Final Fantasy X Original Soundtrack
Composed, arranged & produced by : Junya Nakano, Masashi Hamauzu & Nobuo Uematsu

What makes an RPG stand out among others ? What makes it being a sure fire success ?

Perhaps we'll find those answers here..... So without further ado, let us start on a
majestic and wondrous journey, that journey is...... the new and fresh Final Fantasy X OST.

The first track of disc 1 starts with " I would like to say everything " which is simply a japanese vocal,
I have no idea why they put this as a starting track, a marvelous melody follows in " To Zanarkand ",
a lovely piano piece which I can easily guess that Hamauzu created. Next up is " The Prelude ", which
I will agree as many said already, " It got butchered.... badly ! ". It dosen't sound all that great.... it's
now a skippable track, and that is a shame, especially for those who expected another beautiful rendition of it.

The fourth track presents us with another peaceful melody which serves as Tidus' Theme, it has a
bit of a Chrono Cross feel to it, even though it was Uematsu who composed it. Well, what follows
is defenately a shock to many FF fans. " Otherworld ", to put it simply is heavy metal like and is
comparable to famous rock band music such as Metallica or Iron Maiden, but with a slightly
lighter touch to the music, and what makes it really enjoyable is that it is sung in english. ( The lyrics
are included in the liner notes. ) I, for one, am defenately looking foward to another track like this
in a future Final Fantasy OST.

After the breathtaking " Otherworld ", we get the dramatic " Hurry !! ", which could possibly be
when the entity known as Sin interrupts a BlitzBall game in the beggining of FFX, it is borderline
ambient, created by Nakano, who excells in ambient music. ( Check out Dewprism OST if you
don't beleive me. ) " This is your tale " is a refeshing change of music, and simply drags you into
it's peaceful melody from which there is no escape ;) I can't but imagine that Auron tells Tidus
of his destiny while this music plays, simply a work of genius, which is Hamauzu. I beleive that
" Omnious " must be a dungeon theme, you notice right out that it is overly ambient and reminds
me of Parasite Eve 2 music for some reason, fairly slow theme, but fitting nevertheless, and of
course, Nakano did this one =)

Now it gets interesting, " Normal Battle " is thr random battle theme ( D'uh ! ), and I caught on
to it instantly, Uematsu never dissapoints with battle themes, I happen to like this theme more
than the one in FF8 or FF9. Sure, it is somewhat upbeat, but's that's how it is... FF music is
evolving, and to me it's a good thing. The " Victory Theme " follows, it's not as badly mushed
as " The Prelude ", and if you were able to accept the Victory Theme in FF7, you should have
no trouble getting used to this one...

" Game Over " is simply what it's meant to be..... I don't need to explain anything about it...
Let's move on... " Hopeless Desire " starts out with tribal drums and bells, then keeps on
building up slowly, somewhat quiet theme, maybe a bit too quiet. " Underground Activities "
again starts out with drums and is reminicsent of many track found in the Dewprism OST,
clearly Nakano composed this one, I'd say it qualifies as a dungeon theme. What follows
is again a somewhat ambient track, " Underwater Ruins " litterally makes you feel like you
are swimming among those ruins and gives off a feel that it is a very foreboding place.

" Al Bhed Tribe's Chi " is another quiet piano track, you can feel the peace within
the track.... simply relax and let yourself go while listening to this one. You'll get
suprised with " Enemy Attack ", which serves as the standard boss theme, it's similar
to " Hurry !! ", but sounds more epic and truly shows the danger involved in these
deadly battles, Nakano has done very well here. " BlitzBall Gamblers " has a heroic feel
and conveys it beyond what I could imagine, it simply has an epic sound to it, and has
a part which really sounds like some notes of Crono's Theme from Chrono Trigger.
Another winning track by Hamauzu would be the beautiful " Bisaido Island ", it sounds
like a possible candidate for a map theme, but it's difficult to guess really, but simply
let yourself lay back and relax while experiencing this masterpiece. " Song of Prayer " is
a vocal much in the style of One Winged Angel from FF7 and Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec
from FF8, in the set, you'll encounter many renditions of this theme, all sounding slightly
different from each other. Now comes the track which I beleive is used for the map,
" Fantasy " is simply awe-inspiring, yes it is a bit ambient, but I still sense immense beauty
in this track, which Nakano has composed.

That's pretty much it for Disc 1, overall, it is very inspiring to listen to.

Disc 2 starts with " Yuna's Theme ", which reminds me of " Rinoa's Theme " from FF8,
it's easily among the very best character themes to ever grace a FF game. " Sprouting " starts with
tribal drums and brings up the Chrono Cross feel once more... this has to be a town theme, since
it is fairly quiet and a tad upbeat. " Silence before the Storm " is another peaceful track, what lovely
piano it is.... Hamauzu is now among my favorite Square composers. " Welcome the Old Priest Maika " has
defenately a medieval king's touch to it, probably because he is so revered by his people. The BlitzBall theme,
" Blitz Off ", has a wonderful introduction by an electric guitar then comes some great melody which starts off
and keeps going and going and going... ^^; Really good track for BlitzBall tournaments, seriously.

" Auron's Theme " is simply a quiet one which shows the confidence and wisdom of the Ninja himself, this
character theme reminds me of " Amarant's Theme " from FF9, it's simply great to listen. They were always
chocobos in every FF so far, FFX is no exception. Here we are treated to " Brass de Chocobo ", which is cleverly
arranged in a jazz/50's style type of music, try to listen to it without laughing a bit, I dare ya >=P . " Seymour's Theme "
starts out in such a creepy way, you simply think " God, that theme sounds evil ", well.... yes, Seymour is one of
the villains in FFX, I simply hope he's not a Sephiroth/Kuja kind of guy, it's easy to imagine him just being plain
evil. Brrrrrr... that theme gives me chills every time I listen to it.... =( " Twilight " sounds exceptionally foreboding,
it simply exudes fear and evil from every note... I assume this is a dungeon theme or something along those lines...
" Rikku's Theme " sounds somewhat innocent and childish, pretty much like the character herself, I
can only say this much about her since I don't know that much about each character's personality... yet.

Well.. overall, Disk 2 has it's good and bad tracks, but " Seymour's Theme " is a high fav of mine.

Disc 3 contains the most amount of ambient tracks, but is still a pleasure to explore, it starts out
with the comical " Thunder Plateau " which is similar to " Timber Owls " from FF8 with it's
" tick-tock... " beggining, a charming melody buils up afterwards." Jekt's Theme ", which is
Tidus' father, has a old wild west sound to it, it's a nice change from all other themes we've heard
so far. " Fog Sea " is another ambient track, you can easily imagine yourself lost in a sea shrouded
in mist while listening to this...again, Nakano specialises in ambient tracks. " Seymour's Ambitions " is
an awesome arrangement of " Seymour's Theme ", it shows the evil in him when he's probably
plotting something aweful.... " Wedding " is played when Yuna is forced to marry Seymour, it
must be something exceptional ( Imagine the FMV while this is playing ). " Tragedy ", conveys the
very sad event when either Tidus' or Yuna's father is killed by Seymour. Aeris' Theme dosen't even
come close to beating this amazing track. " My father's murderer " is another arrangement of Seymour's
theme and sounds pretty evil. Damn that evil evil man !! >_< At the end of Disc 3, we get the sensational
" Isn't it beautiful ? ", FFX's vocal track, sung in japanese by singer Rikki, it's as beatiful as " Eyes on Me " from
FF8 or " Melodies of Life " from FF9.

Disc 4 has the best of the best, as with nearly every multi-cd soundtrack. It starts with " Yuna's
determination ", a peaceful arrangement of Yuna's Theme. " Lulu's Theme " sounds pretty
mysterious, pretty much like Lulu herself, who barely speaks about herself at all. " Brave
advancement " sounds heroic and also sounds like " Martial Law " from FF8. Who would've
thought Uematsu would riddle so many tracks with passages from his earlier works ???
" Wandering Flame " is another beautiful ambient track, I cannot express how much this track
gets to me and holds on tightly to me. It's just awesome, it brings out many emotions from
within my soul. " Someday the Dream will End " is another epic track, which conveys
similar emotions in me as " Wandering Flame ", set this on repeat, lie down, and relax.
You'll see how amazing it is, you'll feel many emotions, just like me.

Now we go for something far more diffrent, " Challenge ", I would say, is the
Important Boss theme, like FF7's JENOVA, or FF8's " Premonition ". It starts out
with rocking guitars and stays that way all the way through, I happen to really like
this track, I could imagine FFX's " Weapon Type Boss" with that battle music.
And now... the final battle themes. We start with " Seymour Battle ", which is similar
to FF7's " Birth of A God " and FF9's " The Dark Messenger ", it has a great melody,
and it quickly grabs your attention and keeps it firmly. Nakano's share in final boss
themes is the amazing " Summoned Beast Battle ", it starts out with cellos and a wicked
organ, probably rivalling Yoko Shimomura's best works, you must listen to this track deeply
to appreaciate it's beauty, as far as I'm concerned, it is a masterpiece. Now for the cake,
" Decisive Battle " is Masashi Hamauzu's greatest accomplishment as of far, it starts out
with an evil tone, then the piano quickly builds up followed by some loud instruments,
and after about 2 : 50 playing time, it goes into what I call it's dramatic peak, it's simply
gripping, and it is very similar in style to Hamauzu's latest final boss track, SaGa
Frontier 2's " Todesengel ". I can imagine what a promising battle against Sin this
will be, it's pure epic, pure excitement, what a FF Final Boss theme should be.

The " Ending Theme " follows, it's amazing, memorable as every other FF ending.
Last but not least, we get a orchestral version of " Isn't it beautiful ? ".

 

All in all.... I'll say the FFX OST was a suprisingly pleasant listening experience, and I
reccomend it to all FF Fans out there who are not afraid of change in the music.