FFXII composer bringing his music to non-Japanese games

14 Comments by Jason Dobson May 20th 2008 8:30AM
Filed under: Culture, Business

For those of you who who can't seem to get Final Fantasy XII's battle music out of your head, there may soon be something else to hum along to as FFXII composer Hitoshi Sakimoto is looking to bring his musical style to a wider audience, including games produced outside of Japan.

Helping him in this will be Four Bars Intertainment, which also represents other game composers such as Jason Hayes (World of Warcraft), Inon Zur (Fallout 3, Crysis), and Jack Wall (Myst series). No games have been announced yet, though we doubt Sakimoto will lack for projects to fill his free time. Over the past two decades the workaholic composer has added more than 150 projects to his credit, including such titles as Vanillaware's GrimGrimoire and Odin Sphere, shooters Gradius V and Radiant Silvergun, plus a handful of anime releases as well -- many of which we've given our own spin while humming along to in the shower.

Tags: ffxii, final-fantasy, finalfantasy, grimgrimoire, hitoshi-sakimoto, hitoshisakimoto, music, odinsphere

(Page 1) Reader Comments

Shaun: May 20th 2008; 8:43AM

A great composer, and he did a good job on Final Fantasy XII. But he is indeed no Uematsu.

Jon: May 20th 2008; 9:14AM

I personally thought he finally brought some kind of freshness to the FF franchise compared to Uematsu. But that's just me, I guess.

neondoto: May 20th 2008; 10:25AM

Agreed, Jon. I've been a huge Uematsu fan since way back, but in later years I just felt as though his music was getting slightly 'stale', and just didn't pack the same emotional punch it did in the days of FFIV, VI and VII. Sakimoto's music, while stylistically different, offered a fresh, new perspective on music for the series. And really, for being a sort of different 'continuity', I felt his musical style lent itself very well to the Ivalice games.

Hiroken: May 20th 2008; 10:50AM

Sorry, guys. Not to say I didn't like this guy's music in FFXII, (I did), but I stand with the original post. He is no Uematsu, which isn't a bad thing--but I still would have picked Uematsu's music for FFXII, had the choice been mine (and he hadn't jumped Mistwalker >.

Eh: May 20th 2008; 8:24PM

I found 12's music boring and monotonous, with the exception of a couple songs. None of them were memorable, all other FF songs were catchy and unique from eachother. His music style just isnt suited for an RPG. He would be more useful in action games or movies where the music only provides mood for the talking and sound effects. Hes not bad, I just hope he doesnt do anymore RPG's since RPG's need music that is catchy rather than just ambience.

Jezreel: May 21st 2008; 1:09AM

@Hiroken: After hearing Uematsu's recent works, I'm kind of glad Sakimoto was brought on board for FFXII. He might never reach the same heights that Uematsu once reached, but I feel that Uematsu himself never will again either. Plus, as nenondoto mentioned, Sakimoto's music is already closely associated with the world of Ivalice, so Uematsu might have been even more of a poor choice for FFXII for that reason.

Chase: May 20th 2008; 8:47AM

I would appreciate it if he did the background music for all sports games. It would sure beat the generic, painful "music" companies elect to put into their sports games (especially NBA games).

Superstar90: May 20th 2008; 8:54AM

I like the songs in the EA FIFA games, but the 2K sports games are terrible, terrible songs.

"Ok player, pull up a chair (chayer?)"

lol, from NBA 2K5 I think.

Chase: May 20th 2008; 9:34AM

In NBA 2K8, it's just as bad with lyrics like "Put up the J, kid. Put up the J" repeating over and over again.

Jezreel: May 21st 2008; 1:02AM

@Superstar90: That was a pretty bad line (and a bad song overall), but the rapper who delivered it, Aceyalone, is actually one of the most respected artists in underground hip-hop. He was part of the revered Freestyle Fellowship, put out a couple albums that are considered landmarks, and is a mainstay and benefactor of the Los Angeles scene. Unfortunately, the man has been inconsistent in recent years, and I believe that that song was one of his worst moments.

J.Goodwin: May 20th 2008; 9:19AM

2K had Dan the Automator produce the soundtrack on the most recent NBA game they released.

Radiant Silvergun is absolutely brilliant in every possible way.

SinHarvest: May 20th 2008; 9:21AM

I loved the music in Oden Sphere. :)

RogueJedi86: May 20th 2008; 3:01PM

I LOVED Hitoshi Sakimoto's music in FFXII. It was much more lively and orchestral sounding than the previous FF scores. From the battle music to the Chocobo music, everything sounded much more instrumental and echo-ey so to speak. You could hear the hollowness with each note that let you know that you weren't in the MIDI days that plagued even FFX. His FFXII score is one of my favorite game scores to date.

Also, I hope Hitoshi Sakimoto has luck in non-Japanese music. Get this guy to do the music for the next WoW Expansion. :P

Denkigrve: May 20th 2008; 4:47PM

I met Sakimoto last year at Otakon. I talked to him for a bit about the Final Fantasy music in XII and how he tried to make sure it felt like PS2 quality music, but retained the Tactics feel since it also takes place in Ivalice.

He is also doing/did the music for Valkyria Chronicles. I recognized it instantly in the trailers. Can't wait to hear the whole soundtrack.

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