Music of the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles series

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Original Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Kumi Tanioka
Released	August 20, 2003 (2003-08-20)
Length	Disc one - 66:22 Disc two - 65:16
Label	Pony Canyon
Producer	Square Enix

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, containing the majority of the musical tracks from the game, and was composed by Kumi Tanioka. It was released on the Pony Canyon label on August 20, 2003. The album did not include the English versions of the opening song, "Sound of the Wind" and the ending theme, "Moonless Starry Night", all sung by Donna Burke. The style of the music on this album is not defined, but was described by Kumi Tanioka as being based on "ancient instruments". The soundtrack has extensive use of many medieval and Renaissance musical instruments such as the recorder, the crumhorn and the lute, creating a distinctively rustic feel, and also follows the practices and styles of medieval music. The soundtrack spans 52 tracks over 2 discs, covering a duration of 2:11:38, and has the catalog number PCCG-00613.[1]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: A Musical Journey was a European promotional album which was given alongside the game on March 11, 2004 if the game had been pre-ordered. It contains six tracks from the soundtrack, including "Kaze no Ne" in both Japanese and English, the only time the English version has been released. It was published by Nintendo of Europe, and covers a duration of 17:37.[5]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Original Soundtrack sold over 5,800 copies.[6] It was well received; Daniel Space of RPGFan praised it, saying that "the music is fun, extremely well written and interesting to hear". He enjoyed the alternative instruments used in the tunes, calling them "successful in providing imagery of renaissance times", although he felt that much more of them would have begun to drag the soundtrack down.[1] Chris of Square Enix Music Online also enjoyed the soundtrack, although he noted that it was "not for everyone". He did, however, feel that the constant use of Renaissance-themed music resulted in a "lack of diversity of styles" that made several of the tracks "bland and indistinctive".[7] Jared of Square Enix Music Online was more enthusiastic about the soundtrack, terming it "a stunning soundtrack full of feeling and emotion" and praising its "unique" style.[8] As a promotional album, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles - A Musical Journey was not as noted by critics. Jared felt that it was "a decent look into the soundtrack of Crystal Chronicles", but not as good of a sampler disc as it could have been due to the track selection.[5]

Track listing

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, containing all of the musical tracks from the game, and was composed and produced by Kumi Tanioka. The ending theme song for the game, "A World Without Stars" (星のない世界, Hoshi no Nai Sekai), was sung by Aiko, though it was not included in the album, and Nobuo Uematsu contributed one track to the soundtrack. The soundtrack continues the musical theme of "ancient instruments" prevalent in the Crystal Chronicles soundtrack, but additionally incorporates more modern orchestral instruments such as string and horn pieces. The tracks on the album cover a wide range of emotional themes, from "joyful and whimsical tracks" to "lugubrious emotional tracks" to "bombastic battle tracks".[9] In keeping with the lighthearted nature of the game, any darker-themed tracks are exaggerated to make them less serious. The soundtrack spans 57 tracks, covering a duration of 1:16:06. It was released on September 19, 2007 in Japan by Square Enix bearing the catalog number SQEX-10101.[9] The single for Hoshi no Nai Sekai, released in 2007, sold 112,000 copies and reached #2 on the Oricon singles chart.[6]

Ring of Fates was well received by reviewers; Neal Chandran of RPGFan, although finding the original soundtrack to be "bland", felt that the Crystal Chronicles soundtrack was "quite varied, exciting, and dare I say really freaking good" and praised the variety of styles and moods of the tracks.[9] Chris was also enthusiastic about the soundtrack, praising it as "one of the finest accompaniments to a Final Fantasy game ever produced". He noted, however, that the soundtrack works best as a "flowing" work or accompaniment to the game, with a lack of individual tracks that stood out as memorable.[10] Don of Square Enix Music Online was much harsher towards the soundtrack, terming it an "extremely underwhelming album". He disapproved of the change from the medieval instrumentation to a more orchestral score, and felt that the pieces had much less emotional intensity than the Crystal Chronicles soundtrack.[11]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time, containing the majority of the musical tracks from the game, and was composed by Kumi Tanioka. It was released by Square Enix on February 18, 2009. Like previous Crystal Chronicles soundtracks, Echoes incorporates a variety of instruments, including oboes, xylophones, marimbas and Latin guitars. Unlike the previous Crystal Chronicles soundtracks, the Echoes does not include a theme song. The soundtrack spans 51 tracks over 2 discs, covering a duration of 2:07:30, and has the catalog numbers SQEX-10137~8.[3][12]

Track listing

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers, containing the majority of the musical tracks from the game, composed by Hidenori Iwasaki and Ryo Yamazaki, with the vocal talent of Donna Burke. The soundtrack spans 70 tracks over 2 discs.

Track listing

"Sound of the Wind" (カゼノネ, Kaze no Ne) is the opening song of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, composed by Kumi Tanioka and performed by Yae. It was released as a single by Pony Canyon, featuring the "Kaze No Ne" song, an arranged version, and two other songs by Yae from her album Blue Line, "Carol (scat)" and "Flower of Love" (恋の花, Koin no Hana). The single was released on July 30, 2003, has a length of 14:12, and has a catalog number of PCCA-01915. While "Kaze No Ne" follows the medieval theme of the rest of the Crystal Chronicles soundtrack, the arranged version is a more "produced" techno-sounding track. The two unrelated tracks are vocal and instrumental pieces, with "Carol" as a scat song, and "Flower of Love" more of a slower "ethnic/world" piece.[13]

Patrick Gann of RPGFan called "Kaze no Ne" one of the few singles he had purchased that was "worth holding onto". He described all of the tracks as "beautiful", and felt that the arranged version of "Sound of the Wind" was "charming and enigmatic".[13] Dave of Square Enix Music Online concurred, calling the single "a potentially excellent addition to anyone's discography". He described Yae's voice as "angelic" "mature" and "fresh" and summed up the album as "a definitive Yae experience accessible to game music fans".[14]

"Hoshi no Nai Sekai"/"Yokogao" is double A-side containing the theme song to Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates "A World Without Stars" (星のない世界, Hoshi no Nai Sekai), as well as two original tracks, "Profile" (横顔, Yokogao) and "Love" (恋愛, Renai), and instrumental versions of "A World Without Stars" and "Profile". The single is performed by Aiko. All of the songs are primarily focused on the vocals along with piano and electric guitar accompaniments. "A World Without Stars" is a primarily piano-based song with lyrics in Japanese, while "Profile" and "Love" are mid-tempo pop songs. The album was released on August 22, 2007 by Pony Canyon, covers a duration of 24:40, and has the catalog number PCCA-02546.[15]

Neal Chandran approved of "Hoshi no Nai Sekai" / "Yokogao", finding it to be enjoyable despite its short length. He felt that "A World Without Stars" was a "terrific piece, and that the other two songs, while "not as strong", were "still decent tracks that were easy on the ears", and approved of the instrumental versions included in the single.[15] Don also appreciated the soundtrack, calling it "a nice choice" and saying that it "complements a rather weak original soundtrack". He felt that the balance in the songs between the piano and electric guitar was well done.[16]