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Favorite GBA music tracks?


FailWood
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I don't hear people talk about music from the GBA Fire Emblem games much, so I'll ask: What are some of your favorite music tracks from Binding Blade, Blazing Sword, and Sacred Stones?  Some of mine are Frontier (Western Isles Enemy Phase), Attack! (Binding Blade), Distant Travels (Hector's 2nd Map theme), and Determination (Map theme for the 1st half of Ephraim's route).

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I think that the GBA games have really good soundtracks honestly. Even though the Tellius games have my favorite OST out of all the FE games I've played, I still find myself going back to the FE6 and FE7 music from time to time. I think I've only ever played FE8 once so I don't remember much from it, sadly (be it music or anything else really, although there IS a track from FE8 that I do remember).

From FE6 my favorite soundtrack has to be Shaman in the Dark (Idunn's theme). Kinda sucks she dies in 1 round even to a mediocre Roy because you don't get to listen to her theme for all that long while playing, but anyway this one is my favorite soundtrack from FE6 and possibly all of the GBA games. Other than this one though, I think FE6 has some other really memorable tracks too. My second favorite from this game is The Path to Greatness (map 24 player phase theme), but there's a bunch of others that I really like Zephiel's theme and Jahn's battle theme.

From FE7 my favorite one is Unshakable Faith (the one that plays right before the final map starts). I actually really like Softly with Grace too (the Black Fang battle theme), although it's a bit jarring to listen to it due to its odd time signature.

The one and only track I can remember from FE8 is The Final Battle, which is actually fairly similar to Unshakable Faith and even plays in pretty much the same situation. I guess I just really like this sort of track.

Edited by GonzoMD1993
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I'm not a huge fan of the GBAFE soundtracks overall, but there are a few gems I like. Reminiscence from Blazing Blade and Truth, Despair, and Hope from Sacred Stones being good examples of that.

Others I either can't remember or don't care much for, due in no small part to how the GBA sound font makes the music sound.

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FE6:

The Path to Greatness: https://youtu.be/WQeUQr8OGFQ

 

Shaman in The Dark: https://youtu.be/TSip02IT2w4

 

FE7:

Dragon's Gate II: https://youtu.be/uo2thAb73fo

 

Campaign of Fire: https://youtu.be/JUWdL_l-KxU

 

FE8:

Truth, Despair and Hope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpYJlyRteFY

 

Land of Promise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-kA4itU0Q4

 

The Final Battle: https://youtu.be/zv0LbtvcQ1o

 

The Prince's Despair: https://youtu.be/TGPNfcVUKro.

 

The reason for all of them is because they're really dramatic.

 

These are my absolute favorites from the GBA games.

 

Edited by Fates-Blade
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20 hours ago, twilitfalchion said:

Others I either can't remember or don't care much for, due in no small part to how the GBA sound font makes the music sound.

"GBA sound font"... if I had a dollar for every time I heard that used as a point against the system.  To move away from Fire Emblem for a moment, it's true that it has let down certain game's music (Pokemon Red Rescue Team and the Super Mario Bros. 2 port spring to mind), but there are others that still make it work despite that (Metroid Fusion, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, and even Wario Land 4 despite how weird it's music can be). 

Listening to Binding Blade's OST in particular recently is what prompted this topic, and after thinking on it more, I think it's in my top 5 GBA Soundtracks.  

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Notable mentions that didn't make it:

FE6:

For the commanders (second main map theme?): https://youtu.be/updpt5mvMIw

 

FE7:

Powerful Foe: https://youtu.be/vyISKrSc1bY

 

FE8:

Rise Above: https://youtu.be/1bRPXxLRLgs

Determination: https://youtu.be/XpvYq9_OhUU

Edited by Fates-Blade
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  • 2 months later...

Hard to pick just one. There are quite a few good tracks, particularly in FE7, that are variations on the same theme.

There are also a few that span across FE6 and 7. "Land of Dragons - Bern" (FE6) and "The Kingdom of Bern" (FE7) are particularly notable to me. The two tracks are pretty similar, but they serve different functions in their respective games: "Land of Dragons" is an enemy phase map theme, and "The Kingdom of Bern" is a cutscene theme. The differences between the two versions, as slight as they are, also fit their respective functions well: "Land of Dragons" has a faster tempo, not quite as ominous (so for example it doesn't work as well with the cutscene at the beginning of chapter 2), but it does a good job of conveying the sense of a powerful enemy army on the move, which works well in the later maps of FE6. "The Kingdom of Bern" has a slower and more ominous tempo that works well in the cutscenes in which it is used, but it's too slow to work well as an enemy phase map theme.

On a different note, I would also mention... the FE7 Lords' themes, which are all really variations on the same theme: "Girl from the Plains - Lyn's Theme", "One Heart - Eliwood's Theme" and "Loyalty - Hector's Theme". They do a pretty good job of portraying their respective Lords: Lyn's wanderlust, Eliwood's idealism, and Hector's refusal to back down. But then there are the variations on the variations: If "One Heart" represents Eliwood's youthful idealism early in the game, "Unshakeable Faith" represents that same idealism tempered by hardships and setbacks but still strong late in the game. I think I have to call those two variations my favorite for that reason.

For the benefit of TLDR:

Land of Dragons - Bern (FE6)

The Kingdom of Bern (FE7)

One Heart - Eliwood's Theme (FE7)

Unshakeable Faith (FE7)

Edited by Paper Jam
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  • 8 months later...

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