It’s E3 time and Final Fantasy XIII is on my mind. It’s not exactly new news that Nobou Uematsu isn’t going to be the lead composer on the Final Fantasy XIII project (although he is helping), but don’t fret. Masashi Hamauzu is taking the lead composer roll and, if FF XIII sounds anything like his past works, we should all be in for a treat. Here’s a link to the FF XIII Battle Theme. This composition starts very Nobuo-ish (spoiler: it was probably composed by Nobuo), but then turns into an epic Masashi piece after the intro. Nobuo’s take on Final Fantasy music lately has been pretty edgy. He likes to use power chords and harmonics in his music to express intense moments (Its like where the Indians live, in tents). Masashi’s take is more refined. A lot of Final Fantasy XIII will be composed with a live orchestra (for reference, Masashi was lead composer for Saga Frontier 2 — here’s an example). I imagine Nobuo as the eccentric type of composer who writes Final Fantasy music while taking PCP and listening to Emerson, Lake & Palmer. But maybe my basis is misleading since it’s similar to how I describe myself.