Board 8 > What four songs are on the Final Fantasy Songs Mount Rushmore?

(+) Yeah! (+)

ZenOfThunder posted...

Final Fantasy: Cloud, Tidus

I like this guy

I find the lack of Main Theme noms disturbing. Like, it's legit really weird.

Waluigi1 posted...

I find the lack of Main Theme noms disturbing. Like, it's legit really weird.

It's not that prominent in the most popular games in the series. A lot of people probably don't even know it

UltimaterializerX posted...

Because people pick their favorites instead of the actual right answers most of the time. Prelude is the most well known and played song in Final Fantasy.

I'm not a fan of OWA but it is by far the most well known Final Fantasy song overall. I'm pretty sure it's the closer for the Final Fantasy Orchestra shows even. Prelude is a weird case because it's very different in some games, especially like FFX and FFXIII

Prelude
Victory Theme
One Winged Angel
To Zanarkand

https://www.setlist.fm/stats/distant-worlds-philharmonic-orchestra-and-chorus-5bc7f31c.html

Not perfect, but according to this the most played songs in Distant Worlds are One Winged Angel, Prelude, Victory Theme, and To Zanarkand. OWA is almost always the last song played from what I can tell, often as an encore

I also looked up a Japanese poll from 2020 of the most popular Final Fantasy songs and the top four were To Zanarkand, Battle on the Big Bridge, Eyes on Me, and Searching for Friends. OWA came in 6th behind Blinded by Light

based on all this, I'd like to drop the Opera Song from FF6 for Battle on the Big Bridge

Prelude
Main Theme
Victory Fanfare
Chocobo Theme

Waluigi1 posted...

I find the lack of Main Theme noms disturbing. Like, it's legit really weird.

Prelude is what I think of as the FF 'main theme', is there something else I'm forgetting?

BlackMageJawa posted...

Prelude is what I think of as the FF 'main theme', is there something else I'm forgetting?

Same

BlackMageJawa posted...

Prelude is what I think of as the FF 'main theme', is there something else I'm forgetting?

They are technically two different songs but everyone thinks of Prelude as the main theme, which is why it's the one that should be here.

UltimaterializerX posted...

Because people pick their favorites instead of the actual right answers most of the time. Prelude is the most well known and played song in Final Fantasy.

Prelude is the only the most well known song from people who actually are fans of the series (and even then I'd debate it)

OWA is the most well known song overall

MZero posted...

It's not that prominent in the most popular games in the series. A lot of people probably don't even know it

totally disagree. people know it, they just don't know that they know it because it's had so many variations over the years and is often inserted to finish another song. most common version of this is in the staff roll. once people hear it then it becomes "oh yeah, that one," without realizing that it's been in all but 3 mainline FF games, a couple spinoffs, and Advent Children.

Uematsu himself has said "I think it's the most important song in terms of everything I've ever done" and the series' constant usage of it and rearrangements of it has proven that. really comes down to a case of it's familiar and memorable but the connection's not made there directly.

Its super prominent in IV and XII

are both those games combined more popular than VIII or X?

Prelude
Battle on the Bridge
Dancing Mad
One Winged Angel

Just instinct really

it's in 8 as well! 2, 10, and 13 are the mainline ones missing, it's in the credits for 7, 8, and 9. game starts with the prelude, game ends with the main theme. that's one of the two main patterns with the song, either it signals the start of the game or it signals the end of it. in exchange it's heavily used in FF14 too, 1.0 had a version, Realm Reborn had a version based on 1.0, and every expansion has an arranged version towards or at the end.

BlackMageJawa posted...

Prelude is what I think of as the FF 'main theme', is there something else I'm forgetting?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4jA-bNip50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA1jriZNmyQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM4nGQYXNy0

for 3 easy examples. it's literally called Main Theme. the strangest arrangements have to be in Stranger of Paradise and FF14. the former's off key just enough to throw you off and the latter's best instance has to be Shadowbringers since you end up getting Nier and Drakengard music mixed with it.

this is going to be fun to tally

Out of the two, Prelude is definitely the more worthy song for Mt Rushmore, but I think they both absolutely deserve to be there.
When the main theme comes in during parts of XVI, it gave me chills. What an iconic song.

Prelude
OWA
Opera song
Final Fantasy(Main Theme)

oh i don't disagree with prelude or OWA being there, those are the 3 i've had so far. one for the breakout into mainstream, one for the consistent sound people know, and one for being the main song of the series that always finds a way in no matter what composer as it's understood "this is the song of the series."

UltimaterializerX posted...

Prelude and Main Theme have over a 10 year head start on One Winged Angel. It isn't more well known or played more often.

Guarantee you the average non-FF fan is way more likely to have heard OWA than Prelude or Main Theme. Those aren't songs you listen to or recommend outside of the context of where they're played.

Prelude
Victory
One Winged Angel
Chocobo Theme

Prelude
One Winged Angel
Terra
To Zanarkand

Leonhart4 posted...

Guarantee you the average non-FF fan is way more likely to have heard OWA than Prelude or Main Theme. Those aren't songs you listen to or recommend outside of the context of where they're played.

i don't think all 3 really have that much difference overall the further you get from the audience. FF fans know the 3, RPG fans likely know the 3, gamers who don't play RPGs might know 1-2 in passing, people who don't play games don't know any unless they're NJPW/Kenny Omega fans.

but if we're taking the "have heard" literally, Main Theme absolutely wins because it (and Victory Fanfare) were played in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics. which is another notch to its importance, though there's oddballs in there (Frog's Theme and Robo's Theme both played there too).

If we're going with "has been featured in the Olympics," then let's add Liberi Fatali to the list.

Liberi Fatali is absolutely more iconic than Main Theme

To Zanarkand is the highest on Spotify by quite a number at 11 million plays

highest from VIII? Balamb Garden (3 million compared to 1.8 for Liberi Fatali)

highest from VII? the Battle Music actually squeaks past the boss music and One Winged Angel, all three have about 4.6-4.7 million plays

VI's is the boss theme at 2.2 million plays, IX's is Melodies of Life at 2.7 million

Edit: Actually XIII's main theme and Promise By the Light are at 5.4 million and 5.2 million respectively, Somnus from XV... at 9.2 million (Who are these people listening to it haha)

J-E-N-O-V-A (I never played 7 all the way through and don't know how I know this song. But this is the song that I always think of first for FF lol.)
Battle Theme
Victory Theme
Prelude

Ifrit posted...

One Winged Angel
Eyes On Me
Theme Of Love
Aria di mezzo carattere

Theme of Love is taught in Japanese schools.

Changing Eyes on Me to Main Theme

Prelude
Victory Theme
One Winged Angel
To Zanarkand

Change Main Theme to Battle of the Big Bridge

Main Theme (any, pick whichever has the most votes)
Chocobo Theme (any, pick whichever has the highest votes)
One Winged Angel
Victory Theme (any, pick whichever has the most votes)

Prelude
Main Theme
Victory Fanfare
One Winged Angel

Main Theme should absolutely be on here. The way it is used in the series is to indicate the common themes and symbolism of Final Fantasy. No, it wasnt very prominently featured in the PS1 games or X, but it us all over the place in XIV, the most popular game in the series, it opens the series in I, and it is also widely used in XVI, the most recent game. It is absolutely iconic, much more than even One Winged Angel.

Prelude
One Winged Angel
To Zanarkand
You're Not Alone

E: okay You're Not Alone probably doesn't belong there objectively, but it's my favorite song in the whole series so it's going on the list

LightningStrikes posted...

and it is also widely used in XVI, the most recent game

its use in XVI is the worst part of that game's soundtrack

MacArrowny posted...

its use in XVI is the worst part of that game's soundtrack

I mean, I agree, but its also a solid argument for it being on the Rushmore. It was used so much to say no you dont understand, this is Final Fantasy to those early critiques from before release that it wasnt Final Fantasy enough. And I was like yes I get it.

It always feels wild to me to see someone say FFXIV is the most popular FF game

Fine if we're going to bring up songs outside of the original context, here's my argument for Chocobo theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEqkBcj5qlA

This still gets stuck in my head probably once a year on average.

Wanglicious posted...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4jA-bNip50

Oh... that one

lordjers posted...

Prelude
Victory theme
Battle 2 (FF4)
Chocobo theme

I change mine to:

Prelude
Victory theme
Battle 2 (FF4)
Main theme

Nominate:
Fire Emblem games

Prelude
Dancing Mad
One Winged Angel
The Phantom Forest

Prelude
Chocobo Theme
One Winged Angel
Dancing Mad

Prelude
One Winged Angel
Battle on the Big Bridge
The Man With the Machine Gun

Prelude
Dancing Mad
One Winged Angel
Victory Theme

nobody likes my Terra suggestion, huh

Prelude
Main Theme
Chocobo Theme
One Winged Angel

Prelude
FFVII Main Theme
Battle on the Big Bridge
To Zanarkand

Leonhart4 posted...

One-Winged Angel
To Zanarkand
The Opera Song (whatever the actual name is)
Battle on the Big Bridge

Oh right

Drop the Opera Song
Add Prelude

DomaDragoon posted...

* Prelude. Choosing this as the "series as a whole" rep above Main and Victory.
* Aria di Mezzo Caraterre. Plot relevant song, memorable scene.
* One Winged Angel. FFVII rep.
* Answers. FF14 rep, the song that ended 1.0.

Remove Prelude, add Main Theme.