Nobuo Uematsu is without doubt the John Williams of the video game world! There aren't many movie tunes that stick in my head and there's even less for video games. In fact, I can only recognize the music for one game and that one game is Final Fantasy. Not only do I recognize it, I am obsessed by it. Uematsu's style is very unique and much of the success of Final Fantasy is attributed to his music. Type in “Final Fantasy Music“ in any search engine and it will seem like there is an infinite pool of websites devoted entirely to his music. I assure you, you will not find any other game that share the same popularity. I'm not going to try to explain something I can't so I'll let you hear for yourself. Among my favorites are:
Main Theme of Final Fantasy 7
Melodies of Life
Theme of Love
Final Fantasy Medley 1-3
I've heard piano versions for many of his composition (some which are specifically for piano) and they were very well written. I've searched high and low for them and almost bought them at the official Final Fantasy store until I realized it was a different score than what I heard. In fact, it was all crap. Andrew Morrison, one of the most popular arrangement artists there, seems to go for quantity over quality. He has arranged almost all the series for Final Fantasy (keep in mind there are 12 now) which is no small feat but it sure comes with a cost. It seems he is trying to appeal to the beginner pianist and much of the harmonies that made the music so rich is removed. With all the talented artists out there, I don't understand why Squaresoft (maker of Final Fantasy) would hire him. Andrew composes as if he only has one arm with three functional fingers. Had I bought his arrangement, I would be playing it with my big toe. But luckily, this story comes with a happy ending. While all you people were studying for exams, I was scavenging the internet and came across this:
http://www.gamingforce.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=123
That site contains all the piano music for Final Fantasy and it has every single note heard in the Final Fantasy Piano Collections (and for free). I'm sure its not legal but Squaresoft needs to stop filling its site with crap. Thus far, I've been unable to find the REAL book. Anyhow, I now have every single song from Final Fantasy that I could imagine and all I'm missing now is a vocalist. I was thinking of someone like Chris...or Tine might be willing to help. Man, if I could sing that good screw buying cds. I'd record myself and listen to it all day! :) Anyways, for those piano euthusiasts have fun playing the music! Here are some of the Final Fantasy Piano Collection in mp3 format:
Eternal Harvest
Hermit's Library
Melodies of Life
One growing composer I have come acrossed is Michael Huang. He did an arrangement of Final Fantasy and I have never seen it done so well. In some ways, its even better than the Final Fantasy Piano Collection. If anything, you must listen to his arrangement of the Main Theme, which I am learning to play at the moment. He seems to be able to capture all of the harmonies in the orchestral version and at the climax (3 minute mark), the mass interleaving of notes put me at a disbelief. It sounded impossible but its done with two hands! This guy definitely makes Andrew look bad! You can download his music at www.fantasyreborn.com. Amazing guy....
Main Theme - Arranged and played by Michael Huang (MUST HEAR)
Unfortunately, I'm sad to hear Nobuo won't be composing for the upcoming Final Fantasy (12), but at an age of 45, I'm sure that won't be the last I'll hear from him.