Ranking Every Final Fantasy Composer
21. Tadayoshi Makino
Works: VII Remake, XV
Across the last three decades, there has been a considerable overlap between Square-Enix and their fellow Japanese developers Capcom from a musical standpoint, with composers switching to and from Final Fantasy from franchises like Resident Evil and Monster Hunter.
Tadayoshi Makino was one of the leads on the most recent epic in the latter franchise, but found time either side of its release to become another of the many contributors to the XV and VII Remake soundtracks.
His work on the former could be considered a trilogy, given that he scored three tracks apiece for the Comrades, Episode Ignis and Assassin's Festival expansions. Tension is seemingly his modus operandi, with all but one of these tracks, ‘Captive In Cobalt’, sufficient at keeping the listener on edge. The best is ‘A Daunting Challenge’, an operatic piece befitting of a lengthy boss encounter.
He broke his pattern for VII Remake, contributing five tracks in total, including the eerie background music for ‘The Drum’ and the chaotic ‘Airbuster’.
Freelancing between
companies seems to be the norm in the world of gaming these days. Makino would
benefit from a wider exposure to Final Fantasy in the future for sure.