Now, Ishimoto also does a great job with piano and keyboard, but the emphasis on guitar is, well, noticeable. And it’s a feature instrument on this OST, moreso than just about any other FF soundtrack to date.
Electric or acoustic, in any style, Ishimoto makes the guitar sound good. One more thing I will say about Ishimoto is this: he is excellent at writing music for guitar. There’s no doubt that Ishimoto is gifted, but the curse of his gift is perhaps that he cannot be remembered for what he’s actually written, as Uematsu’s melodies stand in stark contrast to Ishimoto’s more ambient and less memorable pieces. Not all of them, mind you (One-Winged Angel was weak), but many of them were simply excellent. Other songs that stood out to me include the in-game arrangements for “Those Who Fight,” “Those Who Fight Further,” “Anxious Heart,” and “Turks’ Theme.” Many of these arrangement were, in all honesty, superior to their original counterparts. The end credits music, “Fulfilled Desire,” arranged for orchestra by Kazuhiko Toyama, put favorites such as the FFVII Main Theme and “Those Who Fight” into a medley. I tried to listen to this album objectively, but I kept coming back to the fact that my favorite songs on the album were the arranged FFVII tracks. Because this game, put forward with high expectations from Square Enix, is (in more cynical terms) a “cash-in” on Final Fantasy VII, Ishimoto’s compositions are immediately less important to any FFVII fan. In the midst of all this very decent music, anything Ishimoto could contribute is overshadowed by the now-classic compositions of Uematsu. When needed, Ishimoto writes music that is harsh and in-your-face (Frantic Battlefield) other times, enigmatic and intelligent (Prelude to Ruin) still other times, straightforward, stunning and lovely (The Burdened). Honestly, I can’t imagine it working out much better than this. In my opinion, Ishimoto has written an excellent soundtrack for this game. Ishimoto had his hands full, but he did well with what he had. He did this work virtually in tandem with another Nomura project, Subarashiki kono Sekai (It’s a Wonderful World) for the DS.
Now that Ishimoto had a connection to the compilation, he was given the opportunity to compose a very high-profile title: Crisis Core FFVII for PSP. That’s right, Ishimoto was selected to score the mobile-phone-based “Before Crisis” (which will have its own soundtrack release in a few months). And that was about it for him, until he got his “in” on the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII. According to our records, he’s done some sound programming and synth manipulation to some Square Enix titles, and even composed a song for the Final Fantasy X Vocal Collection. Takeharu Ishimoto started out small with Square Enix. 04 – First Mission (from FFVII “Opening ~ Bombing Mission”)Ġ8 – Theme of CRISIS CORE “Dream and Pride”Ġ9 – Last Order – Crisis Mix (from “LAST ORDER FFVII”)ġ4 – Theme of CRISIS CORE “Under an Apple Tree”ġ5 – Summoned Being (from FFVII “Those Who Fight Further”)ġ7 – On the Verge of Assault (from FFVII “Those Who Fight”)ġ8 – Dark Suits’ Secret Schemes (from FFVII “Turks’ Theme”)ġ9 – The Building Made of Tubes and Iron (from “LAST ORDER FFVII”)Ģ1 – Theme of CRISIS CORE “Scar of Friendship”Ģ2 – Flowers Blooming in the Slums (from FFVII “Aerith’s Theme”)Ģ4 – Theme of CRISIS CORE “Sharing Pride”Ģ6 – Marching in a Remote Land (from “LAST ORDER FFVII”)Ģ9 – Theme of CRISIS CORE “The True Plan”Ġ3 – The Organization That Controls Mako (from FFVII “Shinra Company”)Ġ4 – Theme of CRISIS CORE “To a New Post”Ġ5 – Closed Off Village (from FFVII “Anxious Heart”)ġ0 – The Enemy of the World is Created (from FFVII “One-Winged Angel”)ġ3 – Theme of CRISIS CORE “Frantic Battlefield”ġ8 – The Roar of Strange Beings Gatheringġ9 – The One Who Receives Divine ProtectionĢ4 – to be continued (from FFVII “Opening ~ Bombing Mission”)