Four Warriors of Light

• Featured, Game Music

  Square Enix Composer Series: Naoshi Mizuta Talks FFXI and Parasite Eve

  April 12, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Square Enix Composer Series: Naoshi Mizuta Talks FFXI and Parasite Eve Share this Square Enix Composer Series: Naoshi Mizuta Talks FFXI and Parasite Eve

  

  Next up in our series of interviews with Square Enix composers is Naoshi Mizuta, who is mainly known for his work on Final Fantasy XI. While XI dominates our discussion, we also touch on his work on the Four Warriors of Light, one of my favorite works of his, and the recently re-released Parasite Eve 2 soundtrack, which Mizuta has interesting things to say about.

  Looking forward to more Final Fantasy XI CD releases?  How about an arrange album? Find out what Naoshi Mizuta and Square Enix have in store for fans in our interview after the jump. (more…)

• Game Music

  GDC 2011: Mitsuto Suzuki Talks Freedom of Expression (Photo Gallery)

  March 5, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on GDC 2011: Mitsuto Suzuki Talks Freedom of Expression (Photo Gallery) Share this GDC 2011: Mitsuto Suzuki Talks Freedom of Expression (Photo Gallery)

  

  Square Enix composer and synthesizer operator Mitsuto Suzuki was on hand at GDC this week to talk about the differences in approach to two Final Fantasy titles, Four Warriors of Light and Final Fantasy XIII, both of which featured Suzuki as an arranger. While the technical content of the talk was light, Suzuki expressed his philosophy on music, asking the audience, “Is music bound by fixed concepts? Theory?,” and telling us that his goal is to be free of these kinds of limitations. It was interesting to see from the opening slide above, too, that Suzuki is really his own brand.

  One of the best parts of the lecture was a live demonstration of Cyan, a Japanese live performance software that Suzuki tinkered around with for a good 15 minutes on stage, giving us a cool live performance of sorts. It contained bits of “Recall” from Neurovision among other original works.

  We have a small gallery of some of the introductory slides after the jump. (more…)

• Game Music, Reviews

  Kill With Cuteness: Final Fantasy Gaiden -Four Warriors of Light- Original Soundtrack (Review)

  November 4, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this Kill With Cuteness: Final Fantasy Gaiden -Four Warriors of Light- Original Soundtrack (Review)

  

  Well, you saw our unwrapping video yesterday, and now we have our review of the album to go along with the official street date in Japan. Final Fantasy Gaiden -Four Warriors of Light- features Naoshi Mizuta, who most people know for his work on Final Fantasy XI, but don’t let that lead you down the path to thinking Four Warriors of Light sounds anything like Final Fantasy XI.

  This soundtrack is distinctly retro, yet modern, if that makes any sense. I think we have arranger and synthesizer operator Mitsuto Suzuki to thank for the amazing quality sounds here, but Mizuta really shines with his upbeat themes for this lighthearted adventure.

  See what I mean in our review of the Final Fantasy Gaiden -Four Warriors of Light- Original Soundtrack after the jump. (more…)

• Game Music

  OSVchannel: Go Retro As We Unwrap The The Final Fantasy Gaiden -Four Warriors of Light- Original Soundtrack

  November 3, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this OSVchannel: Go Retro As We Unwrap The The Final Fantasy Gaiden -Four Warriors of Light- Original Soundtrack

  Well, I admit I wasn’t staying on top of the game or the soundtrack for Final Fantasy Gaiden -Four Warriors of Light-, but the Square Enix Music Sampler CD Vol. 4 that we reviewed a few weeks ago changed that. I’ve been looking forward to Naoshi Mizuta’s retro soundtrack ever since, and the release date is right around the corner in Japan.

  We got our hands on the soundtrack several days ahead of the Japanese release date, and I thought it’d be fun to go through the packaging and artwork on our OSVchannel on YouTube. To clear up the Japanese and US release dates that I was unsure about in the video, the game was released on 10/29/09 in Japan, while there is no US release date announced at this time. The soundtrack is due out on 11/04/09 in Japan, and it’s truly some great stuff.  Probably my favorite from Mizuta yet.

  Join us for our brief unwrapping adventure of the game’s soundtrack and tell us if you like this sort of content on OSV and whether or not you’ll be picking up the Final Fantasy Gaiden -Four Warriors of Light- Original Soundtrack when it’s released.

• Game Music, Reviews

  Sample Square Enix’s Upcoming Wares: Square Enix Music Sampler CD Vol. 4 (Review)

  October 16, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this Sample Square Enix’s Upcoming Wares: Square Enix Music Sampler CD Vol. 4 (Review)

  

  We posted the track list for Square Enix’s latest sampler disc from TGS, Square Enix Music Sampler CD Vol . 4 a couple weeks ago. We now have the disc in-hand, and thought we’d tell you our impressions of what Square Enix has to offer for the rest of 2009 and beyond.

  There’s a lot of great stuff here, from Four Warriors of Light, to a sample from Love SQ, to music from Final Fantasy XIII. It’s a generous tease, but it still leaves me wanting some of these releases more sooner than later.

  Hit the jump to find out which samples have me really excited in our review of the Sampler CD Vol. 4. (more…)

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