinking that the FF in their hearts was missing. Producer Sakaguchi resolutely decided to give FF fans a return to reality in the final generation of single-digit Final Fantasy. Uematsu also went back to collect his past emotions and created the song Melodies of life. The traditional fantasy-style melodious minor tune is reproduced, which is very listenable, and at the same time adds a lot of Disney fairy tale-style romance. In terms of lyrics, it closely revolves around the main theme of the game "the meaning of life", leaving a heavy inspiration behind the sad singing and bringing out a strong and positive outlook on life. The song arrangement is still a double collaboration between piano and orchestra, and a large number of bagpipes are used, highlighting the fantasy characteristics of fairy tales. In terms of singing, Uematsu found many singers and found that this song was not suitable for young idol singers to sing. Therefore, we found the veteran singer Emiko Shiratori, who is highly respected in Japan, and found that her rich and warm voice is indeed quite suitable for the traditional fantasy characteristics of the song.

In July 2000, FF9 was released. A lot of traditional FF fans in Japan have been moved by this work for many years, and they are sighing. The unforgettable melody of the theme song is also widely sung.

However, more new players who have adapted to the international FF8 are not adaptable to FF9's return to traditional settings and have expressed disappointment. The sales of FF9 have not reached the level of FF8, and it has not left much of a good impression in the minds of Chinese players. Such a classic theme song has gradually faded in the minds of Chinese players.

At the end of 2001, FF10 was born with the mission of innovation. In the past year, Cube Company has experienced tremendous changes such as film project failure, serious losses, high-level changes, and foreign capital injection. Nowadays, the development project of a new FF is no longer something that the original team can decide alone. Fortunately, Uematsu is still alive. As the number one musical hero, he still holds the responsibility of OST.

When everyone thought that the new FF with a strong commercial flavor would inevitably bring out another EYES ON ME-style popular love song, Uematsu unexpectedly delivered an alternative work. ——Su enemy だね.

It seems that this song cannot be defined by a certain style. It is certain that sadness and beauty are the main theme of the song, but the vocal quality of the singer Riki Nakano (RIKKI) is quite special, soft and ethereal, which aggravates the sad mood of the song. The arrangement of the song is quite simple in order to highlight RIKKI's voice. Almost only RIKKI's soft a cappella can be heard in the whole song. RIKKI specializes in Japanese "island songs" folk songs, and this feature is also incorporated into the song. The tail notes are light and thin. Overall, this song is quite difficult.

After the release of FF10, although this song became very popular, the response among FF fans was not much better than that of FF9. Most of the reason is that it is "weird" and subverts the popular love songs. It does not have a catchy melody like the previous games. Although the melody is still beautiful, it is difficult to sing and difficult to learn. In addition, the English version of the international version is not promoted enough, which limits the international popularity of the song. As a result, nowadays, When talking about Su En Enemy, the first thing most Chinese people think of is a piece of CG animation.

FFX-2, the first sequel in FF history, appears as the sequel to Final Fantasy 10. Many of these system designs are disappointingly shoddy and commercial. Equally disappointing are the songs. Maybe SE didn't treat it as a true FF at all. The two theme songs this time did not include Uematsu. The two dynamic and fast songs were performed by the dynamic queen Kumi Koda. It seemed that they were purely for coordination. It's made with CG, but it's really lackluster. I'm not a fan of Kuai Ge, so I won't comment much on it.

In 2006, FF12, which had been accumulated for a long time, arrived belatedly. When the game was released, Uematsu had already followed Sakaguchi and left SE Company. Fortunately, he still left a classic song for FF fans at the end: kiss me goodbye.

The piano finally becomes the main theme of the arrangement again, combined with the slow jazz style of drums. Returning to the typical popular love song type, it is unforgettable. Angela Aki, who is of mixed Japanese and Italian descent, was invited to sing the song. This is a typical talented woman who is proficient in many musical instruments. She played and sang by herself on the day FF12 was released. Although her voice is not very distinctive, it is rare, clear, elegant and of good quality.

After the release of FF12, the theme song along with the game received polarized reviews. Those who say good things are highly praised, but those who criticize are also unceremonious. Ultimately, the most controversial part comes from the lyrics. The lyrics of FF12 are always written by the screenwriter Kazunari Nojima, but this time they were written by the singer Angela Aki. It is a typical love-themed song, but it is incompatible with the theme of family feuds in FF12 and is very weird.

No matter what, this work will be Uematsu’s last FF work, so I mourn. .

If you are a FF layman, believe me saying so much will not be very helpful to you. . Just pick those reviews.

To rank the theme songs:

1, FF9

2, FF12

3, FF8

4. FF7

5. FF10

6. FFX-2

The reason why I chose FF9 as my favorite is because I will never forget that scene: Xiaodao whispered the theme song softly, and the monkey heard the sound and came looking for it, but what he saw was a pair of distressed and sad eyes among the white doves.

PS: FF11 is an online game and is still in operation. There is still no officially recognized theme song. There are only a few officially released related tracks. The quality varies. I will not talk about it for now. I will talk about other things when I have time. The music of derivative works such as FF7AC.