Reimagining the Perfect Villain Song - Nobuo Uematsu's "One-Winged Angel" - a video essay

[@IsadellaEstelPolanco]

I learned a lot. Thank you. This song became one of Nobuo's masterpieces. I love it so much. It keeps getting better and better. And you definitely need to play Rebirth, the fight with that last song is a great adrenaline rush and so intense as the song. I would love for you to react to the songs leading up this song, they're awesome too. Trust me when I say, Rebirth's soundtrack is amazing and so good.

[@davidkreacts]

Pardon a bery late response - I’m horribly behind in my comments. I’m glad you enjoyed the video. I’m certainly going to jump on Rebirth - just need it to come out on PC. I may well get to the full battle after that.

[@sarahborzelli_Castellineicieli]

There is always a lot to learn with your videos David! Thank you for that!

[@Renne308]

The Distant Worlds version is pretty much a straight performance of Shiro Hamaguchi's orchestral arrangement from the 1997 "Final Fantasy VII Reunion Tracks" album. I wanted to put that out there because that one's fairly obscure as arrangements go-same with the Advent Children Reunion Tracks album, which is all the extra music they added for Advent Children's extended cut.

[@RealNazrax]

I enjoy reaction/analysis videos, but I love this kind of scripted deep dive, and this video was excellent. Please produce more of them! You played the Prelude from FF7, but I don't believe you mentioned the history of that track. The first version was composed in about 10 minutes at the _very_ end of development ("Hey, we need a theme for the title page - can you whip something up?" kind of idea), and yet variations of it have showed up in (almost?) every Final Fantasy game. I had the great privilege of attending a Final Fantasy concert many years ago, and it was wonderful. Half of the audience were gamers wearing t-shirts and shorts, and the other half were very confused season pass holders wearing their concert best! I still remember hearing Vamo alla flamenco (FF9's chocobo music), Liberi Fatali, and of course One Winged Angel. They even did a whole fake-out at the end, acting as if the concert were over, getting applause, leaving the stage ... and _then_ the choir and musicians all came back in and played OWA ... twice! Since you clearly enjoy the history of Final Fantasy games, I'd highly recommend looking at the "Animation of Final Fantasy" series by New Frame Plus. He's going game-by-game and looking not only at how the animations change but also how those animations are used to convey character and story. He's up through FF5, but he plans to go all the way. (Incidentally, if you're interested in game history in general, he also has an incredible video on the history of Sonic's animations).

[@Starrynightdiner]

Yes I’m biased. Yes i’d like to hear what inspired you ❤

[@carinarodebak9419]

You already am aware I know nothing about games, but I try to broaden my horizon and decided to give this a listen. Honestly, to me the first simple tunes mostly evoked the emotion of screaming to my kids: turn that noise down! But I endured and slowly came onto pieces of music I could, if not estimate, but at last tolerate. Then in comes my son,a year or two younger than you, to say good night and states to me quite wondering that I'm listening to Final Fantasy? Turned out he had absolutely spent ages in playing Final Fantasy 12 and started talking about polygones before he left. Wondering, bc he knows his mother has no clue about this world. I can admit to enjoying some of the versions you played, though I would never have stumbled on it myself. And I'm game for inspirational songs.

[@crashwithkirby6708]

Edit: possible spoilers for CC reunion? Lol I just got to the part of the video where you say you haven’t played reunion yet, but if you played the original CC or know the story, it shouldn’t be a spoiler… 35:47 it’s worth noting that this song first plays during a literal training exercise between 3 super soldiers who are friends with each other. It’s kind of an odd choice to play at that point, as it is a good chunk of time, story wise, before he descends into darkness and the full version plays.

[@davidkreacts]

That’s a fair point. I’m actually playing reunion now, I hadn’t realized how direct of a translation it was, given how far remake strayed. Quite correct with regards to the timing of that version. I haven’t played crisis course since about six months after it came out on the PSP, so I completely forgotten how early in the game that actually falls. As you say, an interesting decision, but I’m not mad at it.

[@CapriUni]

I'm not a gamer, so this whole genre is new to me (if "Video game music" can be considered a single genre). I would be fascinated to know what's inspired you.