So here I am, typing this as I'm listening to "Opening - Bombing Mission" by the Black Mages. My question is: What do you feel when you hear your facorite video game tunes remixed by some groups? I felt that it was awesome, as long as I was familiar with it. Kinda throws me into a nostalgic fit, remembering all those times I spent in front of my TV screen like I was there again, reliving the difficulty or moments from that game.

Other than stuff from The Black Mages, I have not heard great rock remixes of tunes other than the one done by the Red Wings (Wily stage 1 from Megaman 2). I think it's more because The Black Mages did FF Music and not because of better musicianship.

EDIT:
I suddenly realized that this was the Off-Topic section. Sorry bout that. PM'ed a mod to have this moved.

I love The Black Mages and anytime I hear music form a game I love I just get this feeling I cant explain it but it is awesome it makes me feel joy and when theres somebody that sya hey this is great I'm just like yea it is you should play the game.

Wily stage 2 is probably the most remixed videogame music I've heard. There are numerous rock remixes (like that of the aforementioned Red Wings version) and the various incarnations of Okkusenman.

<3 Black Mages <3. For more melodic FF stuff, try Final Fantasy Potion (My sleeping music). Mmmmmmmmm.

I love the The Black Mages, and I prefer their rendition of One Winged Angel (with the rock, found in Advent Children over the traditional one. Overall, as long as it adds to the feel created by the original piece, and doesn't do away with what made the song so great, I don't mind.

yeah, black mages rox. i really like
the one winged angel, and the
force your way from ff8.
Its like your life gets epic for
listening to it!

www.ocremix.org is a really good place to check out for game remixes.

it can work

I'll take your One Winged Angel and raise you a Dancing Mad. It's far more epic than One Winged Angel IMO.

Are there any other independent bands that do remixes other than the Black Mages. By independent, I meant that they are not employees of the game developer/publisher. IIRC, the Black Mages are all Square staffers.

well iirc the black mages is nobuo uematsu's band.

so, I would imagine they'd do final fantasy music well.

Richard Groovy Pants:
Damn nostalgia is setting in, you know, from the Final Fantasy golden era, not this FF12 bullshit.

Golden age my shiny blue ass. FF12 is better graphically, in terms sound and i'm willing to chop off my hardcore FF fan rights to say the design was bloody brilliant. Oh, Vaans a pretty boy whiner, get over it. I'm willing to bet if the designers of all your 'classics' were able to make your favorites as they were able to make Vaan then they would all be pretty boys too. I liked them, loved them... and i can love these ones to.

There is no golden age. Just great memories and the future before us.

Sorry, but i figured if i was going to draw my line in the sand, then this was as good a place as any.

As for the black mages, i had never heard of them before now. I will own all of their songs by the end of the week. And i mean own, unless they give them away free... which would rule.

Press Play on Tape plays music from the C64 games. I kind of like them especially their version of Secret of Monkey Island. I have not heard the Black Mages yet.

The song for the Gilgamesh battles were quite good. IIRC the copmposer for XII was the same guy who did the music for Odin Sphere (another game with a kickass soundtrack).

So how do you people find the vocal tracks? Personally, I don't like them.

Richard Groovy Pants:

Can you compare the piano song of Zanarkand in FFX to any song in FFXII? No you can't and you know why? Because that game didn't had any remarkable songs! If I'm wrong feel free to enlighten me.

Clash on the Big Bridge, Gilgamesh Battle Remix, I will defend that song to my grave, a Remix of epic proportions of THE best composed FF track!

As for Discussion of the game itself.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=459841&topic=46066678

I'm an incredibly Lazy man, this is all the defence I need, Although as a warning it IS walls of text, so when you go diving through make sure you got some spare time.

Anyway Love the Black Mages, I loved 'The Skies Above' with Mr. Goo live. same as Battle/Clash on the Big Bridge. They are game music for when games just have **** music, OR for when I need to write a fight

The original kicks ass, I got all 3 versions (Original, XII Remix, Live Black Mage performance) on my new Ipod.

However your asking what surpassed Song of Zanarkand, I gotta say CotB, because no matter what game, that song will get you pumped up for combat, not liking it is a cardinal sin against nature. (Note: You obviously like the song, I'm talking to others, who may be blasphemous)

@Richard:
Of course. Looking back, I think you meant original music from XII. I can also think of none.

The vocals weren't done by the band members. They commissioned other artists to do the job.

I like it, has anyone here heard of powerglove?

Keep in mind I am Biased towards FFX in a good way as it WAS my first FF (It's dear in my heart) so this isn't favoring FFXII in anyway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfhQWViG6n8 : The Battle for Freedom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vp2hZrrx8M : Desperate Fight. (Loved fighting Espers for this theme)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY1l4sBNDQA : Clash of Swords (Same as Desperate Fight)

Hey Richadrd, I think you posted the Black Mages version of CotB and not the FFV one.

as Impressive as OWA is, and it IS impressive, I still say that when it came to final boss music, Otherworld blew it away, while OWA had this orchestra epic theme, Otherworld was just hard down grit, rock, brutal. I don't think I have to explain why I think it's an awesome final boss song.

Also Auron's theme... yeah, one of the best character themes in the history of FF.

Onmi:
as Impressive as OWA is, and it IS impressive, I still say that when it came to final boss music, Otherworld blew it away, while OWA had this orchestra epic theme, Otherworld was just hard down grit, rock, brutal. I don't think I have to explain why I think it's an awesome final boss song.

Also Auron's theme... yeah, one of the best character themes in the history of FF.

I still go by the belief that Dancing Mad trumps them both.

Ah yes, the Black Mages. My favorite D&D battle soundtrack ever. Well that and Shadow of the Colossus.

Syntax Error:

Onmi:
as Impressive as OWA is, and it IS impressive, I still say that when it came to final boss music, Otherworld blew it away, while OWA had this orchestra epic theme, Otherworld was just hard down grit, rock, brutal. I don't think I have to explain why I think it's an awesome final boss song.

Also Auron's theme... yeah, one of the best character themes in the history of FF.

I still go by the belief that Dancing Mad trumps them both.

DM wasn't even a remix, hell it was barely an arrangement. The Black Mages' first album was great, and then it just went downhill from there. The third album is utter crap, and if you can look past the nostalgia factor, you'd probably agree.

Project Majestic Mix, now there's a remix team that can do no wrong.

lenneth:
www.ocremix.org is a really good place to check out for game remixes.

I second this! Some really really good stuff on there, and the bad stuff never makes it through their screaning process.

And for a very short while their FTP to the music database was open to the public. Deliberately I might add, not hacked or screwed up. Managed to get about 10 gigs of stuff then :D

These days there is a two-part torrent you can get from their site which has about 1300 tracks.

And how can a videogame remix topic last this long without mention of Machinae Supremacy? They did a 20 minute long metal medly of c64 videogame soundtracks, amongst a few other good covers of videogames (giana sisters is the one I can name off the top of my head) and their own stuff is very well done to.

I'll confess that I grew up to Final Fantasy, so I'm really biased toward The Black Mages. The first time I heard Blue Blast, I was wondering which game I heard it from. Turns out it was an original composition. It still remains as one of my favorite instrumentals today. I really hope they do the Battle Music from FFIX. God I love that song.

Richard Groovy Pants:
I agree that there is no golden age and the bile you're receiving right now is mostly because of nostalgia

But that's the problem, people aren't attacking the flaws of a game. They are going after the game as a whole because of nostalgia. Im sure you can see where this becomes a problem, if FF doesn't change it becomes stagnant. Change is the strength of the series, not it's weakness.

And the characters in XII aren't that bad. I'll admit there have been better, but in terms of gaming characters across the board? I'd say their still comfortably ahead of most of the protagonists you will find out there.

Ultrajoe:
But that's the problem, people aren't attacking the flaws of a game. They are going after the game as a whole because of nostalgia. Im sure you can see where this becomes a problem, if FF doesn't change it becomes stagnant. Change is the strength of the series, not it's weakness.

And the characters in XII aren't that bad. I'll admit there have been better, but in terms of gaming characters across the board? I'd say their still comfortably ahead of most of the protagonists you will find out there.

Not to add fuel to what might become a flame, but when Koromaru (Persona 3 character, heck, most of the NPC's in that game can stand toe-to-toe against those three in terms of personality) has more personality then Vaan, Penelo and Ashe COMBINED, there must be something wrong, especially since it was a Final Fantasy to begin with. That was my only real problem with XII, but as a GAME, I would put that as the best, if only for the brilliance of the Gambit System.

Let's get back to music though, 30 posts in and the thread is getting derailed.

That is all.

GenHellspawn:

That is all.

That song was actually written for the movie. It's based on the game, so I guess it still counts, but it's a stretch.

On topic, I'm a huge lover of video game music in general, and remixing even more so. The Overclocked ReMix forums are probably among the communities I visit most. I'm heading up to MAGFest (Music and Gaming Festival) next year, too, to check out some of those live concerts I've heard so much about and meet some of my favorite video game music composers.

If you're looking for good rock remixes, I'd highly recommend Overclocked ReMix, and to a lesser extent, the Newgrounds Audio Portal.

You should check out ARMCANNON
they do metal versions of videogame, movie and TV show music

Now, for the plug.
http://www.ocremix.org/
Video game remixes for free, done by remixers who do it because they want to.
End plug.

Anyway, yeah, the site's awesome, but beware, because there is a lot of techno remixes (specifically in the Megaman section), but a lot of awesomeness as well (Rock, Metal, Classical, Lyrical, etc). I love video game remixes, covers, originals, etc. It's pretty much the only type of music I listen to.

Oh, and if you ever get the chance, go to VGL (Video Games Live). It's amazing. I've seen it once in Manhattan, and then, by some stroke of luck, they happen to be playing a concert about half a mile from my college, so, I'm seeing them again. Worth it in every way, hearing some of the most beloved themes (and excellent themes that are not yet beloved, but, I guarantee you, will be), and some of the most awesome themes, played by a full orchestra.