Awesome Music / Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy

aka: Final Fantasy XIII

Awesome Music pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.

Final Fantasy XIII

• The Battle Theme, "Blinded By Light". With one of the most epic violins worth of note. The even more awesome "long version" can be heard here. The arranged version from Duodecim is 100% pure eargasm from start to finish.

• "My Hands", the song "set to defile the English version", is quite moving and very fitting, especially when it played in the game's international trailer.
• The game's jazzy "Chocobo Theme" is so... catchy... There's also the other "Chocobo Theme", which has its own lyrics.
• The themes for all the main characters:
  • "Lightning's Theme" is calm yet beautiful. It's probably so awesome because it's a variation on "Blinded By Light" above. And how about the version from the game's Piano Collections?
  • "Snow's Theme" is just plain badass... mostly due to the beat and the electric guitars.
  • "Sazh's Theme" is jazzy and improvisational. It works.
  • "Hope's Theme" is very melancholic. It also has an orchestrated version, Sustained by Hate.
  • "Fang's Theme" is filled to the brim with energy. Fittingly, it contains part of the battle theme.
  • Finally, "Vanille's Theme" is done entirely on piano. It's a Tear Jerker in its own right.

• "Saber's Edge", especially once the brass section kicks in. Oddly, for a battle theme, it's in waltz time. The version from Dissidia, as well. It starts off the same as the original... then the drum beat kicks in and it gets intense.

• "Eden Under Siege" goes well with the chaos raging in the game's penultimate act.
• "PSICOM", a short, militaristic fanfare that never tires you out while fighting the Proudclad.

• "Fighting Fate", this Boss Battle theme in particular. Fits very nicely when fighting Galenth Dysley/Barthandelus. The non-battle version of this theme, "Ragnarok", which plays when the party is turned into l'Cie by Anima, is very haunting.
• "Born Anew" is incredible. Nothing matches the adrenaline rush you get from 0:15-0:33 especially, which plays as Orphan rises out of its pool to battle you. The buildup on "Nascent Requiem" was quite exhilarating, and somehow the playful theme seems to be mocking the players - yet beneath the surface is the sense that Lightning and her friends can already see the dawn of a new future beyond this last battle.

• "The Sunleth Waterscape". Take the game's leitmotif, speed it up to a bubblegum pop rhythm, and throw in upbeat lyrics. This is what you'll get.
• The beautiful "Atonement" plays when Hope reconciles with Snow, and later on, when Snow reaffirms his commitment to save Cocoon.
• "This is Your Home" plays when Bartholomew tells Hope that l'Cie be damned, Hope is his son...and that their home will always be a sanctuary for him, no matter what.
• "Eidolons" and "Test of the l'Cie" play during the battles with the Eidolons, depending on which one you're facing.
• "Dust to Dust" plays when you explore Vanille and Fang's hometown, Oerba, and find that everyone there is either dead or has been turned into a Cie'th. As if to emphasize the sorrow, it plays during battles instead of the regular theme, too.
• "Will to Fight" is a perfect piece to play in Palumpolum after Hope realizes just how feared he is as an l'Cie. It truly evokes the emotions of how painful it must be for him to be looked on as a monster by his neighbours.
• The Battle Results theme which plays after the game's victory fanfare is too awesome to be left out! (Normally, you guys'll just skip the results after each battle, shame that you missed such an alluring music...)
• This list ain't complete without "Desperate Struggle". Only plays during a handful of boss battles, but they're also some of the most intense battles in the game. Thus it doesn't matter when Cid Raines kicks your ass for the 100th time, because it just means you get to listen to this badass music even more.
• "The Archylte Steppe" welcome players with another use of the game's leitmotif. Not only is it quite peaceful, but it conveys quite well the feeling that you are exploring a new, open-ended area, on top of being a new WORLD, filled with its own active fauna.
• Neighboring area, the Yaschas Massif, rather clashes with the more serious feel of the steppe's theme, instead sounding rather cheerful and oddly elevatory. As with the steppe and its theme, this one makes exploring its own large area pleasant, to say nothing of the Scenery Porn.
• "Lake Bresha" just oozes 'beginning of an adventure'. It's also damn catchy.
• The Piano Collections version of the Sulya Springs theme, and the rest of the piano collections for this game as well. The way they transform the original songs into something very different, while still keeping the core melodies, and still sounding just as good, if not better.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

• You may have a hard time pressing the Start button at the main menu since it means cutting the menu theme short. The vocal version also doubles as "Serah's Theme", which somehow manages to be even more heartwarming than her theme in the previous game.

• "Worlds Collide" gets your blood boiling while fighting Paradox Alpha.
• "Limit Break" will likely get you pumped each time it plays.
• "Crazy Chocobo" is either awesome or So Bad, It's Good. It's unmitigated cheese, nonetheless.
• "Chaotic Guardian/Followers of Chaos", a remix of Caius's Theme and something that you'd probably expect to hear in a Triple-A big-budget epic movie. It's also the best thing by far about Academia 400AF, almost making the waves of endless Cie'th an enjoyable experience to wade through.

• "Noel's Theme" is hauntingly beautiful.

• "Unseen Intruder" and the instrumental. The Aggressive version is generally more well-liked due to the faster pace.
• "Eclipse" and its Aggressive mix definitely qualify as some of the most atmospheric and haunting music in the game.
• "New Bodhum" and the Aggressive mix is very reminiscent of "Inner Universe". No surprise on that one, considering the singer is Origa, who also did some of the more memorable vocal tracks in GITS: SAC.
• "The City of Academia" gives a perfect feeling of "welcome to the future: it is awesome."
• "Chaotic Labyrinth", which plays in Academia 500AF, really provides an 'end of days' feeling.
• The final battle sequence has THREE back-to-back-to-back battle themes of awesome: "Time's Master", "Heart of Chaos", and "Unseen Abyss".

• "Eternal Plains", the peppy J-Pop theme of the sunny Archylte Steppe.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

• The regular battle theme, The Saviour. Dat violin. And electric guitar is always good.
• The final boss themes against Bhunivelze, which is one of the greatest battles in the FF series overall and accompanies one of the most epic endings to a video game, as Lightning has to fight against the ruler of the FFXIII universe in a battle for the souls of all humanity. That choir will have you mesmerized.
• Crimson Blitz is almost better than the original version of Blinded by Light.
• Death Game is most certainly one of the most unique blends of musical genres in the game. Also comes in a synthesizer version!
• While the final dungeon may not be as long or as visually impressive as the previous two games, Altar of Light does an excellent job of evoking a tense and apocalyptic feeling.
• As is to be expected from a place that chooses to call itself the "city of pleasure", every single one of the Yusnaan themes are an absolute blast to listen to. Special mention going to The Glittering City of Yusnaan and City of Revelry
• Most of the records that play in Yusnaan are gorgeous: Ambivalence plays in the prologue, when Lightning has to chase Snow through his palace; Yusnaan Palace, when she infiltrates the palace for the second and final time; and High Voltage, which is one of the primary battle themes in the city.
• Lightning's Theme - Distant Light, an emotional track that really lets it sink in that this is the Grand Finale of Lightning's saga, as well as its longer version Radiance.
• Snow's Theme - Final Words. Compared to his theme from the first game, it really showcases the Character Development the man has gone through, from being the Hot-Blooded Action Hero of the first game to the Older and Wiser Heartbroken Badass he is in the third game.
• A lot of the Luxerion themes count as well: The "straight-out of a noir film" Eternal Midnight, and Nova Chrysalia, which is a gorgeous, predominantly string piece that plays in the early morning hours.
• The Epilogue theme plays when Lightning steps off a train in France, presumably to find her friends, and genuinely smiles for the first time. It's a gorgeous way to send off the series.
• The acoustic guitar song that the bard in Ruffian plays, "Eternal Wind", especially notable as it is Final Fantasy III's map theme. Also in Japanese.

• The ending theme of the game, Humanity's Tale. Words really can't describe how incredible this track is.
• The Dead Dunes theme has an incredible sense of wonder to it.