There are few tunes in gaming more iconic than Final Fantasy VII's "The Prelude," and the new Final Fantasy VII Remake, which speaks to the immense and difficult task of adapting the soundtrack for modern audiences. Episode 4 of the excellent Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake video series is all about the soundtrack, explaining how Nobuo Uematsu's music has been reworked for the Remake.

Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake

• Episode 1: Introduction
• Episode 2: Story and Characters
• Episode 3: Combat and Gameplay

When work on the remake began, producer Yoshinori Kitase put together a video of all the events in the game, set to the music from the original PlayStation release. It outlined his vision for the game, but co-director Motomu Toriyama decided that a modern approach was called for. The game thus has a dynamic soundtrack, where the music dynamically shifts.

Keiji Kawamori talks about how the music on the soundtrack needed to be repurposed for different scenarios, depending on the tensions and intent of each scene, and composer Mitsuto Suzuki talks about how interactive music is becoming more popular, and how it works in this new game. In some scenes, three versions of a track are playing in parallel, and the game crossfades between them depending on what the action calls for. "It's like a really top-class DJ performance," Suzuki says.