By Zhaan 
Ah, the first Sunday Tunes of 2026 has arrived. I realized a while back that most of these features so far have revolved around music from JRPGs, so today we’re covering.. more JRPGs! Indeed, it’s time to put the spotlight on Mistwalker.
If you’re reading this blog you should already be acquainted with Mistwalker. It is the current company of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, which he founded after leaving Squaresoft in the early 2000s. Since then he has worked with composer and long-time pal Nobuo Uematsu on a bunch of great games. You can read more about the the duo here.
Lost Odyssey
First off is Mistwalker’s magnum opus and one of my personal favourite Uematsu soundtracks. Of course, I am talking about Lost Odyssey for the Xbox 360. I could go into great detail about my love for this game, but that’s for another time. All you need to know is that Lost Odyssey is a big, emotional roller-coaster of a game that explores some very mature themes. Naturally, this is reflected in the music as well.
Check out my selection below.
“Main Theme”
The main theme of a game seems like an obvious first pick, no? This song starts off with a simple, yet exciting melody that transforms into something more profound and beautiful as you listen to it. Lost Odyssey may be a somewhat niche title in the JRPG world, but to me this song is just as iconic as the Final Fantasy main theme.
Uematsu is extremely adept at making memorable melodies, perhaps moreso than most. This one will always stick with me.
“Saman, Town of Merchants”
From epic to relaxing, here we have another simple tune that never fails to put me at ease. As you no doubt have figured out, it plays in a town called Saman. Interestingly, the town itself is haunted by some kind of curse, which stands in contrast to the music. I think that’s neat.
When I heard this for the first time I simply put the controller down and soaked in the atmosphere. Lovely.
“Neverending Journey”
If the previous tracks were epic and relaxing respectively, this is somehow both at the same time. If I recall correctly, it only plays when you open the world map to use the fast travel system. It begins as an acoustic variant of the main theme that goes surprisingly hard with electric guitars at its climax. Sublime stuff.
“What You Are”
Okay, so this one is extremely cheesy and probably not everyone’s cup of tea. As one of the few vocal tracks in the game, it gets a spot on my list. Honestly though, it kind of.. slaps. Like, yeah, it’s sounds like an exaggerated love ballad straight out of the 1990s, perhaps bordering on parody, but it’s got a nice uplifting melody and the romantic lyrics just add to the goofiness.
It works for me.
“Howl of the Departed”
Alright, let’s end our Lost Odyssey segment with a top-tier battle tune. Someone on an internet forum once uttered the phrase “Uematsu inserted her whole p*ssy into this soundtrack”, and well, he’s obviously a man so that’s just funny in general, but I’ve come to think of that sentence whenever I hear this song. Said person was referring to a much more recent title, mind you, but that doesn’t matter.
’Howl of the Departed’ is Uematsu using his Limit Break, Trance, Overdrive, and Quickening simultanteously. It has everything you want in a final boss theme, and, in my book at least, it’s up there with ’One Winged Angel’.
Blue Dragon
A few years ago I decided to re-play this game on my Xbox Series X, because I never finished it back in the day. And today I.. still haven’t. That’s because I think Blue Dragon is just okay. I don’t think that’s a particularly hot take though, since most Mistwalker fans seem to prefer Lost Odyssey.
By all means, it’s a well made product with a fun job system and fantastic art design by the late Akira Toriyama. Unfortunately, the story and characters simply aren’t interesting enough to keep me playing till the end. In terms of music, though? Pretty darn good.
“Waterside”
This rather mellow track is the first thing you hear when the game boots up. It’s a short, but sweet piano tune that plays during the title screen. It reminds me a bit of “Dearly Beloved” from Kingdom Hearts, which is not a bad thing at all.
“My Tears and the Sky”
I don’t normally gel with this type of vocals, as I find them a bit too cutesy. You hear that a lot in Japanese music in general, but here it works well. This sentimental song is basically the theme for Kluke, the game’s female protagonist. Fittingly, the Japanese version is performed by the character’s voice actor, Ayako Kawasumi.
You’ll also find the English version below, which is not performed by her English voice actor (Tara Strong), but by Timane Garner.
Japanese Version
English Version
“The Seal Is Broken”
Here we have what is essentially the “Howl of the Departed” of Blue Dragon, and yes it’s also the game’s final boss theme. I don’t think it’s quite as epic as that other song, but it’s still deserves a mention here. It certainly gets my blood pumping, so it’s a mainstay in my workout playlist.
“Eternity”
Well, I couldn’t not include this gem. A bit earlier I used the words “cheesy” and “goofy” to describe a song, and I think you’ll find those fitting here as well. If this doesn’t cheer you up, you’re probably dead inside. To be fair, so am I, but it still manages to make me smile every time.
Most fascinatingly, this was performed by Ian Gillan of Deep Purple. Aapparently, he was a huge influence for Nobuo Uematsu.
Other Games
We’re going to wrap this up in a bit, but I wanted to include some music from lesser known Mistwalker titles. They’ve made quite a bit more than just Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, after all.
Terra Battle: “The Maker’s Beckoning [Menu Theme]”
Before deciding it wasn’t for me, this song actually made me want to play Terra Battle. Sadly, it’s a mobile gacha game so it was never meant to be. Still, this has got to be one of the best menu themes out there.
A.S.H (Archaic Sealed Ash): “Battle With History”
This is a bit of a departure as the music was composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto and his company Basiscape. You probably know his work from Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII. I happen to own this game for the Nintendo DS, but it never really clicked with me. There’s no official English release either, so you’ll have to play in Japanese or use the fan translation.
Away: Shuffle Dungeon
Lastly, here’s another Mistwalker DS game. And yes, I own this one too! It’s a somewhat weird puzzle game with randomized dungeons, and nobody ever talks about it. Probably wasn’t a very big succces for the company, but at least they released an English version.
And with that, another edition of Sunday Tunes is over. I hope you’ve enjoyed some of these tunes, and make sure you check out our other posts.
Next time, I’ll go out of my way to not post about JRPGs. I’m thinking sci-fi games, or something in that vein. Until then, stay cool.