Saturday, August 25, 2012

Upcoming piano album for Final Fantasy XII's score

Huh. Should I retitle this blog to be "HITOSHI SAKIMOTO :HEARTBEAT:"? I had a rare AAAHHH Can't Wait reaction to the news that a piano album featuring selections from Final Fantasy XII's score is (finally (finally)) in the works. The arranger/performer is unknown. One of the people commenting in that link made a guess with Casey Ormond. Ormond had a couple of professional piano arrangements from FFXII (and Final Fantasy Tactics) on his YouTube channel, and he was responsible for a piano album of Valkyria Chronicles, so it is a possibility. As the article I've linked mentions, the pieces include:

Theme of Final Fantasy XII ~ The Dream to be a Sky Pirate
The Royal City of Rabanastre Town Ward Upper Stratum
The Dalmasca Eastersand
Theme of the Empire
The Skycity of Bhujerba

I'm confused by the first on the list, since The Dream to be a Sky Pirate is only over half-a-minute long. Perhaps the arrangement will mix it and Theme of etc., although I doubt that, given the already rich motivic scope of Theme. Another possibility is that The Dream etc. will more resemble The Salikawood, as the latter is a musical development of the prior. Who knows! An arrangement album can be great because it notifies of you of the latent potential in a song you brushed aside, but my ideal FFXII piano album, based on what I think is worth reshaping, would probably look something like this:

A Moment's Rest
Cerobi Steppe
Eruyt Village
Dalmasca Estersand
Boss Battle
Clan Headquarters
Skycity of Bhujerba
The Secret of Nethecite
Ashe's Theme
Barheim Passage
A Land of Memories
Time for a Rest