Video games have long been responsible for some of the most iconic soundtracks in history. Whether it’s the early days of Tetris and Super Mario, the in-between era of Mortal Kombat and Final Fantasy, or more recent entries like Undertale, music continues to be the beating heart of a series.
Nobody knows this better than Nobuo Uematsu, the renowned composer behind the scores for the first nine Final Fantasy titles, including the iconic “One-Winged Angel” and Final Fantasy VIII‘s “Liberi Fatali”. And while the industry has certainly come a long way, he thinks there’s still room for improvement in the current landscape.
In an interview with NewsPicks (translated by Automaton), the veteran shared that titles with Hollywood-style soundtracks are hindering the evolution of game music. “I think people need to have more freedom when creating,” he said, suggesting that the issue could lie with directors and producers who are “satisfied with movie soundtrack-like music in games.” If the trend goes on, he believes that game music “cannot develop further.”
The discussion surfaced after the music legend shared how the limitations of 8-bit and 16-bit consoles forced him to be creative with his musical endeavours for Final Fantasy in its earlier days, which extended into the PlayStation 1 era.
After the release of Final Fantasy X on PS2, he explained that game music entered “a period where we could pretty much do everything”, making it easier for him to “express different genres of music” but with a caveat — the result became less interesting.
“Game music will become more interesting if composers consider ‘what is something only I can do? and use their own knowledge and experience to be creative,” added Uematsu.
He also dismissed artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool for crafting music, stressing that the role of an outstanding score is to establish empathy between the composer and listener. As this process involves “reaching deep down inside yourself to find aspects unique to you and then expressing them,” it’s not something AI can achieve.
As for the legend himself, Uematsu is unlikely to compose an entire game’s soundtrack ever again. Instead, he will focus on other non-gaming projects, such as his new narrative orchestral performance Merregnon: Heart of Ice, and his band.
While the composer did return to score “No Promises to Keep”, the theme song for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, his last full soundtrack was for Fantasian, the 2021 mobile-exclusive RPG developed by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
