“Matoya’s Cave”
As the name suggests, “Matoya’s Cave” plays in the cave in which Matoya lives in the original Final Fantasy. However, “Matoya’s Cave” is not limited to Matoya’s Cave; it plays in nearly every cave in the game.
Alternate arrangements of “Matoya’s Cave” appear in Dissidia Duodecim -Final Fantasy-, the Black Mages album The Black Mages II: The Skies Above, Guitar Solo Final Fantasy Official Best Collection, Final Fantasy V 5+1, 20020220 Music from Final Fantasy, and Symphonic Suite Final Fantasy. A French vocal arrangement, called “Au palais de verre” (“At the Glass Palace”), is included on Final Fantasy: Pray
“Terra”
“Terra” is Terra Branford’s theme in Final Fantasy VI. It is also considered to be the game’s main theme, because it plays on the world map in the World of Balance, as well as appearing in many other tracks on the soundtrack, including the opening.
“Terra” has become one of the most popular video game tracks, with several official rearrangements on Final Fantasy VI: Grand Finale, 20020220 Music from Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Remix, Final Fantasy Mix, Final Fantasy: Pray, and Final Fantasy VI Piano Collections, as well as countless fan arrangements and remixes. It was also performed live in the More Friends - Music from Final Fantasy, Distant Worlds II: More Music from Final Fantasy, and Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy Returning Home recordings.
“Prelude”
“Prelude” is considered to be one of the most important pieces of music in the FInal Fantasy series, appearing in some form in every main series game to date, as well as a hand full of spin-offs. It has even appeared on both Final Fantasy vocal collections albums.
Ironically, “Prelude” was a last minute addition to the original Final Fantasy soundtrack, taking Uematsu only about ten minutes to create.
“DISSIDIA -ending-“
The ending theme of Dissidia Final Fantasy is comprised of sections from the ending themes of the first ten Final Fantasy games, in order.
- Final Fantasy - “Ending Theme” (played during the epilogue after defeating Chaos)
- Final Fantasy II - “Finale”
- Final Fantasy III - “The Everlasting World”
- Final Fantasy IV - Epilogue”
- Final Fantasy V - “A New Origin” (“Spreading Grand Wings” segment)
- Final Fantasy VI - “Balance is Restored” (“Cyan” segment)
- Final Fantasy VII - “Staff Roll” (“Main Theme” segment)
- Final Fantasy VIII - “Ending Theme” (“Eyes on Me” segment)
- Final Fantasy IX - “Melodies of Life”
- Final Fantasy X - “Ending Theme” (“To Zanarkand” segment)
“Valse des Amoreux (Lover’s Waltz)”
I suppose it would be prudent to mention that this is a song that was previously unreleased before the release of Final Fantasy: Love Will Grow. So, those of you who were wondering, it’s not from any game.
Masashi Hamauzu
Masashi Hamauzu joined Square in 1996. He is best known for his work on the Final Fantasy and SaGa series. He left the company in 2010 to start his own studio, Monomusik.
His work within the Final Fantasy series includes arrangement on the FFIV Complete Collection; assisting in the composition of the FFX soundtrack, as well as arrangement; and leading composition of the Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon, Dirge of Cerberus, XIII, and XIII-2 soundtracks (Meaning this is the man I have to thank for the glorious Blinded by Light/Lightning’s Theme)
Nobuo Uematsu
Nobuo Uematsu is probably most well known for his work on the Final Fantasy series. He is also probably the most well known composer of the series among the series’s fans.
Uematsu began to play music at the age of twelve, teaching himself to play piano. After graduating from Kanagawa University, he wrote songs for commercials. He joined Square Co. in 1986, and stayed with the company until 2004. In those eighteen years, he composed music for more than thirty games, including the soundtracks for Final Fantasy I-XI (having worked on X alongside Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano, and, on XI, with Naoshi Mizuta and Kumi Tanioka) and The Final Fantasy Legend I and II.
But his relationship with Square Enix did not end there. Over the years, Uematsu has returned to Square as a freelancer assist in the composing of the soundtracks for Final Fantasy XII and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, as well as composing the entire soundtrack for Final Fantasy XIV, as well as other SE games.
“Serah’s Theme”
“Serah’s Theme” plays when Serah Farron is featured or mentioned in Final Fantasy XIII, mainly during flashbacks of her life before the Purge. In the English version of the game, it plays during the fireworks festival scene in the place of “Eternal Love” in the Japanese version.
“Serah’s Theme” carries the tune of the game’s main theme, “FINAL FANTASY XIII - The Promise”. In the Japanese version of the game, the lyrics to “Serah’s Theme” are in English. Despite this, the lyrics in the English version are slightly different.
“Eyes on Me”
“Eyes on Me”, the them of Final Fantasy VIII, was composed by Nobuo Uematsu and performed by Hong Kong pop diva Faye Wong. The song sold a record breaking 400,000 copies and won “Song of the Year (Western Music)” at the 14th Annual Japan Gold Disc Awards in 1999. It was the first time a song from a video game had ever won the award.
“Calling”
“Calling” is the closing theme of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. It plays during the second part of the credits, which show Cloud on his motorcycle, making deliveries and heading towards home. The background of this sequence is made up entirely of real-world footage of Hawaii.
“Calling” was written in 1989 by Kyosuki Himuro as part of his Neo Fascio album. Himuro stated that he was honored to have his song used in Advent Children in 2005. For the remake of Advent Children Complete, he wrote another song, “Safe and Sound” with Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance, though the song was only used in the Japanese release.
