VGChartz's Top 50 Final Fantasy Songs (30 - 21) - Article
by Taneli Palola , posted on 14 October 2016 / 17,873 Views
Welcome back to our countdown ranking the 50 best Final Fantasy songs of all time. Here are a few more honorable mentions that just barely missed out on making it onto the list, this time from the PS1 and PS2 eras:
Cosmo Canyon – Final Fantasy VII
Waltz For the Moon – Final Fantasy VIII
A Place to Call Home – Final Fantasy IX
Hymn of the Fayth – Final Fantasy X
Time For Rest – Final Fantasy XII
Next time I'll cover the remaining honorable mentions. If you haven't seen the first two parts of this countdown yet, you can check them out here and here.
30. Melodies of Life – Final Fantasy IX
Melodies of Life is perhaps the most well known track from Final Fantasy IX because it's the game's main theme and is heard throughout in various different forms. The song has a significant storyline connection to the summoner tribe of Madain Sari, and serves as the main musical motif for the relationship between the game's two main characters - Zidane and Dagger. Both the English and Japanese versions of the song were performed by Emiko Shiratori, and it has featured in numerous live concerts over the years. Uematsu himself has said that this is his favourite song from the soundtrack.
29. Sword of Fury – Final Fantasy IX
Continuing with music from Final Fantasy IX, Sword of Fury is a song that plays near the beginning of the game during the play put on by the Tantalus Theatre Troupe as a cover for the plan to kidnap the princess of Alexandria. Sword of Fury is probably not among the most well known tracks from Final Fantasy IX, appearing only during the aforementioned play alongside several other songs. Regardless, it is still an excellent song that does a very good job at setting the mood for both the play itself and the kidnapping plot that takes place alongside it. It also gives a very good early indication about what you can expect from the rest of the soundtrack.
28. Epitaph – Final Fantasy VI
Final Fantasy VI is filled with small side-stories that leave a lasting impression on those who took the time to really delve into the game's world. From Cyan writing letters, to the girlfriend of a man who died when the world was destroyed, to Shadow's sad back-story and hidden relation to Relm. One of the most memorable of these is Setzer's story about Darill, his lost love who died when her airship crashed during an experimental flight. The song Epitaph plays when Setzer recounts the story to other characters in Darill's Tomb.
Despite this scene being a very small part of the game it is handled so well that it has become a beloved moment in an entry that's filled with them. Setzer's character was given much more depth, explaining a lot about his personality and earlier actions. Epitaph is a perfect fit for these scenes, carrying a breadth of emotions that gives the story an even greater importance and impact. That is a mark of a great song, which Epitaph definitely is.
27. Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec – Final Fantasy VIII
Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec is another very interesting song on this list. It plays during Edea's parade in Deling City, commemorating her rise to power in the country of Galbadia. It's a creepy and unsettling song that creates a sense of uneasiness about the proceedings. The slightly odd instrumentation and the chanting choir that runs throughout also triggers a feeling of urgency and the fear that something horrible will happen should you fail your mission to assassinate the sorceress. The name of the song is another curious detail, as it doesn't actually mean anything by itself, but is instead an anagram for the phrase “Succession of Witches” and the word “love”, which serve as the two main themes of Final Fantasy VIII.
26. The Landing – Final Fantasy VIII
Staying with Final Fantasy VII for a bit longer, the next highest ranked song - The Landing - is one of the most highly regarded songs from the game. The song plays twice - first during the Siege of Dollet near the game's beginning, and later during another battle between the Balamb and Galbadia Gardens. It is interesting to note that The Landing wasn't originally supposed to play during the Siege of Dollet. Instead a song called Raid on Dollet was supposed to be used, but it was removed from the finished game and replaced with The Landing. While I think that Raid on Dollet is an excellent track in its own right the better of the two was chosen in this case.
25. Judgement Day – Final Fantasy VII
The soundtrack to Final Fantasy VII has a very different feel compared to most other games in the series. The change had already started with Final Fantasy VI having a much grittier, darker atmosphere, but FF VII took this to a whole new level. A huge portion of the game's score consists of songs with a notably darker flair. One of these songs is Judgement Day, which plays in the Northern Crater as the main characters are descending down towards their final encounter with Sephiroth. It's a fittingly dark theme that expertly sets the mood for the final stretch of the game. You really get a sense of finality from it; that you're now very close to the end of this long journey across the world.
24. Divine Fire – Final Fantasy Type-0
The only song from Final Fantasy Type-0 to make it into the top 50, Divine Fire is one of the many variations of the song Beginning of the End, which plays during the game's opening cinematic and was the only other song from the game that received any points during voting. Divine Fire itself plays during one of the game's missions while in combat against the dragonrider Sanzashi. As with the rest of the soundtrack for Type-0, Divine Fire was composed by Takeharu Ishimoto, and this marks his second entry on this list.
23. Price of Freedom – Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Speaking of Ishimoto, here is the third of his songs to feature in this countdown – Price of Freedom from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. It is essentially one of the game's main themes, serving as the basis for numerous other songs on the soundtrack, as well as playing during many of the title's most pivotal moments, most notably during Zack's last stand against Shinra troops near the end of the game.
I have somewhat mixed feelings regarding the Crisis Core soundtrack overall. While it does contain a number of absolutely stellar tracks such as Price of Freedom, there are also quite a lot of forgettable ones that feel like generic filler and which are repeated far too often over the course of the game. Still, there's no denying the fact that pieces like Price of Freedom make the soundtrack worth listening to, and this song in particular more than deserves its spot on this countdown. This is also happens to be the highest rated song on this list not composed by Nobuo Uematsu.
22. Opening – Bombing Mission – Final Fantasy VII
Opening – Bombing Mission plays, as its name implies, during the opening moments of Final Fantasy VII. The song begins slowly, during the game's opening cinematic as the screen slowly reveals the city of Midgar. It then transitions to the Bombing Mission section as the camera zooms in on a train arriving at a station and the game gives the player control for the first time, signalling the start of the mission to blow up one of Midgar's mako reactors. It has become one of the most iconic songs from the entire Final Fantasy series, and is often used as something of a shorthand whenever Square Enix discusses anything FF VII related. Notably, the song accompanied the reveal of the Final Fantasy VII remake at E3. Opening – Bombing Mission is also the very first song Uematsu composed for the game. In many ways it set the tone for the rest of the soundtrack to follow.
21. Cid's Theme – Final Fantasy VII
Character themes have quite a small presence on this list considering how many great ones the series has seen over the years. In fact, Cid's Theme from Final Fantasy VII is one of only four character specific themes to make it into the top 50. This particular track naturally plays during scenes centering on Cid, the first time being when the party meets Cid in his hometown. For me, the song creates a certain sense of grim determination and triumph, yet at the same time it can be just slightly melancholic as well, fitting Cid's character extremely well. In moments such as when he finally realizes his dream of going into space, this song playing in the background makes them stick in your mind even longer than they otherwise would. It's overall a great song to end this part of the countdown on.
Next time we'll be going over what turned out to be the battle music edition of this countdown - seven out of the next ten songs are battle themes from various games in the series. Until then, thanks for reading.
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Hell yeah!!! The Landing is at #26!! That was my #1 choice and didn't think it'd actually make the top 50 but here it is in the top 30. Not bad and I'm just happy to see it being recognized.
Love Grows, Aerith's Theme, To Zanarkand and One Winged Angel were my others.
To Zanarkand and Otherworld incoming...
@vgpolyglot Don't think so - but To Zanarkand bound to be in the top ten.
When a list like this is compiled its outright astonishing how many really good songs not even making it to top 50.
Curious to see if there is a song in the top ten from ffvi
I imagine top 10 will be filled with 3 of the best FF games...FFVII, FFVIII and FFX! This is just my opinion but we shall see. I'm expecting either To Zanarkand, Liberi Fatali or One Winged Angel to be #1.
Has there been a single FFX song in the top 50 yet?
No, not yet. The main reason is that while music from the game got a lot of votes, they were spread between only a handful of songs. So the ones that did get on the top 50 will be very high on the list, but other songs from it didn't get in at all.
I'm with you Polyglot, I really loved that game's music! Weirdly enough though I seem to be the only one who likes Calm Before the Storm. I know that Zanarkand and Fleeting Dream will make it onto this list but I do wish that theme would be shown some love :-(
Divine Fire is the bomb. Rarely do musics that build so much hype end in an equally epic fashion.
Completly forgotten "fithos lusec wecos vinosec" from ff viii, one of the best i ever heard in a game
