Since the early 80's, no composer of video game music has been more celebrated than SquareEnix's Nubuo Uematsu. He had been the driving force behind the first ten main Final Fantasy games as well as assorted spinoffs. Recently, Uematsu has taken a back seat in the compsoing of music for the Final Fantasy games. The first of these games is one of the latest installments, Final Fantasy XI. Nubuo Uematsu took a producer roll, and much of the work was done by two newcomers: Naoshi Mizuta and Kumi Tanioka.

Overall, Mizuta and Tanioka put together a good soundtrack. The way the music is arranged is different than most Final Fantasy scores. This may be largely due to the fact that the game is a MMORPG, short for Massively Multiplayer On-line Role Playing Game. A game of this type is more focused on exploration, discovery, and social interaction rather than a deep emotional story like the earlier entries into the series. The music reflects this, as it is more a collection of individual themes rather than the kind of flowing orchestral scores that are common to "story" scenes." The Final Fantasy XI soundtrack is suprisingly short for such a massive game, but quality definitely beats quantity.

When asked about the Final Fantasy XI soundtrack, most people would immediately mention the opening piece, which combines the famous Crystal Theme into a orchestral and choral score. It is a great piece that was created to fit in with an amazing opening. The soundtrack may be better represented by the music of the environments that the player travels through. Since the game is built on the trek through these areas, good music is important. The two marches, Vana'diel and The Kingdom of San d'Oria, are the highlights of the group. The use of bagpipe sound in San d' Oria is especially interesting. The rest of the soundtrack is complete with the standard fare of battle themes and mood music. The improvement over other games is the inclusion of four seperate battle themes. Two for world battles and two for dungeon battles. All four are well done, and add some veriety during battles that other soundtracks lack. The themes for the Humes, Tarutaru, and Elvaan classes. Usually, themes are used to somehow describe a characteristic of the class or character. For the Humes and the Elvaan, the male pieces are orchestral sounding pieces while the female versions are dance types. The Tautaru themes are light sounding and fit the appearance of the Tarutaru.

There are several different sounds that are used throughout the soundtrack. From the opening piece and marches mentioned earlier, to the medieval sound of Ronfaure and The Federation of Windhurst, and the overtures like Chateau D'Oraguille, these different sounds compliment each other well. Only the pounding beats of Hume Female and the like seem out of place. The one element that the Final Fantasy XI soundtrack makes better use of than other OST's is the use of guitar. Pieces like Selbina and Mog House use this sound to great effect. Put all of this together, and this is a solid collection of music.

Although lacking the emotion and polish of a Nubuo Uematsu soundtrack, this is a great first effort by new composers in the Final Fantasy world. Mizuta and Tamioka stayed true to the Final Fantasy sound, and fits the enviroment of this massive game very well. The history of Final Fantasy music moves on, and added to its history is one of best soundtracks you will find in any MMORPG.

Overall Score: 7
Best Piece: The Kingdom of San d'Oria

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