#1
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVBiecFpdnw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYYoCdX3gQc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPJbQtKaX7w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dephRpuTQxY Sooooo ... can we just talk about the newly arranged music here and how awesome it is, please? I mean, this violin work here is amazing, I love it! FFIII already had a great remastered soundtrack, but I think this one even tops it ... I can't wait for FFV and VI pixel remasters to be honest! Glad, Uematsu supervised these projects, his original created atmosphere is all present, only with superior quality. I'm really buffed here and didn't expect that much quality to be honest ... This is exactly, what I like about these remastered soundtracks - the reorchestration is identical to the original, without too much experimentation, and relys on quality arrangements and live performances. Simple, but very effective! Last edited by Mac_Tear; Sep 11, 2021 at 01:34 PM. |
#2
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Please don't use the word 'remastered' when talking about these. It's wrong. They are new arrangements.
Remastered would mean using the original recordings and given them a new master, which obviously this isn't. |
#3
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How much of this is even live performances to begin with, anyway? Not that I mind too much, so long as the arrangements are good, but the violin in that Battle 2 arrangement sounds like SWAM Violin to me, which can be convincing enough when programed well. The electric guitar in stuff like Battle 1 sounds like Heavier7strings.
Not really feeling the Pixel Remaster soundtrack for IV too much, the arrangements in III were better. "Uematsu supervising" sounds like Squeenix just plastering Uematsu's name for brownie points and using his reputation as a selling point, regardless of quality. Uematsu probably just heard whatever they sent him and simply nodded in approval. |
#4
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I'm not digging it.
These arrangements sound like reasonable re-interpretations for an arranged album but are in no way "identical" to the originals; far too many personal, idiosyncratic musical choices have been inserted by the arrangers to claim that these are representative of the original sound and reproduce its intent. For example, the original Mysidia theme was a melodic exchange between xylophone and flute. This arrangement of Mysida removes the contrasting "dialogue" aspect of the melodic instrumentation entirely, replacing both original instrument choices with a rustic fiddle (a fairly annoying-sounding one, to my ears) taking the melody all the way through. This is not a subtly enhanced version of the OST track; it's someone's personal arrangement project. The boss battle theme, as another example, has too many alterations and added gestures made to claim it's simply reproducing the original music with higher sample fidelity. Right at the start, the arranger reinterprets the iconic FF two-note battle bassline as an electric guitar riff, which changes the vibe and is a choice I don't agree with, and then substitutes solo violin for the original's string section to carry the melody, which is a choice I hate. He then throws in a hammond organ, almost like a winking meta-reference to Uematsu's penchant for using it in other works, that was never present in this track and adds a different color that wasn't there. I don't think these are bad tracks overall, but they add up to a very different vision of the OST, far too heavily inflected by the arrangers' own tastes. I suppose I'm not the audience here, as I'm not really interested in these pixel remasters. To me, they look inferior to the originals across the board, but I appreciate that Square is at least trying to faithfully reproduce the original sprite-based visual aesthetic. But I think the modern, pseudo-realistic sampled library sound clashes terribly with that vintage, low-res aesthetic (in the same way the awful high-res font does.) |
#5
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I reported about the process behind the new arrangements in this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/jkermarrec/statu...66787336769537
As you can see, Hidenori Miyanaga definitely consulted with Nobuo Uematsu, but it seems it was just some global advice about what he couldn't do at the time that they could try and "fix" this time around. Miyanaga and his sound team simply tried to elaborate on Uematsu's thoughts when they wrote down their orders for the arrangers. So I guess "supervising" is a bit too strong of a word, maybe it would be wiser to talk about advice giving. In any case, I'm very fond of the new soundtracks, and I'm especially enthusiastic about FInal Fantasy III, even more than FFIV. There was no way to do something that would appeal to everyone, and I'm fine with them taking bold decisions. |
#6
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Quote:
Sure, there are always people, who complain about everything, but as for me, I'm perfectly fine with what I heard so far, especially of FFIII and this one. |
#7
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If they do release the 'pixel remaster' soundtracks, it'll be interesting to see how things are credited.
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#9
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Quote:
I haven't listened to much yet as I plan to play the games 100 years down the line when they come to console; but I did sample that boss theme (and Mysidia too--seems like they wanted to dip into the sound of Celtic Moon) and it really does have a different identity than the original. I still have hope for the rest of the OST which I won't spoil myself on yet, but y'all who have heard it are free to spoil it for me. And I just want to repeat this: Quote:
Again, I'm not suggesting we are owed something specific here; recreating FF1-6 with (mostly) live instrumentation is a colossal undertaking. But I admit I wanted, finally, a "Definitive Edition" version of the FF1-6 OSTs, borrowing Xenoblade's language. i.e. same arrangements with live instrumentation. Simple, but it would sound soooo good. That said, I'm 100% on board with more Pixel Remaster style games of Square's 2D library--just go a little lighter on the music arrangements, please!
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