A few years ago when FF Chronicles was released, I picked up the FFIV soundtrack that was sitting on shelf beside it. It was the best CD I’ve ever bought for $9.99. This album is basically a domestic release of the Japanese OST, with one bonus track, which is a wonderful piano arrangement of “Theme of Love,” performed by Toshiyuki Mora. While I really don’t like Tokyopop, I simply adore this release.
Every song in the game is here. And they sound really good. One of the things I was afraid of was that this CD would have bad sound quality, but I wasn’t farther from the truth. For a SNES era soundtrack, this OST sounds amazing. You’ll appreciate it even more when you pop it in your stereo with Dolby Surround Sound. I can’t say enough about the sound quality of this CD. It’s that good. And when you realize that there are some truly great masterpieces on this CD, that makes the experience all the better. Inspiring tracks like “Theme of Love,” “The Main Theme,” and “Troian Beauty” will make you fall in love with this OST all over again. Fan favorites such as “Battle with the Four Fiends” and “Final Battle” will make you want to grab a sword and start saving the world (in my opinion, “Final Battle” is the best final battle theme to ever grace an RPG). Also, the FF series’ staple songs, “Prelude,” “Samba de Chocobo,” and “Fanfare” are here in all their nostalgic glory.
What really sells this CD is the arranged version of “Theme of Love.” The original version was my favorite track on the album, and I can safely say that this is my favorite arrangement of the piece. Toshiyuki’s gentle, soothing piano skills make this track worth the entire price of admission. This track was also on the FFIV Piano Collection, but it really shines here. Check it out.
There is one major problem with this OST, though. Some of the tracks do not loop twice. Considering that Tokyopop directly ported this OST over from the Japanese OST (which was handled by NTT Publishing), I can understand why they didn’t make this a two-disc release, and I don’t really think it’s their fault. But, hearing my favorite songs fade away after one round isaggravating, to the say least.
If you can find this OST floating around online (or possibly at your nearest game retailer), you need to grab it. Seeing as FFIV has been the only full OST Tokyopop release in America by Nobuo Uematsu, this is a gem to have in your collection.
