Ranking Every Final Fantasy By Their Soundtrack

Final Fantasy VIII OST: Tracks - 74, Composer(s) - Nobuo Uematsu

Following the groundbreaking success of Final Fantasy VII was always going to be a tough ask, but Final Fantasy VIII attracts a lot of unwanted criticism to this day despite its sublimely crafted narrative. Gameplay opinions aside, however, few would deny that the score is nothing short of a masterpiece.

The game eschewed the use of traditional character themes (with the exception of the wonderful piano melody created for the minor character of Julia), though surprisingly this doesn't detract from the audio experience as much as it might in other titles given the soundtrack's overall strength. There is hardly a single piece that isn't perfectly suited to its environment, with battles a particular highlight given the brilliance of 'Force Your Way', Laguna's signature 'The Man With The Machine Gun' and 'Premonition', which made the game's two face-offs with Edea highly excitable and tense affairs. Wrapping up with 'Maybe I'm A Lion' and 'The Extreme' in the final encounters also served to end things on a major high.

Elsewhere, raw emotion was the order of the day with masterfully crafted pieces like the chilling 'Liberi Fatali' that serves as the game's main theme and 'Rivals', which epitomises the tragic rivalry between Squall and Seifer. Better still is 'The Landing', which kicks off the early game counter-invasion of Dollet in hectic fashion and the timeless 'The Oath', which tugs on the heartstrings as Squall delivers the speech that stands out as his defining character moment.

Over thirty years, the Final Fantasy series has wowed us all with its musical brilliance. If we continue to get soundtracks that can hold a candle to VIII then long may it continue for another thirty.