The four heroes of Light battle Chaos in the final battle.

The four heroes seek to kill Chaos, let's hope that Knight has Excalibur.

For this game, I listened to FINAL FANTASY I (Original Soundtrack), links below so you can listen along:

Let's get right into it this time, as I'll have a few thoughts at the end for the whole Final Fantasy (1987) OST, and we need to kill Chaos.

Dungeon

The rhythm is quick and the synth blasts sudden and urgent notes, but the circulating arpeggio is too grating and the loop is too short to really make this theme more than ‘kinda mid’. There’s a foundation for a tension-filled dungeon theme here, but it just doesn’t quite get there.

Ranking: 8/11

Menu Screen

It’s another waltz, but this one is bad! The worst Final Fantasy song to date, even! Memories of drinking potions one at a time while this annoying song plays is filling me with rage as I write this. The second channel being stuck to the very boring default NES booping sound reads to me like they knew this song wasn’t quite done cooking but sometimes you have to ship the game. It’s a new Worst Song of Final Fantasy.

Ranking: 12/12

Airship

I swear I’m not just in a bad mood as I’m listening to these, it’s just a really rough section of the OST. Airship themes are probably my least favourite type of FF music and we start the category off with a bit of a clunker. The melody is unique, but it’s just a kind of unhinged whirlwind of a track that sort of goes nowhere? Points for originality, at least!

Ranking: 10/13

Mt. Gulg

Hell yes, we get an excellent dungeon track. I know I have been complaining about all the obvious NES beeps and boops elsewhere, but when this song does it, it’s cute, I don’t know? It’s the perfect backing melody for the driving rhythm at the heart of this song. Unlike the regular dungeon theme which tries to build false tension, this one feels like you’re just exploring a new and dangerous place, with some triumphant notes. Really fun composition that we will get to return to someday.

Ranking: 4/14

Flying Fortress

I think it’s songs like this that truly set Final Fantasy thematically apart from the other Dragon Quest clones, it’s just such a departure from other games' music. Mixing high tech with swords and sorcery is an age-old tradition, it’s not like Final Fantasy invented it, but this song really sells that theming in this mix of mysticism and roboticism that is simultaneously silly and eerie with its use of discordant notes especially at the beginning of the loop. We need something to prepare you for fighting a battlemech later on.

Ranking: 7/15

Battle

It took us a long time to get here, but finally we’ve made it to the only battle theme in the game! Luckily, it’s incredible! I could probably do a few paragraphs just on that opening bass riff but I’ll save that for the many other times that riff will appear. The melodies are responding to each other so perfectly in this song: you start with a driving, frantic rhythm that ratchets up in the second section where it feels like a back and forth struggle. Finally, we end on a staccato crescendo as the loop starts again. I guess I’ll see where this one lands after I go through the rest of the series’ battle themes, but we’re starting off on a high point for sure.

Oh, and one final point: I love the little glissando right before it transitions to the second part of the song, beautiful.

Ranking: 3/16

Victory

And now for what is probably the single most recognizable song from Final Fantasy, our first victory fanfare. The classic version that started it all. Simple, effective, and so easy to hum along to, of course it’ll worm its way into your brain and you’ll remember it forever. Already great in its first appearance, there’s a reason they didn’t ever really change it and then it became a franchise staple.

Ranking: 10/17

End Theme

It’s always strange to me that this song uses the Town theme as a motif, a song that is kinda meh overall, though it does bring with it the sense of calm that song delivers. I really like the bridge here, it’s got a nice wistful tone (which fits with the fact that the heroes are stuck in a time loop from which they will never emerge). It’s not oozing excitement or originality, but it’s a perfectly acceptable song to end on.

Ranking: 12/18

Game Over

We’re sad that we’re dying. I heard this song too many times, but it’s pretty good as "meeting your tragic end" song, I like the little high-pitched flourish right at the end of the loop. Still, it’s generic.

Ranking: 15/19

Save Jingle

Not a substantive track, but the first instance of the resting at the inn track. Still better than Cornelia Castle.

Ranking: 18/20

Final Final Fantasy Thoughts Thoughts

One game in, and we already have so many staples that will define the series' music for decades with Prelude, Opening Theme, the riff from Battle, and Victory. Uematsu arrived with a confidence that is honestly surprising given that this was only his fourth soundtrack and first full RPG, he really made the NES/Famicom's squares waves sing for this one. Not bad for someone who got the job by virtue of working at a music rental shop near the Square offices.

I was a bit harsher on the second half of the OST; a lot of the best songs are front-loaded. But even the non-bangers show a interesting counterplay between melodies that really stands out compared to other NES releases of the time. I really felt like there were several songs where the second channel was a bit too simple and bland to really help the tracks stand out, and I wonder whether this is attributable to time constraints, technical constraints (two main audio channels is rough for someone who mainly plays keyboard), or skill constraints. I'm very interested to see what the next OSTs bring; knowing where Uematsu ends up, I'm expecting to see a lot of experimentation in the remaining NES soundtracks.

And also, some unnecessary stats and awards: