Few games are as highly regarded as 1997’sFinal Fantasy VIIand for good reason. Beyond the RPG’s excellent combat, penchant for customization, and masterfully told story,Final Fantasy VIIwas able to capitalize on the experience of playing video games better than most of its contemporaries, using control to invest players in a virtual world.
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It’s hard not to get immersed in both Midgar and the overworld around it, butFinal Fantasy VII’s world wouldn’t come alive half as well were it not for excellent atmosphere, strong artistic direction, and a master composer working on the score. There’s so much to appreciate aboutFinal Fantasy VII, but the RPG’s best quality might very well be Nobuo Uematsu’s legendary soundtrack– for both the original and theRemake.
10Remake: Mako Reactor
The Mako Reactor theme always had a foreboding quality to it, as if it were something truly dangerous to the planet, butFinal Fantasy VII Remaketurns the theme into a proper death march. It slowly builds in the beginning before transitioning in a far more haunting rendition of the main beat. There’s a slow, methodical quality to theRemake’s Mako Reactor.
For as good as the Mako Reactor theme is, special mention needs to be made to the Mako Reactor 1 battle theme. It almost sounds like a completely different song at times, but then those familiar notes will kick in, capturing the frenzy of Cloud and Barret blasting their way through the Reactor.
9Original: Opening (Bombing Mission)
Final Fantasy VIIhas one of the most somber openings in gaming, showing the player the black of space before heading down to Midgar below, showing the scope of humanity’s pollution. The camera briefly follows Aerith through the Slums as the music keeps building in the background. A haunting tone becomes triumph only for Bombing Mission to kick in.
In a single instance, the opening is over and players are in full control of Cloud. It’s a brilliant bit of game design that’s bolstered by the music. From the very beginning,Final Fantasy VIIestablishes itself as a much classier experience than its contemporaries. Best of all is the track taking precedence over the battle theme in the Mako Reactor.
8Remake: Crab Warden Battle Theme
When it comes down to it, the Crab Warden boss theme is little more than a remix of the main battle theme– Let the Battles Begin!– but that’s selling the song short (and also the fact those remixes often stand out as some of the best inFFVIIR.) A three phase epic, the Crab Warden battle theme only gets more and more intense as it goes through different stages of Let the Battles Begin.
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There’s an intensity that the song keeps building up to, locking the listener in the music and compressing on them before sonically erupting. This is the kind of boss music that makes you want to jump out of your seat, sweating while trying to get the right inputs in. Listening to Crab Warden in full just once is enough to make one want to replayFFVIIR.
7Original: Turks
For as good asFinal Fantasy VII Remake’s overall soundtrack is, the ball sure was dropped when it came to remixing the Turks' theme. The snapping and the drums that made the original version so iconic are all but missing in theRemake, resulting in something profoundly charmless. This is actually a quality all remixes of the Turks theme have suffered from.
Nobuo Uematsu knocked it out on the first try, and it only takes one listen to realize that. The beat shift halfway through gives the song an infectious quality that’s hard to get away from. If nothing else, shades of the original song are used in Reno’s battle theme in theRemake.
6Remake: Under The Rotting Pizza
For as consistently amazing asFinal Fantasy VII Remake’s battle songs are, special mention does need to be given to its environmental tracks. Midgar may not be the tightest on a pure level design level, but atmospherically and musically, Nobuo Uematsu really has outdone himself. Under the Rotting Pizza was already one ofFFVII’s most iconic tracks, but theRemakeversion somehow feels even more complete.
Unlike other songs in theRemake, Under the Rotting Pizza hasn’t changed all that much. If anything, it sounds more like a track off an Arranged album of yore. In many respects, theRemake’s Under the Rotting Pizza simply sounds like the song the original track was always trying to be.
5Original: Continue
AsFinal Fantasy VIIis one of the easier RPGs on the PlayStation 1, it’s very unlikely most players will get more than one Game Over over the course of their playthrough– but anyone who does die will likely want to die again if only to hear that beautifully short Continue theme. Just a few notes ofFinal Fantasy VII’s main theme followed by the Prelude make for a shocking somber Game Over screen.
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There’s a somber, beautiful quality to the song, and while theRemakedoes do a good job in translating it– making it slower and more melancholy in particular– the original Continue theme has a simple elegance that’s hard to beat.
4Remake: J-E-N-O-V-A Quickening
Final Fantasy VII’s environmental tracks are great, but those battle themes really are on another level entirely. J-E-N-O-V-A- Quickening takes after Crab Warden in that it’s a three phase song, but instead of remixing Let the Battle Begin!, J-E-N-O-V-A- Quickening remixes the original J-E-N-O-V-A fromFinal Fantasy VII– but it makes the player earn it.
The first two phases of the song are nice and slow before phase 3 bursts into the iconic tune everyone knows & loves from the originalFinal Fantasy VII. It’s even more ethereal this time around, managing to sneak in a hint of One Winged Angel at one point, which is just musical brilliance.
3Original: The Chase
Credit where credit is due,Final Fantasy VII’s remixes for Cloud’s two motorcycle sections are downright incredible– but they’re also not exclusively remixes of The Chase, lifting from several other songs inFinal Fantasy VII’s catalogue. They’re incredible, and the final motorcycle remix is honestly legendary in its own right, but both tracks fail to capture the frenzy of The Chase.
It’s the perfect song for speeding down the highway as Cloud, and it’s honestly a shame it wasn’t remixed more faithfully. The Chase gets the blood pumping at a pivotal point in the story, the party finally leaving Midgar and seeing the world at large.
2Remake: Don Of The Slums
Don Corneo was already one of the more memorable characters inFinal Fantasy VII, but theRemakereally capitalizes on his sleeziness. From his manor to his appearance and mannerisms, Don Corneo has never been so much of a pig. Better yet is the remix of his theme. It always had a whimsical quality, but theRemakeplays it up so much, it’s hard not to laugh at times.
There’s aLuigi’s Mansionquality to Don of the Slums, which helps add to the absurdity of Don Corneo’s character. Best of all is when the music’s flairings match Don Corneo’s mannerisms and speech patterns. The sound design in theRemakeis just really strong on a whole.
1Original: One Winged Angel
Final Fantasy VII’s remix of One Winged Angel is good, but it’s overly long and misses the beauty of the original track in dragging things. The original One Winged Angel is as classically epic as final boss songs gets. Each time you think the song has built to its climax, it turns out One Winged Angel was just building up to the next part of the song.
7 and a half minutes long, it’s as if the song is perfectly timed to long it’ll take to beat the final boss (or how long it’ll take for him to kill the party.) One Winged Angel is the kind of song that marks the very end of a journey– not the end of the first part.
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