two tragic tales

Ami Suzuki was a big deal. in the late 90s, she achieved platinum with her debut album SA and delivered big hits that rivaled the likes of Ayumi Hamasaki and Hikaru Utada. alone in my room and BE TOGETHER are still sang by fans to this day. she could have continued this success, but, legal troubles put a stop to that. she lost her popularity in 2000 after leaving her label.

and yes, that's what you'll find out by reading her wikipedia article. but that's not what this post is about.

in the 22nd of august of 2007, Ami Suzuki released a song produced by the god of electropop himself, Yasutaka Nakata, aka Perfume's fourth member. that song was called FREE FREE. in the music video, Suzuki wears a scampy dress and dances around with a strong and impossible to ignore erotic tone. this change in image was shocking, not because of its prudeness, but because it was really fucking cool, and unpredictable. if you weren't a Suzuki believer before that, you are now. you now understand that she's not like other singers. she always does her own thing.

in the 6th of february of 2008, the album of which FREE FREE was made for released. it was called DOLCE.

most music nerds who know about Ami Suzuki probably know her for her following record, Supreme Show, because it was entirely produced by Yasutaka Nakata. DOLCE only has two tracks produced by him. DOLCE didn't change the world nor is it specially celebrated nowadays but those who've heard it certainly at least liked it.

...that is to say, the first nine tracks. for you see, after the rewarding and subtly beautiful closer that is Stereo Love, the label -- or suzuki herself, during some sort of insanity fit -- decided to include three more tracks that had nothing to do with the album. 

DOLCE was supposed to be a masterfully produced nu-disco techno-pop album with Perfume and Daft Punk influences and that clearly shows from those first nine tracks. however, track 10 is the kind of song you'd find in a late 90s japanese R&B record. track 11 is -- honestly -- ugly and dated, sounding like those 80s doo-wop revival bands, but i at least like the hook. track 12 fucking sucks. it sounds like a 90s jrock filler deep-cut.

imagine if, at the end of Discovery, after Face to Face, 50 cent appeared with a crunk track, and it was followed by a cover of Hootie and the Blowfish. that's what DOLCE is. that's what they made DOLCE become. it didn't have to be like this.

similarly, seven years prior to the release of DOLCE, Square Enix released Final Fantasy X, which is still one of the most popular entries in the series. after VII managed to change the west's perception of RPGs, the following two games didn't achieve as high of an impact as VII. of course, X didn't either, nor would any other final fantasy or other JRPG ever again, but it was still pretty fucking popular on the PS2. 

Final Fantasy X is, simply put, my favorite rpg. it has the best UI i've ever seen in a videogame, the most possible refined version of the turn-based battle system, a SPHERE GRID??? (whatever that is), an outstanding soundtrack that's [kinda a little bit] better than [almost] all the Nobuo Uematsu ones (with the exception of IX's) and a beautiful, touching plot full of romance and sadness.

there's just one little caviat.

ever since the PS1, Square had begun to include little mini games in Final Fantasy because, and i'm probably misremembering the exact quote but, they wanted final fantasy to be "the only game a player will need". VIII and IX had little card games, so X has not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, but SIX different mini games. and don't get me wrong, they're optional... to a degree. if you want the sweet sweet legendary weapons to each character, you'll have to beat them. even if you want the most powerful aeons, you'll have to beat the arena. and up until that point, it's ok to me. it doesn't ruin the experience. however, up until track nine of DOLCE, it was the best pop album i had ever heard. 

final fantasy X has blitzball.

it's actually impressive how Square's developers managed to create the most unintuitive, bloated and insufferable mini games, or hell, sports, ever thought by someone. and boy, that's not even the start of it. i haven't mentioned the cluster of trials. i haven't gotten to that point yet in the game but i heard the late-game ones are close to ruining the game. (honestly i think the earlier ones are pretty alright, but i like puzzles so i'm a bit biased). 

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DOLCE (and FFX) is a tragic tale not because it's bad, but because it isn't perfect. it was SO close to being perfect, that you can't help but feel sad about it. it's like if Abbey Road had Temporary Secretary as its closer. like if The Glow pt. 2 had a rap before Samurai Sword. like if Cave Story had a bad soundtrack.

Final Fantasy X is almost the best JRPG ever made. DOLCE is almost one of the best pop albums of the twenty first century. however, after all i've said, there's a pretty easy solution to fix these problems. you can make DOLCE the best album it could be. you just need to do a simple thing.

if you have it downloaded on your hard drive, delete the last three tracks. if you have it on spotify, or other streaming site, hide them. and if you're playing Final Fantasy X...

use cheat codes.