VGMe » NES

Distant Worlds isn’t so distant

Andrew — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:21:55 +0000

At the beginning of the week, Square Enix announced that they would be conducting a new world tour in honor of the 20th anniversary of the original Final Fantasy release. The new tour, “Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY” will feature music from all the numbered games up to XI (excluding X-2). To keep from writing it all again, here is the news post I made on Square Haven:

The first performance will be held in Stockholm, Sweden on December 4th 2007 and performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Choir. During the performance, large screens will display videos and art stills to help enhance the experience.

The tour will then make its American debut in Chicago on March 1st 2008. Both concerts will be conducted by award-winning music director and conductor Arnie Roth.

“I am excited to be conducting Nobuo Uematsu’s captivating music once again and to collaborate with him in this exciting new production.” Roth said when asked about the experience. Roth has worked with the Final Fantasy catalog before during the Dear Friends tour.

Prices for the Chicago performance range from $35 to $150. However, the $150 ticket also includes a meet and greet with Nobuo Uematsu himself, a copy of the “Distant Worlds” album, and a special tour program book.

No other dates have been announced as of this article

Concert Program Not in concert order, subject to change:

FINAL FANTASY series: Main Theme, Swing de Chocobo

FINAL FANTASY I-III: Medley

FINAL FANTASY III DS: Opening

FINAL FANTASY IV: Theme of Love

FINAL FANTASY V: Dear Friends

FINAL FANTASY VI: Opera “Maria and Draco”

FINAL FANTASY VII: One-Winged Angel, Opening – Bombing Mission, Aerith’s Theme

FINAL FANTASY VIII: Liberi Fatali, Fisherman’s Horizon, Love Grows, Don’t be Afraid

FINAL FANTASY IX: Vamo’ alla Flamenco

FINAL FANTASY X: To Zanarkand

FINAL FANTASY XI: Memoro de la Stono – Distant Worlds

Along with the concert premiere in Stockholm, a new album bearing the same name as the tour will be released. The music was performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Choir and will feature much to the music from the two hour concert. There is no word yet on how much the CD will retail for.

Track Listing Run time 75min:

Opening – Bombing Mission (FINAL FANTASY VII)

Medley (FINAL FANTASY I-III)

Theme of Love (FINAL FANTASY IV)

Liberi Fatali (FINAL FANTASY VIII)

Aerith’s Theme (FINAL FANTASY VII)

Swing de Chocobo (FINAL FANTASY series)

Memoro de la Stono – Distant Worlds (FINAL FANTASY XI)

Opera “Maria and Draco” (FINAL FANTASY VI)

Love Grows (FINAL FANTASY VIII)

Don’t be Afraid (FINAL FANTASY VIII)

Fisherman’s Horizon (FINAL FANTASY VIII)

Vamo’ alla Flamenco (FINAL FANTASY IX)

One-Winged Angel (FINAL FANTASY VII)

I am extremely excited about this. I was never able to attend the Dear Friends or More Friends concerts, so having a new tour gives me another opportunity. I’d love to attend the Chicago one if possible and do the full Meet & Greet. Uematsu has been one of my heroes for a very long time, and even though I probably wouldn’t stand out in his mind, it would be a wonderful memory for me. If I do get an opportunity to attend, I will do a full write-up for VGMe about the experience as I know there are thousands of people out there who would love to attend but simply can’t.

The concert has brought up something that I may make into a post series in the future about my beliefs on what makes a good soundtrack. For every exceptional soundtrack I have heard, there are three or four that are mediocre or simply terrible. There are a lot of things that can make the soundtrack good or bad and so I’ll probably explore them in further detail in upcoming posts. For now though, I’ll leave you with concert-versions of Final Fantasy music to commemorate the news.

H is for Holy Crap, more Kingdom Hearts!

Andrew — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 23:56:27 +0000

Today was the first day of the Tokyo Game Show and Square Enix came out swinging with the announcement of not one, but three new Kingdom Hearts titles. All the games are hand-held, covering the range of major platforms (DS, PSP, Mobile) and the time-line as well. The DS title, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days (read as 358 over 2 days) takes place during Kingdom Hearts II. It features Roxas and Axel, two major fangirl fodder from the second game and will have a co-op mode similar to Crystal Chronicles (according to Kotaku). It will also be a lot darker in terms of the atmosphere created by the game. That in itself makes me want to play it.

The second title, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (what the fuck is with these titles?) is going to appear on the PSP. Birth of Sleep will be a prequel to the series, occurring before the events of Kingdom Hearts and will center around earlier Keyblade masters; namely Xehanort. Fans of the series will know Xehanort as the fake Ansem who was the main villain (at least his alternate forms were) in both PS2 games.

The third and final game, Kingdom Hearts: Coded is going to be on the mobile platform. There’s not as much info about this title as there are the first two, but from what is known it seems to take place parallel to the PS2 games. It will feature Sora as the main character and be a basic dungeon crawler.

While I’m a fan of the Kingdom Hearts series, I’m not really too excited two more hand-held titles for the series (don’t expect Coded to ever be released here). Though I’m interested in playing 358/2 Days, I really want to find out the history of Xehanort, but of course it’s on the hand-held I don’t have. The chances of me picking up a PSP in the future, even with some titles I want to play, is very slim. If they did something like the Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix + release with the two titles included in Kingdom Hearts III, that would make me very happy. Of course, there’s no guarentee that the game would come out in America should they do that.

You have found the Master Sword!

Andrew — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:15:17 +0000

Since Twilight Princess is to blame for my recent absence, it only seems fitting to dedicate this post to my favorite series of all time, The Legend of Zelda. In fact, I will go one step further, and do what can be arguably the most important song in each game; the title theme.

Kenta Nagata, Hajime Wakai, Toru Minegishi, Koji Kondo – Title The Legend of Zelda ~Takt of Wind~ Original Sound Tracks Titled Windwaker in America, this opening track to the game quickly let you know that this installment in the epic series would be different. Being very celtic in nature, it’s a cheerful little number that you can’t help but smile at when it comes on. It helps to set the mood for the rest of the game quite well.

Koji Kondo, Ryuichi Katsumata – Title Legend of Zelda – Ocarina of Time Hyrule Symphony Though the song has been updated in presentation, the beauty loses nothing. As opposed to the Windwaker’s opening theme, Ocarina of Time’s title track is a more mellow song. With a touch of meloncholy to it, the darker, more serious nature of the game becomes quickly apparent. After having played the game, even, you can even hear the sadness that comes with the story in the title.

Koji Kondo – Title BGM Famicom 20th Anniversary Original Sound Tracks Vol. 1 That’s right. The title to the game that started it all. Though the production is sorely outdated by today’s standards, the epic feeling that it stirred inside each person who powered on their NES that first time to find themselves in the amazing world of Hyrule is still the same. The nostalgia value in this is so high it’s almost unbearable. It makes you want to power that relic up once more and follow link through the original quest once more.

Just a meager flame will do

Andrew — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 21:17:23 +0000

COIL – Soft Machine (Opening Theme) Gitarooman As the opening track to this unique rhythm game, it does a good job of setting you up for what’s to come without giving too much away. It’s a fun song, with a catchy melody even though the vocals can sound a bit nasally at times. COIL performs most of the tracks on the album, and does an excellent job. It’s definately a diverse soundtrack, though not quite on par with the ecclectic nature of some others (Katamary Damacy for example).

Hirokazu Tanaka – Title BGM (Metroid) Famicom 20th Anniversary Original Sound Tracks Vol. 1 Featuring many different classic NES titles on this album, this is one track that I’m sure many older gamers will recognize and are sure to love. Being the first gimpse into the world of Metroid, the track quickly sets the mood with a dark tone and a rather minimal approach. Instead of trying to push the NES’ musical capabilities, Hirokazu, instead, made something that was more atmospheric than melodic.

Sixto Sounds – Made in the USA (Ken Stage) Blood on the Asphalt: Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo As a tribute album to the music of Street Fighter 2 Turbo, the people of OCRemix put this album together with some of the best versions of the tracks ever created. Sixto Sounds’ version of Ken’s Theme is one of the greatest, though, as it completely captures the feel of the character by combining the solid melody of the original with an almost Survivor-esque sound, making the track what that fine line between cheesy and great.