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Which Final Fantasy games have the best boss/battle themes?

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
So which FF games do you believe have the best boss/battle themes?

Personally I vote Final Fantasy VIII and XV.

Final Fantasy VIII gets my topic pick because of its last 4 battle themes which are pretty much epic (though Premonition is used in several regular bosses, it still counts as one of the penultimate boss songs I guess). Not to mention Man with the Machine Gun is great:
- Force Your Way
- Man with the Machine Gun
- Premonition
- The Legendary Beast
- Maybe I'm A Lion
- The Extreme

My other pick is Final Fantasy XV, it has a lot great regular battle themes and boss themes (though the penultimate boss theme is just OK). This game has a lot of my favorite regular battle themes, most notably my favorite boss themes are Invidia and Ravus Aeterna:
- Veiled in Black
- Up for the Challenge
- Stand Your Ground
- Apocalypsis Noctis
- Nox Divina (not sure if this counts since this is the summon theme)
- Invidia
- Horrors of the Night
- Ravus Aeterna
- Hellfire
- Battle on the Big Bridge
 
Force Your Way and Battle 2 for regular boss battle and X for normal battles. For special boss battle I think I'll go with The Extreme from VIII.
 

Flambe

Member
FFVI - Battle Theme
I've got a shitty memory but I can hear this one in my mind at will o.o
FFVI - Decisive Battle
This is a badass boss theme that just makes me think of Ultima Weapon for whatever reason even though I think that theme was Battle to the Death which is also great. Man


FFVII - Battle Theme
I might have to go with this one though as I would purposefully stop doing actions so the fight wouldn't stop before the crescendo (if that's the right word) finished.
 

Zyrox

Member
Not exactly bosses but I love Omnis Lacrima from FFXV. Fits the feel of fighting a giant majestic beast perfectly.
 

Flambe

Member
Alright, changing my answer to Good King Mog holy shit that fight looks great. I need to get back into that game >.<
 

Zetta

Member
I would have to go with the FF7 boss theme, can still hum just about all of them lol.

Still More Fighting - Such a fantastic theme and it gives a sense of urgency to the fight.

Jenova - Fits Jenova perfectly since it feels otherworldly.

Birth of a God - My favorite boss theme in FF7.

Final Fantasy 7 is my favorite in the series and I hope with the remake they bring their A game and no fuck up the music.
 

Meowster

Member
Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy XIII, and Final Fantasy XV.

Ironically some of the most controversial Final Fantasy games.
 

Wazzy

Banned
Final Fantasy VIII is number one in both battle and boss departments.

Battle has Man With The Machine Gun and Don't Br Afraid while Boss side has all the ones listed in OP.

I also really enjoy Heavensward and Stormbloods boss themes.
Not even a contest.

m
This Nightmare before Christmas ripoff is by far XIV's most annoying and awful song. It doesn't help that it's paired with a fight that was ridiculous when first released.
 

shira

Member

I'd throw in Kefka's Theme as well
invoker-laugh.gif
 

jb1234

Member
I can't wait until people get over their hate of FFXV and realize that this song is seriously on "Dancing Mad" and "One Winged Angel's" level. It's absolutely phenomenal.

Hellfire is kinda a guilty pleasure of mine. It's deeply derivative of like ten different things. Magna Insomnia is more successful because it has its own identity (more or less).
 

Oswen

Member
Final Fantasy as a whole has so many good tracks that it's extremely hard to pick a favourite, however if I *really* have to choose I'd say:

FFVI has the best boss theme - The Decisive Battle.
FFV has the best battle theme - The Battle.

Honorable mention to FFXIV, without its amazing soundtrack most of the fights wouldn't be as epic, it's really that good.
 
I would say XIV is probably a contender for best FF OST full stop, with a bunch of original pieces (The 1.0 OST was its redeeming feature, if you haven't heard much of it) and great renditions of old pieces. For instance, here's a nice version of the normal FF2 battle theme.

For non-XIV, I'd probably go with Clash on the Big Bridge.

Alright, changing my answer to Good King Mog holy shit that fight looks great. I need to get back into that game >.<

It's also extremely cathartic when you get it in a roulette later on, after you're part of the way through Heavensward. The first expansion does a great job in making you detest moogles.

This Nightmare before Christmas ripoff is by far XIV's most annoying and awful song. It doesn't help that it's paired with a fight that was ridiculous when first released.

I still love it regardless, but I like a lot of bad things. It's not my absolute favorite, but I think it's a fun tune for a fun fight (when people actually listen to directions). /shrug

My favorite would probably be really boring: I like King Thordan's theme and the use of Dragonsong in Nidhogg.
 
FFVII's main battle theme will always be my favorite. And when Uematsu did the piano version (I first heard it in Advent Children) I was in heaven.
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
I agree with Ultros about VIII and XV.

VIII has the best main battle theme, boss theme and last boss themes in the classic series. And XV has Up for the Challenge which is just fantastic. (Huh, now that I double check, Ultros didn't list it! How?? ;)

Let me also add a selection of tracks from the XIII trilogy (which I think in general holds some of the best music in the whole series):

XIII

Blinded by Light (Duh)
https://youtu.be/Th2jeYakyAY

Test of the L'Cie
https://youtu.be/z8hAVJFqzIw

Desperate Struggle
https://youtu.be/CuN5S-6J3r4

XIII-2

Paradigm Shift (I love this one... listened to it 1000 times probably)
https://youtu.be/wdframgnBVE

LR

High Voltage
https://youtu.be/94hRCRNOyhM
 
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