Nobuo Uematsu
Final Fantasy VIII Vinyl

Listening notes

Released in 2020 by Square Enix Music, this vinyl edition of the Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack spans two records under catalog numbers SQEX 10519-10520. The music is composed by Nobuo Uematsu and falls across genres that include electronic, modern classical, soundtrack, and video game music categories.

The release is spread across four sides. Side A opens with "Liberi Fatali" and continues through "Balamb Garden," "Blue Fields," "Don't Be Afraid," "Find Your Way," and "The Landing." Side B carries ten tracks: "Force Your Way," "The Loser," "Never Look Back," "Dead End," "Breezy," "Shuffle Or Boogie," "The Man With The Machine Gun," "My Mind," "Succession Of Witches," and "The Stage Is Set." Side C moves through six pieces — "Premonition," "Fragments Of Memories," "Fisherman's Horizon," "The Oath," "Ride On," and "Compression Of Time" — before Side D closes the set with "The Legendary Beast," "Maybe I'm A Lion," "The Extreme," and "Ending Theme."

The selection across the four sides draws from various dramatic contexts within the original game's score, ranging from the quieter "Breezy" and "Fisherman's Horizon" to the more confrontational-sounding titles such as "Force Your Way" and "The Extreme," though no track durations are documented in the available data.

At twenty-seven tracks total, the set represents a substantial portion of Uematsu's work for the game. The 2020 release date places it among a broader period of official vinyl editions of legacy game soundtracks issued by Square Enix Music, though no further verified release context is available to this draft.

*Unreviewed draft — requires fact-checker verification before publication.*