I think Chrono Trigger is a bad example, Nobuo only did a handful of tracks. (I beleive only 9 out of the 64)  We will see, Nobuo did all the work for Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey games recently.    Whether Nobuo will do expansion packs to Final Fantasy XVI, that is the question.

So, in addition to being featured in the latest E3 2010 trailer, the new arrangement of the "Final Fantasy" theme also plays on the official site's splash intro.  I believe a recording is in order.  Six minute-looped for your pleasure:

Final Fantasy XIV - "Final Fantasy":
http://www.mediafire.com/?wohnowwyymo

Tooku shizuka na hoshizora kara, afureru inochi no uta ga kikoeru.

I'm more worried about Sakimoto and Hamauzu. The thing I liked about Uematsu was that he was creative in his music. I  loved what Sakimoto and Hamazu have done so far, but I'm worried about whether they will keep repeating the same stuff over and over again. All in all though, they are excellent composers.

I Think Uematsu's score for Final Fantasy XIV will bring back the traditional themes taken away in Final Fantasy XIII, which is a step in the right direction for the series. However, judging from the alpha release of the OST, none of the tracks other than the battle theme have grown on me yet, the style is different from his previous Final Fantasy work that I couldnt recognize it as his music.

The alpha tracks are extremely disappointing to me.  Currently FF14 is one of my least favorite Uematsu works of all time.

Sorry, but what the heck is an alpha track and where are you finding them?

David

I believe the "alpha" is the current version of the game that's out there for testing, if I'm not mistaken.  But... didn't the beta tests start by now (do I really know if I'm using those terms correctly?  Jury's still out!)?

Anyway, would also love to know where they're being found, because I went searching after reading that post and didn't come away with anything but a rip of the FF theme from the website.

Yeah, fine:

http://www.mediafire.com/?ufqipfsazn5zrfc

Even worse than Blue Dragon or Lost Odyssey? I've not given the rip a proper listen partially because of my low expectation, but I can easily imagine the soundtrack will significantly grow on me once I play the game (which I should avoid at any cost).

That being said, I don't pretend I've not seen lots of complaints with the soundtrack. Most of them are regarding the rock tracks being generic, bland, cheesy, loud and out of the place.

FFXIV is officially in closed beta testing and will be released on September 22nd.

Personally, I was really pleased with the alpha rip. It features a nice assortment of rock, orchestral and synthetic tracks. The quality is high and it sounds like Uematsu. Easily better than Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey. I even liked it better than FFXIII's soundtrack. Then again, I've always preferred Uematsu to Hamauzu.

There are some throwaway tracks in the rip. Namely a couple of bland ambient / event pieces. They don't hurt the experience too much though. In the end, I'd give the alpha rip a solid 4/5. Not perfect, but very good and enjoyable.

Back on the topic, it appears two albums which I assume are 'previews' will be released on Sep.

Both Youtube and Torrents have the Aplha release of the soundtrack if you want to give it a liste. I do beleive that when I do play the game, the OST will rgow on you so ill wait before I criticise it further.

Yes, as bland and generic as Blue Dragon's OST is, my first few listens place FFXIV's music to be at least as bland.... and in some cases awkward sounding, which I can't really explain.  I agree completely with the complaint on the rock tracks.
I actually liked about 25% of Lost Odyssey's OST.  That's way more than I can say for FFXIV.
Perhaps playing FFXIV will increase my appreciation for the music.  I will end up giving it a shot considering I was addicted to FFXI for years and years.

FFXI may also be hurting my judgment of the FFXIV soundtrack just a teeny bit.  I really like what Mizuta ended up creating for FFXI.  I wouldn't call the XI OSTs masterpieces, but they worked really well in game.  The tracks were not obnoxious and in your face, nor were they completely bland and unnoticeable.  A lot of the XI music worked for me outside of game as well, both before and after I was familiar with where the tracks were played.
Upon first hearing the FFXIV tracks I thought "wow, these are not very good", "this will get annoying in game really fast" for most battle tracks, and "...boring" for most non-battle tracks.  I ended up thinking "This is sure no FFXI.  I'd like Mizuta back".

actually, now that I go through the entire OST properly, I am beginning to see how "Nobuo" the music is and im appreciating the music more. I had this exact same feeling when I first heard the FFX OST.

Thanks!!! Downloaded, but I haven't had a chance to give it a proper listen yet.

Based on all the hate I'm seeing in this thread for Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, I wonder if I'll have to listen to this music in-game to really appreciate it.  I like both of those OSTs a lot, but I also played through the games before really listening to them much.

The official soundtrack has been announced.

http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/sem/page/ffxiv/

David

The current speculation is that these CDs aren't the complete original soundtrack, but just promo albums with only a couple tracks each. That makes the most sense given their low price (1,500 yen each). I'll probably buy them regardless though. XD

I'm looking forward to FFXIV. FFXII was boring and I won't dare listen to FFXIII, since I can't stand Hamauzu.

When I listen to Lord of Vermilion, I am reminded of Extreme-G for some reason (I picture the racetracks in my mind, not the music). That's of course a very good thing (it sounds like shooter/racing music). LoV does not make me think of Final Fantasy in the least. If I did not know Uematsu was the composer, I never could have guessed.

I had held off listening to the FFXIV soundtrack till now, but finally caved. I'm over halfway through it, and I like what I hear. It started off rather ho-hum, but there have been a number of tracks that I think are great, raising the face value of the whole thing in my mind. Lots of action/battle tracks in there; some are generic, others I totally want to fight a boss to. There seem to be intentional references to older FF themes. At times it reminds me of Lost Odyssey, but with rhythmic beats from FF8's Force Your Way or FF7's Bombing Mission thrown in. And even though this is the newer Uematsu, with all his orchestra and electric guitar combos, you still hear a lot of cool sounds that hearken back to the older Uematsu. I don't know, I think it works well outside the game for the most part. There's some soft wintry stuff, some Caribbean flavor, some brassy jazz. One theme sounds inspired by Edward Scissorhands, while the chocobo theme starts off with an altered intro of the "The Magnificent Seven" theme. Cowboy de Chocobo? I don't care for that long vocal song though. Some sections are nice, but other parts made me cringe.

Does anybody try the game? I passed it, but lately I've watching others playing the game for quite a long time while studying, and the music isn't so bad as most everybody says. They're not so memorable, but are fine backgrounds music.  Maybe there isn't another Ronfaure or Gustaberg, but I'm really digging the music of Limsa Lominsa. I even like it better than Bastok. The first numbered-FF I won't play after III, but the first soundtrack I'll pick up nonetheless.

That's rather curious. You don't look back to "Dark Messenger" for the rock motifs, or perhaps "Dark City Treno" for the melodies, in Final Fantasy IX? There seems to be a very clear progression of Uematsu from IX to BD to LO to LoV as an evolution of that particular facet of Uematsu's style.

Played FFXIV for a bit in the open beta and was impressed. The game lacked polish (and was ridden with bugs), but it had enough potential to hook me and so I pre-ordered the collector's edition. Now I'm playing the official version and it's pretty great! There's still a lot of fixes and improvements to be made, but I'm enjoying myself nonetheless. :3

As for the music... I'm loving all of it. It's pretty standard Uematsu and that's perfectly fine with me. In fact, several tunes in FFXIV are borrowed from his previous works (and that's besides the obvious rehashes like the Prelude, Final Fantasy, Chocobo theme, victory fanfare, etc.). Overall I find it to be a great blend of old and new that fits the game rather well. Definitely looking forward to complete soundtrack release.

The music definitely works better in game than listened to outside of the game, but I often feel that way about unimpressive soundtracks.  Now that I'm playing I don't miss having Mizuta as much as I thought I would, but I still would have preferred it... and this does come from an Uematsu fan.