For Christmas, Salamando Radio was blessed. Evk got a rather hefty sum from his grandmother, and he so graciously decided it was to go to OSVs for himself. And that means more music for you. Aren't you blessed to have such a benevolant master? (proper response: yes, and grovel) Well, among the purchases was the FF8 OSV. FF8 was certainly a step back and up in many cases, especially compared with the FF7 OSV. It uses a lot more sampling and pre-recorded tracks (as opposed to the ONE from FF7- One Winged Angel), and it reverted in many cases to the 'classic' Final Fantasy sound. Overall, a great purchase!

Part 1 of the 2 part set exploring select tracks from the FF8 OSV. Enjoy!

Final Fantasy 8 OSV Tracks

Balamb GARDEN
This is the music you hear running around Balamb Garden. It would just be a forgettable, somewhat annoying track, but you hear it loop over and over and over and *#$^!#$*^& over. If you've ever played FF8, you're sick of this song. It loops in about two minutes, and with all the running around Garden getting to places or looking for people or running errands you have to do, you will soon loath this track as much as I do.
Verdict:   One half stoves
Don't Be Afraid
This is the fighting music, and even though you hear it a LOT, what with all the drawing, it never gets old, at least for me. It's paced nice, it dosn't loop too soon, it's pretty catchy, and it isn't too wimpy (like FF5's fight music). On the downside, it dosn't have the traditional little start of the old Final Fantasy fight musics. Well, you win some, you lose some.
Verdict:   Four stoves
Man With the Machine Gun
This is the music that plays when you fight in the past. I like it. It's pleasingly technoish, and overall appropriate and not annoying, even after a number of loops. Plus sometimes it has this neat sort of clacking sound effect. I don't know what it is, and I don't care enough to go look it up, but I'm sure within days I will receive messages like "It's a xylophone, you IDIOT!" I'm looking forward to it allready.
Verdict:   Four stoves
Only a Plank Between One and Perdition
What the hell is Perdition? And why is there a plank between it? I don't know and I don't care, my brain is gone and so's my hair - ahem. This is the music that plays when you're fighting a really big boss, like Ultima Weapon. It loops in about a minute, which is okay, because you're probably too busy getting your ass kicked to notice. Not a bad track, but a little grating. Oh wait, WrexSoul, who's just a jizzfountain of information, told me and all of you what a perdition is: Main Entry: per·di·tion Pronunciation: p&r-'di-sh&n Function: noun Etymology: Middle English perdicion, from Late Latin perdition-, perditio, from Latin perdere to destroy, from per- through + dare to give Date: 14th century 1 a archaic : utter destruction b obsolete : LOSS 2 a : eternal damnation b : HELL So now we know. And knowing is half the battle. The other half is casting Meltdown, Triple-Demis and doing Renzokuken.
Verdict:   Three stoves
SUCCESSION OF WITCHES
No, I don't know why it's all in capitols, it's just listed that way. This is the nice, creepy, "whoa crap, there's a sorceress around" music. I like it. It gets the job done, the lyrics are just "Fithos lusec wecos vinosec" over and over again, and it dosn't loop too often. I guess if you listend to it enough it might get annoying, but it only shows up about 3 times in the entire game, and I really like it, so there.
Verdict:   Four stoves
Galbadia GARDEN
This is, not surprisingly, the music that plays when you're in Galbadia Garden, and I don't like it. In fact, now that I think about it I don't like any of the garden music. This track exemplifies what's wrong with a lot of songs: It's BORING. There is NOTHING going on in this song once you get past the first 45 seconds. It's just a steady "chic-chic, chic-chic" interspersed with people moaning. Boring, annoying, repetitive, and just plain bad, this is a real shat of a track. On the other hand, it could be worse, but I'm not sure how.
Verdict:   One half stoves
FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC
I always thought they were saying something like "Beefos Buelzed". Well, joke is me, huh? This is the music that plays during Edea's parade, and it's okay, but it suffers from ORD syndrome, or Old Really Quick, which means after hearing it loop four or five times you will LOATHE it. The first couple times through, though, it's nifty, not succumbing to the danger of either becoming boring or not subtly threatening enough.
Verdict:   Three stoves
Premonition
When you fight a sorceress, this music plays. I really, really like this track. It starts out slow, speeds up once, and speeds up again. It loops in about two minutes and thirty seconds, but if you're actually playing the game instead of just listening to it on CD, you'll probably like it a little better. This track is not only great by itself, but fits where it's put: It sounds threatening, and the fast part is all you can ask from a battle track. The only way it could have been a little better is if it skipped the little slow part when it loops, but when that's the worst I can say about a song, it's pretty good.
Verdict:   Five stoves

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Written by Evk and posted on 02-06-00.
This article is ©2000 Nick Hammer.
Evk@salamando.net