I'm pretty sure there are; each screen is quite small so it's probably just very unlikely - and that,too, might well have been intentional. I like to think so. This song is definitely up there for me, too. 3. One-Winged Angel / Airbuster 2. Listen to the Cries of the Planet 1. Words Drowned by Fireworks My #1 is there mostly because of the second time you hear it, it's the happiest moment in the game: Cloud's been found! He IS alive! You sorta knew it, but couldn't be sure bc important people dying seems to be a thing in this game. You were a little bit afraid, so now you're very happy. Then... it turns out he's mentally "somewhere far away, all alone" and the music is the saddest thing in the world. But Words Drowned by Fireworks still reminds of that happy feeling, along with some tender sadness. Applicable to feelings about the world. It helps me calm down and reload emotionally, either when coming home or going to work. AND it's got the lovely thematic pick from the main theme (I like to think of it as Cloud's theme, used when the truth is revealed
What a moment in gaming when you finish off Sephiroth and think you won. The screen goes dark. And then “One Winged Angel” starts to play. Your hands are getting sweaty on the controller. Why is *this* song playing?! He’s… he’s not dead. In fact he’s more powerful than ever…
Solid stuff. When I first heard that theme playing during Cloud and Sephiroth's last cutscene in Remake I think I audibly gasped when I made the realization. One of the best OSTs to ever be composed.
I LOVE You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet/Listen to the Cries of the Planet. It only shows up once so it's easy to forget but it's one of those tunes that you hear it again and you are IMMEDIATELY back at that moment when you first heard it.
My dude. We share the same number 1. I feel like it’s relatively underrated, too, so it’s so refreshing to see you have so much praise for it! Something I’m not sure anyone shares with me, but makes such a big impact on me with music, is sleep. I’ve got narcolepsy, so I can fall asleep easily, and wake up just as easily- with a lot of time spent between both. The space between sleep and wake is called hypnogogia/hypnopompia. To my point, it’s got an almost indescribable feel to it, where your senses are all the input your brain has. There’s no thought, no emotion. I used to listen to this soundtrack on CD, on long car trips when I was a kid. I’d inevitably fall asleep, and be in and out throughout. I’ll never forget the way I felt the first time I truly heard this song. It struck me in the process of exiting hypnopompia, and all I knew in those precious seconds were that intro synth. Then the building. The bell. As I gained awareness of where I was, and everything around me, that initial feeling where the only thing in the world was the music never left. It comes back every time I hear this song in headphones, and it’s fucking magical.
That's almost how the song makes me feel, and I don't even have the same background with it. It just captivates me and sweeps my senses up on it when I hear it in headphones. The world stops.
I assumed after I saw your reaction to "You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet" it would be your number 1. Its definitely my top 3. Anxious Heart is up there too.
Agreed. I really wish Anxious Hearts had made the actual list because to me it's so hauntingly beautiful, but to each his own and I'm happy he recognized it as a great track. That's a great start!
I finished Rebirth about a month ago, and there were quite a few moments that made me really emotional, in particular Cosmo Canyon. Just waves of nostalgia, emotion, internal issues/experiences (especially around Seto and Nanaki). Hands down one of my top 5 games. Did the original justice
Birth of a God is totally on brand for an FF final boss theme if you've ever played one before. That's why One Winged Angel was so interesting at the time, because it was a fake out. We were in the end game, and fighting Sephiroth in a mutated alien form, and then BAM, his final form shows up and he descends from the heavens, gracefully, just to kick your ass with an amazing composition. Uematsu had done essentially the opposite before this with the Dancing Mad suite in FF6, which had the orchestral and classical elements throughout the entire encounter, ending with a crazy prog rock, organ fueled duel. In short, play more FF games lol
There is another contributor on the fakeout: Uematsu made a point to only use instrumental songs for the whole game, despite the game being on a CD, and having more than enough space/quality to use musics with vocals. Which isn't a big deal per se, it was standard for the time that RPG music would had no vocals. Then after you recover slightly from the shock of the second form of the final boss, you get his with ESTUANS INTERIUS IRA VEHEMENTI!
@@NibelungJ oh absolutely. The lyrics were a first for FF. There were albums that featured FF songs with vocals, such as Dear Friends FF5, FF Pray and Love Will Grow with Risa Ohki, but no game had featured any vocals. Unless Dream Oath Opera counts xD
This was a really fun video, would be cool to see a few more in the future. Recaps of games you play through, ranking your songs and ending up telling a story about how the game hit you in the process!
Yes! Top 5 for me, at the most. My other favorite soundtracks are probably (in random order): 1. Secret of Mana 2. Super Mario RPG, and NES Mario's 1-3 3. Metroid (NES) 4. Street Fighter II 5. Final Fantasy VIII and XV (don't worry, the other games in the series have spectacular soundtracks, too)
I love Mako reactor! My favorite part is the muted "tap tap tap tap tap" in the song. To me as a kid it sounds like a geiger counter. Like we're descending deeper upon a leaking nuclear facility. Everything is rusted and there is water everywhere, you know there isn't proper shielding down here. You can see the glow of the radiation as you go deeper. There is also this gothic element with the bells (like we're going to a grave) and it's sounds so BIG to symbolize this evil corporation in the background. It's honestly one of my most clear childhood memories.
First off, great video and great choices. Couple things: Aerith's theme sounding happier than you'd expect is because I believe Uematsu didn't know she would die. I believe he's said he would have made it sadder had he known but I think he struck the perfect balance. Here's a snippet of a quote I pulled from the Final Fantasy wiki "His intent was to write "a kind of sad but beautiful tune" that conveyed "she wasn’t a very happy character. She was really innocent and pure but had a tragic kind of life." I really think he theme encapsulates that really well, especially when it plays during the flashback of her past earlier in the game. Really shows what a difficult life she had yet always tried to be the positive one. Amazing character and theme. As for You Can Hear the Cry of Planet this song is also one of my favorites and design choices around it are genius I think. There are no encounters in the City of the Ancients where the theme plays. So the entire time you're hearing this theme playing while you're trying to get to Aerith before Sephiroth can, you're not getting into any random battles while this haunting and foreboding theme plays and you aren't sure why but you feel like something truly terrible is about to happen. This really was Square at their peak, so much magic came out in the era between FF6 and FF10
This is so perfect. There are a lot of music top lists on TH-cam, but the combination of an actual musician who just finished playing the game in question for the first time is really special. I do hope you'll make this a tradition. Thanks for the awesome content, Jesse!
I really love hearing you describe the songs. It's like there is a way to describe every feeling through music, and Nobuo did a great job communicating them. I love hearing explanations that explain the feelings of songs in a way that makes sense! Seriously great job
Listening to the remake version of the main theme for the first time brought tears to my eyes. After so many years, coming back to Midgar and Cloud opening the door and seeing friggin Midgar as you imagined it back then hits hard.
You can tell a game's soundtrack is amazing when you can clearly visualize the scenes the music is attached to. Just going through this list felt like a roller coaster of emotions for me. Literally teared up when we went from The Great Warrior to Aerith's theme. Maaaaan
On The Edge Of Despair is really underrated too :D That scene and everything. Loved your list btw! So many tracks people forget and easily some of the tracks I would put in too on my own list
I grew up with this game and this game literally taught me to read. The music in this game reaches such a deep level with me because I attribute the music to the strong emotions of the story. Nobuo eumatsu and ff7 taught me how to feel and this story is like the Bible to me. The music is the soundtrack to my life. Lol.
Very solid choices! One of my favorite things about Judgment Day is it includes the leitmotif of Aerith's theme. It's part of the swell right before the loop. Always reminds me of one of the key reasons we're here. Fun note about One Winged Angel: this was the first song in Final Fantasy **history** to include actual human vocals. They're compressed to hell and back, but there's actual words in those samples. The closest we've gotten before then was the opera from ff6 and Dancing Mad, but that's just a soundfont that consists of "oooooo". Since OTW, every Final Fantasy has had some kind of vocal song. FF8 has Eyes On Me and Liberi Fatali, FF9 has Melodies of Life (both in english and japanese!), 10 has Suteki Da Ne, etc.. I'm really glad you had so much fun and so much enjoyment from FF7. Can't wait to see what's next!
The amount of passion, energy, thought and love in this entire soundtrack as well as in your list, it truly is moving and wholesome, thank you Jesse, I'm really looking forward to you diving into the FF universe once again in the future, I know there's a few other FF games that picked your curiosity so..... can't wait ❤️❤️❤️
Amazing to hear someone so passionate about music, to the extent of playing an entire game to hear it in context! Really glad TH-cam showed me your channel
I am glad you included Staff Roll, I feel that is the most underrated song in the game. And I get that the song it's just the combination of all the other songs, but I felt the way they incorporated into the credits was brillant, because you can feel how every emotion we experienced through the story it's perfect encaspulated in this song, every single thing it's so purposeful .And it ends with FF main theme, and ties the whole thing together in nicle little bow. That was not just good, it was genius.
Cid's theme is my fav FF7 track and one of my all time FF tracks. A theme of inspiration, discipline, ambition, freedom and strength. Cid Highwind is my guy!!
I personally like that there is this hint of melancholy in it that pairs with a certain loss of purpose. Cid's biggest dream was being the astronaut for the space program, and the failure of it made Shinra abandon it, crushing what he felt like his only chance to realize it. When he finally makes it a reality later, you can feel the triumph in it, but before then, I always got this mournful quality that when paired with the very militaristic rhythm of it, felt like a funeral march to me. Such a wonderfully layered song.
"On Our Way" is so good, I've been listening to it a lot recently & unfortunately it didn't hit for me the first time. I played FF7 for the first time in 2021, and went right into Remake right after. The battle themes, victory fanfare, Aerith's theme, Tifa's theme, Cosmo Canyon etc. were all in my memory. Kalm's theme, Jenova's theme & Listen to the Cries of the Planet were not. Especially the last two. It wasn't until I played Rebirth and I was in Kalm that I stopped playing & found myself humming to the theme and realized my mind remembered how this song went. I listened to the Rebirth version & then searched the original, which immediately hit me. How did I not get hit the same way the first time through? No clue. Such a great song. "J-E-N-O-V-A" somehow slipped my memory, and it wasn't until I heard it multiple times in Rebirth that I decided to search up the original, and I couldn't recall it from my OG playthrough, even though obviously it would've played multiple times. "Cries of the Planet" similarily didn't hit me until I heard it in Rebirth, after which I went to look up the OG version and it's great. It's a shame these three tracks didn't make a big impact on me when I was playing the game in 2021, but at least I appreciate them now in 2024 and will continue to do so moving forward. They ain't leaving my memory now! (fingers crossed)
Great choice for number 1. The synth line sounds very 80’s sci-fi horror to me. Such a strong feeling of futility and despair (especially once you know what happens afterwards) but also a sense of mystery and contemplation.
Great list. My favorite underrated track is "Reunion". It's similar to Kalm in that it plays so briefly in-game that I think people miss out on how good it is.
Great video!! My personal list would be 20 Gold Saucer 19 Barrett’s Theme 18 Descendant Of Shinobi 17 The Oppressed 16 Prelude 15 Those Chosen By The Planet 14 Victory Fanfare 13 The Shinra Corporation 12 Electric De Chocobo 11 Main Theme Of Final Fantasy VII 10 Underneath The Rotting Pizza 9 Cosmo Canyon 8 Those Who Fight 7 Tifa’s Theme 6 Birth Of A God 5 Opening, Bombing Mission 4 Those Who Fight Further 3 One Winged Angel 2 J-E-N-O-V-A 1 Aerith’s Theme
I actually beat the original game today for the first time. Very good game and it makes me even more excited for the remake. Especially the music, I love what they did with Yuffie’s theme in particular so I’m excited to see the rest of the characters themes.
City of the Ancients theme is unbeatable. Etched in time and space as the ultimate masterpiece in video game OST history. Second for me is the Wutai theme song. Third is Cosmo Canyon. Those were the three that hit the hardest for me. Wutai’s is up there because I loooove Yuffie, Doom of the Living is my favorite limit break in the game, and Yuffie reminds me of the little brat sister I never had. Her hometown theme song is an absolute BANGER!
You put so much of how I've always felt about this soundtrack into words, almost exactly. Especially in regards to Cid's themes, The Great Warrior, Cosmo Canyon, Main Theme, and Ahead On Our Way. I've always loved that song and was a little sad it's often overlooked. Great video.
Those Chosen by the Planet really brings chills to my spine everytime I load up the Nibelheim Flashback. So underrate as a theme but the amount of horror elements in there gets it in my top 10, 100%.
"You can hear the cry of the planet" is my favorite too. The version by Enrico Deiana has kind of replaced the original as my go-to version. Jenova theme is my ringtone, the OJV orchestra version.
Having the old school PC version, with the soundblaster audigy soundcard, computer surround sound, and the house to yourself as a 13/14 year old made this my FAVORITE RPG!! Ahead on our way, Snow Theme, and Reunion is so underrated.
Great work going into detail like that. My personal number 1 is the main theme, and I was lucky enough to hear it being played live by an orchestra in 2018. I literally cried all the way through the song! So beautiful to experience in a grand scale like that!
The Nibelheim Theme, the song that plays when Cait Sith sacrifices himself in the Temple of the Ancients, and Bugenhagen’s planetarium theme are all top ten for me!
I have to completely agree with with Cries of the planet being #1, it really did feel so different from everything else in the game, and it made you seriously feel the atmosphere at that point in the game. Awesome list!
To pick a favorite is impossible. God damn I love this OST. Nobuo is a god of music hiding in a man's body. But here are some of my stand outs, not in any particular order., Prelude, Main Theme, Cosmo Canyon, j-e-n-o-v-a, Birth of a God, O.W.A. Staff Roll. Too many of these songs can bring a tear to my eye every time. And I can't believe they captured that with Hollow as well. I could honestly never stop talking about this music, but I better because it's sleep time.
My top 5: Aerith's Theme. To this day, 25 years later, I can't help but tear up when I think of it. As you said, such a happy theme but it evokes a morose feeling like none other. Cid's theme: it has a crossroads type of feeling. You can hear the march of progress in his goals, but I like to imagine the higher brass being his feelings for Shera, and how her survival was bittersweet for them because she caused his dreams to fizzle. If she hadn't, though, the party likely wouldn't have met Cid. Mark Of A Traitor (North Corel): Where Barret's story comes ahead, I appreciate how it incorporated his theme but in a more somber and worried tone. It completely shuts out Barret's bombastic nature by being a desolate town with little hope. You can tell this is a place he cares not to come back to, but of course he has to. Main Theme of FF7: An actual work of art. Not much else to say. Birth of a God: Uematsu loves his organs, as he played keyboard in a band for a long time. It's cool when he goes ham on his prog rock roots and influences, I feel like he was in his element here.
Pretty much the same as yours Jesse, though I would rate Tifas Theme and the Weapon Raid Theme on my top 20. The problem with this game is that there are so many Banger Songs, it's hard to rank them. FF6 is the same way, Banger after Banger. Cyan's Theme is kinda like it's Cosmo Canyon Theme. Similar feelings with both.
Can you hear the cries of the planet is something that FF titles actually tend to indulge into a lot when reaching memorable sections of the game, especially FF9 with at least two of those similar vibe themes ("Terra" and "Memoria"), and chrono cross ("Dead Sea"). It's usually meant to be very emotional and accompanying various things and feelings that congregate right there and dawn upon you.
On Our Way is a song that I actually played on piano for a small concert for my grandmother, who took the midi file and made it into sheet music so she could teach me. Though, I cannot read sheet music for the life of me, so I had to memorize it by sound and muscle memory, but it still holds a soft spot in my heart despite not playing it in years. Launching a Dream Into Space is also another hard hitting song for me, as I had it playing during a point in my life where I stood up to a shitty uncle for the first time ever--it was a very relaxing melody to listen to after all the chaos that took place before and I still feel that comfort even to this day. Honestly, I don't think there is a bad FF7 song, though if I had to pick one I don't like, it'd be Sephiroth's Theme. XD
Im a massive fan of the OG “listen to the cries of the planet”, and it’s remake counterpart “seven seconds till the end”, and I was pleasantly surprised to see you put that song on such high regards. Like you said, the song has so many layers that when you stop to analyze it, it becomes a better experience as a whole. Solid picks, great stuff.
Aerith's Theme is happy as all your memories with her. She is cheerful supportive playful and makes even the moody Cloud happy. And I believe it is indeed made like that in contrast to what happens later on and it is full of nostalgia of the time spent together. I love it maybe the most but it is probably not the song but Aerith that gives it such a unique place in my heart.
One day, Jesse, you will play through FFs 6, 8, 9, and 10 (At least those) and you can fall in love with those full OSTs. 4 is also a good OST. Also, the new FF16 trailer came out to day, and Soken is the lead composer for that. That might be worth being your worth play through with a New FF game to experience that with the community. But I also respect you can't play every FF game and you don't have the time... but those are some future suggestions for content to consider.
Great list! I have to agree with your number one. This track is just on another level. It stand out so much from the rest. It's hauntingly beautiful. I love the rendition they made of if for Remake to with "Seven seconds till the end", I literally started crying the first time I saw the Edge of Creation cutscene. This song is so engraved in me. I hope we'll hear it more in the next part of the trilogy.
Its nice to learn more about exactly why I loved these tracks and also see somebody feel the same way. Thanks for all of your uploads, and all the work involved
Dear To The Heart is easily Top 3 for me. It might seem like a variation of the world theme, but it’s so much more and really tugging on your heartstrings. This version by Pontus Hultgren is amazing: th-cam.com/video/dzrwHrfTPJw/w-d-xo.html
13:42 Playing the song on the boss fight after Aeris died was so impactful. One song I'd like to mention (in my opinion) that stands out is Dear to the heart - this song normally plays around the train tracks heading to Junon.
Birth of a God has to be one of my top faves since learning that Bizarro Sephiroth's JP name is "Rebirth Sephiroth", which makes the song title make more sense as the penultimate boss prior to Seraph Sephiroth. Those Chosen By the Planet - Sephiroth's actual theme, (One Winged Angel belonging to the final boss version of Sephiroth), is another fave for just how ominous it sounds. Even when it's just the bass drum heart beat with the intermittent bell gong (forget the name of the actual instrument) in the Shinra Mansion, it just exudes dread. Listen to the Cries of the Planet - Definitely my fave song of the OST. For me this song has always had a morose and unsettling vibe to it, especially knowing that it plays in the City of the Ancients, a race of people who've basically been wiped from the face of the planet. So it definitely has that melancholic feel as you're basically going through what is essentially the mausoleum of the Ancients, a city devoid of life, frozen in time as you get to go through and witness a piece of history. By far one of the best OSTs that I have no qualms listening to front to back. So good.
loveee your analysis of each of the tracks, solid list!! not sure if this one counts, but personally i think the staff roll/ending credits theme is super underrated--i also just like to say that one's my favorite because it encapsulates the 'quintessential' motifs from the rest of ffvii's soundtrack while introducing a completely new melody but with the familiar calming instrumentation from on our way or the music box-y section from the main theme. and the transition into the main theme of all the final fantasy games is really really cool
You can hear the cries of the planet es mi melodia favorita de toda la vida. No hablo ingles pero entiendo la mayoria de lo que dices y tu top es espectacular. Espero pongas subtitulos en español. Mucha gente sigue estos videos. Saludos!!!
Great list! It's so hecking difficult to rank Final Fantasy songs, I've tried too. 😂 I definitely knew what your #1 was going to be after watching the playthrough and I've seen your first reaction to it multiple times - I loved how mindblown you were 😂 I really liked the song already but after your observations I like it even more. Like the bells for example. I've noticed them before, but didn't really think of them like that. Menacing!
I love that you often point out which headphone a particular sound is coming from. The position of the instruments in the stereo field, and the effect of that, is often overlooked in analysis, and something casual listeners usually don't think about at all, but it can have a huge impact on how we perceive the music.
All great tracks, and great description/explanation! But for me the whole OST is a masterpiece, and there are so many more tracks that are exceptional, all throughout the game. One that strikes me as an absolute gem that's not present here is "Secrets Sleeping in the Deep Sea". It's very amazing, dream-like, very jrpg but it has the stature to be classical music masterpiece in itself. It gives a feeling of nostalgia, childhood and adventure.
Interesting and unexpected choice for #1! One of my favorite aspects of your videos is how you explain the narrative elements of a track's composition I never realized. Music really can tell a story.
Great analysis of the cry of the planet! What you mentioned about the bells as a foreshadowing of what is going to happen is so true, I never looked at it this way.
I remember getting this for christmas dec 24 1997 (we celebrate the 24th here in sweden) and the intro will always be my favorite, that CGI trailer blew me AWAY as a kid. It goes from this epic presentation theme to "in your face" pace as the train stops and your team jumps out and commence the assault!
I was wondering what you thought about "On the other side of the mountain". That's another song that only plays the one time: When Tifa is inside Cloud's memories and remembers the day her mother died. I think it is one of the most underrated songs.
Another thing related to 'Listen to the cry of the planet', there is a parallel to the title presented to us the audience when watching the film Advent Children. At the same location, we are made to hear the 'cry' from the gang, voicemails/ calls Cloud never picked up, of which Aerith answered to.
At first I was like "One Winged Angel" isn't 1st, but then when you revealed your number 1 I immediately actually agreed. It's not always at the front of people's minds like "One Winged Angel", but it is a perfect track.
Might be something you’ve already heard, but an interesting thing about Aeriths theme is that the writers didnt tell Uematsu that Aerith would die and only told him about her hopeful character.
I thought I just want to share this random story about your # 1 music for FF7. One time I was cycling during sunset while listening to FF7 OST with my earbuds, then the song "Listen to the Cries of the Planet" suddenly played at the perfect time and place. I was surrounded by trees, feeling the light breeze in the air, looking at the sun setting on the horizon while cruising at the pavement trail. I felt like I was being connected to something and I also started thinking about my Mom during that moment. There is something Earthly and Motherly about the song.
Your comment on the main theme is interesting. I think of it in the opposite sense, so to speak. The main theme, in my mind/ear, draws upon the other songs to make it what it is. As if it is a reference or homage of the other themes, or at least that is how I have always heard it. The characters and places make up the world, and thus the world's theme is made up of them, if you want to be a little poetic. I enjoyed the breakdown of the songs. I don't know much about the technical/academic side of music, so having you break the songs down and point out specific motifs and such is really interesting. It has been great watching you experience the game and its music, as well as the other video game music you have listened to! Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you Jesse for this excellent video! It shows how much time and effort you put into it, and we appreciate that! Trying to think of a top 20 FF7 songs list of my own is truly a daunting thought, and I am not sure which songs would make the cut on mine.. but I've always loved the Wutai song and Shinra Corporation theme.
Great list dude . I was surprised by the omision of "prelude" and "tifa's theme". I think they would make most peoples top 20, but like you said everyone has their taste. Having "crys of the planet" as 1st is a great call.
Fantastic review Jessie! Very interesting insights! Can't wait for ya to continue the journey with Nobuo, it's amazing how much more you have to discover and enjoy :)
So glad I took the time to watch this. As a longtime musician myself (guitarist 18 years) I get the same excitement when analyzing the emotion and intent behind certain songs. This is obviously my favorite soundtrack on any medium and to pick a top 20 is a task. Aside from Chasing the black caped man missing, I largely agree with your list and agree with your #1. FF7 is an iconic game outside the music, but it’s the music that truly makes it iconic. Well done on the guitar cover too, making me want to try covering these!
The Music in FF7 really takes you along for the ride. After "The Moment" scene, the music gets all depressing/moody and STAYS this way all the way almost until you are reunited with cloud much, much later in the airship. Also Aerith's theme plays fully I believe when Aerith's foster mom tells you all the back story before you go and rescue her... I didn't remember that it played there until I did like my second playthru. Another good thing of note, the overworld theme is so long, you never hear it fully unless you set down the controller and just listen, but when you learn the truth about cloud that theme is masterfully played as a BGM to the whole scene and really culminated with the "AH - HA !" moment. All and all very very good. I feel they tried redoing this in FF9 and failed abysmally (well except with Freya scenes and maybe the Terra scene), FF10 was better at this afterwards... But honestly I think FF7 got it better of all FF single player games so far (Tho I stopped at 13). Awesome vid, thanks !
Loved your remake and OG ff7 playthroughs. I'm early in the live stream and people are talking Anxious Hearts in chat but I don't know what your ranking is as I'm watching from the beginning. My top choices are. 1. Anxious Hearts. So haunting and beautiful. I adore the chimes in the middle and associate them with Nibelheim. It really captures the sadder moments of FF7. I legit started to tear up when I heard it in Remake with the flashback to kid Tifa and that heavy heavy base that dropped with the strings. They lightly used the song in part one as I hope they are saving their amazing mixes for part 2. 2. Lifestream - Underrated song. It plays in Bugenhagen's observatory. I had a GeoCities ff7 fansite back in the day and had a mp3 of it play in the background when that was a common thing with websites. I used to fall asleep to that song running on my PS1 after visiting it with Cloud. 3. Those Chosen by the Planet. This is Sephiroth's true theme song. It gets forgotten due to One-Winged Angel but the heartbeat and how it plays into the Nibelheim flashback is amazing. The line "Sephiroth seems different" is horror-level tension followed by "I'm going to see my mother" just as the choir chimes in. 4. City of the Ancients. The wonder and anxiety this song brings is something else. The location it plays doesn't have random boss encounters so you can just explore the dried-up ocean floor and its beautiful notical-themed structures without interruptions. It feels like MYST did back in the day. 5. Main Theme (Clouds Theme). Iconic and so melancholy. At first, it seems odd to have this be the theme of a cool anime hero but the big twist is how Cloud has far more emotional depth than you thought and then far more emotional depth than his cast mates and then far more depth than any other RPG hero we had seen so far and maybe since. Special mentions. Aerith's theme and the piano riff and orchestra that plays when the lifestream bursts out of the ground in the ending cinematic. Gets me every time.
Very nice! I'd add "Dear to the heart" (aka "holding my thoughts in my heart") alongside with "Ahead on our way" as the most nostalgic songs of the game. Just fills me with good vibes!
For me the Opening, Prelude is top 5. It starts so simple, just a couple of notes there. it gets more and more complex, more and more "layers" of instruments and notes... just like the game. Also, it hits me like an invite to play again, almost like the composer was talking to me "Come, join us the adventure once again".
Excellent first choice. Its definitely one of my favorites. I stopped and let it play for a long time when i first heard it back in the day and never forgot it
Number 1 gave me this sensation of Foreboding, ancient beyond imagination and Finding beuty in something you dont understand, old, lost language, lose people yet still in ignorance appreciating something utterly beutiful.
Hearing your thoughts was really fun, especially when you pointed out music theory parts (like D-minor and D-Major with respect to Aerith's theme and the City of the Ancients). If you ever have time, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the song Lifestream (I think that's the name) that plays whenever you're in Bugenhagen's observatory. It was always one of my favorites! Fantastic stuff, as always, my friend!
23:30 i love the jenova song, it sounds both alien and demonic at the same time, it has an amazing rollercoaster of emotions, like Jesse says, the "heroic" theme sort of gives you that glimmer of hope :)
Ordinarily I’d joke that not putting “One-Winged Angel” at #1 is heresy, but “Listen to the Cries of the Planet” is also my favorite track on the OST. …unless we include Advent Children because THAT version of One-Winged Angel is one of my favorite songs ever
Aerith’s Theme holds a very heavy weight in my heart. My first play through of this game had the unfortunate passing of my sister, who was only a couple months old. Shortly after I got this moment and this theme and it’s stuck with me ever since. 25 years later, still hurts. But I can’t help but listen to it
I never actually thought of Aeris' theme as "happy" particularly at that moment as you're fighting Jenova life. I now realise the emotion of the scene colours the emotions of the theme, the game's event manipulates you into interpreting the theme itself as "sad sounding" (for lack of better term).
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Me reacting to the #1 song! (time stamped)
th-cam.com/video/tOF7_gIzfIU/w-d-xo.html
I commented before on another of your vids - you used Cry of the Planet during the intro and it gave me goosebumps lol
That song sounds like something out of Metroid I love it.
Its my favorite
Same. Exact same
I am so glad that my favorite is also yours; good taste my man!
Listen to the cries of the planet's best thing is that the area doesn't have random encounters, so the feeling/moment doesn't get lost
Never even thought about that!
I'm pretty sure there are; each screen is quite small so it's probably just very unlikely - and that,too, might well have been intentional. I like to think so. This song is definitely up there for me, too.
3. One-Winged Angel / Airbuster
2. Listen to the Cries of the Planet
1. Words Drowned by Fireworks
My #1 is there mostly because of the second time you hear it, it's the happiest moment in the game: Cloud's been found! He IS alive! You sorta knew it, but couldn't be sure bc important people dying seems to be a thing in this game. You were a little bit afraid, so now you're very happy. Then... it turns out he's mentally "somewhere far away, all alone" and the music is the saddest thing in the world. But Words Drowned by Fireworks still reminds of that happy feeling, along with some tender sadness. Applicable to feelings about the world. It helps me calm down and reload emotionally, either when coming home or going to work.
AND it's got the lovely thematic pick from the main theme (I like to think of it as Cloud's theme, used when the truth is revealed
Gotta mention also that the version I listen to is TeamFourStar's Words Drowned by Fireworks, it's on Tidal which is great!
EXACTLY
Yes this song has such an emotional build up to it...
What a moment in gaming when you finish off Sephiroth and think you won. The screen goes dark. And then “One Winged Angel” starts to play. Your hands are getting sweaty on the controller. Why is *this* song playing?! He’s… he’s not dead. In fact he’s more powerful than ever…
Your number 1 pick is extremely sublime and an excellent choice for the number 1 slot. It evokes intrigue, doom, and the peace of the end all at once.
Aerith's Theme will always be #1 in my heart. It's such an amazing melancholic piece.
I think Aeriths theme and the Main theme are the only ones I would consider for the number 1 slot, with One Winged Angel right behind
Solid stuff. When I first heard that theme playing during Cloud and Sephiroth's last cutscene in Remake I think I audibly gasped when I made the realization. One of the best OSTs to ever be composed.
It's such a good song like the jaws song once you hear one winged angel you know you are fighting sephirot.
He’s talking about the edge of creation is the same song as city of the ancients
dude but did you hear The promised land from Advent Children? that really blew my mind first time. such a huge spoiler to the end of remake.
I LOVE You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet/Listen to the Cries of the Planet. It only shows up once so it's easy to forget but it's one of those tunes that you hear it again and you are IMMEDIATELY back at that moment when you first heard it.
My dude. We share the same number 1. I feel like it’s relatively underrated, too, so it’s so refreshing to see you have so much praise for it!
Something I’m not sure anyone shares with me, but makes such a big impact on me with music, is sleep. I’ve got narcolepsy, so I can fall asleep easily, and wake up just as easily- with a lot of time spent between both. The space between sleep and wake is called hypnogogia/hypnopompia. To my point, it’s got an almost indescribable feel to it, where your senses are all the input your brain has. There’s no thought, no emotion. I used to listen to this soundtrack on CD, on long car trips when I was a kid. I’d inevitably fall asleep, and be in and out throughout. I’ll never forget the way I felt the first time I truly heard this song. It struck me in the process of exiting hypnopompia, and all I knew in those precious seconds were that intro synth. Then the building. The bell. As I gained awareness of where I was, and everything around me, that initial feeling where the only thing in the world was the music never left. It comes back every time I hear this song in headphones, and it’s fucking magical.
That's almost how the song makes me feel, and I don't even have the same background with it. It just captivates me and sweeps my senses up on it when I hear it in headphones. The world stops.
I assumed after I saw your reaction to "You Can Hear the Cry of the Planet" it would be your number 1. Its definitely my top 3. Anxious Heart is up there too.
Anxious hearts is so overlooked it annoys me
Agreed. I really wish Anxious Hearts had made the actual list because to me it's so hauntingly beautiful, but to each his own and I'm happy he recognized it as a great track. That's a great start!
Brother. The nostalgia this video brings hits so hard it legit made me cry. Well done
I finished Rebirth about a month ago, and there were quite a few moments that made me really emotional, in particular Cosmo Canyon. Just waves of nostalgia, emotion, internal issues/experiences (especially around Seto and Nanaki). Hands down one of my top 5 games. Did the original justice
Birth of a God is totally on brand for an FF final boss theme if you've ever played one before. That's why One Winged Angel was so interesting at the time, because it was a fake out. We were in the end game, and fighting Sephiroth in a mutated alien form, and then BAM, his final form shows up and he descends from the heavens, gracefully, just to kick your ass with an amazing composition. Uematsu had done essentially the opposite before this with the Dancing Mad suite in FF6, which had the orchestral and classical elements throughout the entire encounter, ending with a crazy prog rock, organ fueled duel. In short, play more FF games lol
There is another contributor on the fakeout: Uematsu made a point to only use instrumental songs for the whole game, despite the game being on a CD, and having more than enough space/quality to use musics with vocals. Which isn't a big deal per se, it was standard for the time that RPG music would had no vocals. Then after you recover slightly from the shock of the second form of the final boss, you get his with ESTUANS INTERIUS IRA VEHEMENTI!
@@NibelungJ oh absolutely. The lyrics were a first for FF. There were albums that featured FF songs with vocals, such as Dear Friends FF5, FF Pray and Love Will Grow with Risa Ohki, but no game had featured any vocals. Unless Dream Oath Opera counts xD
Any reason to play MORE Final Fantasy is automatically a good one, lol!
I hoped that Cries of the planet, my personal favotire song, would be here, and needless to say, I wasn't dissapointed at all.
We're in that landscape together whenever any of us think of that song.
This was a really fun video, would be cool to see a few more in the future. Recaps of games you play through, ranking your songs and ending up telling a story about how the game hit you in the process!
If the people want it! I just did this for fun as gift since the community showed me this game.
@@JessesAuditorium This was such a great video!
As far as the music goes, the FF7 soundtrack has to be top 10 all time in gaming.
Top 3, imo.
Agreed, alongside ocarina of time
*Top 5 🙏
Yes! Top 5 for me, at the most.
My other favorite soundtracks are probably (in random order):
1. Secret of Mana
2. Super Mario RPG, and NES Mario's 1-3
3. Metroid (NES)
4. Street Fighter II
5. Final Fantasy VIII and XV (don't worry, the other games in the series have spectacular soundtracks, too)
Agreed
I love Mako reactor! My favorite part is the muted "tap tap tap tap tap" in the song. To me as a kid it sounds like a geiger counter. Like we're descending deeper upon a leaking nuclear facility. Everything is rusted and there is water everywhere, you know there isn't proper shielding down here. You can see the glow of the radiation as you go deeper. There is also this gothic element with the bells (like we're going to a grave) and it's sounds so BIG to symbolize this evil corporation in the background. It's honestly one of my most clear childhood memories.
First off, great video and great choices. Couple things: Aerith's theme sounding happier than you'd expect is because I believe Uematsu didn't know she would die. I believe he's said he would have made it sadder had he known but I think he struck the perfect balance. Here's a snippet of a quote I pulled from the Final Fantasy wiki "His intent was to write "a kind of sad but beautiful tune" that conveyed "she wasn’t a very happy character. She was really innocent and pure but had a tragic kind of life." I really think he theme encapsulates that really well, especially when it plays during the flashback of her past earlier in the game. Really shows what a difficult life she had yet always tried to be the positive one. Amazing character and theme.
As for You Can Hear the Cry of Planet this song is also one of my favorites and design choices around it are genius I think. There are no encounters in the City of the Ancients where the theme plays. So the entire time you're hearing this theme playing while you're trying to get to Aerith before Sephiroth can, you're not getting into any random battles while this haunting and foreboding theme plays and you aren't sure why but you feel like something truly terrible is about to happen. This really was Square at their peak, so much magic came out in the era between FF6 and FF10
This is so perfect. There are a lot of music top lists on TH-cam, but the combination of an actual musician who just finished playing the game in question for the first time is really special. I do hope you'll make this a tradition. Thanks for the awesome content, Jesse!
I really love hearing you describe the songs. It's like there is a way to describe every feeling through music, and Nobuo did a great job communicating them. I love hearing explanations that explain the feelings of songs in a way that makes sense! Seriously great job
Listening to the remake version of the main theme for the first time brought tears to my eyes. After so many years, coming back to Midgar and Cloud opening the door and seeing friggin Midgar as you imagined it back then hits hard.
You can tell a game's soundtrack is amazing when you can clearly visualize the scenes the music is attached to. Just going through this list felt like a roller coaster of emotions for me. Literally teared up when we went from The Great Warrior to Aerith's theme. Maaaaan
On The Edge Of Despair is really underrated too :D That scene and everything. Loved your list btw! So many tracks people forget and easily some of the tracks I would put in too on my own list
I grew up with this game and this game literally taught me to read. The music in this game reaches such a deep level with me because I attribute the music to the strong emotions of the story. Nobuo eumatsu and ff7 taught me how to feel and this story is like the Bible to me. The music is the soundtrack to my life. Lol.
Very solid choices! One of my favorite things about Judgment Day is it includes the leitmotif of Aerith's theme. It's part of the swell right before the loop. Always reminds me of one of the key reasons we're here.
Fun note about One Winged Angel: this was the first song in Final Fantasy **history** to include actual human vocals. They're compressed to hell and back, but there's actual words in those samples. The closest we've gotten before then was the opera from ff6 and Dancing Mad, but that's just a soundfont that consists of "oooooo". Since OTW, every Final Fantasy has had some kind of vocal song. FF8 has Eyes On Me and Liberi Fatali, FF9 has Melodies of Life (both in english and japanese!), 10 has Suteki Da Ne, etc..
I'm really glad you had so much fun and so much enjoyment from FF7. Can't wait to see what's next!
The amount of passion, energy, thought and love in this entire soundtrack as well as in your list, it truly is moving and wholesome, thank you Jesse, I'm really looking forward to you diving into the FF universe once again in the future, I know there's a few other FF games that picked your curiosity so..... can't wait ❤️❤️❤️
Amazing to hear someone so passionate about music, to the extent of playing an entire game to hear it in context! Really glad TH-cam showed me your channel
I am glad you included Staff Roll, I feel that is the most underrated song in the game. And I get that the song it's just the combination of all the other songs, but I felt the way they incorporated into the credits was brillant, because you can feel how every emotion we experienced through the story it's perfect encaspulated in this song, every single thing it's so purposeful .And it ends with FF main theme, and ties the whole thing together in nicle little bow. That was not just good, it was genius.
As far as painting the right atmosphere for the scene "Can you hear the cries of the planet" is absolute GOD TIER in VGM history.
Cid's theme is my fav FF7 track and one of my all time FF tracks. A theme of inspiration, discipline, ambition, freedom and strength. Cid Highwind is my guy!!
Totally agree!
Totally agree!
I personally like that there is this hint of melancholy in it that pairs with a certain loss of purpose. Cid's biggest dream was being the astronaut for the space program, and the failure of it made Shinra abandon it, crushing what he felt like his only chance to realize it. When he finally makes it a reality later, you can feel the triumph in it, but before then, I always got this mournful quality that when paired with the very militaristic rhythm of it, felt like a funeral march to me. Such a wonderfully layered song.
"On Our Way" is so good, I've been listening to it a lot recently & unfortunately it didn't hit for me the first time. I played FF7 for the first time in 2021, and went right into Remake right after. The battle themes, victory fanfare, Aerith's theme, Tifa's theme, Cosmo Canyon etc. were all in my memory. Kalm's theme, Jenova's theme & Listen to the Cries of the Planet were not. Especially the last two. It wasn't until I played Rebirth and I was in Kalm that I stopped playing & found myself humming to the theme and realized my mind remembered how this song went. I listened to the Rebirth version & then searched the original, which immediately hit me. How did I not get hit the same way the first time through? No clue. Such a great song.
"J-E-N-O-V-A" somehow slipped my memory, and it wasn't until I heard it multiple times in Rebirth that I decided to search up the original, and I couldn't recall it from my OG playthrough, even though obviously it would've played multiple times. "Cries of the Planet" similarily didn't hit me until I heard it in Rebirth, after which I went to look up the OG version and it's great. It's a shame these three tracks didn't make a big impact on me when I was playing the game in 2021, but at least I appreciate them now in 2024 and will continue to do so moving forward. They ain't leaving my memory now! (fingers crossed)
What makes Ahead on our Way so great to me is the bass. So powerful.
Great choice for number 1. The synth line sounds very 80’s sci-fi horror to me. Such a strong feeling of futility and despair (especially once you know what happens afterwards) but also a sense of mystery and contemplation.
I'm glad you liked Kalm's theme. Wait till you here Dali Village from Final Fantasy 9.
Great list. My favorite underrated track is "Reunion". It's similar to Kalm in that it plays so briefly in-game that I think people miss out on how good it is.
Same.
OMG I’ve never heard anyone else mention this song but it’s hands down the most underrated track in the game
Reunion is a marterpiece, buried in snow too.
As a kid back in the 90s, I was always obsessed with Crazy Motorcycle.
That song is great
Great video!! My personal list would be
20 Gold Saucer
19 Barrett’s Theme
18 Descendant Of Shinobi
17 The Oppressed
16 Prelude
15 Those Chosen By The Planet
14 Victory Fanfare
13 The Shinra Corporation
12 Electric De Chocobo
11 Main Theme Of Final Fantasy VII
10 Underneath The Rotting Pizza
9 Cosmo Canyon
8 Those Who Fight
7 Tifa’s Theme
6 Birth Of A God
5 Opening, Bombing Mission
4 Those Who Fight Further
3 One Winged Angel
2 J-E-N-O-V-A
1 Aerith’s Theme
Ahh I LOVE your number one choice! Very unexpected, super underrated track. Really enjoyed how you broke down what makes each track brilliant too.
I actually beat the original game today for the first time. Very good game and it makes me even more excited for the remake. Especially the music, I love what they did with Yuffie’s theme in particular so I’m excited to see the rest of the characters themes.
City of the Ancients theme is unbeatable. Etched in time and space as the ultimate masterpiece in video game OST history.
Second for me is the Wutai theme song.
Third is Cosmo Canyon.
Those were the three that hit the hardest for me.
Wutai’s is up there because I loooove Yuffie, Doom of the Living is my favorite limit break in the game, and Yuffie reminds me of the little brat sister I never had. Her hometown theme song is an absolute BANGER!
Perfect OST, a masterpiece.
Hear, hear!
Yeah this is great! I love the personal feelings crossed with a more critical and expert examination of this music to someone newer to the game
You put so much of how I've always felt about this soundtrack into words, almost exactly. Especially in regards to Cid's themes, The Great Warrior, Cosmo Canyon, Main Theme, and Ahead On Our Way. I've always loved that song and was a little sad it's often overlooked. Great video.
Those Chosen by the Planet really brings chills to my spine everytime I load up the Nibelheim Flashback. So underrate as a theme but the amount of horror elements in there gets it in my top 10, 100%.
"You can hear the cry of the planet" is my favorite too. The version by Enrico Deiana has kind of replaced the original as my go-to version.
Jenova theme is my ringtone, the OJV orchestra version.
Having the old school PC version, with the soundblaster audigy soundcard, computer surround sound, and the house to yourself as a 13/14 year old made this my FAVORITE RPG!! Ahead on our way, Snow Theme, and Reunion is so underrated.
Great work going into detail like that. My personal number 1 is the main theme, and I was lucky enough to hear it being played live by an orchestra in 2018. I literally cried all the way through the song! So beautiful to experience in a grand scale like that!
Just discovered you today, and I appreciate you mate. You're making our world just a bit brighter, and thats what it's all about.
The Nibelheim Theme, the song that plays when Cait Sith sacrifices himself in the Temple of the Ancients, and Bugenhagen’s planetarium theme are all top ten for me!
I have to completely agree with with Cries of the planet being #1, it really did feel so different from everything else in the game, and it made you seriously feel the atmosphere at that point in the game. Awesome list!
Amazing video jesse, my favorite game and soundtrack easily of all time
What are you favorite songs in FFVII and why?
The opening bombing mission theme always gets me hyped to play the game again
Pretty close between Weapon Raid and The Nightmare Begins(Van Gogh(Vincents) Theme.)
To pick a favorite is impossible. God damn I love this OST. Nobuo is a god of music hiding in a man's body.
But here are some of my stand outs, not in any particular order., Prelude, Main Theme, Cosmo Canyon, j-e-n-o-v-a, Birth of a God, O.W.A. Staff Roll.
Too many of these songs can bring a tear to my eye every time. And I can't believe they captured that with Hollow as well. I could honestly never stop talking about this music, but I better because it's sleep time.
My top 5: Aerith's Theme. To this day, 25 years later, I can't help but tear up when I think of it. As you said, such a happy theme but it evokes a morose feeling like none other.
Cid's theme: it has a crossroads type of feeling. You can hear the march of progress in his goals, but I like to imagine the higher brass being his feelings for Shera, and how her survival was bittersweet for them because she caused his dreams to fizzle. If she hadn't, though, the party likely wouldn't have met Cid.
Mark Of A Traitor (North Corel): Where Barret's story comes ahead, I appreciate how it incorporated his theme but in a more somber and worried tone. It completely shuts out Barret's bombastic nature by being a desolate town with little hope. You can tell this is a place he cares not to come back to, but of course he has to.
Main Theme of FF7: An actual work of art. Not much else to say.
Birth of a God: Uematsu loves his organs, as he played keyboard in a band for a long time. It's cool when he goes ham on his prog rock roots and influences, I feel like he was in his element here.
Pretty much the same as yours Jesse, though I would rate Tifas Theme and the Weapon Raid Theme on my top 20.
The problem with this game is that there are so many Banger Songs, it's hard to rank them.
FF6 is the same way, Banger after Banger. Cyan's Theme is kinda like it's Cosmo Canyon Theme. Similar feelings with both.
Can you hear the cries of the planet is something that FF titles actually tend to indulge into a lot when reaching memorable sections of the game, especially FF9 with at least two of those similar vibe themes ("Terra" and "Memoria"), and chrono cross ("Dead Sea"). It's usually meant to be very emotional and accompanying various things and feelings that congregate right there and dawn upon you.
On Our Way is a song that I actually played on piano for a small concert for my grandmother, who took the midi file and made it into sheet music so she could teach me. Though, I cannot read sheet music for the life of me, so I had to memorize it by sound and muscle memory, but it still holds a soft spot in my heart despite not playing it in years.
Launching a Dream Into Space is also another hard hitting song for me, as I had it playing during a point in my life where I stood up to a shitty uncle for the first time ever--it was a very relaxing melody to listen to after all the chaos that took place before and I still feel that comfort even to this day.
Honestly, I don't think there is a bad FF7 song, though if I had to pick one I don't like, it'd be Sephiroth's Theme. XD
Im a massive fan of the OG “listen to the cries of the planet”, and it’s remake counterpart “seven seconds till the end”, and I was pleasantly surprised to see you put that song on such high regards. Like you said, the song has so many layers that when you stop to analyze it, it becomes a better experience as a whole. Solid picks, great stuff.
Aerith's Theme is happy as all your memories with her. She is cheerful supportive playful and makes even the moody Cloud happy. And I believe it is indeed made like that in contrast to what happens later on and it is full of nostalgia of the time spent together. I love it maybe the most but it is probably not the song but Aerith that gives it such a unique place in my heart.
One day, Jesse, you will play through FFs 6, 8, 9, and 10 (At least those) and you can fall in love with those full OSTs. 4 is also a good OST. Also, the new FF16 trailer came out to day, and Soken is the lead composer for that. That might be worth being your worth play through with a New FF game to experience that with the community. But I also respect you can't play every FF game and you don't have the time... but those are some future suggestions for content to consider.
Actually even 5 is a good OST
Great list!
I have to agree with your number one.
This track is just on another level. It stand out so much from the rest. It's hauntingly beautiful.
I love the rendition they made of if for Remake to with "Seven seconds till the end", I literally started crying the first time I saw the Edge of Creation cutscene. This song is so engraved in me.
I hope we'll hear it more in the next part of the trilogy.
Its nice to learn more about exactly why I loved these tracks and also see somebody feel the same way. Thanks for all of your uploads, and all the work involved
In my opinion the most underrated and best themes in this game are:
(Words Drowned by Fireworks)
and
(Dear to the Heart).
Oh my god Words Drowned by Fireworks is so good!
Great picks, I love Dear to the Heart
Dear To The Heart is easily Top 3 for me. It might seem like a variation of the world theme, but it’s so much more and really tugging on your heartstrings.
This version by Pontus Hultgren is amazing: th-cam.com/video/dzrwHrfTPJw/w-d-xo.html
And Shinra's theme 🙃
13:42 Playing the song on the boss fight after Aeris died was so impactful.
One song I'd like to mention (in my opinion) that stands out is Dear to the heart - this song normally plays around the train tracks heading to Junon.
Birth of a God has to be one of my top faves since learning that Bizarro Sephiroth's JP name is "Rebirth Sephiroth", which makes the song title make more sense as the penultimate boss prior to Seraph Sephiroth.
Those Chosen By the Planet - Sephiroth's actual theme, (One Winged Angel belonging to the final boss version of Sephiroth), is another fave for just how ominous it sounds. Even when it's just the bass drum heart beat with the intermittent bell gong (forget the name of the actual instrument) in the Shinra Mansion, it just exudes dread.
Listen to the Cries of the Planet - Definitely my fave song of the OST. For me this song has always had a morose and unsettling vibe to it, especially knowing that it plays in the City of the Ancients, a race of people who've basically been wiped from the face of the planet. So it definitely has that melancholic feel as you're basically going through what is essentially the mausoleum of the Ancients, a city devoid of life, frozen in time as you get to go through and witness a piece of history.
By far one of the best OSTs that I have no qualms listening to front to back. So good.
loveee your analysis of each of the tracks, solid list!!
not sure if this one counts, but personally i think the staff roll/ending credits theme is super underrated--i also just like to say that one's my favorite because it encapsulates the 'quintessential' motifs from the rest of ffvii's soundtrack while introducing a completely new melody but with the familiar calming instrumentation from on our way or the music box-y section from the main theme. and the transition into the main theme of all the final fantasy games is really really cool
You can hear the cries of the planet es mi melodia favorita de toda la vida. No hablo ingles pero entiendo la mayoria de lo que dices y tu top es espectacular. Espero pongas subtitulos en español. Mucha gente sigue estos videos. Saludos!!!
Underneath The Rotting Pizza is perfection!
25 years later... and u still can make content about this game. Amazing
Great list! It's so hecking difficult to rank Final Fantasy songs, I've tried too. 😂 I definitely knew what your #1 was going to be after watching the playthrough and I've seen your first reaction to it multiple times - I loved how mindblown you were 😂 I really liked the song already but after your observations I like it even more. Like the bells for example. I've noticed them before, but didn't really think of them like that. Menacing!
I love that you often point out which headphone a particular sound is coming from. The position of the instruments in the stereo field, and the effect of that, is often overlooked in analysis, and something casual listeners usually don't think about at all, but it can have a huge impact on how we perceive the music.
All great tracks, and great description/explanation! But for me the whole OST is a masterpiece, and there are so many more tracks that are exceptional, all throughout the game.
One that strikes me as an absolute gem that's not present here is "Secrets Sleeping in the Deep Sea". It's very amazing, dream-like, very jrpg but it has the stature to be classical music masterpiece in itself. It gives a feeling of nostalgia, childhood and adventure.
Interesting and unexpected choice for #1! One of my favorite aspects of your videos is how you explain the narrative elements of a track's composition I never realized. Music really can tell a story.
Great picks! You can hear the cries of the planet is so simple yet so amazingly full of depth. A incredible piece of music!
Great analysis of the cry of the planet! What you mentioned about the bells as a foreshadowing of what is going to happen is so true, I never looked at it this way.
I remember getting this for christmas dec 24 1997 (we celebrate the 24th here in sweden) and the intro will always be my favorite, that CGI trailer blew me AWAY as a kid. It goes from this epic presentation theme to "in your face" pace as the train stops and your team jumps out and commence the assault!
I was wondering what you thought about "On the other side of the mountain". That's another song that only plays the one time: When Tifa is inside Cloud's memories and remembers the day her mother died. I think it is one of the most underrated songs.
I'm gonna be honest, I love the whole soundtrack.
So my answer is "yes"
Another thing related to 'Listen to the cry of the planet', there is a parallel to the title presented to us the audience when watching the film Advent Children. At the same location, we are made to hear the 'cry' from the gang, voicemails/ calls Cloud never picked up, of which Aerith answered to.
DUUUUUUDE I can't believe you didn't include Forested Temple in this. But, hey. Great list. Brought me back for sure.
On second thought, there are a lot of songs that should've been here. That being said, you did only have 20 spots lol
At first I was like "One Winged Angel" isn't 1st, but then when you revealed your number 1 I immediately actually agreed. It's not always at the front of people's minds like "One Winged Angel", but it is a perfect track.
Might be something you’ve already heard, but an interesting thing about Aeriths theme is that the writers didnt tell Uematsu that Aerith would die and only told him about her hopeful character.
Oh damn. Is there a source for that anywhere??
There was an interview where Yoshinori Kitase and Uematsu has a conversation about it, but I dont remember the particulars.
I thought I just want to share this random story about your # 1 music for FF7. One time I was cycling during sunset while listening to FF7 OST with my earbuds, then the song "Listen to the Cries of the Planet" suddenly played at the perfect time and place. I was surrounded by trees, feeling the light breeze in the air, looking at the sun setting on the horizon while cruising at the pavement trail. I felt like I was being connected to something and I also started thinking about my Mom during that moment. There is something Earthly and Motherly about the song.
Your comment on the main theme is interesting. I think of it in the opposite sense, so to speak. The main theme, in my mind/ear, draws upon the other songs to make it what it is. As if it is a reference or homage of the other themes, or at least that is how I have always heard it. The characters and places make up the world, and thus the world's theme is made up of them, if you want to be a little poetic.
I enjoyed the breakdown of the songs. I don't know much about the technical/academic side of music, so having you break the songs down and point out specific motifs and such is really interesting. It has been great watching you experience the game and its music, as well as the other video game music you have listened to! Thank you for sharing this!
Listen to the cries of the Planet is beautiful. Left me in awe but feeling immense dread at the same time.
Thank you Jesse for this excellent video! It shows how much time and effort you put into it, and we appreciate that!
Trying to think of a top 20 FF7 songs list of my own is truly a daunting thought, and I am not sure which songs would make the cut on mine.. but I've always loved the Wutai song and Shinra Corporation theme.
Great list dude . I was surprised by the omision of "prelude" and "tifa's theme". I think they would make most peoples top 20, but like you said everyone has their taste.
Having "crys of the planet" as 1st is a great call.
Fantastic review Jessie! Very interesting insights! Can't wait for ya to continue the journey with Nobuo, it's amazing how much more you have to discover and enjoy :)
So glad I took the time to watch this. As a longtime musician myself (guitarist 18 years) I get the same excitement when analyzing the emotion and intent behind certain songs. This is obviously my favorite soundtrack on any medium and to pick a top 20 is a task. Aside from Chasing the black caped man missing, I largely agree with your list and agree with your #1. FF7 is an iconic game outside the music, but it’s the music that truly makes it iconic. Well done on the guitar cover too, making me want to try covering these!
The Music in FF7 really takes you along for the ride. After "The Moment" scene, the music gets all depressing/moody and STAYS this way all the way almost until you are reunited with cloud much, much later in the airship. Also Aerith's theme plays fully I believe when Aerith's foster mom tells you all the back story before you go and rescue her... I didn't remember that it played there until I did like my second playthru.
Another good thing of note, the overworld theme is so long, you never hear it fully unless you set down the controller and just listen, but when you learn the truth about cloud that theme is masterfully played as a BGM to the whole scene and really culminated with the "AH - HA !" moment. All and all very very good. I feel they tried redoing this in FF9 and failed abysmally (well except with Freya scenes and maybe the Terra scene), FF10 was better at this afterwards... But honestly I think FF7 got it better of all FF single player games so far (Tho I stopped at 13).
Awesome vid, thanks !
Loved your remake and OG ff7 playthroughs. I'm early in the live stream and people are talking Anxious Hearts in chat but I don't know what your ranking is as I'm watching from the beginning. My top choices are.
1. Anxious Hearts. So haunting and beautiful. I adore the chimes in the middle and associate them with Nibelheim. It really captures the sadder moments of FF7. I legit started to tear up when I heard it in Remake with the flashback to kid Tifa and that heavy heavy base that dropped with the strings. They lightly used the song in part one as I hope they are saving their amazing mixes for part 2.
2. Lifestream - Underrated song. It plays in Bugenhagen's observatory. I had a GeoCities ff7 fansite back in the day and had a mp3 of it play in the background when that was a common thing with websites. I used to fall asleep to that song running on my PS1 after visiting it with Cloud.
3. Those Chosen by the Planet. This is Sephiroth's true theme song. It gets forgotten due to One-Winged Angel but the heartbeat and how it plays into the Nibelheim flashback is amazing. The line "Sephiroth seems different" is horror-level tension followed by "I'm going to see my mother" just as the choir chimes in.
4. City of the Ancients. The wonder and anxiety this song brings is something else. The location it plays doesn't have random boss encounters so you can just explore the dried-up ocean floor and its beautiful notical-themed structures without interruptions. It feels like MYST did back in the day.
5. Main Theme (Clouds Theme). Iconic and so melancholy. At first, it seems odd to have this be the theme of a cool anime hero but the big twist is how Cloud has far more emotional depth than you thought and then far more emotional depth than his cast mates and then far more depth than any other RPG hero we had seen so far and maybe since.
Special mentions. Aerith's theme and the piano riff and orchestra that plays when the lifestream bursts out of the ground in the ending cinematic. Gets me every time.
Great list! And shoutout Geocities haha
Very nice! I'd add "Dear to the heart" (aka "holding my thoughts in my heart") alongside with "Ahead on our way" as the most nostalgic songs of the game. Just fills me with good vibes!
Your way of explaining Cids theme is really2 amazing man.
For me the Opening, Prelude is top 5. It starts so simple, just a couple of notes there. it gets more and more complex, more and more "layers" of instruments and notes... just like the game. Also, it hits me like an invite to play again, almost like the composer was talking to me "Come, join us the adventure once again".
Excellent first choice. Its definitely one of my favorites. I stopped and let it play for a long time when i first heard it back in the day and never forgot it
Number 1 gave me this sensation of Foreboding, ancient beyond imagination and Finding beuty in something you dont understand, old, lost language, lose people yet still in ignorance appreciating something utterly beutiful.
I AGREE wholeheartedly with your number 1 pick, an ominous song that makes me very very uneasy entering the Forgotten City
great vid and very surprising/unique #1, but I'm sad that Interrupted By Fireworks didn't make the list T_T
Hearing your thoughts was really fun, especially when you pointed out music theory parts (like D-minor and D-Major with respect to Aerith's theme and the City of the Ancients). If you ever have time, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the song Lifestream (I think that's the name) that plays whenever you're in Bugenhagen's observatory. It was always one of my favorites! Fantastic stuff, as always, my friend!
😊 thanks for sharing. World crisis 5:57 mark gives me the best feeling.
23:30 i love the jenova song, it sounds both alien and demonic at the same time, it has an amazing rollercoaster of emotions, like Jesse says, the "heroic" theme sort of gives you that glimmer of hope :)
Ordinarily I’d joke that not putting “One-Winged Angel” at #1 is heresy, but “Listen to the Cries of the Planet” is also my favorite track on the OST.
…unless we include Advent Children because THAT version of One-Winged Angel is one of my favorite songs ever
love the breakdown on aeris's theme.
I'm going to use that d major and how it was used in a "happy" song to mess with you to annoy people at parties.
The great northern cave. I dunno if you missed that one, maybe give it another listen but that one is haunting.
Aerith’s Theme holds a very heavy weight in my heart. My first play through of this game had the unfortunate passing of my sister, who was only a couple months old. Shortly after I got this moment and this theme and it’s stuck with me ever since. 25 years later, still hurts. But I can’t help but listen to it
💜✨
I never actually thought of Aeris' theme as "happy" particularly at that moment as you're fighting Jenova life. I now realise the emotion of the scene colours the emotions of the theme, the game's event manipulates you into interpreting the theme itself as "sad sounding" (for lack of better term).
There are so many great songs from FF VII. I like Flowers Blooming in the Church.