Greetings, fellow Final Fantasy fans! You’re probably wondering what’s up with the article title this time around; well wonder no longer, as I bring you a remix from Final Fantasy VII and another from Final Fantasy XI! In the past week, OverClocked ReMix has posted two new remixes, both meeting the same level of quality that has come to be expected from the site.

First up is the Final Fantasy XI remix, as it was posted first. Remixing ‘Heaven’s Tower,’ artist Xavier Dang (alias mv) takes an extended approach to the arrangement. It’s one of the longest songs hosted on OverClocked ReMix, though not nearly as long as the Final Fantasy VI/VII remix ‘Prancing Dad.’ Titled ‘Paradis,’ the nearly nine-minute long track is an ambient masterpiece, taking the listener on quite the musical journey. It starts out calm and slowly builds, almost as if you’re ascending the tower the source track names. At around the two minute mark, you enter the tower and the journey truly begins. The rest of the track is beautiful, and well worth the time to listen to it. You can find it here.

The second remix is from Final Fantasy VII, entitled ‘Mother.’ If you’ve played the game or anything else in the Compilation, you’ll understand the significance of the title. Arranging several tracks from the game ( ’J-E-N-O-V-A’, ‘Listen to the Cries of the Planet’, ‘Mako Reactor’, and ‘Those Chosen by the Planet,’ if you’re curious), the song takes a minimalistic approach to the tracks. Remixer Moomba got his inspiration from another Final Fantasy VII remix, Nekofrog’s ‘The Planet is Dead.’ It’s a very beautiful track, mixing the tracks fluidly and resulting in a song that wouldn’t be too far out of place in the opening credits sequence of a movie. It’s a fantastic listen, and you can find it here.

In other news, the Kickstarter for OCR’s Final Fantasy VI album was suddenly shut down recently, and staff is currently looking into the cause. I’ll post any updates I receive in a comment on this very article, so please stay tuned. Until next time, game on!

Hello again! Today I bring up an album that came out five years back, along with a couple of Final Fantasy remixes that were released in the past week! First up is OverClocked ReMix’s Voices of the Lifestream, an arrangement of the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack. Released on September 14, 2007, the four-disc album contains 45 arrangements totaling more than three hours of music covering a variety of styles.

The reason I bring it up is that this year happens to be both the 25th anniversary for this long-running series in addition to the 15th for Final Fantasy VII itself. It’s also relevant due to the recent announcement of the PC port’s re-release coming soon. It generated a lot of buzz upon release, even from composer and Video Games Live co-creator Tommy Tallarico, who said, “OC ReMix has done it again! I’m always impressed with the amazing talent that comes from the OCR community.

This album is a further testament to that quality and passion. It’s an honor for video game composers around the world to have their material be a part of the OCR community. This album rocks!” It is available for no charge whatsoever at OCR’s official site.

In addition to that magnificent album, I bring two arrangements that came out in the past week. First up is Walt Ribeiro, who arranges various songs For Orchestra. Recently he turned his orchestral eye to a classic tune, namely The Decisive Battle from Final Fantasy VI. The song itself is pretty awesome on its own, but he manages to amplify that by quite a large factor. You can listen to it, also free of charge, here.

Also, OCReMix released an orchestral arrangement of One-Winged Angel from FFVII and Liberi Fatali from FFVIII. Entitled ‘Duel of the Blades,’ artist Kevin Penkin blends the two themes masterfully into a wondrously cohesive piece. He says, “I have heard many different arrangements of One Winged Angel and have experienced the work in many different recorded and live forms.

I have realised that most of the versions I had listened to had one thing in common, the structure. The instrumentation might change or something might get put in the middle of the work, but to my knowledge there hasn’t been a complete rework of OWA outside of Crisis Core. This is what I wanted to change if I was actually going to try and arrange the tune. While writing the opening section I kept on thinking ‘Liberi Fatali would work great here’ and eventually came into the piece.” It works perfectly, and you can listen to it here.

Lastly, some news that is hot off the presses. Or maybe lukewarm, since it’s a few hours old. Earlier today, OCReMix announced their first Kickstarter campaign for their Final Fantasy VI album, Balance and Ruin. Now the album itself is going to be free as usual, but it’s always nice to get a chance to have a physical copy or to get that warm fuzzy feeling from helping a cause you believe in. Also the video on the Kickstarter campaign has a few snippets from works-in-progress at the end, so there’s always that. If you’re curious, you can check that out here. Until next time, game on!