Midi Week Singles: Sabre's Edge (FFXIII)

"Sabre's Edge" from Final Fantasy XIII on the Playstation 3 (2010)

Composer: Masashi Hamauzu

Album: No Official Release

Publisher: SquarEnix

Developer: SquarEnix

I caught myself happily whistling this song today.  "Sabre's Edge" is every bit a Final Fantasy boss battle theme.  the slow fanfare bit is sooooo catchy, and it’s really nice when it comes back around in the second half of the song.    There are some tracks that bring you into a game whenever you hear them, and this is my track for FFXIII. 

And, to be fair, it must be by design.  The boss battle music is supposed to have a strong effect, and for FF games, it almost universally does. A good boss theme is like the summation of everything to come before it.  Boss fights are supposed to be the conclusion of a chapter.  There have been many fights up to this point, there have been songs, but this one tells you how far you've come and what you’re up against. 

I really think there is no better way to sum up the experience of playing a video game than selected samples of the in-game music.  Something about how the memories are formed and accessed, I guess.

It should also be noted that Nobou Uematsu is not the composer for Final Fantasy XIII, but Masashi Hamauzu, who took over lead composer duties when Uematsu left SquarEnix in 2004.  He did study under Uematsu, according to his Wikipedia page.  

-D