Album: Final Fantasy V: The Fabled Warriors ~II. WATER~

5 years later... we need part III D: D: D: D: D: D: D: !!!!!!

FFV always had that mystique as the game you couldn't play without jumping through hoops, at least until its eventual GBA release. Its music doesn't hit me with the same strong "memories of being a carefree teenager" as other FFs do, and as a result I didn't ever think of it making much of an impact on me. And then I listen to this album and I'm like, oh yeah, that game DID have some good music! There are a few solid "hell yeah!" bits in here, especially for me when the battle music really kicks in at :20 in track 6 and the whole section from 2:00-3:00 in track 7. I also think this interpretation of the FF prelude music is the perfect version of it. If there's ever a third part to this series, I'm sure I'll enjoy that too.

Yeah, gonna need more of this.

Final Fantasy V had an amazing, yet underrated soundtrack. Normally, a Final Fantasy OCR album would consist of arrangements of the entire soundtrack. DarkeSword does things differently with Final Fantasy V. Instead of arranging the ENTIRE soundtrack, the album is split into five smaller parts, with each part representing a specific element and specific characters. Part 1, Fire, was released in 2010. Part 2 came out last month. Very long wait to hear these nine tracks. And the result of that wait is one of the most creative arrangement albums on OCR.

Track 1: La Princesa de Taikun –Theme of Leena-
By Sixto Sounds
Source Track: Leena’s Theme

It’s difficult to put into words how great this track is. What it boils down to is that it’s Final Fantasy V music remastered for a modern audience with mariachi and chiptune influences abound. Some of the chiptune pitch bends were a little off-putting for me, but that doesn’t ruin the experience of listening to the track for me. It’s one of the most unique music style combinations I’ve come across recently, and that alone makes this track worth a listen.

Track 2: Micker Cripper Mime –Theme of Mime-
By Mazedude
Source Track: Moogles’ Theme

This track is a weird one for me. I did not like the distorted guitar. Sounded way too MIDI for my tastes. Everything else was very unusual (but still tolerable) for my tastes, but perhaps that was the intent? DrakeSword stated in the directors notes how for a theme to represent someone that is known for copying others it sounds very unique. Yeah I can totally see that. It does a good job representing what the Mime is as him/herself, and not as someone else. It tells a good story, but it’s not something I’d want to listen to on its own.

Track 3: The Observer –Theme of Time Mage-
By halc
Source Track: Cursed Lands

I could not think of a better genre to suit a time mage more than dubstep. halc brilliantly uses dubstep to represent the time altering abilities of a time mage without going overboard or taking any clichéd production routes (like intentionally changing the tempo of the track just for the hell of it) to represent someone with the ability to control time. On its own, from a production standpoint, this is oddly one of the more chilling dubstep tracks I’ve heard on Overclocked. And I don’t know if halc intended for this to happen, but the endings somewhat abruptness perfectly captures the other ability of a time mage, the ability to stop time. Brilliant way to incorporate a character.

Track 4: A Silver Light Shines –Theme of Mystic Knight-
By DarkeSword
Source: Dungeon

This is a nice blend of a traverse through a mysterious dungeon, and the brave warrior who traverses that same dungeon. The dungeon theme was one of my favorites from the original soundtrack. What is achieved with this arrangement is that it doesn’t deviate from the mood of the original, while simultaneously adding a sort of excitement to the original. It’s almost comparable to Yasunori Mitsuda’s style of composing dungeon tracks.

Track 5: Remembrance –Theme of Cid-
By prophetic music
Source: Sorrows of Parting

The evolution of this track (IE the slow percussion to the fast paced percussion and beats) does a good job exemplifying the start of an invention from Cid, to the finished product, while the rest of the music does a good job emphasizing the curiosity Cid may have of how this invention he is making. Or it could represent him studying a subject, and by the end of the track, he has come to master the subject. Final Fantasy V’s Cid. Then we get to the latter half of the track, where everything slows down. Perhaps to signify the transition to another invention or subject? It’s a very complex, and almost thought provoking arrangement.

Track 6: BZKR –Theme of Berserker-
By Sixto Sounds feat. Jeff Ball
Source: Battle 1

In an album where genres and music styles are meshed into very different and unique combinations, it seemed very contrasting to include a hard rock arrangement of a Final Fantasy battle theme, something I’ve heard many times before. Thankfully, a violin is incorporated into this track to keep it from being a pure hard rock arrangement. I do wish that the violin could have been balanced just slightly so that it wouldn’t sound like the guitars are trying to drown it out. It’s not a terrible track, I just wish there was a better emphasis on the violin parts.

Track 7: Eternal –Theme of Red Mage-
By Brandon Strader
Source: Unknown Lands

For this track, I’m not so sure how the red mage is incorporated into this track. Maybe it’s because the Red Mage is a hybrid warrior of sorts. And hybrid, would be the best way to describe this track. Also to match the “hybrid” theme, it seems like the first half of this track is very chill, while the second half of this track is more exciting. Very interesting, and enjoyable production work here. And to be expected from a Brandon Strader track, the guitar work here is excellent.

Track 8: The Wander –Theme of Summoner-
By RiverSound
Source: A New World

The world is merged. Alone stands the summoner as he/she sweeps the battlefield with great creatures of power. At least that’s the story I get, as everything sounds so isolated at first. But as the track progresses, the track sounds more and more hopeful. The sweeping effects do a great job capturing the summoners power of….well, summoning. But the bottom line is, the production work here portrays hope in an almost hopeless situation in a beautiful way.

Track 9: See You Next Time –WATER-
By DarkeSword
Source: The Prelude

Argh this track frustrates me. It’s so beautiful, but at the same time it’s so short (it’s still good though). There’s not a lot that can be said about this track. It’s simple, well produced, pretty, and leaves you wanting more. And more will come when the Fire album is released.

Overall, this was a very fascinating album. These artists cleverly did things that are generally difficult to achieve, or they did things that I didn’t think would be possible in an arrangement. It’s so experimental, and definitely worth a listen at least once. All of it. Even the ones I kind of griped at. This album does an excellent job exemplifying the motto “try something at least once.” And besides, it’s short, if you love video game music and OCR albums, you can afford to listen to this album at least once.

16 hours ago, Brandon Strader said:

My song is most definitely the weakest of the bunch, and I'm not saying that to be humble, it's a reality I have to live with

Really? It's one of my favorites.

BTW the old "Water" album sounds pretty neat out of speakers. Now I have to go convince my suitemates this is for meditation or something.

Finally got around to listening to the album, ironically after it was added to SoundCloud (and tweeted about) rather than from the torrent download. My song is most definitely the weakest of the bunch, and I'm not saying that to be humble, it's a reality I have to live with, so very thankful to have been allowed to be included on here. Not going to list any favorites, but I liked every song and I think it was very well done and worth the wait. I realize some of the mixes may be old, which is even more impressive that they have held up so well. In fact it is nice to hear the sound certain people used to have, such as halc or sixto, before innovating with new styles and elements in the future. Rather than feeling dejected by the quality, I embrace the diversity and quality amongst remixers, as it is the most beautiful and important aspect of the OCR community and OCR itself. The collaborative spirit and nature of the site will always be the most special part of having been here.

A solid piece of the whole.

As a fun side-note about my song, I doubled the voice at the end with my own falsetto, which I couldn't do today due to voice damage. I don't guess you can make it out too much though.

Ah. Okay. I thought that applied to all future SE-related projects lol

Anyways, this album is great and I'm even more hyped for FIRE now.

We don't have an agreement with Square Enix in regards to this album.

Well also an agreement that OCR has with SE in regards to this album specifically also is part of the "not upsetting copyright holders" thing too.

1 hour ago, Antique_Gamer said:

Speaking of which... What is it that keeps this kind of stuff away from copyright issues?

I don't know if this was a misunderstanding, but prophetik is simply talking about having too much original content that it doesn't resemble the source tune anymore, and thus is too original of an arrangement to be a video game remix. That would make it harder to get video-game-music-related copyright issues, not easier.

But I would say that NOT selling the remixes (and probably the attribution to the original artists as well) is one of the main things that helps these kinds of albums not upset copyright holders.

1 hour ago, prophetik music said:

i'd be surprised if original content keeps the mix out, as long as the majority of the remix was not original content.

Speaking of which... What is it that keeps this kind of stuff away from copyright issues?

i'd be surprised if original content keeps the mix out, as long as the majority of the remix was not original content.

On 5/1/2016 at 1:07 AM, Necrox said:

This is a pretty strong album, overall more so than the first IMO. Lots of interesting styles and creativity here; it feels like the artists all really made the source(s) their own. RiverSound, your track reminds of an idea I once had to use that tune as a ballad in an indoor drumline show. It sounds great; the last 90 seconds are really interesting. Once again, Darkesword makes a great conclusion.

Thanks for the compliment, it means a lot to me as the only non-posted remixer on the album. I hope the last section was positively interesting! Its inclusion was more of a passion thing for me, an attempt at making the song more memorableunique... I've found that some of my favorite remixes(jade catacombs, the quick and the blue.. off the top of my head) incorporate totally unexpectedoriginal sections in addition to rearranged source material so my best hope is that at least some people might enjoy my song in a similar vein. Here's hoping that ocr still accepts songs like that, and it isn't keeping my mix from getting posted.

This is a pretty strong album, overall more so than the first IMO. Lots of interesting styles and creativity here; it feels like the artists all really made the source(s) their own. RiverSound, your track reminds of an idea I once had to use that tune as a ballad in an indoor drumline show. It sounds great; the last 90 seconds are really interesting. Once again, Darkesword makes a great conclusion.

22 minutes ago, RiverSound said:

Oh dear. The old, more-WiP-than-finished version of my song is so weak sauce in the trailer =D But what a privilege to have been a part of such an epic lineup of remixers. I'm like, a snot-faced greenhorn compared to these guys whose remixes I've been listening to since like 2007.

Gotta do a review of the whole album soon but it'd be kinda weird to be the first one to do so as an artist

Good luck. I have no idea how to remix or what to use so I can't help ya out anyway there. :S