Shame on Square! This should have beena double disc!
E. J. Webster | Matoya's Cave, Dayton, Ohio, USA | 05/16/2006
(1 out of 5 stars)
"First off let me say my one star rating has nothing to do with Nobuo Uematsu's BRILLIANT compositions. "Welcome To Our Town" and "Theme of Love" are classics that belong in any standard collection of uematsu's works. It's Square who screwed the pooch this ost, by cramming all 45 tracks on a single disc. What's wrong with that? The songs don't last nearly long enough, some are not even presented in their entirety! For example, the stunning "Welcome To Our Town" clocks in at a whopping 45 seconds! This song was made to loop at least 4 times before the listener tires of the melody, instead it plays once through and fade out.
Most insulting of all, however, is the butchery of the sacred "Prelude." As FFIV was the first Final Fantasy on the SNES, it was the first version of the classic "Prelude" to feature a new string part, that comes in after one regular rotation of the harp piece. This would have been a goose-bump rising shock to gamers used to the 8-bit harp only version. However, on this pathetic ost, the prelude quickly fades shortly after the strings come in - not just not looping it long enough, but not ever letting it go a single rotation before it decides to fade out! It's clear this CD was mixed by someone who a) didn't understand the music and b) didn't care about the music.
frankly it's worthless. i have a software player that can read sound data from SNES game files. you're much better off emulating the music than buying this piece of garbage. SHAME ON YOU SQUARE, SHAME."
For Game Fans Only
Major Kong | California USA | 07/06/2003
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Forty-five tracks in 63 minutes pretty much sums up this "soundtrack." There are many pleasant melodies on this CD although none last for much more than 60 seconds, which is both disappointing and unsatisfying. The cheap, synthesized music may be quite effective for a PlayStation, but sounds atrocious on a home stereo. This CD is probably great for game players who wish to relive their digital triumphs. For the rest of us, its not worth the effort."
Well, seems good to me!
Kim Sanderhoff | Korea | 09/23/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I was not sure what I would think about this album at first, because this was the first time I bought a soundtrack before I actually played the game... and usually it means alot if you can relive the gaming experience through the music or not. But it turned out however that the music has good quality in it's own right. After listening to the music of FF 7 8 and 9 for ages it was nice to hear some new and fresh tunes. The music still sounds like gaming music to a certain degree but it sure as hell is good gaming music! Of course there will always be tracks that you never ever listen too and these kind of tracks are also present in this cd collection... and at times it can be a little bit annoying that some af the tracks remind too much of eachoters...and the voices sound rather annoying too but still, the overall quality is still very good! Seems that the power of the playstation 2 made it possible to use better instruments but the funny thing is that the length of the tracks seems to have shortened a little bit, why?!... the playstation 2 have plenty of space for long tunes...oh well!The maintheme is japanese but sounds really beautiful, I can't wait until the english translation... and I'm sure that if you play the game first you will enjoy the music even more!A great soundtrack but FF 8 is still my favorite!"
Final Fantasy IV: Excellent OST
E. J. Webster | 11/19/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Wonderful gameplay, enthralling story, and an amazing soundtrack. That's Final Fantasy IV. The music for this game is some of the best that's come from Nobuo Uematsu. That's quite a compliment, if you consider the SNES' less-than-spectacular sound output capabilities."