Final Fantasy XIII : Original Soundtrack Final Fantasy XIII : Original Soundtrack is the complete soundtrack for the Japanese version of " Final Fantasy XIII " . Vocals were performed by for the theme songs " Kimi ga Iru Kara " and " Eternal Love " . Nobuo Uematsu was originally announced as the composer of the game ' s main theme , but later decided to give his main theme duties to Masashi Hamauzu after being hired to work on " Final Fantasy XIV " . The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra performs on the soundtrack . Development . Yoshinori Kitase asked Masashi Hamauzu to compose the soundtrack . The proposition was a surprise to Hamauzu , who was nevertheless eager to accept . The game ' s director , Motomu Toriyama , requested an orchestral and futuristic hybrid sound , but gave Hamauzu freedom to exercise his own style . The main tools used in producing the soundtrack were Digital Performer , orchestral samples by East West , and some standard software synth by Native Instruments , although a lot of live instruments were used , along with vocals in the many background themes of different locations . Hamauzu ' s first compositions for " Final Fantasy XIII " were scores for the footage shown in events or game shows in 2006 and 2007 ( notably " Blinded By Light " ) , and he didn ' t begin composing the full soundtrack until autumn 2008 . The soundtrack was composed in a period of about one year . Parts of the soundtrack have been recorded with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra , orchestrated by Yoshihisa Hirano . The session was recorded in a concert hall and Hamauzu listened to it from the balcony , saying afterward it was sad there was no audience , since it was so beautiful . The two worlds of " Final Fantasy XIII " , Cocoon and Gran Pulse , display contrasting musical styles . Hamauzu explains that " Final Fantasy XIII " was intended to be a long game , which in itself provided some challenges . He felt it was important for there to be variety to the sound design to maintain players ' interests over a span of time , and that is why the themed motifs are reintroduced here and there as a kind of obbligato . The lyrics for " Serah ' s Theme " and " The Sunleth Waterscape " were revised for the English localization , even though the original recordings were already in English , due to the opinion of the English - language staff that the lyrics needed to sound more natural to native speakers . Many of the vocals are performed by Mina Sakai , who Hamauzu asked to perform some vocals for demo tracks and improvise some lyrics for them . Initially there weren ' t plans for several songs , but Hamauzu felt Mina ' s performance fit the game ' s atmosphere , which led to further recording . " Sulyya Springs " and " Will to Fight " have English vocals , and while Mina and Hamauzu were preparing the demo track for " The Gapra Whitewood , " Mina also sang in English , but after receiving the final draft of the lyrics , she was so preoccupied with getting the pronunciation and intonation right that she lost track of the flow of the melody . The lyrics were dropped and the two employed a fictitious language to regain the feel of the previous songs . In the last part of " Battle Results , " which plays upon the completion of each battle , one can hear Mina counting numbers in the Ainu language . Limited editions . The limited edition of the soundtrack is packed with a special box case . It contains an artbook of the game characters ' CG and illustrations , and a fifth disc , which is the Drama CD on " Final Fantasy XIII Episode Zero - Promise - " , voiced by the characters ' voice actors and actresses . The drama CD focuses on the first story called " Encounter " . The album also contains the audio drama ' s script in Japanese . The Final Fantasy XIII Limited Collectors Edition ( for both Xbox 360 and PS3 ) , which was exclusive to PAL territories , includes a selection of the composer ' s favorite tracks , complete with his comments and notes on each track . It was supplied in a slipcase with a sans - serif font XIII , which had the depiction of Lightning on the cover . It is titled " Original Sound Collection " . Liner notes . Hamauzu ' s comments on selected tracks . These liner notes are included in the " Original Sound Selection " CD bundled with the European limited collectors edition of " Final Fantasy XIII " . Masashi Hamauzu ' s comments were originally posted in Japanese on Square Enix ' s official website for the soundtrack . For this piece , I had a marching tempo demo version , but it sounded too cheerful and it was rejected ( the only piece rejected for this project ) , as the team wanted to renew the image of FF and I was yet to grasp the game ' s outlook . 10 months passed and we were at almost the end of development . . . it was then that I remembered another slow tempo version that I had previously written and I thought it would be the perfect match . So , I made a quick adjustment without touching the chord and sub - melodies , and it was perfect ! I suppose my initial inspiration wasn ' t too off ( laugh ) . Afterward , I hurried and arranged another piece which is now played in key scenes . Just like " Prelude " , I was feeling my way around as I wrote this piece since the world of FF was yet to be revealed . I had about four demos and by incorporating ideas from Mr Toriyama ( the Director ) , I made one arrangement to another to form the piece . So I feel that Mr Toriyama and I wrote this together . At the end , we asked Mr . Toshiyuki Omori to turn it into orchestrated piece by adding harp to the intro piano part and also changing the outro sound from synthesizer to strings . He actually said that the synthesizer wasn ' t bad at all , but it was the first one to be played in the demo version and I insisted on the live instruments . This is derived from the earlier version of " Blinded By Light " , which was the first FF13 piece I wrote for E3 back in 2006 . The original plan was to create a B - melody by evolving the E3 " Blinded By Light " , but I ended up not adding anything , because I didn ' t think it was ideal for battle music to take a long time to get to the climax . But I had this B - melody stuck in my head and wanted to use it somewhere . . . so part of it is incorporated in this piece . I laid a live orchestra over a programmed orchestral piece that was almost completed . I ' ve used quite a bit of this " lay - over " technique for this project , but because this style is rarely done , it wasn ' t easy for us to reach the recording stage . Some of the percussion was programmed , but for majority of the instruments I had an arranger who would orchestrate them or adjust the scoring . By mixing the expressive live sound and the large scale programmed orchestral sound , I could match the grand world of FF . When I was making demos , people often said that the programmed elements were good enough because I made them in great detail . In hindsight , I think the combination of live and programmed sounds worked quite well . It ' s the piece we played live at a game event in 2008 . As I was given the direction to use " hybrid music " for FF13 , " Blinded By Light " was a consolidated piece of violin solo , guitar and orchestra ( and more ) , while this one is based on strings , piano and synthesizer . For a hybrid piece , it seems like the live feel of it is too overwhelming given the arrangement and number of the tracks . However , by adding a minimal mood , it comes closer to the synthesizer side , which I think creates a good balance For these minimal 8 minute string and 16 minute piano pieces , I kept the rough sound of the initial random play and developed from there . The delayed " whang ! " of the piano sound just before the loop is used from time to time , which could almost give the impression of it " almost not being able to catch up with the tempo " , but it ' s all intentional . This is my favorite part ( laugh ) . The backing chorus is actually a recording of my daughter Aya ' s voice . I had her sing for a demo , but I ended up using it . Since I was told that FF13 has various dark scenes especially in the beginning of the game , I wanted to create a mood of light tension here . By writing using conventional minor sounds , it would sound tacky and too heavy , so I deliberately tried to use chords which could sound neither major nor minor . I recorded the MIDI sounds whilst I watched the relevant scene in the game being played out , so it was a real - time process . There were moments , as the piece was coming together and the movie was reaching its climax , that I was so moved I was almost trembling . . . ( laugh ) . At 0 : 57 , I intentionally set the chord like that . That ' s the kind of thing I like . . . This track is using all programmed sounds except the violin solo . By adding just one acoustic violin , it reduces the " wow factor " significantly . I really enjoy work like this . It was originally a 90 second piece , but just before the recording , I thought the loop was too fast for a field track , so I quickly wrote the development part . All summoned creatures in FF13 are cool which made me really excited creating a tune for them ! I originally thought to mix orchestra , guitar and drums in one piece and then cut out any unnecessary parts , however it turned out to be quite interesting and well - balanced , so I decided to use it as is . I especially like the " pounded out string " sound which looks like it ' s ignoring the basic tune when it comes back to the introduction . Mr . Saito finally added some acoustic guitar , then it was completed . We have many ace guitarists in the SQUARE ENIX Sound Division ! This tune is the first piece , created for E3 in 2006 when we revealed FF13 . I remember that I worked hard on this piece in order not to let people down . I tried to create something which can deliver the sense of the game and have a catchy melody without being too straightforward . . . then finally , ensure to repeat the highlight part of the music . The main melody and chords came to mind almost instantly , but I rearranged it many times . Originally the main melody phrase was 4 / 4 bars , but it seemed too repetitive even for chords and backing , so I decided to have 3 / 4 bars in order to add some things . On top of this , I asked Mr . Yamazaki to add a taste of rock music to it , and I don ' t think we could add such a sense of speed without him . . . I am so proud of my best buddy ! I rearranged it so many times after that , but I could still not create something definite . When I brought a tune burnt on CD back home , my little daughter came to me saying " you should add a flute sound to it , " thinking there were high tones missing in the tune that I created . Since then , I added a soft violin tone with an octave high to it and then it sounded like it worked perfectly . Also , I was originally considering adding a B - melody for further development to it , but thinking that gamers play hundreds and thousands of battles , I came to the decision it would be simpler to go straight into the climatic part . After all these twists and turns " Blinded By Light " was born . Sheet music . Published by KMP Music Publishing , the " Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack Piano Solo Sheet Music " book contains piano arrangements for 33 pieces from the " Final Fantasy XIII : Original Soundtrack " .