The Yoshitaka Amano cover art for FINAL FANTASY III featuring one of the onion knights (?) flying towards the viewer with two swords crossed in front. It looks awesome in a way that I just can't picture the onion knights looking.

Yoshitaka Amano's cover art for FINAL FANTASY III, featuring an onion knight (?) flying towards the viewer with two crossed swords in front, which is way cooler than I ever imagined those kids could be.

It's only my third week writing this blog, and already we're at the third Final Fantasy, and that's almost the pace at which they were releasing the actual games. Okay, not quite, as FINAL FANTASY III was released about 16 months after FF2, but that feels like barely any time at all considering how hefty these games are and how different each one is.

This entry is mainly famous for creating the job system that became a staple of the series — including the first appearance of Dragoons, Summoners, and Geomancers — but it also really expanded the palette musically. This soundtrack is massive; there are more songs than the first two games combined. Further, this is the only NES/Famicom FF game that used the DPCM channel for music, which means we actually get some very simple percussion samples for the first time instead of relying on the third channel to provide bass tones.

These additions gave Uematsu much more space in which to experiment, and he took full advantage of the opportunity. This soundtrack has a ton of variety: three battle themes, a ton of dungeon and cinematic themes, and some silly stuff, too. I really enjoyed this soundtrack when I played through the Pixel Remaster, but I've never listened to the NES/Famicom version before.

Also, I do have some final thoughts on FINAL FANTASY II and some unnecessary statistics like last time. That's after the rankings. Not sure if this is the right way to go when the song list is split between two games, but I'm sticking with the general ethos of this blog which is: fucking just do it, even if it's not perfect.

For this game, I listened to FINAL FANTASY II (Original Soundtrack) & FINAL FANTASY III (Original Soundtrack), here are the relevant links:

The Ranking

Game Over

There's a lot of pathos in the melody, a tragic end has arrived four our heroes and we become suitably sad about it. I appreciate the fact that the last note of the refrain cuts in and out slightly, as though the player is having difficulty playing it smoothly; it's a nice touch.

Ranking: 24/41

Fanfare

A very short interstitial track when you achieve a notable objective, we're going to hear this one again before long. Perfectly fine triumphant phrase but not very substantial. Interesting that it's named fanfare, as that will be more commonly associated with the "Victory" melody as the series goes on.

Ranking: 34/42

Join the Party!

Another short melody that plays when someone joins the party (which is pretty frequent in this game). Not particularly memorable, and as far as I know, doesn't get reused later.

Ranking: 40/43

Prelude

Almost identical to the version played in FF2, the only thing that sets this one apart is that the tempo decreases slightly right at the beginning and at the end of each loop. Not a choice I particularly appreciate and I wish there had been some other variation here. We're losing some points for (lack of) originality this time.

Ranking: 15/44

Crystal Cave

Our first dungeon track, we begin with the sound of our four onion knights falling into the cave, and right into an eerie melody composed primarily of trills and little slides accompanied by a simple arpeggio and bass. Really Uematsu's bread and butter at this point, but it has enough variety to keep things interesting, especially given how short the dungeon is. Not a standout, but a skillful composition nonetheless.

Ranking: 22/45

Battle 1 (Fanfare)

A surprisingly bright-sounding melody for our main battle song in this game. We immediately hear Uematsu taking advantages of having a dedicated rhythm track, allowing him to play with the bassline (so much variety in this tune!) and syncopate the beat, the breakdown that occurs at the midpoint is really nice and adds some texture before we loop back around again. A great composition, but not the best battle song, it feels too upbeat, or too playful maybe. Don't get me wrong, we're well above the FF2 theme here but I think you need to have more tension for a good battle theme and this one is just too clean.

In this version of the OST, they also lump the victory fanfare into the regular battle theme — I really appreciate this because ranking songs that are so similar is a nightmare — suffice to say it's basically the same except this time we have some galloping drums underneath which are... kind of silly to be honest. Not bad though, it's the song we all know and love.

Ranking: 11/46

Crystal Room

This track sounds like a song that would be used on some 60s TV show where something weird and mystical was happening to the special guest character who was actually a witch or something. It actually is very reminiscent of the Prelude, but with a few notes missing so it doesn't resolve. Just a little rising arpeggio as the Wind Crystal begins speaking to our heroes.

Ranking: 33/47

Opening Theme

Our first reprise of the FINAL FANTASY opening theme, this one starts with a nice "string" intro that almost sounds baroque flowing into the melody that we know with a few added flourishes in the accompaniement. Already a much nicer and cleaner version of our theme, if only they didn't just play it over a few lines of text and credits, it could have been as iconic as the first one. Thinking only musically though, I much prefer this version.

Note: I almost tucked this into the Top 3, but damn "Chaos Shrine" is just too good, I still can't let it go.

Ranking: 4/48

My Home Town

An adequate town song, if a bit sleepy. Kind of basic and not very memorable, but it still hits the required notes of "peaceful" and "melodic" so it gets a pass. Looking back, I was kind of harsh to "Town (FF1)," but this one doesn't deserve to be quite that low, so into the middle it goes.

Ranking: 23/49

Eternal Wind

Our heroes leave home to find a vast world to explore, and we have the perfect melody to capture that. This is probably the most popular song from this game (unless you've played FF14, that is), and I can see why. The main flute-like melody is beautiful yet mournful, as though something of this world was once lost — more to come on that later, I suppose. The accompanying synth notes really steal the show here, the way they rise and vary with the main melody adds a lot of weight to the song. Still, I think the thematic impact of FF2's overworld music hit me a lot harder, so I can't justify putting it above that. Just under it is. Please look forward to coming back to this melody in a couple of years when we get some reorchestrations of it in the later games.

Ranking: 8/50

Final Final Fantasy II Thoughts Thoughts

Thinking back to FF2 for a moment before we leave it behind forever, it really was an impressive OST, firstly by following up what was a magnificant debut, but secondly (and more importantly) by doing so much differently that they really do sound almost like two completely different games. A few connected motifs aside, you might not even recognize these as games from the same series — though the fact that it's an RPG is pretty apparent. Clearly Uematsu wanted to hit a different tone, and he nailed it, IMO. Also we see a bit more exploration in reusing motifs in this one, which will become a staple as the series continues.

Unnecessary stats time: