The “Nautilus” arrangement is the longest on the album, coming in at over 6 minutes in length, and is interesting in that it covers a large swath of emotional territory while “Nascent Requiem” expands upon its cinematic sound with this live performance. “Nautilus” and “Nascent Requiem,” on the other hand, never really stood out to me, but I understand their inclusion given that they did accompany very important moments in the game. While the orchestra-based “Fang’s Theme” on the original soundtrack didn’t sound nearly as “Hamauzu-like,” the arrangement here certainly does, gaining a nice swing that will have you tapping along. The arrangement here doesn’t stray much from the original, but there are some impressive moments, and I like the different accents added to the main melody line that comes about midway through. I’m glad they brought along “March of the Dreadnoughts,” as, before even playing the game, I picked this one out as the “most Hamauzu” track in the game. Later, “Vanille’s Theme ~ Memories of Happier Days ~ The Road Home” is the final track to use this multiple-track arrangement style, appropriately going from whimsical and upbeat to reflective to overjoyed without noticeable transitions, which is quite a feat. This back-to-back arrangement style is also present in the angelic first half of “FINAL FANTASY XIII – The Promise,” which takes the memorable theme in a more contemplative direction before a much better transition to “The Sunleth Waterscape” adds a nice bounce with notes that flutter in between the main melody. We first get a soft yet decisive version of “Lightning’s Theme” before a rather abrupt transition into the powerful and extremely fortissimo “Blinded by Light.” The tempo feels increased from the original, and the heavy use of bass gives the piece a big sound, although I wish this part was longer than a minute and a half long. Well, rather than combines, I should say it arranges them back-to-back. The opening track, “Lightning’s Theme ~ Blinded by Light,” is interesting in that it combines two themes with essentially the same melody. One thing you’ll notice immediately is that most of these are mainly mellow tracks with the exception of “Blinded by Light” and “Nascent Requiem.” For the most part, this album provides a pretty relaxing listening experience which is aided by the healthy dose of reverb that adds warmth to the performance, although some may argue that many of the arrangements are pretty straightforward in relation to their original soundtrack counterparts.
FINAL FANTASY XIII OST BLINDED BY LIGHT FULL
They apparently not only recorded this album there, but also a new track for the Square Enix re-issue of the SaGa Frontier 2 piano collections and rhapsody album, which we’ll also be reviewing soon.Ġ2 FINAL FANTASY XIII – The Promise ~ The Sunleth WaterscapeĠ6 Vanille’s Theme ~ Memories of Happier Days ~ The Road Homeġ0 Prelude to FINAL FANTASY XIII Full VersionĪs I mentioned, there are several tracks that you knew had to be on this CD, although a number of these seem a bit out of place if you recall the source material. Also of note is the fact that they recorded this album in Milan, Italy of all places, at a place called Studio Forzani.
I do want to note that Hamauzu was responsible for all of these arrangements himself. Those looking forward to the collaboration between Masashi Hamauzu and pianist Aki Kuroda should rest assured that they’ve done an amazing job with this album, tackling many of the themes you’d expect along with a few that come as a surprise and are still executed wonderfully.įind out which tracks I’m talking about after the jump. I had high hopes for this album given Hamauzu’s background in piano, and as the tracklist was revealed and samples were posted to the album’s official website, I grew even more excited.
FINAL FANTASY XIII OST BLINDED BY LIGHT PLUS
From the amazing original soundtrack released at the beginning of this year, we’ve seen drama discs, the PLUS soundtrack, and even multiple vinyl releases, but we’re just now getting our hands on perhaps one of the most anticipated albums covering the music from Final Fantasy XIII, the piano collections. Square Enix has fortunately been giving Final Fantasy XIII’s soundtrack a lot of attention.
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