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Once in a while, I have a tendency to get a little impatient. Release dates and the like just continue to increase my desire for certain things, especially the closer to the release date they get. It seems like an eternity now since I’ve been waiting from Final Fantasy X-2, and I know that it comes out this fall, but I can’t help but want to get just a little taste beforehand so I know what to expect. I’m not necessarily talking about playing the game itself. While I’m a huge fan of the game, I’m just as impressed with the music. The Kinokuniya Bookstore that’s in the area where Underland Online is located has a habit, good or bad, of stocking import soundtracks. The real problem with this is that my budget doesn’t always allow for purchasing every one of them that comes out, and my primary objective has been, and will always be, to own every soundtrack for my beloved Final Fantasy that gets released. For the past couple of months now, I’ve seen various new FF soundtracks in stock. Aside from eyeing the soundtracks from Final Fantasy Tactic Advanced, The Black Mages, the FF X Vocal Collection, and numerous others, FFX-2 has been available in the store as a single and as the full-length soundtrack. The problem is that the full soundtrack has a retail of $42, and no matter how big of a fan I am, that’s quite a bit of cash to pay, especially for just two discs. I only paid $45 for the OST for FF VIII, so you can see the problem. The single though retails for a mere $10, and that’s not a bad price, and it helps increase my FF music collection that much more. So, there wasn’t too much doubt that I had to own it. Here’s the first thing that is going to shock most fans of the game's music. Nobuo Uematsu is nowhere to be found on this soundtrack. Now, before you groan with disgust and decide to stop reading, think about a few things here. First of all, FF X-2 marks the first time that Square-Enix has ever done a true sequel for a Final Fantasy game. This is new territory for them in a way, so why not bring in someone new to cover the soundtrack. Besides, Uematsu is a very busy man what with all the soundtracks he composes as well as all the variations that come out, so the man can’t do everything. Noriko Matsueda and Takahito Eguchi, no strangers to the world of Square-Enix, composed the music for FF X-2. Previously they have worked on other titles such as The Bouncer, Chrono Trigger as well as a few others. What else is surprising though is that normally, FF soundtracks would be released on Digicube (no SonMay is NOT a legitimate record label.) This time though, Square-Enix when with Avex Mode, a company that’s well known for all of the J-Pop they have released included artists such as Max and Dream, just to name a few. The CD, again, is a single, and thus only contains three tracks. More than anything it’s just a slight teaser, but it’s still done very well. All three tracks are done in a rather interesting fashion. Normally, Uematsu would do keyboard programming, with the exception of a few songs here and there, but this isn’t the case at all with FF X-2. Instead, the tracks contained on the CD have actual instruments used like piano, guitar, and even violin. The opening cut, “Kyuoen – Hikari to Nami no Kioku” is a very short, yet touching piece made up of all the aforementioned instruments. It may be short and to the point, but it also hints at the direction of the rest of the tracks. “Bisaide” is the new music for, what else, Bisaide village. While it sounds nothing like the original version from the FFX, its very fitting and will definitely work well. The final track, “Yuna no Barado,” starts out sounding almost sullen and mournful, and then escalates itself into more of a lighthearted track. As far as where in the context of the game it fits in is still a mystery to me at this point, but the fact remains that although these three tracks are very short and just a sample of the music in the game, everything is going to sound just a great as it ever did. However, I’m sure that at some point I’ll break down and buy the full soundtrack, but that doesn’t mean that for the time being at least, this one will be in my CD player, at least until the game finally hits the US market. -mike-
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