Artist: Noriko Matsueda, Takahito Eguchi and Kazuhiro Hara
Release Date: July 16, 2003
Label: Square Enix
Personal Rating: 3/5
1. real Emotion (FFX-2 Mix)
2. 1000 Words (FFX-2 Mix)
3. Seal of the Wind ~The Three Trails~
4. Last Mission No.1
5. Last Mission No.2
6. Last Mission No.3
7. Creature Creation
8. Flash Over
9. 1000 Words (Orchestra Version)
10. Kimi he
Oh gee…. I haven’t reviewed any Final Fantasy Soundtrack in a while! (Though I have been listening to the FFX, FFVII, FFXII and FF XIII soundtracks. They’re all in four discs!) I’ve also noticed that these were released the same time that the vocal collection singles (the ones with Yuna, Rikku and Paine) were released.
Well since the version in the original FX-2 soundtrack was in Japanese, the real Emotion (FFX-2 Mix) just happens to be the English version of the song played in the opening sequence. (Originally sung by Kuu but sung in English by Jade from Sweetbox) Anyways, this is still a pretty hot track but I would rather listen to the full version if I were to fully enjoy this song.
1000 Words (FFX-2 Mix) follows the same case as real emotions: awesome but listening to the longer version would make this song sound more awesome.
I strongly thought that Seal of the Wind ~The Three Trails~ would have been great in the original game’s soundtrack (since the original X-2 was rather… average) because of it’s transitions and developments between the stronger and softer parts. Since I haven’t played Last Mission, I don’t exactly know when the song was used but I’m sure that it would have made the environment of the game more intense with this track!
Last Mission No.1 and Last Mission No.2 sounded quite familiar with all of the jazz elements within the arrangement. The only difference is that No.2 has a saxaphone solo. The Last Mission No. tracks probably weren’t the strongest tracks in the collection.
Even though Last Mission No.3 sounded dramatically different than the previous two, the only downside is that the entire loop of the song is rather short and seems to have been repeated more than a few times throughout the duration. Still not a strong track.
Creature Creation also has a rather short loop time and is rather typical for a background music. Definitely not a keeper.
Now Flash Over is the more driven and intense track of the game! I believe this was a boss battle theme (“Fight with Seymour” for the win!) Another track that could have been in the original F-X2 ost!
1000 Words (Orchestra Version) is okay compared to the original 1000 words version. It seems that in the orchestrated track, Jade sounds like she’s straining her voice a little to give off that dramatic effect. Otherwise, the arrangement still sounds beautiful! (not to mention that I still have this in my iPod playlist after all of these years)
I think that Kimi he is a bonus track since I’ve never heard this song during the course of the game. (And I didn’t play Last Mission) Anyways, it’s sung by Yuna’s Japanese vocie actress, Aoki Mayuko, who does give off quite the vocal performance. (I mean, compared to the other voice actresses in the FFX-2 series *coughcough*) The flow of the ballad seems to take my mind into a different world away from reality. I really thought this was probably one of the best ballads I’ve heard from Mayuko.
Personal Rating: 3/5
