Nah, the samples are all reused from the game. The thing with snes sound chip is that to store note sequences it's fairly good at it and that doesnt takes up much space. To store actual instrument samples thought it's a lot harder
@@stueyman2099 impossible to tell, but most games just have the compositions done then they pick a sample set so they dont need to tweak the music too much Snes sampling is a very complicated topic since sfx interfere with music
I remember a comment on the old rip that really stood out to me. It was something like "Uematsu composing such a masterpiece using the SNES soundchip would be like if Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel with crayons". I think that describes it pretty well.
If i remember it correctly it was more like "For composer the SNES sound chip is like using crayons. Uematsu used crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel". That is if i remember it right
The game that made me bilingual. No joke. My native languge is french but i studied english a ton just because i wanted to understand FF VI dialogue and story. And it was 100% worth it
If you consider music a language, this masterpiece got me into classical music! I'm self-studying the piano for more than a year now (I finally got my own keyboard!) but I've been a sucker for classical music since 10 years ago after doing a replay of this game back in high school.
“And time will destroy all of those as well. Why do people insist on creating things that will inevitably be destroyed? Why do people cling to life, knowing that they must someday die? ...Knowing that none of it will have meant anything once they do?”
@@nickpieper5839 Yes - he's basically just a nihilist taking nihilism seriously, instead of distracting himself with pleasure or deciding to avert his eyes and ignore the problem until it's too late. While I don't agree with nihilism, being a Christian, if I didn't have my faith, I'd need to agree with him, because he'd be right, if there weren't anything beyond the material world.
@@CantusTropus But even viewing his philosophy from secular lense, it doesn't hold up. Just because all the things in life will cease to exist, that still won't take away from the glory and joy they once had while they EXISTED. The beauty of romance, friendship and familial bonds, despite their tempeorary nature(as with all life ), will have one point been very real and impactful to those that had seen and felt it even if they no longer exist.
Tier 1: Brave against the terror of the beastly demon that judges your sins. Tier 2: Fight against the might of the banished souls that were once good men. Tier 3: Repent against the purity of the angelic prophet that cares for no one. Tier 4: Defy against the insanity of the maniacal god that wants you all *dead.*
Just a theory but The demon form.: His life in the empire. The limbo form: his life as a soldier. His goddess hybrid form.: His life descending into godhood. His angel demon form.:His life as a god.
@@theinherit116 for me the demon section is the torture that broke his mind. The limbo section was yes, his soldier life, and the godhood section was his ascension part as well. And the angel demon part is what he’s feeling right now as he battles. The song grows somber as he realizes he’s going to lose and perhaps he’s looking back at his life and realizes how hopeless he is. But it ends with him laughing.before repeating itself again.
The music carries a lot of characters in FF pretty hard if you play the scenes without the music. Kefka's entire backstory is basically a couple of lines from some random dude in a semi-hidden pub, it's the music that actually tells the story.
went to the store today and in line in front of me there was some dude with his gf. he told her some dumb joke and she suddenly burst out in a loud kefka laugh. it sounded identical. my first thought "the end draws near..." 😂
Japanese composers creating the 21st century beethoven symphony for a videogame: Edit: 10 mainline games later and we still getting some of the best songs in video game history. Common final fantasy ost W.
Actually that makes sense, because a lot of classical pieces were created for a play, opera or some kind of production. This like the modern equivalent :)
At one time in the future we will finally have a Final Fantasy VI Remake, and people will finally understand why this is one of the greatest RPG of all times.
I think one of the dudes at square said he’d love to but ff7 remake took them almost 20 years (ff 7 remake started dev, around 2008) and it’d probably take that long as well according to an interview
@@Mingodough well if they decide to make a part 5 saga of ff6 yeah it's gonna take that long. tho they really don't need to make a huge production remake like they're doing with ff7, just enough to put into a singular 40-60 hours game.
The original version of the second half of movement 4 fascinates me. Most interpret it as the song heralding Kefka's inevitable death and pitying his wretched existence, and most future versions of the song also take that approach, and end it on a dramatic climax. But here, the song slams right back into the main melody when it ends, accompanied by Kefka's laughter. Also worth noting that this is not an easy fight - it may be his final phase, but you still have to fight tooth and nail not to get wiped out. With all that in mind, what was this version of the second half really saying: is it mourning Kefka's pitiful last moments before descending into the madness again as Kefka simply _does not care,_ or is it Kefka figuratively playing the world's smallest violin to mock your struggles to defeat him, only to laugh in your face as he decides he's had enough fun toying with you?
When you get hurt, and instead of processing the hurt try to laugh, but if your contriving it too much and trying to milk it too hard...the laughter turns bitter in your mouth and your true feelings burn you
His laughter is the laughter of pure evil. No matter how hopeless things have become he knows he already won even if the party defeats him now, it doesn't matter to kefka. He is a rabid dog to be put down. A human if he ever was human gone completely mad.
That sound chip was extremely capable of doing stuff like this, even more actually. Give a listen to the Plok soundtrack, the soundtrack for that game is insanely good.
I'm pretty certain this is the longest final boss theme in any video game. 17 minutes to play through two loops for every movement of a four movement symphony, composed of combining Baroque and Romantic eras Classical genre music (complete with a Bach organ and soprano opera singer) with a final, subversive Emerson, Lake, & Palmer styled Progressive Rock movement to end it. Not even Noburo Uematsu's excellent final boss themes from the other Final Fantasy's come close in length, most of them being up to 7 or 8 minutes at longest.
each segment of this song is played twice, so the song is technically half the length seen here. void termina's theme is longer; it's 10 minutes long with no looped segments.
At just a little over 8 minutes, it's by far the longest music track you'll find on any 16 bits games, save for the occasional credit themes (and even then, I'm not sure)
Playing a cartridge version I bought for $90 with my 12 year old. This is the first time I've played in 28 years, and I'm seeing this game for the first time with adult eyes. And he's never played it before. What a time to be alive.
This will always be Nobuo’s greatest masterpiece. He made a full blown symphony to go with the battle against a maniacal god. One-Winged Angel, The Extreme and Necron’s theme are all awesome, but none can match the theme, complexity or length of Dancing Mad.
The way that this boss fight and its theme are set up is insane. More games need to realize that if they want their final bosses to make an impact, they need to make that final battle seem like the fight is all or nothing. Saving that one last time before stepping into the SNES's own gates of hell before fighting through Kefka's multiple grueling phases is an experience like no other. And then, at the beginning of the very end, you hear the chords you've been listening to every time you booted up the game. It feels like Kefka's gained the power of the game itself and is using it against you. I hope more game devs are able to produce masterpieces like these in the future.
The final guantlet is awesome but it wasn't really that hard unfortunately (6 is prolly the top 3 easiest), if only there were new game plus hard modes for those games back in the day.
@@frokydafroakie There are so many good ones. 8 has the best sound track to a lot of people. The rest of the game has flaws, but that overall sountrack is amazing
Nintendo fans: why won't Nintendo stop taking down music that it could monetize on YT? Square Enix fans: *histerical laughter of insanity for every 1X year old video with millons of views that ceases to exist*
People with logic: This isn't about monetization nor being a fanboy or a hater, but about copyright infringiment which is going rampant. Basically lazy people are using other's works to gain fame/money nonstop.
@@Willowisp927 RU-vid has a copyright detection system that stops people from monetizing videos containing music that isn't their own; thus, the risk of people gaining money from others' music in RU-vid is pretty low. And of course, people wouldn't have to resort to uploading videogame music to RU-vid if these companies did it themselves; I hate having to use them as an example, but look at Konami, now you can listen to most Castlevania OSTs without having to resort to 12-year-old uploads done by others.
@@iquemedia tysm, man! I'm excited to finally play FF6! Currently I'm playing Xenogears, but I'll get to playing FF6 when I finish it! seriously, you have no idea how much this means to me. hope you are well!
This is the greatest final boss music of all time. I never get tired of listening to it, i love all four phases, it accurately describes the antagonist, fitting for a great finale.
"Life... Dreams... Hope... Where do they come from, and where do they go? Such meaningless things... I'LL DESTROY THEM ALL!!!" [laughs like a complete psychopath] Kefka "God" Palazzo.
It's somewhere between Bach's Toccata and Fugue in Dm and Tarkus by Emerson Lake and Palmer, but somehow on an SNES. In other words, it's a piece of genius.
Question did you get Shadow as a permanent ally and did you get everyone so that would be Celes Sabin Edgar Seltzer Cyan Gau Terra Locke Realm Strago Mog Shadow Umaro Gogo Did you get them all
@@jadensmith3012personally I did, I wanted to have three perfectly balanced teams for Kefka's tower and wanted to have the whole party for the dragon's den.
No matter how many decades that passes by, Kefka is Still stands above all the rest Of the villains and succeeded in destruction. He truly made history in the final fantasy Franchise, even to this day.
Ardyn achieved his goals for the most part while being heavily sympathetic and one of the better villains on the series. Kuja I'll always love the most just because he down the spiral of insanity until his dying moments
back then it was a shock to hear this song and also the opera song because it sounded like real voices singing, that wasn't something we were used to back then
There are plenty of people in the world that are the main reason why 90% of villains want the entire world to burn. Just watch the joker movie and it’ll all come full circle
My mom mostly played Tetris and Doctor Mario on NES. As soon as she heard the final boss music of FF6,...("son,...this is epic! This ain't Dragon Warrior)
@@superiggybros7005 It's not just you. I personally haven't played FFVI but i've seen some weird shit be done in other titles by a friend of mine. In FF9, this friend managed to beat Necron by having it spell locked on a petrified Zidane in the matter of 3 minutes. Necron would cast the absolute fucking entire unholy bible of spells on the poor, harmless, petrified dude while the rest of the team just bashed the everloving fuck out of it. Once you master the subtle art of making the game cheat itself even Final Fantasy bosses will look ridiculous.
This is why classic 16-bit era video game music is goated to me. Think of how much we praise the David Wise’s of the world but mostly because the music is amazing. Not even taking into account how much harder it was to do this back then. Truly in a league of their own.
Listen, I get how great Sephiroth and One-Winged Angel are, I really do. But imo, Kefka and Dancing Mad, for what they were at the time FFVI came out and even now, are one of the greatest final boss/final boss theme combos in video game history. To make a whole boss themed around something like The Divine Comedy after Kefka succeeds in his quest and quite literally becomes a god is such an art nerd’s wet dream
Something I think really sets this apart is it's not just a great final boss theme but an emotional rollercoaster in itself. Swings between threatening, exciting and even joyful or melancholy all in the span of a single fight.
12:04 "Life....... Hope.......Dreams.. Where are they coming from? and where are they headed? Such meaningless things... I'LL DESTROY THEM ALL!!!" *kefka laugh*
Just beat the game over the weekend. While kefka was easier than the Waring triad statues. (I got to pick the best team edgar,sabin,terra, and cyan" it was still incredibly cool. I wish games still had bosses like that. The story of them game was great, and the gameplay was incredible too. This boss carried so much weight in the story. And even though I beat him. He still won.
OMG. I'm a huge fan of the FF OSTs, I haven't played all games but I know most songs, but this one somehow eluded me, I never listened to it before, I ended up here because so many people suggested listening to it to a guy who does reactions to music, and oh man, this track is just AMAZING. I can't stop listening to it, truly amazing! I love Nobuo Uematsu!
This is sooooo metal. MY GOD. Uematsu could really thrash in a really elegant and cohesive way thematically with his rpg soundtracks. He always hit the right themes and the right notes at the absolute perfect time. CLIMAX ENSUES
@@unknown6390 Thanks for pointing out something that all are already completely aware of. It's 'Metal' in the sense that it shreds. Sorry if that part was a bit too complicated for you.
@@GentleGiantAudio Did you take offense to that? Not as many people are aware of that, especially when you start talking about metal. You thought I was insulting you then you actually insult me back? Grow up
I decided to check this out when someone said that Super Mario 64's Ultimate Bowser theme bares are strong resemblance to this. 🤓 Wow, I am honestly blown away with how EPIC this song and its phases are! 🤯👏🏾🎵
I don't even remember how I discovered this piece, I didn't have this game nor have I ever really been into Final Fantasy. But it's shaped my music taste.
To be fair, I'd say it's probably because this version exists: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--O-9U_QKhgA.html A fan made full symphonic arrangement, which honestly is fucking majestic lol. Its the single best version I've heard of it, and that includes all the professionally created ones like Distant Words/FFXIV
Playing this currently and still baffled to this day on how the SNES can produce this kind of sound. Same with Tales of Phantasia JPN, Super Metroid and Super Castlevania
This was before I entered the gaming world. I began my journey with FF7, yet letting my ear carry me to stay and listen to all of it, this piece is phenomenal!
What a shame that the video with I think 2 million views was either blocked due to copyright or forced to be put on private for the same reason, all those comments are gone smh
Truly a timeless classic, a masterpiece in music, videogame or not. You can't deny the intelligence & creativity that went into this piece. The composer is incredible.
Out of all the final boss fights against gods and deities or whatever, this is one of the very few OSTs that makes it feel like you’re actually throwing down with a god in heaven
What’s even more impressive is that the FF6 Snes rom is less than 5mb, which means they managed to fit the whole OST (including this music) and everything else in less than 5 megabytes. That compression magic packs a bigger punch than Ultima and Knights of Round 😂
It's not compression. Everything plays in real time. Pretty much everything until the gamecube had their own sequencers. So while a 12-15 min songs might sound like it would produce a large "file", it's not recorded and compressed like a .mp3. Instead, music is played on the SNES similar to how MIDI files work. You have a bank of small sound samples (the soundfont) with like 1 sound per instrument and then instructions on when to play those sound and at what pitch. The samples themselves are much bigger than the instructions on how to play them but most of the sounds are re-used in almost every song. Takes a little processing power but very little storage space. I think those constraints really pushed the composers to make each track so distinctive. The way graphics are rendered is somewhat similar. Nowadays you'd have big texture atlases with a lot of repetition but here almost everything gets re-used.
@@tomatoshadow Oh, I see. That completely explains it. Now it makes full sense. They just had the repeated SNES sounds saved and reused those to create all the music and sounds throughout the entire game. That's still very impressive. Whoever did the transfer of the music to the SNES chip's sounds must have gotten that chip ingrained in his brain. Awesome job.
@@tomatoshadowthe sound chip for the snes did only have 64 kb of ram, which a big portion of was used by the sound driver software and the echo buffer, leaving only a small amount left for the samples and sequence data for the current song (and any sound effects too) Though I'd imagine this song was split into many different parts when played back in game
This ominous yet beautiful movement of music will be studied and performed in the centuries to come, just as we are doing today with the compositions of Bach and Rachmaninoff
Something about Kefka was more epic than Sephiroth. Like the psycho had more tools and minions at his disposal than Sephiroth. Sephiroth had Jenova and cave of monsters. Kefka had the whole world as his own with a huge army, powerful bosses, and three gods (as statues). Sephiroth had a cave. Kefka had a mechanized fortress. Kefka's theme is stronger than Sephiroths.
Square Development Team: Yeah, so we got this guy named Kefka and he's the final boss, kinda crazy, wants to watch the world burn but how are we gonna make it sound this way? Nobuo Uematsu:
I wish I have played these Final Fantasy games a lot sooner, or I could've at least explored comment sections to see how people think of a certain OST outta any of them. Too bad Square doesn't want such a thing, it feels lame not being able to read them when they were on RU-vid for years. Hope this upload stays up for as long as possible but doubtful it'll last forever.
@@kolz4ever1980 LOL, didn't know being late to the party is grounds to being called a "fake fan". You internet folk are hilarious. Keep at it with this drivel I'd love to see you bemoan me more.
@robotron6420 Actually, it's still there. RU-vid hid the comment from "Top". You can still see it if you sort to "Newest". Btw, I'm surprised this video is still up. Thought Square Enix took it down by now lol
True. All ff games are good, but only if you have the taste for all of them. Each game is unique in every way, so I guess that it makes sense for some hate on some things (like ponies) and love for others. BTW cool video dude, that's some nice HD stuff you got there :D
I will never forgive SQx for taking down the one with 3mill+ views like Why? They dont want more people to know about the existance of more great videogames like FF6 and many others? Because they also took down the Nier OST with millions of views and the Pixel remaster versions. "but muh piraCy". Dont care, no one is making money from just uploading their music. At least YT should re-enable the comments in the auto-generated ones , after all , the comment section is one of the best parts imo. Anyway , this song is a timeless masterpiece and IMO there has been no cover , rearrangement or remaster that has surpass it yet.
@@enderjed2523 and its not just Square enix, if you ask a not final fantasy fan about the franchise the first thing that will come to their mind is ff7
I personally am a big FF7 fanboy and think it was the best in the series, but even I hate the soulless cash grabs of all FF7 content that came after (except Crisis Core and maybe Yuffie’s DLC)
