final fantasy VII

.aa - week two.

Final Fantasy VII came out in 1997 for the PlayStation X and I was stoked.


There are absolutely no VO (voice-over) recordings in the game whatsoever. Basically the story is so long and convoluted, and contains so many characters, that audio director Nobuo Uematsu decided that the limitations of using recorded audio were too great. Interestingly this was not the only limitation he was faced with, he decided to only use the PlayStations internal chip and created a huge score of MIDI tracks for the game. He did this not only to free up the disc to utilise the power of the PlayStations visual hardware, but also so that the music would never stop to load – much unlike the visual element. In this way, FF7 is certainly an example of a game in which the audio was a primary factor to its success. Given that the game comprises three discs, it was a truly colossal game, with hours of typically frustrating game-play, movies and (best of all) music.

Aesthetically the game opens in the industrious world of Midgar (shown below), with the sounds of steam blow-offs and chrome metal smashes. Most of the sounds tend to conform into this feeling that a dark, cold metal city sits in the night sky. This kind of image is often painted too by industrial music, making use of sharp ‘nasty’ MIDI sounds; this is what probably draws me to FF7 the most.


The interface is navigated with two sounds – as you move the cursor over different buttons and when you select one of these buttons. Environmental sounds normally come intertwined with the music – for the most part the game is set in industrial cities, and the music matches this. Also I recall a part of the game when the characters walk through a windy desert, for which the music contains a swishy white noise sound. As well as the environment, the music often incorporates the mood of the story. A simple example of such mood-music would be the characters enter battle or face a boss, and also when the player wins a battle. In this last case, a triumphant marching band sort of theme is played, and a ‘chimey’ sound effect represents the money being collected from the bad guy.

.sans analysis.

These recordings are pretty average quality, but hopefully you get the idea.

UI SFX
In this example you here me move the cursor three times then make a selection. These are the interface sounds used throughout the game (main menu, ingame and so on).

FMV music
This is the audio that accompanies the opening cut-scene, in which I think you get a good idea of the industrial feel to the music. After around 5 seconds you here the ‘verby’ footsteps of the Aeris Gainsborough walking down a chrome metal street in Midgar. Towards the end, after 31 seconds, you hear the huge chords which accompanies the main FF7 logo (see above) coming onscreen.

Battle music
This sample begins with a swishy blow-off sound, which any FF7 player will know, occurs when a player goes into battle. The feel of increased tension in the music suits the in-game action. You can hear the same UI sounds as before after about 11 seconds (selecting to attack) then at the 12 second mark you hear the main character Cloud Strife jump over the enemy, attack him with his sword, and finally you hear the enemy die. This is last sound effect makes the sorts of ‘a-o-waaa’ noise. Love it. At around the 25th second, you hear the music change, playing big strong chords, signifying the battle has been won. After this music changes again to a more mellow feel, as the player chooses what loot to collect from the defeated enemies.

Critical Strike
Many games make use of ‘critical strikes’, whereby the attacker has a chance to do around double the damage they would normally do on a melee attack. After this sound effect this sample also contains the enemy dying (a-o-waaa).

.sources.

Brandon, Alexander 2005, "Audio for Games: planning, process and production," New Riders Games, Berkeley, Calif.

Haines, Christian 31.07.07, "Game Audio Analysis," EMU, Adelaide University.