Ever been made fun of for being geeky? It’s probably happened to all of us at some point. But what are the interests (or obsessions) that have brought you the most mockery in your lifetime? Today the Commodore dives into a few of your interests and admits some of his own. And then in full election season fashion, a comparison question should serve to get the community nice and divided for next week. It’s the Weekly Wringer!
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Well, this is awkward. I’ve never actually played Halo save for about 3 rounds of multiplayer Reach with my ex about a year ago. However, I have heard the original Halo theme song on Pandora, as well as the Mjonir mix of said song and did enjoy them. Still I havn’t heard much of the Halo soundtrack. The quality of the first song is terrific and I might listen to the rest of the soundtrack but several of the Final Fantasy and their spin offs Kingdom Hearts have played integral parts of developing my taste in music. I would played through them again and again, mostly with a audio book playing (I knew the story well enough that I could let it play even through the dialog) just to hear the background music. To have that melody imprinted upon my memory. Still my view is stinted, but nevertheless Final Fantasy wins.
Neither. Chrono Cross and Dragon Quest rush in at the last moment and steal the prize.
Alright, since that probaby isn’t allowed, I will simply say “neither.” I do not enjoy the soundtrack for either Final Fantasy or Halo. I do not think the music from either franchise can stand on its own.
Halo’s music took a cinematic approach. It is not always on in the game, and when it is, it is on to set a mood. I admit that it is of surprising complexity for a video game soundtrack. However, video games are simply not movies. This is not only a flaw in the soundtrack, but a flaw in the game franchise itself. Halo relies too much on shock and awe, and so does its soundtrack. If the music was taken out of the specific moment that it was in, it would probably sound quite ridiculous, with the possible exception of the main theme.
Final Fantasy was influenced by Dragon Quest early on, and so was its music. It attempted to create a classical feeling. Nobuo Uematsu more or less admits to copying Koichi Sugiyama. However, Sugiyama is a classically trained composer, and Uematsu simply isn’t. Uematsu simply tried to compose in a style which he wasn’t all that familiar with. As a result, most of Final Fantasy’s music consists of a simple musical phrase repeated over and over again until it becomes simply unbearable.
People who write video game soundtracks usually know what they are writing: background music. It doesn’t have to succeed at being good music. It simply has to fill the player’s ears and sometimes set a mood. When a game tries to have “serious” music, it either fails miserably (Persona Portable, Persona 3 and Persona 4 come to mind) or the music simply doesn’t fit, good as it may be (Chrono Cross comes to mind). Very few games that I know of actually have good music, really. I wouldn’t even listen to my favorite game’s soundtrack outside of the game (Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, if you’re wondering). Silent Hill 2 had a pretty good soundrack, Chrono Cross and Dragon Quest, as I mentioned earlier, were great or even excellent as video game music goes, but outside of that, I can’t really think of any great video game soundtracks. I generally hold the opinion that listening to video game music outside of the game is like listening to elevator music outside of an elevator: some people might enjoy it, but it’s just rather silly.
I’m new here but I have started listening to the weekly wringer over the past few weeks and felt like I should join in on the conversation. Given my name it is quite obvious I teeter more towards the retro side of gaming, and I have gotten a lot of ridicule from modorn gamers because of it, mainly because I personally have no interest in games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Halo or any of the modern games for that matter. I’ve also gotten a lot of ridicule because I happen to be a collecter of all things retro gaming and have an insane amount of knowledge when it comes to older games. I do have newer consoles but I don’t play them at all really. That being said I have played some of Halo as well as Halo 3 and I never found any of the music to be quite memorable personally. I never found myself humming or remembering much of anything from the games music wise. I have taken the time to listen to a few of the songs from the Halo franchise on youtube and still none of them have really struck home with me and given me any real sort of emotion while listening to them, and I feel that the emotiontional pull that songs have on people is a big factor when it comes to music. Putting my distaste for the games aside and listening to them as purely pieces of music, and they still can’t top the old Final Fantasy soundtracks(snes3/6 in particular) in my mind. It may just be the nostalgia factoring in, but it’s just such a clearcut choice for me when it comes to this. I have to side with Final Fantasy.
gotta go Final Fantasy. Without listing a bunch of my favorite songs, I’ll just say I feel Final Fantasy soundtracks have a bit more diversity to them. The Halo soundtracks as a whole are well done, and definitely has the epic feel down well with many of its songs. But Final Fantasy for example have songs that are also very lighthearted (besaid island theme comes to mind).
Another thing that I think should be noted is that Final Fantasy games tend to have multiple environments and scenery (forests, mountains, snow worlds, tropical, temples, etc) so there is more room for diversity in the soundtracks. Halo soundtracks have to stick more with the futuristic/sci-fi type music.
Just a small story that kinda ties into last week’s wringer too. After a long day of work I usually hit up my 24 hour gym for a workout + trip to the sauna. My sauna playlist of music contains a lot of Final Fantasy 10 songs and the Halo theme ironically enough. The playlist is all instrumental music (much of which is from video games)
More geekdom i guess. But ya, I’d give it to Final Fantasy although Halo isn’t bad by any means.
Asking “Final Fantasy” against Halo is a pretty strange comparison. You’re taking something that’s very fluid, like Final Fantasy, compared to something very matter-of-fact, like Halo.
If you’d asked which Final Fantasy soundtrack, as compared to Halo, it would be a more straightforward question.
For instance, Celtic Moon, the soundtrack to Final Fantasy 4, is superior to Halo. Hell, Celtic Moon is superior to every other Final Fantasy album out there. Though I’m not sure that the original soundtrack to Final Fantasy (comprised of music from FF1-2) is to Halo. Is The Black Mages preferrable to Halo– yes. The original soundtrack to FF7– no.
Halo is Halo. Final Fantasy is about 20-25 variations on the same leitmotif, then evolves into its own unique style, as per each installment. So it’s really not a fair question to ask.
Given the choice, and given that I’ve never played Halo anything for more than five minutes and have a general disdain of FPS…..
Nobuo Uematsu delights my earbuds thank you very much. The controversy there in my mind comes in the forms of “Which sound track is the best” and what score could even rival it?
I find Final Fantasy IV’s sountrack to be the most memorable and I absolutely ADORE the Celtic Moon CD… but I also think Final Fantast VI is some of his finest work – the end boss theme being something of a precursor to the legendary One Winged Angel. My favorite theme from Final Fantasy X is To Zanarkind, and though I like the entire score, that’s the only theme that constantly pops into my head next to the Temple music. For the last three months I’ve been listening to the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack when I go to bed as a matter of fact (3 CDs, 1 per month). But then again Final Fantasy IX has a ton of really good pieces – You are not alone being my favorite there… and how could I forget Eyes on Me from 8? One of my friends played FFXI, so I’m even familiar with some of its tracks.
In all honesty, there is no contest for me. I have no feelings for or against Halo because I’ve never really played it.
But though I feel like 6 is my favorite FF game, I’ve played IV a lot more since it’s had re-releases and a followup title. That being said, I FEEL most strongly for the music in IV. Rosa’s theme can draw tears from me. That is a power Halo just will never hold for me. Nostalgia tells me that Final Fantasy IV is king of Music.
There’s nothing to discuss further in my mind – and I respect anyone who connected with Halo instead. That is really the key to me, the connection. I can connect to Final Fantasy, and 4 has the strongest emotional pull to me.
–has 99,999rm on Thearhythm. Most played track – Within the Giant (FFIV)
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Btw, I love MST3K
Seriously, I watch movies with one of my friends all the time. We MST3K bad movies, and even when we watch good ones some times it’s hard not to say something. lol. It’s made a lot of bad movies an enjoyable experience.
After going to several Video Games Live concerts and comparing the sound tracks of Final Fantasy and Halo on such a stage which urged me to give a more thorough listen on places like rainwave.cc:
Halo’s music is utterly bland, uninspired and at points, insipid; I really don’t want to ever hear any of it again.
Final Fantasy at least has some redeeming qualities, although I am not much of a fan of Uematsu, the heavy-weight (he feels just so overwrought in his execution or exceedingly minimalistic). Other composers for the FF series (spinoffs and the like) do a better job at composing technically and melodically pleasing music.
It also doesn’t really help much that the music reaaaaaallly varies depending on the time period (NES vs. PSX era for example).
So yeah, Halo 0, FF 1.
My experience with the Halo series is somewhat limited. I didn’t buy an Xbox until well after the 360 was released and I still do not have a 360. My exposure to Halo has mostly be playing the games on a friend’s system. I have mostly played multiplayer mode in which as far as I remember has no background music. My single player Halo experiences is limited to beating Halo 1 and Halo 3 (in co-op). I have never played single player in Halo 2, ODST, Wars, Reach or 4. Therefore, my exposure to the music in the single player modes is not great.
On the other hand, I have played basically every main Final Fantasy title minus 10-2, 11, 13, 13-2 and 14 along with most of the spin off games so my familiarity with the series soundtrack is much greater than Halo.
Even with the discrepency in my familiarity of the two series soundtracks, I have to say that Final Fantasy games easily have better soundtracks as a whole. I honestly can’t think hum ANY song from a Halo game off the top of my head besides the main theme from the title screens. Ask me to hum a battle theme from a FF game, and I can easily do any of them.
I think my affinity to the Final Fantasy soundtracks is partially nostalgic. I grew up playing FFIV and FF6 there’s a bit of attachment to the characters and story. As a whole, I think the soundtracks in Final Fantasy are just more integral to the experience and better tied to the narrative than in Halo. For example, FF characters will often have their own theme songs that often reflect the personalities. Does Master Chief have his own theme? If he does, I can’t remember it. Maybe, I just don’t care for the plight of Master Chief as much as Cecil Harvey and the gang. I played about a half hour of Halo 1 just to get some exposure to the soundtrack to write this post. I’ll admit there’s some nice epic tunes going on in the game but I noticed my attention while playing the game was diverted from listening to the music but rather focusing on the action. That may be another factor in my feelings towards appreciating FF soundtracks more. The ATB system of FFVI is just not as grueling as playing Halo on hard, the player can relax and soak in the music better while playing Final Fantasy than in Halo. I don’t know. Just some ramblings and thoughts on the question.
My vote is obviously going for Final Fantasy.
I haven’t played much of halo since the first one, but I do remember the opening title music with the gregorian chanting, and the music that played during tense action sequences. Final Fantasy, I’ve played most of them but only a few pieces of music really stand out to me.
I’m not sure how to say this properly, but the music for both series of games has different purposes. In Final Fantasy the music is mostly just a backdrop to whatever town you’re in, with one of two big tracks per game given a lot of effort. One Winged Angel from seven, or Eyes on Me from eight being the example of this (I would list the example from six, but I’m sure pretty much everyone else on this site knows that game better than me.) So with Final Fantasy we have a couple tracks per game that are meant to be big, and then we have tracks like Dark City Treno from nine, which while pleasant are meant to do nothing more than give atmosphere to a town, they aren’t well remembered. I think this is due to the size and slightly non-linear approach the FF games take. A player is meant to go to Kalm after leaving Midgar, but they can also just wander around the world for as long as they want before that. it makes it hard for the composer to form a cohesive soundtrack to each game.
Halo is very linear. The developers always know exactly what the player is doing next, and that means the soundtrack can be more cohesive. Also, because they aren’t as large, not as many tracks are needed, so the composers time is less split up, allowing him/her to put more effort into each tune. Also, I just lone that gregorian chant at the start up screen of Halo 1.
Honestly, I like them both, but in different ways. If you gave me all the tracks from every Final Fantasy to listen to I’d pick a few of my favorites, if you forced me to sit down and listen to one soundtrack complete and in order, I’d take halo.
FF6 soundtrack totally made that game and it’s like the greatest game ever…so…yeah. I’m not sure I’d have even known she was trying to suicide it didn’t have the opera playing for example. Halo is probably better than some of the new ones, but don’t really play either…so…yeah.
Lumping all of anime together makes baby moogles cry btw.
Well, first of all im new here, so hello. Also i want to apologize in advance for my bad english. My favorite soundtrack is actually the FF8. Also i think that music help to give enphasis to a good story line (which ff series have better than halo). Maybe halo is a cool game, and maybe the FF series suck these days, and even when i don’t like halo at all, i think that this question it’s a litte unfair, because the first halo game came out just 10 years ago. You should ask something like ff series vs metal gear series, (also have great soundrack and it’s a litte bit older than halo), another good would be Megaman X series, or even Zelda.
First thing first, you said my username correctly. My username is made from my nickname that is bono and if reversed it’s onob. I should have written it bonoonob instead of bononob but I made the mistake long ago so I don’t want to change it (I normally pronouce it bono onob). My nickname is really a long story but no it’s not related to the singer bono.
On the main topic, since I played Final Fantasy 2 on snes at the age of 8 or 9 (1991), I always been a fan of the series and bought every games there is. At the age of 13, when we got Internet at home and school, the first thing a look for was if there was soundtrack for final fantasy and I found it. Whenever I had the chance, I did listen to it. Even today, I bought some soundtracks and I always carry it in my car to listen to it. I always like instrumental music and Final fantasy is in the best to listen since I’m a fan of JPRG. I find instrumental to be kind of relaxing. After some hard work or some stressful times, I always like to listen to some Final Fantasy to calm myself. I think that I find it calming because of the nostalgia of children-teenager time playing the game.
For Halo, I can’t really have a opinion since I only played the first one long ago.
So, Final Fantasy for the wins!!!
I must say I am shocked that the Commodore didn’t ask anything about Disney buying Lucasfilm. We are getting an Episode 7 in 2015 with Matthew Vaughn rumored to direct. Who knows what else we may get? There are so many possibilities especially some strange crossover with Marvel and Disney characters (Kingdom Hearts?). Maybe this is an Echo Screen Live topic.
As for the actual topic, I gotta say it is the Final Fantasy music hands down. Halo’s theme is awesome and I dig it over Final Fantasy, but Final Fantasy has hours of fantastic scores. I say this as someone that never touched anything Final Fantasy, yet I can let the sounds of Final Fantasy fill my house all day.
One also can’t go wrong with the Lucasarts graphic adventure titles, especially Monkey Island with that sweet soundtrack. Hell: A Cyberpunk Thriller has a rockin’ opening theme and is a game that I feel could be a movie (no one else cares). In case anyone is really bored here’s a link to this forgotten PC and 3DO title.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpsVK8uPZLU
Like a lot of people on here, my experience with Halo is very limited. I have played a little bit and when I did play it, it was multiplayer and I was not paying attention to the music. Even if I was very familiar with Halo, my vote would be the same. I vote for Final Fantasy. There are so many memorable pieces of music that are directly tied to my childhood that nothing is going usurp that love at this point in my life. Terra’s Theme remains my favorite piece of Final Fantasy music and I listen to it frequently at work when I need to escape reality.
I don’t know the guy that created the Final Fantasy series. I couldn’t name him if someone offered me a million bucks. But I know off the top of my head that the majority of the scores were created by Nobuo Uematsu. Yes, I did have to check Google for the spelling, but I do know his name and how to say it.
Final Fantasy FTW!
Look at my name and avatar! That is pretty much your answer….
I had to visit some youtube channels to get my fill on Halo music that wasn’t the beloved main theme.
Now that I have heard a fair bit of what Halo has to offer I think this question is a lot harder than I gave it credit for… its a hard compairon to make. One part is because Halo’s music is incredible. The other part is I think that you are dealing with very different degrees of emphasis whem comparing RPG music to FPS music, paritcularly a FPS like Halo.
Music in Halo is striking, uniform and mainly used to capture the emotion of a particular set piece.
Music in Final Fantasy is in many ways used to tell the story of a particular village or area without saying a word. The music isn’t as sweeping and is more about repetition. After all, you’ll be staying in an area in a RPG far longer than you would be in a certain action sequence in Halo. It would be much easier to compare FF to Chrono Trigger or Halo to Half-Life 2… but I suppose the point is its not supposed to be easy to choose.
In the end, I just went with the music that I see myself listening to more when it is taken out of the gaming context (like what I would listen to on my commute to work). I still come up with Final Fantasy. Can’t beat that variety.
In conclusion, Chrono Cross and Ocarina of Time.
I have to give it to FF. Decisive Battle from FF6 is the best track ever put in a video game (narrowly beating Wily Stage 1 from MM2) and every time I hear the FF main theme (not the crystal theme but the one ususally played during the credits) i have to keep myself from crying. That being said I had some awesome experiences with the Halo soundtrack, specifically from the second game. A friend of mine is a big Halo fan and bought the soundtrack for Halo 2 and would play it in his car. His car was a Neon, and I HATE Neons. They’ve always been one of the ugliest looking cars to me. But he had the coolest Neon ever. It came in the best color ever – gunmetal, with matching interior. If Master Chief had to drive a Neon, it would be this one. So riding with my friend in this car listening to that soundtrack just created one of the best driving experiences ever. I for one think the music for Halo is some of the best ever used in games, but no one can beat Uematsu.
I grew up with the original Final fantasy and naturally gravitate towards RPG’s. My love of RPG’s music has always been the use of music to enhance the story whereas action games use it, in my opinion, to fill in the dead space between the action. I frequently find myself humming a few songs through the day. Being the super geek that I am it tend be songs like Cyan’s introduction in FF6, Zelda theme, and most recently Skyrim (had Commodore asked Final Fantasy or Skyrim I think my head would have exploded from sensory overload). Humming these tunes introduces an impossibly huge flood of memories – getting your first piece of the tri-force, Locke’s introduction, the Magitek Factory, the Mako reactor theme from FF7, etc. You can identify that melody with a specific point of a game and that, for me, is the most enjoyable part of it. But with every rainbow there is a storm. The Storm being simple tunes that stuck in your head and it can be summarized with this -The Chocobo song.
Even though “I loves me my RPGS”, as my wife would say, I have an appreciation for the music of Halo but it is just too functional for me. The music doesn’t add to the environment, or take away from it, it just… exists. It fills the dead space between kills.
This song is known as the Bridge March, because it was first heard as the team crossed the bridge after defeating Garland at the beginning of FF1.
I agree with the majority of you guys. This round goes to FF. At face value, both have excellent sound tracks throughout each of their respective series. I think that the amount of grinding that goes along with the “traditional” Final Fantasy series really makes the music become a part of the experience in a different way than a first person shooter would do. It’s hard to forget the sounds of FF VIII given all the hours I spent on the Island Closest to Hell.
That being said, FF XIII’s soundtrack blew me away (even though there isn’t a lot of “grinding” in this game). But as far as first person shooters go, Borderlands 2 has impressed me quite a bit. I find myself lowering the sound effects audio to almost nothing so I can blast the music. I’m surprised I haven’t heard anyone talk about this game yet (in regards to the soundtrack).
The Final Fantasy “Prelude Theme” is the song that plays when gamers go to heaven, so is there really any comparison?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnUtfA71kvk
That being said, I’ve never played Halo extensively. I’m not really in a position to compare the music from the two franchises. However, I was lucky enough to see Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy performed by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra with composer Nobuo Uematsu and it was transcendent! There’s no arguing that music of Final Fantasy is remarkable when the composer created an actual opera in Final Fantasy VI.
Ultimately though, my favorite score from a video game is from Secret of Mana. Composer Hiroki Kikuta created two of my all time favorite pieces of music: “A Wish”and the glorious “Fear of the Heavens.”
I think these two videos are probably the best examples I can find to illustrate Secret of Mana’s brilliant score:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etm28Ubj_-o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9NQ-0MQZcg&feature=relmfu
In discussing which music I prefer, or is most epic, I really look at music in video games as background noise. However, on some occasions the music in a game is so catchy that you find yourself whistling it years/decades later. I have not beat or put a significant amount of time in a Final Fantasy game since IX, but I still find myself whistling the victory fanfare to this day. The two games, whose music I will remember until the day I die is Final Fantasy VII and Legend of Zelda OOT. However, I will not discredit the main theme to Halo I still get that song stuck in my head for time to time.