X by Wizard of Loneliness
Liner Notes:
On July 19th, 2001, the 10th installment of Squaresoft's Final Fantasy series released for the Playstation 2. Since then my fascination with the game has grown from nostalgia into adoration as the game has been ported several times and received remasters for various systems.
All told, FFX was my first real RPG. I attempted (and failed) to grasp the concepts of buffs and debuffs back on the PS2 and hit a wall with one of the mid game boss battles. Frustrated, I quit! "What could people possibly like about this linear turn-based garbage!?" It wasn't until the remasters came around that I made a second attempt on the PS4 (and failed yet again at the same place), and a third attempt briefly flirting with the novelty of the Vita (got somewhat further this time!)
Yet here we are 21 years later and it is one my favorite game in the series. It remains to this day the only game I have ever dropped, and then returned to again and again. It wasn't until the Switch's port that I was able to fully beat it and by that time I was near 20 years older. I had grown up with this game, and while the turn-based combat seemed daunting in my youth, I find it relaxing now and appreciative of my time. Where the strategy seemed unfair back then, I find it rewarding now. It all adds up to this zen feeling of completeness that is enveloped in the beautiful sonic atmosphere that the designers created. It's for this reason I felt so compelled to use it as the template of X.
X stands as an attempt (hopefully I haven't failed!) to show the ways in which time, recontextualization, and recompositing can bend songs we love into memorials of who we were when we first heard them. In this way, I truly hope that this album sparks something in you and reminds you of when you first played Final Fantasy X, and think about what life was like back then. I have tried to use vocal arrangements that are of the time period and style of when I first played the game.
I'd like to thank everyone who supports Wizard of Loneliness and as always give my love to you through music.
-much love, WIZ
Tracklist
| 1. | Sights of Spira | 3:55 |
| 2. | Summoner's Salt | 3:16 |
| 3. | Suteki Da Ne 素敵だね | 2:45 |
| 4. | Rikku リュック | 2:18 |
| 5. | Calm Before the Storm | 2:59 |
| 6. | The Principle of Repentance | 3:13 |
| 7. | Cloister of Trials | 2:10 |
| 8. | Yuna's Determination | 3:33 |
| 9. | Lulu ルールー | 4:00 |
| 10. | L u c a | 4:03 |
| 11. | Hymn Of The Shoopuf | 3:33 |
| 12. | People of the Far North | 3:21 |
| 13. | B e s a i d | 2:18 |
| 14. | Travel Agency (Bonus Beat) | 1:54 |
| 15. | Above (Bonus Beat) | 3:02 |
| 16. | The Principle of Repentance (Bonus Instrumental) | 3:13 |
| 17. | Rikku リュック (Bonus Instrumental) | 3:57 |
| 18. | Summoner's Salt (Bonus Vocal Mix) | 3:16 |
| 19. | Cloister of Trials (Bonus Vocal Mix) | 2:10 |
Credits
Music by Wizard of Loneliness
Artwork by Minilla and Wizard of Loneliness
