Final Fantasy I - Boss Battle A (Orchestral Remix) 

+Meian 98 I know what you mean! I was terrified when I first encountered Lich because it was my first major boss battle ever. He took up the entire screen and did a crazy number of attacks. Unfortunately, I was playing the NES version, so there was no special boss music, just the regular battle music. When I heard this track in the remake many years later, I thought it was the perfect music for that moment. I'm glad I got a chance to do a re-orchestration of it.

The hardest part of this fight was dealing with the "Nuke" spell. Insta gibbed one of my heroes. Pepehands.

The lich was even scarier in the NES version, because he's way harder and the dungeon is way harder and it took 10 damn minuets just to buy 99 potions

When I saw lich I was like hehe skele Boi go boom then I got wrecked then I thought nevermind I go boom

*Casts death* fuck

I thought it as a creative way to reference how limited they were and how far they've came as a series and a company

I honestly think it's one of the best boss themes in the series on it's own merits.

+K. Callaghan Cylke The one rule I have when making these is that there must be a clear ending. For looped tracks like this one, it can be a little difficult, but it feels like a bit of a cop-out if I just do a fade-out at a random time. (No offense intended to anyone who uses fade-outs. They are, after all, true to the original.) Anyway, I'm glad you liked it!

It makes it sound like an actual piece that an orchestra got together and played, with an authoritative final note that rings out into silence. It makes it even more epic.

Hmmm,but then you have me who beated him in 5 /10 min cause i was lost 70% of the game cause InStRuCtIoNs

Sadly my Haste-Tempered Warrior two-shot him before he can do anything

+Sigmund Kovacs "Flying Fortress" is on the list, but it's rather low-priority at the moment. It's a simple piece, so I think it will be really easy to orchestrate.

+MysticLaian Thank you! I spent way too much time in the Earth Dungeon (called the Earth Cave in the NES version) because, I'm embarrassed to admit, I didn't know there was a teleporter behind Lich, so after the battle, I walked all the way back though the dungeon to get to the entrance. And, after I realized that I hadn't gotten the crystal (orb in the NES version) to shine at the altar behind Lich, I had to go back again! It wasn't my finest gaming moment, but then again, I was only ten at the time.

Malcolm Robinson Music Oh boy, that must have been a long stroll to the entrance of the cave. You know, I have my quota of embarrassing gaming moments as well so I know how you feel, man ^^

+Lloyde Sorrow I wasn't really happy with my first mix, so I went back and listened to the original (PS1 version) to see which instruments were emphasized, and made some pretty big adjustments. Beyond that, I didn't really use any fancy mixing techniques except some EQ on a few of the instruments. I think the sound comes more from the samples themselves and the reverb that I used. I use the Spaces convolution reverb plugin from EWQL and I apply instrument-specific instances of Spaces to all the instruments that need it, and I also use a very light master reverb on everything.

Thank you! I played through Final Fantasy Mystic Quest a long time ago on the SNES and I liked the soundtrack, but it's unlikely that I'll end up covering it. There are just too many other higher priority soundtracks on my list.

Cooper Ordaz-Chavez me. But I depicted this as light and dark cliché, but you're on the dark side.

Yeah! That part is awesome. It has the epic adventure-y feel to it.

That chord is so gratifying

That is a very good suggestion, probably the best ost from that game and well done in orchestral.

Maybe the dungeon music (both light and dark worlds)? That's what I'd like to see.

+SlyBeast I'll definitely do it! I'm actually planning to do all the battle themes from FF1.

+KayMinEss D Thank you! I loved the additions of Battle Battles A and B (along with Mini Boss Battle and Last Battle), but that could be because I got a little sick of the original battle theme after hearing it over and over in every battle in the NES version, and I had always wished that FF1 had a proper boss battle theme. To me, Boss Battle A is a little more than a remix of the original battle music because it has its own distinct melody, and the original battle melody is just sprinkled throughout the piece here and there to accent it (except, of course, when it comes in very obviously in the last part of the loop). It's interesting that you felt that Uematsu's flavor is missing from them. I actually thought they sounded like pure late-90's Uematsu!

Ahh yes I've heard about that. I think I also watched them play the victory theme after the final boss? From my point of view, at least, I find Uematsu's most distinct work to be the music for games IV-VII (VIII was a little too ambient for me and IX combines everything I love about the previous games). Their tracks have a nice combination of melody, beat, and structure that I find pleasing to listen to. I could also add that, when I listen to all the tracks from games I-IX, the tracks from I-III tend to sound a little different than the rest of the games and more like each other.

+KayMinEss D Oh, I remember that! After a long and uncertain battle with Chaos (with the same random battle music in the background), there's nothing more anti-climactic than hearing the usual victory fanfare. At least we got some thunder/earthquake sound effects after that though! It's really hard to compare FF soundtracks because hardware limitations were also a factor, but I've always felt that FF1 had the least impressive soundtrack in the series. It could be that they had to rush development and put together a soundtrack as quickly as possible, or maybe Uematsu hadn't fully matured as a composer. On the other hand, 4-6 have always stood out as having exceptional soundtracks, especially 6. I'm going to do every game from 1-10 though.

I agree, and also put FFII close to there but they had to work with shorter soundtracks at the time. One of my favorite tracks, though, is Gulug Volcano; I think they did a terrific job adapting it in IX but I feel like the remake of the track in FFI was lacking. I do really enjoy 4-6 and keep IX as my favorite - my listening pool includes everything from I-IX! :) All this music to look forward to~

thought2007 yeah for the gba and psp

Cygnus Prime Actually the Wonderswan Color version had the boss themes 2 years before the PSP version

@@givecamichips you mean PS1?

+Shadow Zylo I played though Breath of Fire 2 a long time ago and it was a lot of fun. I haven't added it to my list yet, but it's very possible that I'll do some of the soundtrack in the future. The tracks that you suggested are pretty solid (battle themes if I remember correctly), so they would most likely be on the list, but I'd probably start with "The Destined Child" because I really like epic intro themes and because it's short and would be really easy for me to do. I'm so busy now with Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy though that I have no idea when it would happen.

Malcolm Robinson Music Okay, thank you ^-^

Bartz vs Cloud? Just play Dissidia m8

@@daesplays8737 yes , that's why i modded this into 012 lol

+gamerprince1999 Thanks! I'm definitely going to do Chaos Shrine (Temple of Fiends), but I was planning to base my arrangement on the NES version. I may take some parts from the PS1/GBA arrangement though.

Malcolm Robinson Music OK that nice too!

+Alex K Thanks! :) I experimented with a few endings and that was definitely the best place for it. I could have put more work into the ending itself though. As for the method I use, it depends on the game. For games that use streaming audio (like Castlevania: Lament of Innocence, for which I did a remake of Ghostly Theatre) I simple listen to the audio and enter the notes into the MIDI piano roll in my DAW as I pick them out. I line up the tempos perfectly at this stage and play both versions at the same time to listen for off notes. I sometime play around with the EQ of the original to make certain instruments easier for me to hear. For games that use sequenced audio, I use a program that lets me isolate each channel and listen to them individually. This is really helpful, but it can sometimes be a little tricky for SNES soundtracks because one sound channel can often switch between several instruments to stay within the hardware's eight channel limit for music. For really fast string runs or other things that are extremely difficult to hear, I'll look at a rip of the original sequence if it's available, but this sometimes doesn't help because sequence rippers tend to leave out pitch bend data. For example, the string runs in Light and Darkness from Terranigma appear as a single note in the sequencer. A great method to get all the right notes for string runs is simply to slow down the audio and pause a lot. I should probably mention that this stage (i.e., getting all the right notes in) is just the first part of making an orchestration. Building a skeleton MIDI file with all the right notes is probably the least challenging stage of the process for me and it takes up only 10% of the total time. The rest of the time is spent layering instruments, adding harmonies, adjusting the volume and dynamics of each instrument, etc. The whole process from start to finish takes me about 15-20 hours on average, but there are people out there who can do it much more quickly.

+Malcolm Robinson Music That sure is a lot of neat info haha. I didn't even know there was software the isolates the various channels in sequenced music! But I guess that's because I'm a bit old fashioned. If I were to make a midi file that I would then put into a real DAW with good samples, I'd write out the actual sheet music with the notes, dynamics, and notations, in programs like MuseScore (which is free), since that's all I would have access to. I don't own a full blown DAW haha. The best I could manage with that is transcribing by ear, but having done band from 5th grade to 1st year in college has given me a trained listening ear!

+Malcolm Robinson Music I would love to watch you work! That would probably be boring to the average person, but I would like it since I compose and arrange/cover/remake music, too.

+Lloyde Sorrow I haven't really thought about it before. I'll definitely consider some kind of live stream or something when my channel is a little more established and I improve my efficiency.

+Girafarig I played through the first Professor Layton game (I really like puzzles, logic problems, etc.), but I haven't tried the others yet. I was actually considering doing the main theme, but then I heard the "live version" from the official album and I felt it would be impossible for me to make a version that could match it in quality. I might reconsider in the future or try a different track though.

+Malcolm Robinson Music I understand this problem. So, you can try remix old musics : can I propose few musics of firsts games ? I know, I insist too ^-^" ! (I don't sure of my English)

+Girafarig Don't worry! I'm always happy to get suggestions. :)

The original NES version of FF1 had only one battle theme, but when they remade it in 2000 for the WonderSwan Color, they added some additional music (four new battle themes and an intro theme). This new music was used in all the subsequent versions of the game (Final Fantasy Origins, Dawn of Souls, etc.).

Had a feeling it was in Origins. Thanks for the reply. I'd request for some orchestral remakes of some game music but perhaps i'd be asking for too much lol

The remakes of ff1 which had more battle themes added.

Sure. You can use it for non-commercial purposes, including RU-vid videos.

When I fought the Lich for the first time this theme filled me with determination to rid the fiend off of the earth... With my warrior at 6 HP and last one standing he layed the final blow :)

+Jullyans Azhar I plan on doing it, but I'm not really sure how it will sound because I want to do my own arrangement of the NES version rather than using the arranged GBA/PS1 version. I have 15 tracks planned for FF1 and I'm going to really start focusing on them after I finish FF4.

Is that TAC reference

You were over-leveled then.

@@Barbe i wasn't. I just had the adequate spells for them. Kary and Tiamat, on the other hand, I had to grind a lot and they still gave me a very hard time.

Try them on nes version.....you will grit your teeth when you face lich or even astos

@@gvd378 yah I played the NES version first Lich and Kraken are still cake And Kary and Tiamat are even WAY HARDER

Soul of Chaos is way harder

Ship music??? This intense? lol You should listen to the actual ship music from FF1 which is happy and peaceful. This track definitely has a boss vibe imposing and heroic.

You sound like a ship theme

That's the reason i play GBA ; Shinryu's battle has this.