Various Archives - The Greatest Game Music

Final Fantasy I Soundtrack (Pixel Remaster)

Final Fantasy I Soundtrack (Pixel Remaster), 2021, Nobuo Uematsu / Various

So much has been written about the original 1987 Final Fantasy, its influence analysed in such detail that there’s little to add. Like many other early Square titles, it was modelled on an earlier game – in this case, the enormously successful Dragon Quest. However, against the odds, Square managed to actually improve on the source of its inspiration, with a grander story, lusher presentation and more accessible – or just less tedious – gameplay. What’s more, Final Fantasy brought JRPGs to the attention of Western console gamers, many of whom would have never played anything like it before (unless they were familiar with computer RPGs). The rest, as they say, is history. Even though the Final Fantasy franchise’s popularity arguably peaked in the late 90s and early 00s, it remains a commercial juggernaut and one of gaming’s biggest IPs, with each new mainline release a tremendously expensive blockbuster title.

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Final Fantasy III Soundtrack (Pixel Remaster)

Final Fantasy III Soundtrack (Pixel Remaster), 2021, Nobuo Uematsu / Various

To its credit, Final Fantasy II was a daring departure from its predecessor’s best-selling formula. Unfortunately, FF II‘s gameplay innovations were poorly executed, while the game’s narrative turned into an endless series of fetch quests. For Final Fantasy III then, Square handed the reins back to series founder Hironobu Sakaguchi. And just like Final Fantasy had been a refinement of concepts introduced by Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy III took after the monstrously successful third instalment of its fiercest competitor franchise. To be more precise, FF III introduced a richer job system that gave the gameplay an immense amount of depth. Combine that with a vast world to explore, and the game easily stands as the series’ greatest 8-bit instalment. It’s all the more astonishing then that the Pixel Remaster port is the first time Western audiences got to enjoy FF III in its original 2d version.

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The Caligula Effect 2 Soundtrack

The Caligula Effect 2 Soundtrack, Various, 2021

Expectations were running high for 2016’s The Caligula Effect – no surprise, given its pedigree. With the involvement of writer Tadashi Satomi and composer Tsukasa Masuko, who had worked on several Persona and Megami Tensei games, the connections to that beloved franchise were strong. Unfortunately, critics’ reaction to The Caligula Effect was tepid. Still, the game made enough money to warrant an improved remake in 2018 and finally a sequel in 2021, developed by Historia. With limited information on that game available at the time of writing, its plot seems like an almost straight reprise of that found in the first Caligula Effect. An almighty virtuadoll has created a utopian virtual reality (a high school setting) that offers refugee for wounded souls looking to flee reality. A group of students is trying to escape this simulation after one of them has his memories of the real world restored by another virtuadoll.

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