FF Music What if Final Fantasy soundtrack is an EDM

Frey

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I am not a fan of EDM. But I think Final Fantasy will be more interesting if this kind of music is used in the game.
My collection:
https://m.soundcloud.com/brook-line/arrival (suitable part for me: 1:12-1:30, better if muting the voice)

https://m.soundcloud.com/je_suis_sierra/2-sierra-hide-master (better if muting or replacing the voice)

https://m.soundcloud.com/maximum-love/black-magic (just a bonus, this may comes to cyberpunk too much)

https://m.soundcloud.com/yume-network/infraction-badly (the first part is ok)

https://m.soundcloud.com/tarik-kassi/tarik-bouisfi-kabus (suitable part for me: 2:45-3:00, don’t mind to the pic)

Please don’t hesitate to leave comments here. Have fun!
 
I don't think a full EDM soundtrack would be a very popular direction for the Final Fantasy franchise. People usually admire the catchy melodies, the varied musical styles, and the emotions attached to all of them. It would be impossible to have a decent character theme in EDM style playing during what is meant to be a tender moment.

However, EDM could work very well for variants of established musical motifs, perhaps most appropriately for certain action sequences or fast-paced minigames.

For example, FFVII Remake uses an interesting electro-dance-style remix of Tifa's theme during Tifa and Aerith's team-up in Don Corneo's mansion.


And I think it really works in that context, and there are similar remixes in the Remake used appropriately. However, I don't think the soundtrack would have worked if all of the tracks had been like that.

Final Fantasy usually thrives on variety. Nobuo Uematsu was inspired by various musical genres (classical music, rock, folk music, jazz, techno, to name just a few off the top of my head), and the musicians following in his footsteps similarly experiment with different styles.
 
I greatly appreciate your reply because it makes more sense than I've known. According to my first thread, I think that some detail of this song may completely fit with a kind of "Eyes on me" remix:
And it might also be a menu theme of the Final Fantasy 8 remake.
The techno or dubstep songs should be of great significance for any battles or stun fight cutscene in this version and the following nowadays.
Nobuo Uematsu is one of the best composers who really affected me when I was playing the Final Fantasy game many years ago. This game, for me, thereby definitely deserves to have kinds of Hollywood soundtrack and a suitable cinematic story.
 
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I greatly appreciate your reply because it makes more sense than I've known. According to my first thread, I think that some detail of this song may completely fit with a kind of "Eyes on me" remix:
And it might also be a menu theme of the Final Fantasy 8 remake.
The techno or dubstep songs should be of great significance for any battles or stun fight cutscene in this version and the following nowadays.
Nobuo Uematsu is one of the best composers who really affected me when I was playing the Final Fantasy game many years ago. This game, for me, thereby definitely deserves to have kinds of Hollywood soundtrack and a suitable cinematic story.

If we're talking about a potential (and, at present, unfortunately I think unlikely) FFVIII Remake, then a track like this would need to work in the beloved motifs already familiar from the original in order to land with the fans. So something in this style (which I agree is a better example of something which could fit in a Final Fantasy context) but tweaked to include a Final Fantasy melody could work.

But the key thing about Final Fantasy music has been its repetitive nature. Repetition doesn't mean that it isn't complex or good, but just that the melodies are really hammered into our skulls very quickly and we become instantly familiar and fond of them. Sometimes cinematic music can be great during action scenes and they do help to conduct our emotions as the tension builds, etc, but what we don't often do is hum it in the shower because the melodies are almost immediately lost after the track has served its purpose and ended. Whereas with Final Fantasy, we rarely ever forget the melodies.

Creating a track with a cinematic feel which also includes familiar melodies would be quite something. There are some tracks in the FFVII Remake which I feel fit a more cinematic style but I'd have to return to the soundtrack to check that.
 
Yo Congduc, I listened to the first song on that top post. Really cool stuff. Thanks.

It depends on what kind of Final Fantasy game we speak about. That kind of music is inappropriate for a non-hi-tech Final Fantasy. But for something like 7, 8, or 10, it's great.
 
Thank guys for paying attention to my thread. I understand that the key thing about Final Fantasy song has been its repetitive nature. Kinds of cinematic or electronic music are seldom hummed in the shower by all of us, too difficult to remember in mind. But I think a video game and a film are always the same though they are different in form and the soundtrack is thus shared among them which still works well nowadays.

Zack Hemsey’s track involves a melody of the piano, violins, and other instruments for an orchestra. Kind of this track is used popularly in movies and TV shows. When starting the game and listen to this track, gamers will look like “Wow, it must be a kind of Hollywood action movie inside this game.” In fact, many famous video games like Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and Metal Gear Solid have some tracks created by film composers, like Hans Zimmer, Brian Tyler, Harry Gregson, etc. In my opinion, the melody of the “Eye on me” song performed on the violin of this track might be exciting because it feels like an opening theme of a TV show.

Final Fantasy 8, will probably never be remade as you think. It’s such a pity because its story has a significant point, which might be help of expanding the story’s ideas for the Final Fantasy franchise in the future, is the issue of time travel. By using this point, Square Enix is possible to create a Final Fantasy universe including several interesting characters we’ve known, which is more outstanding than the only multiplayer in Dissidia. I wish that they can connect most of Final Fantasy parts to be the universe like Marvel in the US. a new storyline may be a need to beginning this idea.

My previous thread is a try to imagine a kind of new storyline for Final Fantasy that involves two Timelines. One is shaped from any Final Fantasy stories in origin and it, as a result, looks more cyberpunk than magic. The other is shaped from any Final Fantasy stories in the remake and it looks more magic than cyberpunk. The main characters are going to do the time travel since their timeline has been changed to the other. Each of their actions, instead of making everything revert, turns out to all the tragedies in the Final Fantasy franchise we’ve known. This idea is quite simple, but cinematic if understanding how to build it. In the US, Marvel is known in the world since they had put the potential of the timeline to a huge storyline. I believe Square can do the same with their Final Fantasy because they have created Marvel's Avengers before.

A few of Zack Hemsey’s tracks can be regarded as theme songs for this kind of story because they look like good themes of a non-hi-tech Final Fantasy, such as “Soothsayer”. But, for me, a Final Fantasy world should be connected the hi-tech and non-hi-tech, thus changing something in the style of music is a need.

Here are some tracks as examples of the story I'm mentioned:
(for menu theme I think)
(for the trailer, this track can be seen in building a kind of a combination of cyberpunk and magic style)
(also for the trailer, this describes one of the timelines full of hi-tech like the environment of Final Fantasy 7. And this timeline is under war between the magic side and the cyberpunk side)
(this is a track Treyarch studio used the track on above for their game's trailer)
(the melody of this track is for the action in the game)
(The first time I heard this remind me of the song "Succession of the Witches")
(Final Fantasy is indispensable to a kind of piano music so this track may be used for an emotional scene)
(a combination of piano and hi-tech music)
(this may not recommend but the first part is cool)
I appreciate it if you guys keep posting here.
 
This is another list of soundtracks named by myself:
Time travel menu theme (better if removing “frog” sound effect): https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/oHC8rcRziyVV6vDG6
Main character “player” menu theme: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/sZ1Wb1fvdjKt1wQV8
Lifestream soundtrack: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/HBhKL4ojvexAhC2H6
Timestream soundtrack: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/uSSRWSoREYGEmhs5A
The training soundtrack: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/9MhnFogGE7ekAW3fA
Main character’s family: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/b8jW7ihvzi89HSJD8
 
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Final Fantasy 8, will probably never be remade as you think. It’s such a pity because its story has a significant point, which might be help of expanding the story’s ideas for the Final Fantasy franchise in the future, is the issue of time travel. By using this point, Square Enix is possible to create a Final Fantasy universe including several interesting characters we’ve known, which is more outstanding than the only multiplayer in Dissidia. I wish that they can connect most of Final Fantasy parts to be the universe like Marvel in the US. a new storyline may be a need to beginning this idea.

I agree it would be a pity. I love FFVIII. But with everything Square Enix is working on right now, I think it'll be unlikely for quite some time.

About your idea, FFXIV is doing a great job as acting as a 'hub' of sorts to contain elements from all games. An expanded universe, if you like. Sure, it is self-contained as well, but it contains so many references to previous games, and even entire plotlines reworked, all mashed up and given a new coat of paint. It works really well. And that game does combine hi-tech with medieval fantasy in relevant contexts. But in other Final Fantasies some people would rather see a separation between the two for reasons of tone.

Alternatively, people often like to say that Gilgamesh can hop into other universes via the Void. The Gilgamesh of FFV and FFVIII are meant to be the same figure. At least that was the joke they were running with at the time. Other Gilgameshes since have been independent.

As for those music samples. Something along the lines of some of those tracks could work in certain contexts in a Final Fantasy game, sure. Despite what I said about repetition and familiarity being a huge part of Final Fantasy music, there aren't really any hard rules. Nobuo and Soken and so on experiment with many, many different genres.

Something like Heritage could be a menu theme, but it could maybe even be a dungeon. There are some FFX dungeon themes that are a bit like that in tone (not genre).

The piano based tracks are more appropriate for a wider range of scenes in Final Fantasy, in my opinion. For anything heavily edm-y it would probably be limited to very particular contexts. A sci-fi / cyberpunk detour, for example, could allow for more of that.
 
I'm glad to see you still care about my post.
Firstly, I agree that heavy EDM tracks would be very limited in FF due to the context. This kinda track should be used in a few scenes in-game for actions, battles and is hardly touched on menu or theme song. But I am happy when you said Heritage could be a theme song (means that you really understand the usefulness of the EMD track for the game) though it’s better put in action scenes through the gameplay.
A menu theme OST, in my opinion, should be a mixture of different melodies from connecting various instruments, such as piano, violin, opera, and even EDM. Here is an example of Treyarch's video game:
From here, I would tell you the history of Call of Duty music is quite interesting: this game used piano and orchestra as OST at first as the way of FF game. Then it was changed to contemporary music composed by Hans Zimmer, one of the greatest composers in film (I've been surprised that he decided to compose music for a video game), and then Jack Wall who created the track I post here. The number of people who listen to those tracks still increased day by day, showing that the mix of EDM and other modern music work well. A kind of music as “Time machine” of Dominik A. Hecker should be hence the menu theme because you can hear a mix of orchestra, opera, and EDM inside it. This music is appropriate for the FF context in some way. It would be great if Nobuo composes a piano song familiar to “Time machine”, then Square Enix releases a remixed version like the track of Hecker for the menu theme.
Secondly, I heard that gamers want Square Enix to make FF back to the medieval era like FFXIV. So FFXVI is being developed following this requirement. Creating a new story with a new context, new characters, etc, will spend a lot of money and effort. After that, Square Enix keeps making part two then part three, and DLCs. And the next is that people want to go back to hi-tech context, the company then creates a new story with a new environment, new characters, etc. I think this looks like a vicious circle. Instead, by the time of the FF remake project, they can create only one new story that is relative to time travel. Any new characters in this story go to any timelines in FFVII, VIII... to change or keep the fate of characters in there. These characters’ actions will make the FF world hi-tech, or magic in result depending on the desire of the fan. Then, the producer can create new stories in the next FF franchise which uses or involves the line of old characters. So, there are 3 things the company will get as good results: the fan will be kept curious about the story in every FF franchise and the game will be more of attentions without marketing too much, the connection between the old and new line of characters will make the fan feel excited about the new while they can keep the journey with their interesting characters. And, with the OST, the company will be more creative without a separation between two kinds of FF world for reasons of tone.
This idea does not new. Infinity Ward with Treyarch has connected two worlds of Modern Warfare and Black Ops to one. Here they can share elements with each other in a line of the story. It saves more money and time to design the game. Meanwhile, Square Enix has three famous games on their list including Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Parasite Eva. If following this idea, they can share action movements with Hitman and Tomb Raider. With Parasite Eva they can create a “zombie and monster” franchise to FF game like the way of Black Ops.
I create this topic with the hope that popular and trendy music like EDM will be a part of the FF game if Square Enix is in working on the next project. It’s important to mix this kind of music to other melodies as Jack Wall is doing to the Call of Duty game.
By the way, I would send you a clip. Imagine if Sephiroth can move and fight like this guy. Even he can control the time when fighting in part 2 of the clip. An EDM music in this clip will be awesome.
And it will be more awesome if a new character as a time traveler can use the gun-fu skill like this guy to help Cloud and the friends. Actually, he or she has the same ability as Sephiroth.
This character may be an opponent of Ultimecia so the theme of the sorceress will be like: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/kU5wuBzkHKu9Wgmr5
Sorry for writing too long here. I hope you guys can keep discussing to this topic.
 
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I'm glad to see you still care about my post.
Firstly, I agree that heavy EDM tracks would be very limited in FF due to the context. This kinda track should be used in a few scenes in-game for actions, battles and is hardly touched on menu or theme song. But I am happy when you said Heritage could be a theme song (means that you really understand the usefulness of the EMD track for the game) though it’s better put in action scenes through the gameplay.
A menu theme OST, in my opinion, should be a mixture of different melodies from connecting various instruments, such as piano, violin, opera, and even EDM. Here is an example of Treyarch's video game:
From here, I would tell you the history of Call of Duty music is quite interesting: this game used piano and orchestra as OST at first as the way of FF game. Then it was changed to contemporary music composed by Hans Zimmer, one of the greatest composers in film (I've been surprised that he decided to compose music for a video game), and then Jack Wall who created the track I post here. The number of people who listen to those tracks still increased day by day, showing that the mix of EDM and other modern music work well. A kind of music as “Time machine” of Dominik A. Hecker should be hence the menu theme because you can hear a mix of orchestra, opera, and EDM inside it. This music is appropriate for the FF context in some way. It would be great if Nobuo composes a piano song familiar to “Time machine”, then Square Enix releases a remixed version like the track of Hecker for the menu theme.
Secondly, I heard that gamers want Square Enix to make FF back to the medieval era like FFXIV. So FFXVI is being developed following this requirement. Creating a new story with a new context, new characters, etc, will spend a lot of money and effort. After that, Square Enix keeps making part two then part three, and DLCs. And the next is that people want to go back to hi-tech context, the company then creates a new story with a new environment, new characters, etc. I think this looks like a vicious circle. Instead, by the time of the FF remake project, they can create only one new story that is relative to time travel. Any new characters in this story go to any timelines in FFVII, VIII... to change or keep the fate of characters in there. These characters’ actions will make the FF world hi-tech, or magic in result depending on the desire of the fan. Then, the producer can create new stories in the next FF franchise which uses or involves the line of old characters. So, there are 3 things the company will get as good results: the fan will be kept curious about the story in every FF franchise and the game will be more of attentions without marketing too much, the connection between the old and new line of characters will make the fan feel excited about the new while they can keep the journey with their interesting characters. And, with the OST, the company will be more creative without a separation between two kinds of FF world for reasons of tone.
This idea does not new. Infinity Ward with Treyarch has connected two worlds of Modern Warfare and Black Ops to one. Here they can share elements with each other in a line of the story. It saves more money and time to design the game. Meanwhile, Square Enix has three famous games on their list including Hitman, Tomb Raider, and Parasite Eva. If following this idea, they can share action movements with Hitman and Tomb Raider. With Parasite Eva they can create a “zombie and monster” franchise to FF game like the way of Black Ops.
I create this topic with the hope that popular and trendy music like EDM will be a part of the FF game if Square Enix is in working on the next project. It’s important to mix this kind of music to other melodies as Jack Wall is doing to the Call of Duty game.
By the way, I would send you a clip. Imagine if Sephiroth can move and fight like this guy. Even he can control the time when fighting in part 2 of the clip. An EDM music in this clip will be awesome.
And it will be more awesome if a new character as a time traveler can use the gun-fu skill like this guy to help Cloud and the friends. Actually, he or she has the same ability as Sephiroth.
This character may be an opponent of Ultimecia so the theme of the sorceress will be like: https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/kU5wuBzkHKu9Wgmr5
Sorry for writing too long here. I hope you guys can keep discussing to this topic.

Your idea about mixing worlds is also quite similar to the fighting game franchise Dissidia, where numerous Final Fantasy characters are plucked from their worlds and have to deal with a common threat before being sent back to their own timelines. Something like this but in the form of an actual RPG could be interesting. World of Final Fantasy and a few other spin-offs might be scratching that particular itch for some people, but these are technically original universes which include new interpretations of established characters rather than the originals in a strict sense.
The idea of a time-traveller visiting other Final Fantasy timelines is an intriguing one. I wouldn't be against it as an idea, but I also love how the franchise reinvents itself again and again with new stories and characters. This is how it has survived as long as it has. Whenever Square Enix reaches a period of only focusing on sequels and remakes of a particular title then it is typically branded as stagnated by fans. The FFVII Remake avoids this fate by being fresh and surprising, although some fans are still against the attention FFVII receives while other games are abandoned. The announcement of FFXVI, a brand new story and world, is therefore well-timed. It shows that there is something completely new on the horizon for Final Fantasy too.

So I think this time travel idea you have would work as a spin-off title rather than a mainline entry. Working Ultimecia into it would make logical sense. FFI's Garland also involved a time-loop plotline, so it would make sense for him to be involved. Serah and Noel from FFXIII-2 too. In fact, there are a number of time travel plotlines already established in the franchise. The Alexander quests in FFXIV are entirely based on time travel.

As for imagining Sephiroth fighting like that, I think it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine him slicing bullets and stabbing people with ease.


When it comes to the music, Nobuo's final full soundtrack is meant to be Fantasian (his current project). He might do a few isolated songs here and there, but this is meant to be the last soundtrack. And it is very good and creative, even sampling the old internet dial-up screams in one mech-infested area. However, it makes it unlikely that he'd be behind the soundtrack of any speculative future Final Fantasy games. There are other wonderful musicians producing great music now. For example, Soken for Final Fantasy XIV's soundtrack does produce a wide range of styles - some techno, some rock, some classical, some oriental-style, and so on. In a recent interview he expressed interest in including more funk if he can find a place for it in the game. So I wouldn't rule different genres like EDM out for him in certain contexts. There are, after all, various hi-tech places and even other worlds in the FFXIV universe. It isn't limited to 'medieval fantasy' despite the primary setting.

I mean this edges quite close already, if there were fewer lyrics and more bassy blasty beats at key moments (to make it more 'cinematic') then it would be close enough to some of the examples posted in this thread and your other threads:
(^ Incidentally about time travel too...)
 
The "Exponential Entropy" track seems very appropriate for Japan's game style. But I'm not so sure if it could fit any American or European gamers nowadays. This kind of track is quite "old" that I don't see any high-end graphic games now still involves. Its melody has an EDM which is sometimes played in the 80s and a climax in rock style. But in general, most of the gamers, who play many actions and adventure games, wouldn't feel anything "cool" while listening to this track during the gameplay. And the song looks like, in my opinion, attempting to direct the gamer to the gameplay, not to focus on it, means that the gamers are easy to forget this track after finishing the gameplay unless they record the gameplay and watch it again. Therefore I can see only 11,651 views in the video.

A song in an FF game or any other games would be prominent in a theme song. With a large number of skilled people in Square Enix, theme songs of all FF games are still perfect even if it's similar with each other.

Taking inspiration from the "Exponential Entropy" track, I can find this one:
This track is also quite "old" but the gamer would feel going back to the time when the NES game is a way of popular. For me, it's even suitable for the end credits soundtrack before the appearance of the theme song in this part, especially when is for a clip like this:

This is an example of how an EDM could make a thrilling scene:


“More guys coming.” The future man talks to Aerith, “Hold the wheel for me so I can take them down” then drags himself to the back seat.

A takes the wheel, puzzled, “I..”

"What?"

"I don’t know how to drive."

The man glares at her for a while and tries to low his angry voice possibly, “You know how to use magic from that hair tie to heal someone and a "stick" to attack something terrifying, but don’t know how to drive a CAR???”

“I've told you before. I never use magic with my hair tie…” She replies but forgets to pay attention to the front. Suddenly an opposite car crashes to them.

Their car smashes into pieces, makes them fly in the air. When A is screaming, the man uses his tool to control her back to him and holds her in time to sit back to the front seat right after all pieces combine into the perfect car.

“Waa, what’s that?”, A is astonished.

The man tries to say something funny to low the stress. So he smiles, “It’s magic!” and hopes that A will smile as usual. But she just looks at him as if he has a problem in mental.

"LOOK OUT". He shouts to make A focus on the road.

When seeing Cloud taking Tifa by his motorbike with saber in his hand and approaching S soldiers very fast. The man smiles at A, “Well, look like your boyfriend has joined the game.”

A shakes her head, talks quite loudly, “Why do people keep misunderstanding? It’s her, not ME at that time so he isn't my boyfriend.”

"Ow, poor you…". He’s talking himself to his dead fellow quietly “Why did you just die painfully in order to save this stupid girl? Why don’t you just let her die or kill her instead so we can all go back to our timeline.” But there is also one thing he keeps in his mind, “Do NOT let that guy see you, or you'll keep ruining this timeline completely. Try to think about your family who has been exterminated in your timeline. Think about it.”

This cutscene will focus gamers to play Aerith as a driver or the future man as a shooter. The game will be surprised when seeing this character driving a supercar first time.
And in the end credits, this scene will be reshaped in 2D like the clip on above, under the soundtrack of Voxel. The 2D is drawing in a line including that Cloud is raising the saber when following Shinra soldiers and the future guy, who is in the car with Aerith, points the gun back toward them.

With some kinds of the soundtrack for Japan's video games, this may be one of them: I think it's also good for a FF game. And for Western gamers, a near same track will be like
Those tracks have a fast and strong beat to make gamers feel like "holy sh*t" or "why I am hearing boss music".

About the time travel story, I remember to post an idea of this in one of my topics which still has some gaps in it. By the way, this is an example only, and I'm happy when you agree that Ultimecia is gonna make logical sense. There are a few FF characters who know how to use time travel. But she is the first one who creates the time machine based on her knowledge of both hi-tech technology and magic power. She's a Cetra born in the time of the Cetra group rising long before the Jenova event. She can see this event come and decides to go to the future with her people to stop it but the time machine hasn't been completed yet. As a result, she and the people, instead of going to the Jenova event, appears in the timeline where the future man is living while Cetra has been disappeared a long time ago. He is a man who has a happy family attacked in a night.
I think I have to feel a mood to keep writing this idea:-). Anyway, there are some things like:
Many gamers have seen that Ultimecia looks like Rinoa because of their faces. But she is actually a kind of "bad Aerith".
All of FF characters, not in FF7 only, are puppets as Sephiroth's word, or mere pawns in the hands of people who control the time travel in the future.
Every timeline has heroes and antagonists. But the time travelers considered as main characters are like the "dead man walking" who only have one purpose of returning to their homes, not vengeance or save the world.
Even if the idea is for a spin-off title or a mainline entry, this will be full of dark conspiracies like a way that some people felt after seeing the FFXVI trailer (I saw a review describe this FF game as a Game of throne).

P/S: With the arrival of zombie mode including most of the main characters in every FF so far, the spin-off title is gonna be way more interesting than a mainline entry. Whatever if it is typically branded as stagnated by fans.
 
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