Final Fantasy XII Piano Collections, music by Hitoshi Sakimoto, arranged by Casey Ormond, played by Richard Yang.
Lowtown is definitely the most difficult piece in this album. Although the notes are relatively simple, it took a while by staring at the notes and listening to the OST for the rhythm really sink in. It doesn’t feel natural, you just need to learn the way to count it.
Final Fantasy XII Piano Collections is not going to be everybody’s cup of tea; it’s not mine anyway. I recorded this just to complete my collection not because I particularly enjoyed these. When I did my Final Fantasy recording marathon back in December of 2020, I skipped this album for the same reason, it’s just too difficult to listen to. However, if you listened to the in-game music with the orchestral arrangement, you would appreciate that the piano arrangement is actually brilliant, which would be objectively true.
The biggest problem I have is that many correct notes sound like wrong notes, and many chords sound out of place. Funny thing is that many pieces have very great openings, like “To Be a Sky Pirate”, or “The Archadian Empire”, to trick you into playing them. But soon after the beginning things start to get really weird. Regardless, if you like FFXII, you should enjoy my performances.
Click here to go to the master index page for the Final Fantasy Piano Collections.
