Final Fantasy games often have excellent soundtracks, and Final Fantasy VIII is no exception. As a teenager, I bought the Final Fantasy VIII OST on iTunes - my one and only iTunes purchase - and loaded it onto the iPod I always carried with me, so I ended up hearing all the tracks a lot!
Of course, I've also heard plenty of these tracks through replaying Final Fantasy VIII a frankly ludicrous number of times.
I thought it might be fun to listen through the entire Final Fantasy VIII OST and note down my thoughts on each track. For now, I've just done this for the first disc, but I'll expand this page later on! The name of each track in this list links to the song on YouTube.
Final Fantasy VIII Original Soundtrack, Disc One
'Liberi Fatali'. The opening FMV of Final Fantasy VIII is astonishingly cool; I'd never seen anything like it. The epic, sweeping nature of this track certainly helps; it's a fantastic piece!
I once went to a Video Games Live concert, at which the host, Tommy Tallarico, said 'Liberi Fatali' was his all-time favourite piece of videogame music. Was he telling the truth? Will we ever know? In any case, when he said the next piece of music to be performed was from Final Fantasy VIII, I was one of a tiny handful of people who cheered aloud.
'Balamb Garden'. Listening to this piece of music always feels like coming home. I've spent countless hours running around Balamb Garden, with this calming track playing in the background. It's a piece that often gets stuck in my head while I'm working on this site, for obvious reasons!
'Blue Fields'. This is another very familiar track I'm deeply fond of; it instantly makes me picture tiny Squall running around the world map. I always spend a long time drawing magic from the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell, and having this music in the background definitely improves the experience!
'Don't Be Afraid'. A classic battle theme! It's not my favourite Final Fantasy battle theme for regular encounters - that's probably 'Blinded by Light' from Final Fantasy XIII - but it's definitely up there in the rankings. This always makes me think of the training centre at Balamb Garden, probably because that's one of the earliest places you're likely to hear it.
I really like that the battle theme is called 'Don't Be Afraid'. It implies that there is fear there, and that Squall is fighting to suppress it. A cool little character detail, hidden in the song title.
'The Winner'. This one's a little disconcerting to me because the post-fanfare music doesn't match the victory themes from other Final Fantasy games of the era, but that does at least make it distinctive; when you hear this song, it's the Final Fantasy VIII experience screen you picture specifically.
'Find Your Way'. I love this one. Very atmospheric. I associate this track most strongly with wandering the Tomb of the Unknown King.
'SeeD'. I'm listening to the soundtrack as I write these notes, and it's interesting to see how many of these songs instantly transport me to a specific point in the game! This one brings me straight to Headmaster Cid's briefing before the field exam. As a piece of background music, it works for the contexts it's used in - it's appropriately solemn and military-tinged - but it's not something I'd seek out to listen to on its own.
'The Landing'. One of my favourites! Absolutely love this piece of music, in part because I love the Dollet landing FMV so much. Excellent sense of drama, and I love the way it builds. I also like the natural way it transitions from FMV background music to gameplay background music.
'Starting Up'. Up to now, I've glanced at the title of every track and gone 'oh, I know that one!'; this is the first track I couldn't remember from the title. It's cool, though! Very short, but it's got a strong mechanical beat to it.
'Force Your Way'. Love this boss theme! You'll hear plenty of it throughout Final Fantasy VIII, but it always makes me think of the Elvoret fight at Dollet in particular, possibly because I did not know how to junction magic on my first playthrough and my battle with Elvoret consequently took several thousand years. At least the music was great. I made some efforts to learn it on the piano, actually, but it never quite stuck.
'The Loser'. The Game Over screen with Squall's broken gunblade makes me really sad! This is a nice implementation of Final Fantasy's recurring Prelude theme, though.
'Never Look Back'. Does a great job of conveying the fact that you're under time pressure and you need to move. I really like the way the constant, rapid underlying beat feels like a ticking clock.
'Dead End'. The track name wasn't familiar to me, but the instant I heard the song start up I went 'oh, that cutscene!' I know it's possible to defeat X-ATM092, but I've never actually bothered to try; I don't want to miss out on the cool Dollet escape!
'Breezy'. Absolutely love this one. It feels so relaxing and peaceful. A while ago, I had a few guitar lessons; I mentioned to my guitar tutor that I loved Final Fantasy VIII, and he brought tabs for 'Breezy' to our next lesson so I could learn it!
'Shuffle or Boogie'. Just seeing the title made me start singing this piece to myself. When I actually started listening to it, I caught myself tapping my foot to it before long. I have played so much Triple Triad over the years. What a great card game. I love the offbeat clapping.
'Waltz for the Moon'. What an iconic moment! Squall and Rinoa's dance is one of my favourite cutscenes from any videogame I've ever played, and I think this music accompanies it perfectly.
'Tell Me'. In its sound, I think this piece works really well for confiding in each other late at night! It feels like a very Squall and Rinoa piece, though; it's a little surprising to realise it's used for Quistis one-sidedly confiding in her student while he desperately tries to will himself out of this uncomfortable situation.
'Fear'. This also has a very late-night feel. It's got a nice beat to it; I like it, but I don't find it especially memorable.
'The Man with the Machine Gun'. This, on the other hand, is incredibly memorable. Hi, Laguna! Your battle theme is an absolute banger.
'Julia'. I love this piano version of 'Eyes on Me' and, on replays, I'll often linger in Julia's piano playing scene to hear the entire thing. Unfortunately, the music doesn't loop in-game; if the track reaches the end, Julia will just continue 'playing the piano' in silence, which feels very awkward!
'Roses and Wine'. A nice little romantic track. Nothing life-changing, but it works.
'Junction'. I like this a lot, actually! It's very simple, but there's something chilling about it.
'Timber Owls'. There's an endearing haphazard clockwork shenanigans feel to this track. I have no idea whether the phrase 'haphazard clockwork shenanigans' makes any sense, but it feels right and I'm sticking to it.
I'll expand this page with my thoughts on the other three OST discs at a later date!