Garuda is really deadly if you don't have a full party of dragoons, and uh... if you're not careful, even if you do.
We have a lot of little melodies to go through, some are incredible, and some are just okay. But either way, it's mostly quick listens this week, which makes sense because in-game we have to fight an evil thunder god who eventually gets retconned into an evil air goddess. Let's get right to it!
For this game, I listened to the FINAL FANTASY III (Original Soundtrack), here are the relevant links:
FINAL FANTASY III (Original Soundtrack):
The Ranking
Let’s Play the Piano!
The secret to playing piano is that if you sit on the left side of the keys, you play the worst rendition of Bach you ever heard, so bad that they developed little NES boo sounds–that sound more like something falling off a cliff, actually–to tell you how bad you are, whereas...
Ranking: 71/71
Let’s Play the Piano Again!
... if you play it on the right side, you have a jaunty little melody that gets the crowd cheering and whistling (the NES sound chip is much more up to this task). Both of these little tunes are a silly but cute addition that we will see expanded in the next job system game, FF5. As an aside, I really feel like FF5 is a sequel to FF3, like it’s a SUPER FINAL FANTASY III, if you will. But I’ll touch on that more once I get there.
Ranking: 69/72
Swift Twist
Oh I forgot, a small addendum to the piano-playing rules of this game: if you play the piano in a different town, you instead play a very basic early rock and roll song.
Ranking: 71/73
Good Ol’ Fellows
Another silly song, which is perfectly fine, I like the little scales alternating between the main melody and the bass. This song gets a huge boost however, because the Four Fellows is one of the best little bits in the game–four old men who believe that they’re the actual Light Warriors and just end up getting into trouble about it. Every time they appear (including once later in the game), I cheer, so I can’t help from having a positive association with this little romp of a tune.
Ranking: 50/74
In the Covert Town
The town theme for Falgabard, the town of Dark Knights that for some reason holds a secret Ninja sword (???). It’s a very mournful tune, like they’re trying to communicate the tragedy of all these villagers who lost their way attempting to master the dark blade. And when I say “all the villagers,” I mean it. Even the shopkeepers are Dark Knights. Anyway, it’s a really straightforward song, just one note after the other, not much variance to the rhythm at all, but the melody is nice enough.
Ranking: 44/75
Salonia
The great city of Salonia, currently in the midst of a civil war due to the evil influence of Garuda (FF first appearance!) has this theme that drives home the urgency of its situation. A forceful march, mixed in with a triumphant section, it almost sounds like the two sides of this city: a militaristic nation that celebrates its conquests, and also an urgent march to defeat the evil at its heart. I don’t think either of the two main parts to this tune are great, but the way it transitions from one to the other and back again really works for me, and the accompanying melody is really fun to focus on. The whole ends up greater than its constituent parts.
Ranking: 35/76
Deep Under the Water
Our first submarine song! We won’t get another one of these until–you guessed it–Final Fantasy V. This is a really pleasant undersea exploration song, it’s very calm, smooth and sinewy, with the main melody consisting of some long, echoed notes and the bass arpeggio constantly circling. The bass timbre almost sounds as though it’s underwater, it really fits the mood exceptionally well.
Ranking: 32/77
Beneath the Horizon
There has not been a lot of repeating musical motifs in FF3, I think this is our first one that is not pulling from a different game. Anyway, this is kind of like The Dungeon, but good? I wish this had been the default dungeon theme for this game, it doesn’t really need to be used exactly once for an undersea cave? Anyway, I love the bass slides, they sound great. The echoing accompaniment really feels appropriate for delving through a cave/dungeon.
Ranking: 35/78
Let Me Know the Truth
God, this game is so good with the “talking to ancient wise people” tracks. This is an all-timer. I remember when I first encountered this one in FF14, I thought for sure this was a new composition, it sounded too intricate for it to be an old NES tune. I was very wrong about this (and about most of the songs reused in FF14). It’s a short tune, but there’s a lot going on that deserves further scrutiny, I think.
The opening notes echo slowly to tell you something important is about to happen, and then these two violin parts emerge with a nonstop burbling melody, growing in complexity. We follow with a short rest and a simple but beautiful response. Finally, the two sing in harmony for the last section. Much like the questioner coming to Doga and Unei seeking the truth of this world, we go through a thesis, antithesis, and synthesis; we’re matching the cadence of discovery.
Got me again, Nobuo.
Ranking: 1/79
Lute of Noah
I really love this lute melody, appropriately beautiful and simple for something that would magically wake someone from a 1,000 year slumber. It’s too short to really hit as a great tune, and I wish it sounded a bit more lute-like–the NES sound chip can only do so much–but still a pretty good interstitial track. Fun fact: When I first heard this on the FF14 OST, I became temporarily obsessed with this song, but you’ll hear more about that in like a year or two.
Ranking: 44/80
Next time we're wrapping up FINAL FANTASY III with only 7 songs remaining, but they're really good if I'm remembering correctly. Stay tuned, it'll be my last post of the 8-bit era!