Talk:Music of Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy IV Advance — Music Player
Since the Wikipedia articles use translated track names (for the most part), I would like to post what I believe to be the most official English track listing available. If anyone refutes this with iTunes, I'd point out that some track names have missing letters ("Mgitek Research Facility") or wrong words ("In Search of the Main in Black"), making it only reliable with interpretation.

These track name where taken from the Music Player of the North American version of Final Fantasy VI Advance.

01) "The Prelude"

02) "Omen 1"

03) "Omen 2"

04) "Omen 3"

05) "Awakening"

06) "Terra's Theme"

07) "Shadow's Theme"

08) "Strago's Theme"

09) "Gau's Theme"

10) "Edgar & Sabin's Theme"

11) "Coin of Fate"

12) "Cyan's Theme"

13) "Locke's Theme"

14) "Forever Rachel"

15) "Relm's Theme"

16) "Setzer's Theme"

17) "Epitaph"

18) "Celes's Theme"

19) "Techno de Chocobo"

20) "The Decisive Battle"

21) "Johnny C. Bad"

22) "Kefka"

23) "The Mines of Narshe"

24) "Phantom Forest"

25) "The Veldt"

26) "Protect the Espers!"

27) "Under Martial Law"

28) "The Gestahl Empire"

29) "Troops March On"

30) "Metamorphosis"

31) "Phantom Train"

32) "Esper World"

33) "Grand Finale"

34) "Mt. Kolts"  [Is this the in-game spelling in FFVI Advance?]

35) "Battle"

36) "Wedding Waltz - Duel 1"

37) "Aria di Mezzo Carattere"

38) "The Serpent Trench"

39) "Slam Shuffle"

40) "Kids Run Through the City"

41) "What?"  ["What? 2" may be in ref to "What?" from FFV.]

42) "Gogo's Theme"

43) "The Returners"

44) "Victory Fanfare"

45) "Umaro's Theme"

46) "Mog's Theme"

47) "The Unforgiven"

48) "Battle to the Death"

49) "The Airship Blackjack"

50) "The Magic House"

51) "Good Night"

52) "From That Day On"  [The Music Player does not include the ellipse.]

53) "Catastrophe"

54) "Spinach Rag"

55) "Rest in Peace"

56) "Overture 1"

57) "Overture 2"

58) "Overture 3"

59) "Wedding Waltz - Duel 2"

60) "Wedding Waltz - Duel 3"

61) "Wedding Waltz - Duel 4"

62) "Magitek Research Facility"

63) "Floating Continent"

64) "Searching for Friends"

65) "The Fanatics"

66) "Kekfa's Tower"

67) "Dark World"

68) "Balance Is Restored 1"

69) "Balance Is Restored 2"

70) "Dancing Mad 1"

71) "Dancing Mad 2"

72) "Dancing Mad 3"

73) "Dancing Mad 4"

74) "Dancing Mad 5"

75) "Fanfare 2"  [This is not included on soundtracks.]

Note: Tracks 2, 3, and 4 run together in soundtracks.

Note: Tracks 36, 59, 60, and 61 run together in soundtracks.

Note: Tracks 56, 57, and 58 run together in soundtracks.

Note: Tracks 68 and 69 run together in soundtracks.

Note: Tracks 70 through 74 run together in soundtracks.

T.J. Fuller, Jr. 01:20, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Some sources for contributors to the Creation section
+ (Front Mission: Gun Hazard OST liner notes) + Kariteh 09:44, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

FFAnthology OST contradiction
See Talk:Music of Final Fantasy V. Kariteh 17:53, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 19:33, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Aria ff6.png
Image:Aria ff6.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

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BetacommandBot 09:39, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

GA review
Good article, I will continue watching the page until you are done. -- Noj r (talk) 20:45, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
 * "a compilation of all of the music" - remove second "of"
 * "received excellent reviews" - I think "very positive" is better to avoid being too sweeping
 * "one of the best video game music soundtracks ever." - "ever composed."
 * "especially "Aria di Mezzo Carattere"" - "particularly"
 * "arranged and compilation albums by Square" - "arranged albums and compilations by Square"
 * "Uematsu was personally very pleased with the was that" - typo
 * I think Concept and Creation would be better suited in the Reception section. Instead of dealing with the development of the soundtrack, it primarily speaks of Uematsu's responses to his own work. Thus, it should be integrated into the Reception section.
 * "and the catalog numbers PSCN-5001~3...new name and catalog numbers NTCP-5001~3" - I believe it is a "catalog number" not "numbers"
 * "small differences in translation between the album and newer releases" - what kind of translation?
 * "along with songs from Final Fantasy V." Redundant, since the CD name is Music From FFV and FFVI Video Games
 * "was extremely well received" - reword to avoid being WP:Peacock.
 * "The Black Mages, a band that arranges music" - it should be noted that the band was formed by Nobuo Uematsu.
 * "from Darkness and Starlight." - to remain consistent, the release date should be mentioned.
 * "appeared on Final Fantasy: Love Will Grow" - use present tense "appear"
 * "as an series of albums" - typo "as a"
 * All fixed except for the catalog numbers one- for some strange reason, catalog numbers are done so that each individual disc gets its own. Therefore, it really is "catalog numbers PSCN-5001~3" - the first disk is 5001, the second is 5002, and the third is 5003.  I don't know why they do it that way, but it's consistent across all publishers.  Thank you for taking the time ro review this- I'm quite embarrassed by many of the grammar mistakes, but I'm glad they were caught. --PresN (talk) 22:23, 7 April 2008 (UTC)
 * Ah, ok I understand about the catalog numbers, and dont worry about the mistakes everybody makes em. Just check out the peer review Im doing for EarthBound and see some of the whoppers I pulled. Needless to say, its a pass. It well written, informative, balanced, all that hodge podge. Congrats. EDIT: Accidentally missed the Square Enix Store link at the bottom. I took the liberty of removing it because it is pretty un-encyclopedic. -- Noj r (talk) 01:43, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Use of leitmotifs in the music
FFVI's music made heavy use of distinctive music associated with particular characters, almost to a Wagnerian level. Kefka was almost always followed by his own particular music, Cyan had a theme, etc... The use by Uematsu generally is actually noted in the leitmotif article, but it isn't discussed here. SDY (talk) 23:00, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Requested Move
See Talk:Music_of_the_Final_Fantasy_series. SDY (talk) 18:06, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Added information with little available documentation
An English translation of Aria di Mezzo Carattere was also performed by the World Festival Symphony Orchestra in Los Angeles as part of More Friends: Music from FINAL FANTASY ~Final Fantasy Orchestra Concert in Los Angeles 2005~, but the only documentation I can find of this is the iTunes album release and a couple of YouTube AMVs using the recording. 70.127.28.243 (talk) 20:00, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

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Song titles
As I possess rudimentary knowledge of the Japanese language at best, I'm reluctant to modify any of the song title info here, but I'm not convinced some of the translations here are as accurate as they could be.

"スラム・シャッフル" has, to my knowledge, been translated as "Slam Shuffle" on pretty much every official release of the song throughout the years. Despite this, I'm almost certain that the official translation is wrong. スラム (suramu) can be translated either as slam or as slum. In context, slum is a much more logical translation, because it's Zozo's theme, and slum is probably as good a one-word description as anyone could hope to find for it. (If one were allowed more words, of course, "wretched hive of scum and villainy" would be likely to spring to mind). I'm reluctant to change this unilaterally, but I'm almost certain "Slum Shuffle" is the title Uematsu actually intended.

"霊峰コルツ", as far as I know, is better translated as "Sacred Mt. Kolts" rather than simply "Mt. Kolts".

I'm not sure if the translation of "からくり屋敷" as "The Magic House" is the result of a colloquialism I'm unfamiliar with, but "からくり" seems to refer to mechanisms, contrivances, or traps of some sort rather than magic. "Mechanical Mansion", perhaps? I could see either one making sense for the house in question; it does have a rather large number of traps, but it also seems to have some magic. (Perhaps something the lines of "Illusive House" might actually be the best translation.)

"邪神の塔" (currently listed as "Kefka's Tower") seems to translate literally as "Evil God's Tower" (or, if that sounds too awkward, "Tower of an Evil God"). Kefka's name definitely isn't mentioned directly.

"妖星乱舞" is so famously known as "Dancing Mad" that I can see why editors would be reluctant to refer to it as anything else, but the Japanese title appears a lot more complicated. It's beyond my ability to unpack, but the characters one-by-one seem to translate roughly as "mystery star turbulence dance" or "mystery star revolt dance". (In Mandarin, of which I have even less knowledge than Japanese, these characters appear to mean "demon star chaos dance".) I've seen a speaker with Japanese fluency suggest "Wild Dance of the Ominous Star" (I couldn't possibly recall where) as a more direct translation of this title. I can see a number of other possibilities - "Turbulent Dance of the Mystic Star", "Chaotic Dance of the Demon Star", "Rebellious Dance of the Enigmatic Star", or some mix and match of the above. I'm almost certain "Dancing Mad" is a simplified version of the title, though, and while it's definitely more immediately memorable, I'm convinced the Japanese version - whatever it actually means - is cooler.

Finally, "蘇る緑" (currently translated as "Balance Is Restored") appears to mean something like "Reviving Green" or "Resurrecting Green" - green, I assume, being used in the sense of plant life. I don't know if the current title comes from some other official soundtrack release or if it's a more colloquial translation of the title - is "green" perhaps used to signify balance in Japanese culture?

In any case, I don't want to unilaterally edit any of these titles, but I've asked people with Japanese fluency or near-fluency about a few of them - particularly "Dancing Mad" and "Balance Is Restored" - and they've come up with similar interpretations, so I think it's worth taking a second look at some of the translations. TIA. Cassandra Leo (talk) 23:20, 10 January 2018 (UTC)

...oh, and of course I forgot one. "死界" seems to literally mean "Death World" rather than "Dark World". I'm not sure if it should be "Dead World" or "World of Death".

(For completeness' sake, I'll also note that I've slightly amended my above entry, as I'd incorrectly listed the translation currently given for "Mt. Kolts". I have rectified this in hope of avoiding confusion.) Cassandra Leo (talk) 23:27, 10 January 2018 (UTC)

...and two more (hopefully the last two).

"迷いの森" seems to mean "Forest of Bewilderment", "Forest of Illusion", or "Forest of the Lost". I guess it's not that far from "Phantom Forest", but it's not identical, either.

"魔列車" seems to mean something like "Demon Train", "Cursed Train", or (less ominously) "Magic Train", as opposed to "Phantom Train". Again, not a wild divergence, but still not identical.

I think that's all of them that actually strike me as significant differences in meaning; there are a few others that have slightly simplified English translations, but I don't think the more verbose translations would actually add anything to listeners' understanding of the song titles (in other words, if I went into every difference like "The Mines of Narshe" versus "Coal Mining City Narshe", I'd probably be here all night). Again, thanks in advance for any consideration. Cassandra Leo (talk) 23:36, 10 January 2018 (UTC)

...of course there are a few more. "魔大陸" has the same deal as the train one (since, of course, "魔" appears in both titles) - it could possibly mean "Devil Continent" or "Evil Continent" or "Sorcerous Continent" or something along those lines. It is, of course, a reference to what English-speaking gamers know as the Floating Continent. As I've never played the Japanese version of the game, I don't know if they actually referred to this landmass as "魔大陸" in the Japanese game's script - if so, then keeping it as "Floating Continent" might actually make sense, though I'd probably want to add a footnote about this. (I suppose the same could apply to the train and the forest, come to think of it.)

Finally (a simple one), "帝国の進軍" seems to mean "March of the Empire" or "Empire's Advance" rather than "Troops March On". It could also probably be translated as "Imperial March", but that might be a bit too cheeky (though I'd bet a good sum of money that Uematsu was inspired by John Williams' Imperial March).

I have now gone through the entire track list and looked at the translations I have in my music player, so I really do think that's all of them this time. Cassandra Leo (talk) 23:49, 10 January 2018 (UTC)
 * While appreciated, this discussion is better had at VGMdb. Even if they started as fan translations, Square Enix had no issues with them when using the same names on recent official releases, such as iTunes. Thus, changing them now wouldn't really be possible, as we should be using the WP:COMMONNAME of the tracks, not most accurate translation. ~ Dissident93 (talk) 00:04, 11 January 2018 (UTC)
 * That makes sense, but perhaps a footnote should be instituted indicating that they aren't literal translations of the Japanese titles, because the way the article's written now, it reads as though they are. I'm not sure where all of this crosses over into WP:ORIGINAL either - I can't recall how unofficial translations are treated under that. Cassandra Leo (talk) 02:26, 11 January 2018 (UTC)
 * The titles weren't translated here on Wikipedia first, so I can't see how it's a case of WP:ORIGINAL (although it could be a case of WP:CITOGEN, where the titles were translated elsewhere, but popularized here and spread and was then considered official later down the line). Also, I'm not sure if we need a footnote saying that, as a lot of things translated from Japanese are localized rather than simply word for word. But that being said, I'm not sure if it hurt either. ~ Dissident93 (talk) 18:16, 11 January 2018 (UTC)

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