FFX HD's remastered soundtrack

Since FFX has my favorite videogame soundtrack ever, I've been listening to some of the remastered music and I have to say that I have mixed feelings. Some of the songs have been improved, some are good enough, and others have been completely ruined.

Here's a couple that have been improved IMO:

Men Who Live For Blitz original

Men Who Live For Blitz remaster

The remaster takes the grandness of the original and amplifies it, making the song sound glorious.

Tidus's Theme original

Tidus's Theme remaster

I think getting rid of the loud harmonica part is an improvement. I also like how the remaster is gentler in general.

Here's one that comes close to the original, but falls just a little short:

Someday the Dream Will End original

Someday the Dream Will End remaster

The remaster sounds much cleaner, but loses a bit of depth IMO. It doesn't "envelop" me as much.

Here's one that I'm not sure if I like it better than original:

Seymour Final Battle original

Seymour Final Battle remaster

I like the intro of the original way better, but the rest of the song might be a little punchier in the remaster.

Here's one that's decent, but falls really short of the original:

Besaid Island original

Besaid Island remaster

It's way too busy and those violins are too dramatic for Besaid's atmosphere, but it still sounds pretty good.

Here's one they clearly fucked up:

Spira Unplugged original

Spira Unplugged remaster

Who thought it was a good idea to suck all the warmth out of the song, replacing it with a cold, tinny feeling. WTF?

Here's another one they downgraded:

Luca original

Luca remaster

So not only did they smother the melody with a bunch of noisy festive jangle, but they put some cheesy sounding horns starting at about 2:28. This original has a subtle hustle and bustle about it. The remaster goes way overboard.

Anyway, that's just a sample. What do you guys think?

I do have to say that making the tracks sound clearer kind of took a bit of soul out of them.

Im starting to have mixed feelings about some of the music too i mean the original music was perfect why did they go and remix them or whatever? -_-

I think it would have been much preferable for them to simply clean up the audio on the original tracks rather than remix some of them.

I will say that I don't really prefer any of the remixed tracks over the originals.

But as I've said before, I still own the original. Having the remixed tracks along with a lot of content I never played makes it feel a little more new again.

It's not like I won't be keeping FFX after I get the remasters.

That's a good point. The remixed tracks do add a very slight element of newness. Well, not new for me since I've listened to most of the remastered soundtrack, but still...

I own the OST, so if they want to change them that is fine with me.

I've listened to quite a few of the songs before. I don't really see a reason for them to remix those. Like you said, clearing them up would've been fine.

It's a bit of an annoyance, but nothing that will stop me from enjoying this when it releases. Not to mention it will be something I'll get used to anyways.

The thing is: the remixing might affect the atmosphere of some of the locations, even if ever so slightly.

That's why I just kinda sampled the ones you posted for a few seconds. I agree that they took a lot of soul out, they just sound too clear or something. I can't put my finger on it, or maybe it's just because FFX is my favorite game, and it's different.

They destroyed the besaid island and thunder plains songs. Literally ruined them. They don't have any character anymore. When I hear some FF songs I instantly get memories and flashbacks (same with most games) and remastering it kind of ruins that nostalgia part a bit

Some songs are better like Seymour's battle theme is cool but overall I don't like the soundtrack. It's too clean sounding, weird to say I know, but I agree that it took some of the soul out of them. There's too much synth going on and the instrument levels are kind of off

I'm sure they wouldn't be THAT big a deal when actually playing though and they'd grow on me. Wish there was an option for either soundtrack though

you can always hope they give you an option for the original music

I almost feel like they tried to make Besaid Island and a few others sound more like a FFXIII track.

It boggles my mind that they didn't put an option to go with the original OST.

BTW, I agree that they wrecked Thunder Plains.

Unfortunately, they didn't.

this is where modding would be a benefit :(

I've actually looked at some Let's Play footage of the moments in the game that are accompanied by the songs and they come off a bit better in game.

Some of those seem pretty bad in comparison. I'm still going to enjoy the heck out of the game.

Nice sig. Where did you get it from?

i personally think besaid is a lot clearer in the sampling of the synth and in general composition adds depth to the song from a few standpoints in my mind, from the few i've listend to the sound is a lot clearer and defined more than likely due to the increased power they can play with in terms of disk space and having much better quality audio files on hand brings out an aura of more defined and crisp mastering.

In the case of Luca its the same all over, better mastering techniques and various other things.In many ways its actually more or less just a clean up and the bass for a start is more defined and sounds magnificent in my book.

Mostly all over its down to better samples for the synths, and mixing techniques that we never had back when FFX came out.

What one must remember is that over the past 10 years audio has moved on and the games changed a lot.

Luca is definitely not the same all over. For example, the original Luca theme didn't have horns in it.

I didn't think they were "bad" but I do prefer the originals, don't **** with Seymour's battle theme brah ;(

Overall though, I for one welcome the change of tunes, it will be like a refreshing light breeze.

what i was more meaning was the composition areas of the original are still pretty true to what i hear in the original with cleaned up and better bitrate sampling on the synths with a few additions over the top should've been a tad clearer :P

but the sampling of some of those synths are immensely well done and well defined, shows how much a lot of the tech has progressed over the years.A good example of what im going on about in terms of the sampling is well defined when you listen to OOOOLD daft punk then listen to Alive2007, a lot of the older stuff was scrubbed up and redone for that tour giving a much more defined and better overall sounding experience :P

i actually really like the reworking of besaid to be honest, the synth just sounds much more silky smooth.

didn't listen but i think soundtrack's should remain untouched.

i skipped the kh collection and might have gotten it if not for the remixed soundtrack. will probably skip this too