Legendary Final Fantasy composer can't listen to his own music because he's "too embarrassed," but as a "medieval nerd," he was "pleased" with Final Fantasy 9's direction

Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu claims that he isn't satisfied with any of his tracks, and he doesn't listen to them after finishing them. Despite this, he thinks there are a lot of songs he enjoys from Final Fantasy 9, thanks to the fact that he's a medieval fantasy fanboy.

In an interview with Famitsu to celebrate the game's 25th anniversary, Uematsu explains how he never thinks his songs are "good" after he has finished them. The legendary composer, who has created music for the Final Fantasy series since its inception, says that he grows to hate his songs during the process.

As translated by GamesRadar+, "when I listen back to [my soundtracks], there isn't a song where I think 'good,' if we're talking about original songs," Uematsu says. "If someone created the orchestral arrangement then I can listen to it, but when it comes to the songs that are included in-game, I'm not satisfied with any of them. The instant I finish, I can't listen to it again. I'm too embarrassed. I listen to it so much while I'm debugging that I hate it."

However, that doesn't mean he hates everything about his Final Fantasy 9 soundtrack. "The melody and the chord progression are OK," he concedes. "[When I listen to my music] there are points of reflection that only I take notice of like 'this sound is dull' or 'why didn't I edit this part more tightly?' The melody isn't bad though."

He might hate reflecting on his own art, but admits that "there are a lot of songs in FF9" that he "might enjoy" if he ever was tempted to listen to them again, and it is mostly due to his medieval fantasy fanboying. "I also like synthesized music, so it was fun to completely shift gears [with previous Final Fantasy soundtracks]. But I was pleased when FF9 returned to the medieval style. I'm a medieval nerd after all… You have to admire medieval fantasy."

Good thing we enjoy listening to his work a lot more than he does.

Still no JRPG remake, but the Final Fantasy 9 animated series is reportedly back from the dead and targeting a 2028 release.