Music
Hitoshi Sakimoto composed most of the game's soundtrack; Masaharu Iwata and Hayato Matsuo created two and seven tracks respectively, while Nobuo Uematsu, following his departure from Square Enix in 2004, only contributed the theme song. Sakimoto experienced difficulty following in Uematsu's footsteps, but he decided to create a unique soundtrack in his own way. "Kiss Me Good-Bye", the theme song for Final Fantasy XII, was performed in both English and Japanese by Angela Aki. Uematsu noted Aki's style of playing the keyboard while singing reminded him of his childhood idol, Elton John, which was one of the reasons he chose her. The English version of the song was featured in both the Japanese and North American versions of the game. In addition to the theme song, violinist Taro Hakase co-composed, arranged, and performed the game's main instrumental theme, Symphonic Poem "Hope" along with Yuji Toriyama.
Two promotional soundtracks were released before the original soundtrack, Symphonic Poem "Hope" and The Best of the Final Fantasy XII Soundtrack, on March 1 and March 15, 2006, respectively. The former contains all the music used in the game's trailer performed by Taro Hakase, including Symphonic Poem "Hope". The original soundtrack itself was released in Japan on May 31, 2006. It consists of 4 CDs with 100 tracks, and includes promotional tracks not in the final version of the game. The CD single for "Kiss Me Good-Bye" was released on the March 15, 2006. A limited edition was also released, featuring a DVD containing the music video for "Kiss Me Good-Bye". Tofu Records has released an abridged version of the original soundtrack, which contains 31 songs, including "Kiss Me Good-Bye".
Read more about this topic: Final Fantasy XII
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