Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack   JP 3 02/08/2010 (9 weeks) Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack PLUS   JP 70 06/07/2010 (2 weeks)

Singles

Kimi Ga Iru Kara ( Sayuri Sugawara )   JP 11 04/01/2010 (11 weeks)

The music for the computer game Final Fantasy XIII was composed by Masashi Hamauzu . Nobuo Uematsu , who was responsible for the music on previous Final Fantasy games, was not involved in the work on the music for this video game. The official game soundtrack was released on CD through Square Enix in 2010 . Later, selected pieces of the soundtrack were also released on two vinyl records . These are called W / F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII and W / F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII Gentle Reveries .

In addition to the actual soundtrack, Final Fantasy Soundtrack PLUS was another CD with bonus material. This is a selection of newly arranged pieces from the original soundtrack. In addition, Square Enix released Piano Collection Final Fantasy XIII, a compilation with selected pieces from the soundtrack, which were recorded with a piano. The title song Kimi Ga Iru Kara ( Japanese for Because you are here ) was also released as an independent single by Sayuri Sugawara for her first album First Story , which was officially released in January 2010 via For Life Music . The song Eternal Love , which can be found in the soundtrack, was also sung by Sugawara.

The soundtrack received mostly positive reviews. Some reviewers were of the opinion that this was Hamauzu's best work, which can also be heard in the mix of individual pieces. They said Hamauzu gave Final Fantasy music a new direction. The Soundtrack PLUS CD, on the other hand, was rated lower, which the critics justify with the lack of many pieces on the soundtrack. The piano version was perceived as mixed. The pieces were performed live at an exclusive concert in Stockholm , the capital of Sweden . Individual pieces of the soundtrack were also regularly recorded and played on the Distant Worlds Tour , an international concert tour in which only pieces from the Final Fantasy games are performed. The piano pieces, however, were only performed in Japan and Paris .

Origin and musical influence

Composer Masashi Hamauzu at the Toulouse Game Show Festival in 2012.

The complete music for Final Fantasy XIII was composed by Masashi Hamauzu , who has already shown himself to be responsible for the music of the game series in the past. For the first time he was active as a co-composer for the music of the game Final Fantasy X , the first independent work as the main composer was the official soundtrack for Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII . The music for Final Fantasy XIII was first created without Nobuo Uematsu , who was mainly responsible for the entire music in the past. Although it was originally announced that Uematsu would write the game's theme song, this was later transferred to Hamauzu after it was revealed that Uematsu had signed a contract with Square Enix to restore Uematsu as the composer for the music for the game Final Fantasy XIV . Yoshinori Kitase , producer of the game, ultimately chose Masashi Hamauzu because he felt that he was the best option for composing the soundtrack. The orchestral version of the soundtrack for Dirge of Cerberus - which was composed by Hamauzu - also played a role, as the development team of Final Fantasy XIII wanted to incorporate a similar soundtrack into the game. Hamauzu processed a wide variety of music styles in this soundtrack so that it does not get boring.

The first pieces were made for promotional events between 2006 and 2007; Hamauzu did not start the main work on the composition until autumn 2008 and finished the work about a year later. The first piece that Hamauzu made for the game is called Blinded by Light , as one of the promotional songs. Some pieces of game music have been recorded by the Warsaw National Philharmonic in collaboration with Yoshihisa Hirano , Toshiyuki Oomori and Kuniito Shiina. Hamauzu had previously worked with the Warsaw National Philharmonic for his album Thank You , which was released in 2007. Four game music songs include vocal recordings by Mina Sakai , an artist who also worked with Hamauzu. Hamauzu worked as a producer for Sakai. Two of these songs are written in Japanese , the other two pieces in English . The text for the song The Gapra Whitewood was originally intended to be sung in English, but Sakai and Hamauzu decided during the recording to play the song in a fictional language, as the pronunciation of some English words interfered with the melody of the piece. The three pieces, Daddy's Got the Blues , Sazh's Theme and Can't Catch a Break were described as jazzy songs that refer to the character Sazh Katzroy .

The theme song for the international game version is called My Hands and is on the second album, Echo , by British singer Leona Lewis . It was decided that this piece would replace the original theme song from the Japanese version of the video game in order to make the game more attractive in the American market. Yōichi Wada , President of Square Enix , admitted in an interview that it would have been better if the company's US subsidiary had written its own song instead of officially licensing an already released song. Hamauzu, who composed the Japanese theme song, was not involved in the decision to make My Hands the official theme song of the international version.

Publications

Official soundtrack

Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack
Soundtrack by Masashi Hamauzu
admission	Fall 2008 - Fall 2009
Label (s)	Square Enix
Format (s)	CD , vinyl , download
Title (number)	85 (on four CDs)
running time	CD 1: 49:27 CD 2: 55:40 CD 3: 1:03:28 CD 4: 1:15:21 Total: 4:04:06
Studio (s)	Square Enix

The official soundtrack for Final Fantasy XIII was released on January 27, 2010 under the name Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack via Square Enix . This includes all pieces that were used for the game, as well as the songs Kimi Ga Iru Kara and Eternal Love by the Japanese singer Sayuri Sugawara . The official soundtrack comprises 85 pieces on four CDs and has a total playing time of four hours and four minutes. With the exception of Kimi Ga Iru Kara and Eternal Love, all pieces were composed by Masashi Hamauzu . A limited pressing of the soundtrack included a fifth CD on which a radio play written by Motomu Toriyama - who was also involved in the development of the game - was written. On the day it was released, the soundtrack sold 16,000 copies in Japan alone and entered the domestic album charts at number 3 , where the album stayed in the charts for a total of nine weeks. The songs are mostly orchestral , some are influenced by electronic music . Both orchestral and electronic music can be heard in individual pieces. 24 songs also have vocal tracks. Many songs that were featured repeatedly in previous soundtracks in the game series - such as Prelude and Main Theme - are not featured on the Final Fantasy XIII soundtrack . Only the topic about chocobos - bird-like creatures that already appear in previous Final Fantasy games - was used again in a revised version. The song My Hands by British singer Leona Lewis , licensed by the US development team, is not on the soundtrack.

In addition to the soundtrack, two further albums with eight selected pieces each were released on vinyl records . These are called W / F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII and W / F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII Gentle Reveries . These were the first records Square Enix had ever produced. The soundtrack received mostly positive reviews.

#	title	composer	running time
1	Prelude to Final Fantasy XIII	Masashi Hamauzu	2:55
2	Final Fantasy XIII - The Promise	Masashi Hamauzu	1:33
3	The Thirteenth Day	Masashi Hamauzu	0:54
4th	Defiers of Fate	Masashi Hamauzu	2:24
5	Saber's Edge	Masashi Hamauzu	3:14
6th	The hanging edge	Masashi Hamauzu	3:26
7th	Those For the Purge	Masashi Hamauzu	3:05
8th	The Warpath Home	Masashi Hamauzu	3:32
9	The Pulse Fal'Cie	Masashi Hamauzu	1:13
10	Face It Later	Masashi Hamauzu	0:55
11	Snow's theme	Masashi Hamauzu	3:48
12	The Vestige	Masashi Hamauzu	2:48
13	Ragnarok	Masashi Hamauzu	3:47
14th	In the Sky That Night	Masashi Hamauzu	1:24
15th	Promised Eternity	Masashi Hamauzu	2:24
16	Eternal Love (Short Version)	Masashi Hamauzu, Sayuri Sugawara	3:27
17th	Lake Bresha	Masashi Hamauzu	4:11
18th	The Pulse L'Cie	Masashi Hamauzu	1:37
19th	Eidolons	Masashi Hamauzu	2:50
#	title	composer	running time
1	Blinded by light	Masashi Hamauzu	2:55
2	Glory's Fanfare	Masashi Hamauzu	0:08
3	A letter respite	Masashi Hamauzu	2:08
4th	Defiers of Fate	Masashi Hamauzu	2:24
5	Cavalry theme	Masashi Hamauzu	2:38
6th	Escape	Masashi Hamauzu	1:59
7th	Crash landing	Masashi Hamauzu	1:04
8th	Daddy's Got the Blues	Masashi Hamauzu	4:28
9	The Vile Peaks	Masashi Hamauzu	3:02
10	Lightning's theme	Masashi Hamauzu	2:26
11	Sazh's theme	Masashi Hamauzu	3:25
12	March of the Dreadnoughts	Masashi Hamauzu	2:31
13	The Gapra Whitewood	Masashi Hamauzu	2:45
14th	Tension in the air	Masashi Hamauzu	3:28
15th	Forever Fugitives	Masashi Hamauzu	1:50
16	The Sunleth Waterscape	Masashi Hamauzu	3:46
17th	Lost Hope	Masashi Hamauzu	2:58
18th	To Hunt L'Cie	Masashi Hamauzu	2:40
19th	No way to live	Masashi Hamauzu	2:04
20th	Substained by Hate	Masashi Hamauzu	2:38
21st	The Pulse L'Cie	Masashi Hamauzu	4:12
22nd	Serah's theme	Masashi Hamauzu	1:30
#	title	composer	running time
1	Can't catch a break	Masashi Hamauzu	5:20
2	PSICOM	Masashi Hamauzu	1:02
3	Hope's theme	Masashi Hamauzu	3:30
4th	This is your home	Masashi Hamauzu	2:16
5	Atonement	Masashi Hamauzu	4:24
6th	Vanilla's Theme	Masashi Hamauzu	3:00
7th	The Final Stage	Masashi Hamauzu	0:42
8th	The Pompa Sancta	Masashi Hamauzu	2:12
9	nautilus	Masashi Hamauzu	4:58
10	Chocobos of Cocoon - Chasing Dreams	Masashi Hamauzu	2:57
11	Feast of Betrayal	Masashi Hamauzu	3:17
12	Eidolons on Parade	Masashi Hamauzu	3:36
13	Test of the L'Cie	Masashi Hamauzu	2:23
14th	All the World Against Us	Masashi Hamauzu	1:16
15th	Game over	Masashi Hamauzu	1:15
16	Primarch Dysley	Masashi Hamauzu	3:03
17th	Fighting Fate	Masashi Hamauzu	2:28
18th	Separate paths	Masashi Hamauzu	2:42
19th	Setting You Free	Masashi Hamauzu	2:17
20th	Desperate Struggle	Masashi Hamauzu	3:49
21st	Mysteries Abound	Masashi Hamauzu	2:41
22nd	Will to Fight	Masashi Hamauzu	4:20
#	title	composer	running time
1	Fang's theme	Masashi Hamauzu	3:31
2	Terra Incognita	Masashi Hamauzu	2:18
3	The Archylte Steppe	Masashi Hamauzu	4:25
4th	Chocobos of Pulse	Masashi Hamauzu	4:18
5	The Yaschas Massif	Masashi Hamauzu	2:11
6th	Memories of Happier Days	Masashi Hamauzu	3:13
7th	Sulyya Springs	Masashi Hamauzu	3:25
8th	Taejin's Tower	Masashi Hamauzu	3:08
9	Dust to Dust	Masashi Hamauzu	3:49
10	The Road Home	Masashi Hamauzu	1:07
11	Start your engines	Masashi Hamauzu	3:23
12	Eden Under Siege	Masashi Hamauzu	2:33
13	The Cradle Will Fall	Masashi Hamauzu	3:58
14th	Born Anew	Masashi Hamauzu	2:59
15th	Sinful Hope	Masashi Hamauzu	3:44
16	Fabula Nova Crystallis	Masashi Hamauzu	2:40
17th	Final Fantasy XIII - Miracles	Masashi Hamauzu	2:49
18th	Focus	Masashi Hamauzu	2:11
19th	Nascent Requiem	Masashi Hamauzu	5:03
20th	Determination	Masashi Hamauzu	3:22
21st	Kimi Ga Iru Kara	Masashi Hamauzu, Sayuri Sugawara	6:22
22nd	Ending credits	Masashi Hamauzu	4:42

Soundtrack PLUS

Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack PLUS
Soundtrack by Masashi Hamauzu
Label (s)	Square Enix
Format (s)	CD
Title (number)	16
running time	50:10
production	Masashi Hamauzu
Studio (s)	Square Enix

The Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack PLUS is a soundtrack album that contains arrangements of selected pieces from the original soundtrack. The pieces were composed and produced by Masashi Hamauzu , who - together with Ryo Yamazaki , Yoshihisa Hirano , Mitsuto Suzuki and Toshiyuku Oomori - was responsible for the arrangements. This album was officially released on May 26, 2010. The CD comprises 16 tracks with a playing time of 50:10 minutes. Pieces 5, 9 and 15 were included in the game , but are not represented in the original soundtrack. The pieces that can be found on the Soundtrack PLUS were partly used for the first promotion of the game. There are also pieces on the album that were written for the game but were not used. These have been re-recorded to achieve a sophisticated sound.

The idea to produce the album came to Hamauzu when he wanted to make an English-language version of the piece Pulse de Chocobo . When he added a few promotional pieces and alternative songs from the game, he noticed that there was enough material to release an album. The album debuted at number 70 on the Oricon charts and stayed there for two weeks. This soundtrack was also criticized positively, but many of the reviews were worse than the original soundtrack.

#	title	running time	1	PV Final Fantasy XIII 2007 JFS	3:00
2	PV Final Fantasy XIII 2006 E3	2:32
3	M1 No.2 title αVersion	1:33
4th	M3 No.4 BossA α version	3:13
5	M306 OPN2 “Defiers of Fate” Palamecia Assault Version	5:11
6th	Hope_PfNer3	2:13
7th	M42E “The Sunleth Waterscape” Overseas Version	3:47
8th	M36A “The Gapra Whitewood” instrumental	2:45
9	M74_2 PRO “Fighting Fate” No Chorus Version	2:15
10	M64E “Chocobos of Cocoon” German version	3:03
11	M33 Lightning NW version	2:26
12	M181 Shugeki2 Prototype	3:06
13	M44B Sazh B + Prototype	5:25
14th	M106 Last Battle Prototype +	3:24
15th	M5_2 “Blinded By Light” Long Version	2:31
16	M42 “The Sunleth Waterscape” instrumental	3:46

Piano Collections

Piano Collections Final Fantasy XIII
Soundtrack by Aki Kuroda
Label (s)	Square Enix
Format (s)	CD
Title (number)	10
running time	45:09
production	Masashi Hamauzu
Studio (s)	Square Enix

Piano Collections Final Fantasy XIII is another soundtrack for the game. For this, ten pieces were selected from the original game soundtrack and played back with a piano . Some pieces are linked together as a medley . The piano was designed by Aki Kuroda played, which already Masashi Hamauzu a piano album Final Fantasy X worked. For this purpose, the selected pieces were changed again so that the same music as in the other two soundtracks was prevented from being recorded. The album was officially released through Square Enix on July 21, 2010 .

While Chris Greening and Jayson Napolitano had almost the same positive opinion about the album, Gann from RPGFan Online was disappointed with the work. He described the pieces as "soulless" and wrote them an "unnecessary grandiosity" that made it difficult for the listener to recognize the pieces again. The album did not make it into the national album charts.

#	title	Artist	running time
1	Lightning's Theme ~ Blinded By Light	Aki Kuroda	3:43
2	FINAL FANTASY XIII - The Promise ~ The Sunleth Waterscape	Aki Kuroda	4:46
3	March of the Dreadnoughts	Aki Kuroda	3:18
4th	The Gapra Whitewood	Aki Kuroda	4:36
5	nautilus	Aki Kuroda	6:12
6th	Vanille's Theme ~ Memories of Happier Days ~ The Road Home	Aki Kuroda	4:37
7th	Nascent Requiem	Aki Kuroda	4:03
8th	Fang's theme	Aki Kuroda	3:53
9	Reminiscence - Sulyya Springs Motif	Aki Kuroda	5:16
10	Prelude to FINAL FANTASY XIII Full Version	Aki Kuroda	4:45

Kimi Ga Iru Kara

Kimi Ga Iru Kara
Sayuri Sugawara
publication	December 2, 2009
length	5.54
Genre (s)	J-pop
Author (s)	Sayuri Sugawara , Yukino Nakajima
Label	For Life Music
album	First story

Kimi Ga Iru Kara ( Japanese : Because you are here) is a song by the Japanese singer Sayuri Sugawara , which was released on December 2, 2009 via For Life Music . The piece is the official theme song for Final Fantasy XIII . It appeared on both the official game soundtrack and their album called First Story . Another song that can be found on the same soundtrack is called Eternal Love . This song can also be found on the single. The theme song in the English version of the game is called My Hands and was interpreted by Leona Lewis . Compared to the Japanese theme song, My Hands was not composed specifically for the game, but only licensed.

Was composed Kimi Ga Iru Kara by Masashi Hamauzu , which was responsible for the complete soundtrack of the video game, while the lyrics of Sugawara was written in collaboration with Yukino Nakajima. In addition to Kimi Ga Iru Kara and Eternal Love , the single also contains the track Christmas Again . This contains sound samples from Franz Liszt . In Japan, Kimi Ga Iru Kara entered the Oricon charts at number 11 and stayed there for eleven weeks. The digital version of the single has meanwhile been awarded a gold record by the Recording Industry Association of Japan . Nevertheless, the single received mostly negative reviews.

Awards and performances

The soundtrack for Final Fantasy XIII won a Golden Joystick Award in 2010 . As part of the concert series Distant Worlds II - More Music from Final Fantasy , the songs of Final Fantasy XIII were performed live in the Swedish capital Stockholm by the Kungliga Filharmoniska Orkestern . The complete Piano Collection Final Fantasy XIII album was played by Aki Kuroda on September 3, 2010 in Yokohama , as well as on October 29, 2010 in Osaka and on April 22, 2011 in Paris .

Web links

• Square Enix Music Official Homepage ( July 6, 2013 memento on the Internet Archive )
• Official homepage of Masashi Hamauzu
• Official homepage of Sayuri Sugawara (Japanese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Oricon : Kimi Ga Iru Kara , Original Soundtrack , Soundtrack PLUS
2. ↑ Anoop Gantayat: E3 2006: FFXIII Staff Check . IGN . May 9, 2006. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved on December 15, 2008.
3. ↑ Confirmed: Nobuo Uematsu Not On FFXIII . Square Enix Music Online. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
4. ^ Nobuo Uematsu :: Discography . Square Enix Music Online. Archived from the original on September 21, 2012. Retrieved June 7, 2010.
5. ↑ Hamauzu, Masashi ; Kitase, Yoshinori ; Toriyama, Motomu : Final Fantasy XIII OST Liner Notes . Square Enix . January 27, 2010. Archived from the original on September 21, 2012.
6. ↑ ^{a b c} Jeriaska: 13 Questions for Final Fantasy 13's Composer . 1UP.com . September 22, 2010. Archived from the original on February 5, 2013. Retrieved on April 27, 2011.
7. ↑ Lots More Final Fantasy XIII Music Details . Square Enix Music Online. September 30, 2009. Archived from the original on September 20, 2012. Retrieved on November 8, 2009.
8. ↑ Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack Information . Square Enix Music Online. September 30, 2009. Archived from the original on September 21, 2012. Retrieved on November 8, 2009.
9. ↑ Masashi Hamauzu : Masashi Hamauzu: The Sounds of Fantasy . Beauty of Games. May 9, 2010. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Jeriaska: Interview: Final Fantasy XIII Composer On Creating, Performing The Series' Classic Tunes . Gamasutra . April 26, 2011. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012. Retrieved on April 27, 2011.
11. ↑ Chris Kohler: Final Fantasy XIII Gets US Release Date, New Theme Song , Wired . November 13, 2009. Retrieved June 15, 2010. 
12. ^ French, Michael; Fear, Ed: Final Countdown . Develop . December 16, 2009. Archived from the original on March 10, 2012. Retrieved January 11, 2010.
13. ↑ ^{a b c} Jayson Napolitano: Masashi Hamauzu Talks Final Fantasy XIII and MONOMUSIK . Original sound version. September 28, 2010. Archived from the original on November 23, 2012. Retrieved on September 28, 2010.
14. ↑ ^{a b c} Patrick Gann: Final Fantasy XIII OST . RPG fan. February 12, 2010. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved on May 31, 2010.
15. ↑ 『FF XIII』 サ ウ ン ド ト ラ ッ ク が 初 日 TOP3 入 り . Oricon . January 28, 2010. Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved on February 3, 2010.
16. ↑ W / F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII . Square Enix . Archived from the original on February 2, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
17. ↑ W / F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII - Gentle Reveries- . Square Enix . Archived from the original on February 2, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
18. ↑ Don Kotowski: Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack . Square Enix Music Online. Archived from the original on June 16, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
19. ↑ Hamauzu, Masashi : Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack -PLUS- Liner Notes . Square Enix . May 26, 2010. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012.
20. ↑ Jayson Napolitano: Final Fantasy XIII OST PLUS: More… of the Same! (Review) . Original sound version. June 9, 2010. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved on June 24, 2010.
21. ↑ Patrick Gann: Final Fantasy XIII OST PLUS . RPG fan. June 5, 2010. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2010.
22. ↑ ^{a b c} Chris Greening: Final Fantasy XIII Piano Collections . Square Enix Music Online. July 21, 2010. Archived from the original on August 3, 2012. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.
23. ↑ Jayson Napolitano: Masashi Hamauzu Returns: Piano Collections Final Fantasy XIII (Review) . Original sound version. July 21, 2010. Archived from the original on July 23, 2012. Retrieved on July 21, 2010.
24. ↑ Patrick Gann: Piano Collections Final Fantasy XIII . RPG fan. August 3, 2010. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved on August 7, 2010.
25. ↑ ^{a b} Patrick Gann: Sayuri Sugawara - Because You're Here . RPG fan. December 12, 2009. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
26. ↑ = レ コ ー ド 協会 調 べ 1 月度 有 料 音 楽 配 信 認定 ＜ 略称 ： 1 月度 認定 ＞ ( Japanese ) Recording Industry Association of Japan . Retrieved June 16, 2010.
27. ↑ Solarblade: Final Fantasy XIII: Kimi ga Iru Kara - Sayuri Sugawara :: Review by Solarblade . Square Enix Music Online. Archived from the original on August 31, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2010.
28. ↑ Tom Pakinkis: Golden Joysticks Awards 2010 round-up . Computer and video games . October 29, 2010. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved on January 4, 2011.
29. ^ Distant Worlds II Concert to Feature FFXIII and FFXIV Music . Square Enix Music Online. May 27, 2010. Archived from the original on September 24, 2012. Retrieved on May 31, 2010.
30. ↑ Program . AWR Music Productions. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2010.
31. ↑ Piano Collections Special Page - Masashi Hamauzu Official Website ( Japanese ) mono music. Archived from the original on April 3, 2012. Retrieved April 27, 2011.