FFIV & The After Years Sounds Plus
Review|
Jayson Napolitano
Beyond just offering a few tracks from the game, the disc contains all of the music Junya Nakano wrote for The After Years along with selections from the original soundtrack, and even a few bonuses. Oh, and of course there’s Masashi Hamauzu’s arrangement of the opening theme.
Hit the jump for our full review.
First question: does the Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection retain the music from the DS remake of the game? The answer is yes, unfortunately. Junya Nakano’s arrangements all appear here, which I know will upset a lot of fans as the arrangements were somewhat unkind of some of Uematsu’s original compositions, but take solace in the fact that these tracks only make up a small portion of the album.
Right out of the gate you get Masashi Hamauzu’s “Opening Theme (PSP Ver.)” which is a somewhat shorter version of the “Full Ver.” that appears later. It opens with spacey strings and a twinkling piano before marching snare drums and epic strings and brass voice the Final Fantasy main theme. Hamazu’s arrangement is distinctly Hamauzu, relying heavily on piano and strings. The piano does some playful things here and there, and the arrangement is for the most part upbeat and good natured.
From there we get the 11 tracks that were composed specifically for The After Years. I hadn’t realized that Nakano had written so many original pieces, as I was mainly familiar with the first two. “Mysterious Girl ~minus~” is a foreboding piece with descending belltones and deep pad swells that effectively create a foreign and dangerous atmosphere. This is followed up by what’s easily my favorite track on the album, “The Dispossessed Eidolons ~Minudes~,” which takes the “Mysterious Girl” theme, speeds it up, and adds early Final Fantasy standard bass and percussion along with powerful orchestral hits. It’s heavy, it’s powerful, and it’s awesome. I’m impressed by Nakano’s ability to emulate Uematsu’s writing style.
The tracks that follow were mostly new to me, although I’d heard them in-game. They are mainly dark and ambient in nature, relying on similar instrumentation to the previous pieces with lots of belltones and heavy bass pads. “True Moon” and “Master of Imagination” stand out as particularly brooding examples. “The Battle for Life” is a terrifying battle theme that is bombastic, epic, and impressive in that it works in twisted and distorted melody lines from the “Final Fantasy IV Main Theme.” It’s shocking to hear Nakano turning the upbeat theme into such a monstrosity.
There are a series of ending themes, starting with “Epilogue I,” which stands out for its descending harp work that is taken directly from one of my favorite Uematsu compositions of all time, “Troian Beauty.” The piece is soothing and relaxing, working in belltones that twinkle peacefully. “Epilogue II,” on the other hand, uses the “Final Fantasy IV Main Theme” as its source of inspiration, altering the melody into something more melancholy. “Finale” is another impressive effort, turning the ominous “Red Wings” into an upbeat march that is brimming with hope. I was once again impressed by Nakano’s ability to take familiar themes that we all know and love and retool them to suit different moods.
The five tracks from the original soundtrack that were selected by fans are “Theme of Love,” “Opening,” “Final Fantasy IV Main Theme,” “Battle 2,” and “Battle with Golbeza’s Four Emperors,” which I can’t really argue with. You may be interested to know that Kenichiro Fukui is listed as the arranger for that last one, too. Fortunately these tracks were some of the least butchered of the bunch.
The packaging is sleek and simple. White Yoshitaka Amano images are set against a silver background with metallic silver font. The album even has a SQEX catalogue number (10241), taunting fans who want so desperately to add this to their collection. Inside is the track listing and composer and arranger credits. The back features more artwork and the text, “FINAL FANTASY IV Complete Collection – Final Fantasy IV & The After Years.” It’s a pretty nice package for a limited edition bonus.
Source :Completely Complete: FINAL FANTASY IV & THE AFTER YEARS Sound Plus (Review)
The score of Final Fantasy IV was written by longtime series composer Nobuo Uematsu. Uematsu has noted that the process of composing was excruciating, involving trial and error and requiring the sound staff to spend several nights in sleeping bags at Square Co. headquarters. His liner notes were humorously signed as being written at 1:30 AM “in the office, naturally.” The score was well received; reviewers have praised the quality of the composition despite the limited medium. The track “Theme of Love” has even been taught to Japanese school children as part of the music curriculum. Uematsu continues to perform certain pieces in his Final Fantasy concert series.
Three albums of music from Final Fantasy IV have been released in Japan. The first album, Final Fantasy IV: Original Sound Version, was released on June 14, 1991 and contains 44 tracks from the game. The second album was Final Fantasy IV: Celtic Moon, released on October 24, 1991, contains a selection of tracks from the game, arranged and performed by Celtic musician Máire Breatnach. Lastly, Final Fantasy IV Piano Collections, an arrangement of tracks for solo piano performed by Toshiyuki Mori, was released on April 21, 1992 and began the Piano Collections trend for each successive Final Fantasy game. Several tracks have appeared on Final Fantasy compilation albums produced by Square, including The Black Mages and Final Fantasy: Pray. Independent but officially licensed releases of Final Fantasy IV music have been orchestrated by such groups as Project Majestic Mix, which focused on arranging video game music. Selections also appear on Japanese remix albums, called dojin music, and on English remixing websites such as OverClocked ReMix.
Final Fantasy IV
& The After Years Sounds Plus
Download Here
Opening Theme (PSP Ver.)
Mysterious Girl ~minus~
The Dispossessed Eidolons ~Minudes~
True Moon
Planetary Core
Master of Imagination
Straying from Evolution
The Battle for Life
Vanishing of the True Moon
Epilogue I
Epilogue II
Finale 3:50
Opening Theme (Full Ver.)
Theme of Love
Opening
Final Fantasy IV Main Theme
Battle 2
Battle with Golbeza’s Four Emperors
Bonus Track
Enclosed with the Japanese limited edition of the game. No separate release is currently planned.
Original Music Composed by Nobuo Uematsu
Music Composed & Arranged by Junya Nakano (M-02~12)
Arranged by Masashi Hamauzu (M-01, 13)
Junya Nakano (M-14~17)
Kenichiro Fukui (M-18)
Mastering Engineer: Yasuhiro Yamanaka (Q/11A E07 STUDIO)
Special Thanks
All Staff of “FINAL FANTASY IV & THE AFTER YEARS”
Tracks 14 ~ 19 were selected for arrangement by fans through a poll on the Square Enix Members website.
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