Top Ten Pieces of Game Music

Whether you are watching a film or playing a game, music can play a large role in defining the experience. Those memorable pieces stick with us long after we’ve shut our systems off or walked out of the theater, and they’re a large part of what makes visual media so engaging. Being a fan of RPGs, I have heard many wonderful pieces of music from many talented composers. What follows are ten pieces of non-battle music from games I have played. A list of battle music might come somewhere down the road.

10- The Poem for Everyone’s Souls (Persona 3)

Persona 3 has a very eclectic soundtrack, but one that perfectly suits the tone and plot of the game. Shoji Meguro, the composer for the Shin Megami Tensei series, created a lot of J-pop and rock-type songs to suit the teenage protagonists and high school setting, but one of the more memorable pieces from the game is the song that plays in the Velvet Room, where you can create new Personas. The music gets steadily louder and more dramatic as it progresses, creating a suitable atmosphere to the tarot-card alchemy that is probably going on as it plays.

9- Ruin and Creation (Star Ocean: The Last Hope)

I’ve been told that The Last Hope is the worst Star Ocean game, but seeing as it’s the only one I’ve played, I’ll just have to take their word for it. One weakness the game reportedly does not have, however, is a lacking soundtrack. Motoi Sakuraba delivers a pretty great score for this game, but by far the best piece is the opening track ‘Ruin and Creation’, which plays over the opening cutscene showing nuclear weapons devastating Earth, and the new spacefaring society that rises from the ashes.

8- Xion’s Theme (Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days)

While the character does have her share of detractors, I personally found Xion to be the best part of the first DS Kingdom Hearts title. Let’s face it; Roxas is a pretty boring character on his own (he spends half of the game as a generally emotionless puppet), and Xion not only provides someone to spur Roxas’ growth, but ends up forming the emotional core of the story. (SPOILER AHEAD) This particular iteration of her theme song only plays during one scene; when she dies.

7- Place of Memory (Final Fantasy IX)

I’ve used Final Fantasy IX’s final dungeon as a sort of counterpoint to Final Fantasy VIII’s. FF8’s last dungeon is hideously overcomplicated and makes no sense in context with the story, while FF9’s final dungeon is very simple but fits the themes of the story- life, death, and the meaning of it all- perfectly. As the party begins by wandering through their own memories, they end up playing through the process of creation in reverse, watching the world unmake itself until all is inky blackness.

6- Omen (Xenogears)

Xenogears is a long, frustrating slog of a gameplay experience, but good lord, does it have fantastic music. This song, aside from containing the melodies from the beginning and end of the game and encompassing the entire game’s storyline, is what made Xenogear’s final dungeon bearable. With no random encounters and a really tedious puzzle to solve, nothing could interrupt the haunting mystery of Omen.  

5- End of the World (Kingdom Hearts)

Yoko Shimomura is one of my favorite composers, and one of my favorite songs by her is ‘Destati’, the bombastic vocal piece that serves as one of Kingdom Heart’s main themes. This remix of that theme plays at the End of the World, and turns what would otherwise be a boring retread of previously explored areas into what is easily the best final levels in the series, as Sora and company explore the domain of the Heartless and the remains of the worlds they have destroyed. It ends on one of the best pre-final boss monologues in gaming history.

4- Prisoners of Fate (Chrono Cross)

The Dead Sea is my favorite part of Chrono Cross; it’s a moment where the player is forced to witness the consequences of the player’s intentions in Chrono Trigger, which unwittingly doomed an entire existence to nothingness. What follows, however, is a scene where the protagonists of Chrono Trigger accuse Serge, the new main character, for the devastation he just witnessed. Cue heartrending music.

3- The opening of Twilight Princess.

Nintendo had this annoying habit when they were making Twilight Princess of not releasing their music (hell, they still don’t), not giving it an interesting name, and making their soundtracks MIDIS instead of better music. Twilight Princess still managed to deliver a decent soundtrack despite its limitations, but my nostalgia for this piece is still unmatched. Now, if only I knew what it was called…

2- Ending Theme (Final Fantasy X)

When most people think of Final Fantasy X’s soundtrack, they think of ‘To Zanarkand’, the memorable piano piece that opens the game. For me, though, the best song in FF10 is the ending theme, which plays over one of the most beautiful scenes in the game and contains both ‘Prayer to Yevon’ and ‘To Zanarkand’, and closes FF10 on the most tragic yet beautiful note possible. And people wonder why this is my favorite Final Fantasy.

1- To Faraway Times (Chrono Trigger)

What is there to say? Yasunori Mistuda is one of the best composers in the business, Chrono Trigger is one of the best RPGs ever made, and this is still one of the best end credits songs imaginable.