Looking back through the history of gaming and the use of music took a huge turning point around the time of Final Fantasy. The reason behind this is not because Final Fantasy is considered one of the greatest video games series of all time. It has more to do with one talented musician.
That man’s name is Nobuo Uematsu. He single-handedly changed how game developers looked at music and its position in the full gaming experience.
Who is Nobuo Uematsu, and what did he do that changed the gaming scene forever? Uematsu, otherwise known as the “Beethoven of gaming music”, made his name by bringing a cinematic feel to the world of video games. Gaming was once just a simple series of bleeps, beeps, and digital noises.
After Uematsu appeared, video game music became an integral part of the development process. Final Fantasy games were impressive anyway but add an all-encompassing cinematic and orchestral feel to them, and those games were taken to a whole new stratosphere of immersion and gameplay.
From Video Games to Sold Out Concerts
You can pick out several defining moments in the history of video games. One of those has got to be the Final Fantasy concerts. The thought of putting on a concert dedicated to the music of a video game is perhaps a little bit over the top, but those concerts selling out just goes to show the stature of Nobuo Uematsu. Not only for his obvious talent and the ethereal experiences that his music gave to Final Fantasy, but it also shows how important video game music is.
How about a little Uematsu fact to back this up? In 2012, Aerith’s Theme, his song from Final Fantasy VII, became the first of two videogame songs to be entered in the Classic FM Hall of Fame. Now, that is impressive and something that shook up the world of classical music and introduced classical music to a new younger audience.
The Importance of Gaming Music
We touched upon the fact that older games had hardly any music or, at the most, only very basic sounds. Imagine a tennis ball being hit back and forth, not exactly exciting, right? But to be fair, gamers had little to no expectations of listening to music whilst gaming. Enter Uematsu, and those expectations changed greatly. There is even some science to all of this.
Developers realised that video game music increased the heart rate of those playing and essentially enhanced the gaming experience to new levels. Emotive music can really drive home important gaming scenes. It’s not just video games, though. Casino games now come with blockbuster compositions. You can experience this by playing some of the best slot games at Amazon Slots.
But with video games and casino slots, music must go hand in hand with technology. The early computers could hardly handle copious amounts of orchestral music. Still, the pace of technology development soon tidied up that issue.
It Took the Musical Talent of One Genius to Change the Scene
Everything that Nobuo Uematsu managed to accomplish throughout the Final Fantasy series paved the way for all the music gaming that you experience now. Many successful gaming composers have made careers from their talents. Many games have iconic status partly due to the soundtrack accompanying the gameplay. Ultimately, music in video games now plays an important part in developing every scene and chapter.
In fact, music can make or break a player’s experience, and we have Nobuo Uematsu to thank for all the epic game experiences that we can now enjoy.
