Today I got the limited edition of FFXIII OST (habs net Amazon ordered) and I have to say I am thrilled. If you read through reviews on this OST, you will find that the opinions are just like FFXII apart. Of course, this is because each person has a different taste in music, and I think you should respect that. In my opinion, this is one of the best (if not the best) OSTs the FF series. I must honestly say, no track of these 4 CDs moved me so much as Aerith theme or To Zanarkand. For these 4 CDs have a different thickness. This is in the battle countless topics and the fantastic orchestrisierung of every single piece and it is also the fact that the level of all the pieces, significantly higher than what one usually hears in an OST. The FFXIII OST consists of not too many tracks, however, are played in different variations and thus draw a red thread through the OST, which produces a kind of connection from the fortuitous about the individual pieces, and the pieces with each other makes sense. Especially the vowels pieces as Zerah topic that is sung by the Japanese voice actress of Lightning or Ragnarok, which is softly sung by the choir and creates a sad and equally peaceful atmosphere, warm the heart of Höhrers and become unforgettable earwigs. In contrast to these extremely quiet pieces are the grandiose campaign themes, which reveal the full force of the orchestra and motivate a right to fight. Here I would like to particularly mention Orphan Battle 1, which is in my opinion one of the best battle themes of all time. While there is the beloved Siegesfanfare the series no longer, but there again but some Chocobo topics which are as spectacularly staged in every part of the FF-series (particularly Cocoon de Chocobo Chocobo with a vowel). The special thing about this OST is no track of these 4 CDs strikes negatively or does not fit in the OST. There are even more who emerge positively from the OST (the individual character themes give a real impression in the soul of the characters).
My conclusion: A terrific piece of music history !!! A worthy Final Fantasy OST !!! The perfect farewell gift by Masashi Hamauzu its Square Enix fans !!! Who is not a collector and want to enjoy the beautiful music, which should resort to the normal version of the soundtrack and for all others is: FINAL FANTASY XIII LTD. EDITION (with great art book, which includes drawings of FFXIII Grandmaster Yoshitaka Amano, the first chapter of FFXIII Episode Zero, spoken by the original Japanese voiceover (for all those who can japanese XD) and a great box in FFXIII look) !!!
PS: The soundtrack will not be identical to the one in the game (here in Germany). The fantastic ballad of Sayuri Sugawara (Kimi ga iru kara) is replaced in our version of Leona Lewis' My Hands. My opinion I can not comment on that because I do not know now, as with us, the song will be integrated into the game (you should never have prejudices).
