The Songs and Artists of the Final Fantasy XIII Soundtrack

The Songs and Artists of the Final Fantasy XIII Soundtrack
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The Score - Orchestral Songs from Final Fantasy XIII Soundtrack

The score to ‘Final Fantasy XIII’ was composed by Masashi Hamauzu, who Final Fantasy fans will recognize as the man behind the music of ‘Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII.’ Hamauzu is no stranger to the main titles either. He, along with Junya Nakako, assisted Nubuo Uematsu in scoring ‘Final Fantasy X’

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mauzu was a fan of the Final Fantasy series before applying to work for Square Enix, and it shows in his compositions. He’s got a different style than Uematsu, the composer behind most of the Final Fantasy scores, but you can definitely hear the influence. Take a listen to the opening piano piece, ‘The Promise.’ It starts off ‘Final Fantasy XIII’ very traditionally.

You can definitely hear the difference in style when it comes to something like ‘Sazh’s Theme.’ Sazh himself is one of the best characters ever to appear in a Final Fantasy game, so it makes sense that his theme would be so unique. The raw bass line sets it apart, but it’s the style - there’s no specific melodic hook, it’s very free form - that really defines it.

The Themes - Leona Lewis and Sayuri Sugawara

There are two separate themes to ‘Final Fantasy XIII.’ One was created for the Japanese release, while the other went out to North American and European players.

Leona Lewis, a British pop singer, wrote the game’s theme song. It wasn’t written specifically for ‘Final Fa

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ntasy XIII,’ which is a bit unusual, but it fits quite nicely in the game. The song, ‘My Hands,’ is a great track, but its inclusion in place of the Japanese original earned the ire of some fans. Lewis is also responsible for ‘I See You,’ the theme song to the insanely successful movie ‘Avatar.’

The Japanese theme, ‘Kimi ga Iru Kara,’ which you can listen to here, was performed by Sayuri Sugawara. You won’t hear it in the US version of ‘Final Fantasy XIII,’ but interestingly enough, you’ll still get it on the soundtrack (which Square recently released at a price of only $29.99 for four CDs so you won’t have to import it like the Bayonetta soundtrack) along with ‘Eternal Love,’ another song that Sugawara recorded for the game.

There’s Something Missing - Nobuo Uematsu

Nobuo Uematsu is a well known name to Final Fantasy fans. He wrote the music for the first nine games, was the main writer on ‘Final Fantasy X,’ and wrote the title theme for ‘Final Fantasy XII.’ In ‘Final Fantasy XIII,’ he’s completely absent.

Though Square Enix originally announced that Uematsu would be composing the theme to XIII, it was later assigned to Hamauzu. Uematsu, it was announced, will be composing the music to the upcoming ‘Final Fantasy XIV,’ the new MMORPG from the company. It’s the first Final Fantasy game he’s scored fully since ‘Final Fantasy X,’ though he’s worked on other Square Enix

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games since.

This post is part of the series: Final Fantasy XIII Soundtrack & Wallpapers

Details on the Final Fantasy XIII soundtrack and where to get the best wallpapers.

  1. Is The Soundtrack To Final Fantasy XIII Any Good?
  2. Final Fantasy XIII Soundtrack - Songs, Artists, and More
  3. Where to Find Cool Final Fantasy XIII Wallpapers