![final fantasy xiii ost zing final fantasy xiii ost zing](http://pm1.narvii.com/6413/3f001696eff4ec37a659fca07bdb4e9a9a86b929_00.jpg)
The live strings add extra emotion and beauty to the track, and I was absolutely blown away when I first heard it. What follows is simply one of the greatest melodies Hamauzu has written. It keeps repeating the same thing all over again, but around 0:40 snare drums, brass and strings are added from where it builds up to a climax. The soundtrack’s first two tracks already introduces us to the most important themes of the game: “Prelude to FINAL FANTASY XIII” and “FINAL FANTASY XIII – The Promise.” The former starts with mysterious, impressionistic chords on the piano and a synth pad. Fortunately, I can say that Hamauzu has delivered. How could it ever go wrong? Well, without proper composition. But there’s more than that: vocals, jazz bands and, on top of that, Square Enix arranged recordings with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir for about nine tracks. Almost all orchestral tracks have some kind of live performance in them sometimes they’re solo, but there are even orchestral sections recorded. The game’s production values are extremely high and, in fact, are the highest of any Square-Enix game I can think of. Thankfully, Final Fantasy XIII is his well-deserved chance to do that after all. I have always been a big fan of him since I discovered his work on Final Fantasy X and Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, but since the former was also composed by series’ veteran Nobuo Uematsu and the latter was merely an unsuccesful spin-off, he has never really stood in the spotlight. But fortunately, I’m at least able to enjoy the aspect of the game where I was most looking forward to: the original soundtrack, composed by ex-Square-Enix employee Masashi Hamauzu. And you know what? I still haven’t played the game yet. It’s been almost four years since Final Fantasy XIII was announced at E3 ’06.