I think it’s notable that while 16’s ost is very traditionally medieval, it also shakes things up with crazy electronic themes like the Typhon and Omega weapon boss. It really highlighted their otherworldly nature.
@@ErekLadd It's a massive body of work that somehow keeps throwing bangers, which is very impressive to keep a level of quality with such output. With that said, unless the game is played, it will have less impact. We tend to get attached to moments of the story or action while music plays that enhances the experience and makes it even more memorable. Cheers
Disagree. FF10 was the first FF OST that (somewhat) disappointed me. It certainly has its moments, but so much of the soundtrack is just tuneless droning.
I honestly think Hamauzu and Nakano outshine Uematsu on FFX's OST. Such unique, atmospheric weirdness that sucked me right into the world of Spira. It always puts me into a hypnotic/meditative state when I play it.
i don't love every track in ffx but what i really like is the use of motifs throughout the soundtrack. you can hear bits of to zanarkand, the hymn of the fayth, and suteki da ne in many different settings. also the ending theme is incredible. and the battle theme might get annoying in game but on its own it's very cool.
One thing is for sure, I may not like every Final Fantasy game but damn, the music is great in all of them. Probably why Theatrhythm is one of my favourite games!
Final fantasy 13 osts are so underrated... I would also consider the themes of 13-2/3 that are quite good, especially caius theme(s) that are personally one of my favorites in all ff. In general I would rank way higher ff 15 and 16 too. 14 depends on expansions but it's amazing too
Agreed! XIII-2 has a good soundtrack but Caius's themes are all top tier. And yes, 15 and 16 have amazing soundtracks, don't know if he is just biased or didn't pay attention.
I've never played XIII-2 but I've played the hell out of its soundtrack. I love its focus on blending electronic and orchestral music, and a lot of the vocal songs are straight up bangers. It's definitely not to everyone's taste, but it absolutely is to mine.
A lot of people hate on the 7 because it seems to be so popular and hate on popular things make you look cool. But the fact is, 7 is the what saved SE, they poured the most amount of workforce and most amount of resources. It's the ultimate SE icon, peirod.
Yep. Have had countless people complain that this list (and others) is biased because FF7 ranks so high. Well it's just my favorite in many ways! It's an iconic game with iconic characters and music. And the fact that it's getting the remake treatment is a testament to that fact.
Great list! I couldn't get mad at anyone for saying 6, 7, 8, or 9 is their favorite soundtrack - they're all so good. My personal favorite is 6 - not just because it's my favorite game in the series. I love 6's soundtrack because it does the strongest work of helping to tell the story of the game. Terra's theme is lonely, but it has different arrangements that often play when Terra has a difficult choice to make, or when she's feeling especially alone. But I mostly want to talk about Celes' theme and Locke's theme. Each character in the game has their theme playing during their introduction except for Celes. We don't hear her theme until the opera scene, and then we only very sparingly hear it other than that. We hear it when Locke and Celes reunite at night in Albrook: Locke is trying to reach out and apologize to her, but she's so overcome with emotion that she can't speak, and she runs away. But we hear her theme playing, so we know how she feels. If you see her suicide attempt, you hear her theme again there. And you hear her theme, intertwined with Locke's, in the final scene. When I was a music theory professor for a while I did a small section on music in other media in one course. I played different character themes from FFVI, and asked the students to describe who the characters were based just on their themes. They always nailed Locke's theme: He's not the main character, but he thinks he's the main character. But I also like how "Forever Rachel" is basically just Locke's theme, slower and sadder. That suggests to me that it's not really Rachel's theme, it's a song that's all about how Locke feels about Rachel (which helps explain why we hear it a few times when Rachel isn't present.) Basically, all of these ideas and more make these character themes work like leitmotifs in an opera, and I feel like this game does a better job than any of the others in the series of really connecting the music and the story. And I apologize for writing an essay in this comment, I've just given this a lot of thought - and I have several lengthy analysis videos on this on my own channel! (Side note, I'm about to start working on a synth cover of a song from Final Fantasy IV. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I should pick?)
Nobou Uematsu said it himself, Final Fantasy IX is his best soundtrack. The melodies and variations in the compositions of the tracks are incredible. The magic of every piece of music is astonishing considering it came out only one year after Final Fantasy VIII.
First of all, all main line FF have at least a good soundtrack. My favorite is either XII TZA or XV. To XII: the game has a big focus on its world building. The optional content is so awesome, which makes Battle with an Esper one of my favorites. 8 of 13 Espers are optional and I love hunting them. Favorit theme is easily Struggle for Freedom. Takes around 4 minutes to reach its climax but it's so worth it. Other themes I love are Archadian Empire and some area themes (Rabanastre, Ozmone, Eruyt Village, Cerobi, Salikawood and especially Lust for Power). XV has so many awesome themes, Somnus, Apocalypsis Noctis, most of the boss themes, Wanderlust and so on. Just wished some themes would be more prominent. Type-0 and XIII-2 (all Caius themes) are next in my list. My favorites from Uematsus style are either X and VIII. VII is close as well. Undeniably awesome soundtracks. Oh and VI has Terra and Celes' themes. V has Battle on the Big bridge and some other good ones. XVI has the most hype boss themes. Find the Flame and Heart of Stone (as final part to Titan Lost) for example. XIII-1, I hear a lot praise for its soundtrack. And I understand it. Blinded by Light, Dust to Dust and probably Archylte Steppe are my favorites.
You're totally right. I did not include because I haven't played it. It's currently sitting in my backlog waiting to be looked at. I plan to dedicate a few videos to Tactics once I finish!
Same, I toy between Wandering and Liberi Fatali as my all time favourite Final Fantasy track. They both stop me in my tracks but in very different ways
My favorite FF ost of all time is one that Nobuo Uematsu is proud of in FF6 and 9^^ He even said in his interview that Dancing Mad was his best and favorite work in his career. I also teared up at FF9 menu theme as my favorite.
I knew when the video started that the top two would be 6 & 7. It was a stab in my heart when 6 took 2nd place, but you’re right, it’s really a flip of the coin on who gets the top spot. S Rank = FFT
X and VIII are some of the best OST's in video game history in my eyes. 6 and 7 trail behind them slightly but all four are so good. If I had to do a top 10 OST's of all time, X and 8 might be on that list.
Some notable songs that you didn't mention is, Otherworld from FFX Shuffle and Boogie, I spent so much time playing Triple Triad in FF8 and from 13-2 which isn't in the list Crazy Chocobo and Limit Break from that game, they were done by Shootie HG who did the DMC 3 and 4 soundtracks, he also did a couple of songs in FF7 Rebirth as well I believe
Final fantasy 8 will forever be my favorite soundtrack. I personally think they Nobuo stepped it up after creating the banger that was 7s soundtrack. A lot of people will compare the two since they are the same era of gaming. Dont get me wrong 7s soundtrack is probably my 2nd favorite. I just think every song in 8 is perfectly placed for every area and battle in the game. The best way I can describe it is 7s soundtrack has mostly 9/10 and 10/10 songs with a few 8/10s sprinkled in while 8s soundtrack has only 9/10 and 10/10.
Perfect ranking!!! I love talking about and listen people talk about Final Fantasy music. Final Fantasy VII is truly the best... And XIV... And X... And VIII...
I think 13’s soundtrack should be way higher. For me, it rivals 10’s. Has some great battle themes that get your juices pumping, some jazz session songs like sash’s theme or can’t catch a break that just go so hard. Atonement is such a beautiful song that uses snow’s theme in a harsh moment with him and hope. Idk… feel like the ost doesn’t get enough praise. Also, the game itself isn’t too bad, ppl hate on it way too much.
final fantasy 12 is a masterpiece. it was my first final fantasy and it takes a while to get going but when it does, it does. a world very deeply rich with lore gives it that lived in vibe, and its presentation as a political tale with magical elements was a nice mix and a nice departure from the chosen one/ heroes of light trope. it's a very grounded story where the villain more or less wins.
I’m probably one of the few who find’s Final Fantasy II’s soundtrack to be very underrated. Its hard to argue with your top 3, but I would probably put VIII as my number 1. But just barely over VII!
FFII soundtrack is good! I would agree it's underrated to a point for sure. VIII is insanely great as well. When ranking these I did consider putting VIII at the top!
14's soundtrack is incredible, it has the largest amount of tracks in the series but almost all of them are high quality and memorable. For me when I was playing through it, hearing all of the music for the first time was one of my favorite parts of the experience. If you want to just listen to one track to get a taste of it, "Answers" is the main theme of the game and arguably its most important song (and is actually composed by Uematsu even though most of the soundtrack is Soken). It's even better in the trailer it's used in, "End of an Era", which is the cinematic that played after the original 1.0 servers were shut down and 14's world experienced a calamity event.
It's also kind of cheating because while the original pieces are excellent so many of the great tracks in XIV are also based on previous FF music. Eternal Wind, Dancing Mad, even just the basic ff4 battle theme are done so incredibly well in XIV that half the time I think of them instead of the original versions of those songs.
@@necroguy11 Yes lol, I've never played FF3 but after finishing Shadowbringers, Eternal Wind is definitely one of my favorites. Same with FF4, never played it but Forged in Crimson is one of my favorite boss themes
@@Aries_Aria I haven't played 11 myself, but from what I can find there are about 200 tracks from the game in total, while 14 has over 700. Definitely still an impressive showing from 11 but I think even only considering the original tracks 14 still beats it out in terms of quantity
11 and 14 genuinely deserve their own deep dives because the music from both games truly deserve the attention. I dislike how so many people write them off purely because they are mmos, because that does both the games and the people a massive disservice.
I agree. And I plan to remedy that! It’s a huge time commitment to get into XIV for me right now but I’m looking into so I can finally cover it in some capacity!
Nah...no one should be rolling their eyes for the #1. It's what brought final fantasy to stardom! 7 does not have a single bad track. And there's a reason they're doing a whole remake...which btw rebirth is amazing!
My favorite is XIII, I think just because I really like how Hamauzu writes. I've been discovering from listening to more Hamauzu that he's probably my favorite composer, maybe just in general. Really love his stuff.
Good list and respect your reasoning. WE all have our own listing. For me FF12 is my overall favorite. 6, 7, 9, 10, 13 and 8 are my next. Currently im enjoying FF7 Rebirths' OST. Love how they remade a lot of great theme songs there.
If I had to make a ranking : 1. AWAY. FF16 2. LIBERI FATALI FF8 3. ROSES OF MAY FF9 4. ONE WINGED ANGEL FF7 5 TO ZANARKAND FF10 6 CLASH ON THE BIG BRIDGE FF12 VERSION 7 MAGNA INSOMNIA FF15 8 LOVE THEME - INTRO FF4 REMAKE 9 DANCING MAD FF6 10 TO SAIL FORBIDDEN SEAS FF16
It’s hard to pick between 6,7,8 and 9. They are all incredible. I’d probably go with 8 as the best. Force your way is the best boss music. Liberi Fatali is the best opening. The legendary beast is the most epic and underrated final Boss track. 8 is just operating at a higher level than 7 IMO. But again I love them all, 10/10.
My absolute favourite ffs are 6 and 12 but none of them has peak themes (a few like ff6 dancing mad or ff12 esper battle are memorable, but they are a few in the whole ost). The best ost to me is from 13, even if I don't like that game one bit. Not a single theme in 13 is below 8 or 9. Honorable mention to 3's eternal wind which is one of the absolute best themes in the whole series IMO
Honestly I agree with u on 7 I mean there are more ff7 song covers then any other ff game combined and those covers are awesome whether it be metal piano or violin just to name a few absolutely love the og soundtrack and the covers
If that’s the case you might be interested in the FF7 cover album I made called Lifestream. Check it out! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-FRLqDomz2No.htmlsi=HhAMGfVGf0A6xjcf
While there aren't a ton of "stand out" tracks on Final Fantasy XII, I think the soundtrack as a whole is super good, and the music always fits the situation so well. Also, just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying your channel! Thank you for the content.
Dispite not being my favorite I can admit that ff8 does have some killer music…though I would have 6,9,7 as my top musics…I love all the character themes. Also have you ever considered a non ff top rpg music list? Or really visiting other great RPGs aside from ff. Not sick of it by any means, but I would love to see your opinion. Thanks again for the great video! Can’t wait for more soon.
a lot of people will put NOBUO UEMATSU on top, but for me Soken work on FF16 is a masterpiece... sorry, but i put Masayoshi Soken as NO.1 for his work on FF16, here is why, to find the motivation to keep working while going through chemo treatments and you don't have much time to live, that is an inspiring story... and you can hear FF16 different soundtracks hit hard and capture the moment in the game here examples : 1.when Clive with Jill talk and the piano playing make you pay attention to the scene dialogic. 2. cid ost capture his character. 3. Gave ost capture his character. 4. Bahamut Ascension capture Dion motivation to his people. 5. Clive OST find the flame. 6. Phoenix OST 7. the combat OST sailing the forbidden sea. 8. Clive and Ultima fight OST all in one. *and you have more goffy OST like Titan lost and Typhon also done well. for a person to do all this can tell, they put all their heart and soul to do it...
thanks for this! i went to the distant worlds: music from final fantasy concert earlier this year and the conductor said they switch up the music for every tour but there are two songs they're required to play every time: to zanarkand from ffx and one winged angel from ffvii.
XI is amazing because of Naoshi Mizuta. One of the chillest and meditative OSTs. Kumi Tanioka added some great tracks too. XIII and X are especially amazing because of Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano. All the weird time arrangements mixed with ambient electronic makes these games feel hyper-ethereal and really nail that blend of sci-fi and fantasy. Nobuo Uematsu is great too ofc, but I feel like he's always put on a pedestal while other amazing composers throughout the series are completely overlooked. IMO the majoritry of Soken's tracks on FFXIV and FFXVI lack the weirdness that makes earlier OSTs more enjoyable. He still has some bangers, but too many tracks sound like generic fantasy orchestra or corny modern rock music. I feel the goal of FF's music is to transport me to unimaginable ethereal worlds, not remind me of shit in real life. Sadly, the only track I remember fondly in FF16 is Stillwind Marsh (because it's weird with a unique arrangement). 16 was missing a lot of that weird FF charm in a lot of areas, though -- they definitely over-westernized it.
Top 5-7 can go any way really. For me it's FF6 FF4 FF10 FF7 FF8 FF9 FF5 Dancing Mad > One Winged Angel, don't @ me. Would be really cool to see a tier list of just battle themes / boss music / final boss music / etc.
My ranking: 14. 2 13. 1 (though tbh, themes from both of these games became staples throughout the top games on this list) 12. 12 11. 3 10. 13 9. 15 8. 5 7. 4 6. 16 5. 8 4. 10 (but I'd put To Zanarkand as my favorite song from the series) 3. 9 2. 6 1. 7
For me FF9 has the best soundtrack in the series. It’s truly cinematic like it’s made for a movie. Followed by FF5 because it sure creates a rich atmosphere for a SNES game. Very relaxing to listen to. My favorites are “Fate in Haze” and “Ancient Earth”. Then FF7 (the PS1 soundtrack) because many of the instruments sound so nice and unique. It’s amazing how they perfectly fit the diorama-like graphics. Just try listening to the “Flowers blooming in the church”, “Tifa’s theme”, “Holding my thoughts in my heart” and “Anxious heart”. Even the Remake/Rebirth versions can’t surpass them. FF13 follows next because the violins in this soundtrack are so heavenly. It makes me think that if there will be a remake of FF13, the whole soundtrack won’t need to be changed. The sound quality is just that good. All FF soundtracks are amazing but these are my top favorites.
It's a very good soundtrack, atmospheric and fits the world. Especially when doing the sidecontent it helps diving into the world. Struggle for Freedom is my favorite FF final story battle theme. Lists like this are obviously subjective. For example, I don't understand the praise for IV. But that's ok.
16's soundtrack is probably my favorite to be honest, "Away" is one of the best boss battle themes I've ever heard, and other tracks such as Find the Flame", "No Risk No Reward", "Sixteen Bells", "The Greatwood", "Histoire" are just... yeah, absolutely incredible soundtrack.
As a single player only gamer i wholeheartedly recommend FF14. It was a game i started as a free trial on my ps4 during covid bs and i ended up putting over 2000 hours in to it. Its one of the greatest games i ever played period. As a fan of FF i think you're doing yourself a disservice not playing it. At least trying it. Main story quests are some of the greatest FF stories ever told in my humble opinion. You have nothing to lose. I would love to play 11 at some point but i dont own a PC.
Honestly FFXIV borrows from and elevates the music of its predecessors SO WELL. It’s possibly the best soundtrack by default because of that. The metamorphosis of the FFIII themes into A Long Fall, aka The Twinning, is impressive enough alone. I also loved hearing the references to FFIV throughout the Endwalker expansion, and now that I’m finally playing FFXII, I know where a good chunk of the Bozja music came from. I suspect (and hope) Dawntrail will call back to FFIX and/or FFX. Soken has more than proven himself a worthy successor to Uematsu. I hope you get to delve into that music soon. As for the single-player FF soundtracks, FFX is my favourite just because it was my first (and it’s devastatingly beautiful to boot). And I don’t know if it counts, but FFVII Rebirth just took that original FFVII soundtrack to a whole new level. Aside from the expected, the callbacks to Crisis Core punched me right in the feels. And they had no business going that hard making a track for a single optional dog-escorting mission.
FF8 was my first. That said, I'm not a big fan of the game. HOWEVER, the music!!! It is by far and away my favorite. I will always defend 8 purely on the soundtrack. Balamb Garden literally calms me down every time😅
I agree with your list well done. But with a proper clean sound system, nothing can beat FF6. Switch your top 2 and switch FF8 with FF4 and it’s perfect Well done tho ! Love your FF videos
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. :P 1. Yeah, i know its not really a Final Fantasy game. 2. It has a different composer, but the OST is freaking awesome, listen to the 3 battle themes and you will agree!
11:53 I was literally rolling my eyes hahaha. Ff6 is my favorite soundtrack al least I think, I always change my mind about this to tell the truth. Greetings from Brazil 🇧🇷
6 and 7 probably have the most nostalgic tracks but 8 has the highest quality. Its amazing what he did with a playstation one chip to create those grand orchestra songs. Eyes on me was even used in the Olympics if i remember right.
You should definitely revisit XIV when you have the time. Be careful with looking up the music on youtube. There can be some big spoilers in those videos. Also, avoid watching all the expansion trailers. All of the recently released expansion trailers will have spoilers.
I understand why it's not listed (it's not a mainline entry) but the FFVII remake soundtrack is ridiculous. I'm playing through it now and getting goosebumps on practically every session. So good. Also a shout out to the Crisis Core soundtrack. Difficult list - they are all good! I also have a special fondness for the FFVIII soundtrack.
Remake & Rebirth soundtracks are insanely good. Rebirth especially just nailed it perfectly! Even had a nod to Crisis Core in Gongaga. Loved every second of it!
Great List. Depending on when you played the top six games, they could be ranked any which ways. For me, FFIV would be higher because I played it more as a kid than VIII.
Great list! FF9 is my all time favorite soundtrack/game in the series with "You're not alone" being the top there. The emotional weight behind the scene and the music just gets me every time. Just a small correction, FF14 vanilla is the last game Uematsu worked on as the main composer of Final Fantasy and not FF10. Soken took over as the main composer from A Realm Reborn.
Oooh this ought to be interesting. I guess the next few rankings for Final Fantasy would be Battle Systems/Combat Systems, maybe Final Bosses (tho that's also big spoiler material kinda obviously). Also damn, you shaved as well, lmao
Opening/Bombing Mission is literally IMO the greatest opening theme to any game ever... you could even argue that everything contained in Midgar ALONE makes it top tier.. but as soon as you leave and On Our Way hits you.. GAME OVER... Those 2 songs... Don of the Slums, Aerith's Theme and of course One Winged Angel my top 5!
But I do wanna hear how 16 has too much orchestra. That's what most FF music is. 16 also has some rock, techno/ electric. But if you listen to "Ascension" and "All As One" THAT is pure pure orchestra. I think you'll notice a significant difference between that and other tracks
6 for me at the top. The way you feel about 7 ("All of them") I feel about 6. 7's soundtrack didn't really stick with me nearly on the same level. The standouts for me have been Aerith's theme, Cosmo Canyon, and Dancing Mad.
