The Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack must be the only soundtrack to warrant it’s own website and now it’s own trailer. The elegant trailer features some of Masashi Hamauzu’s FFXIII work and a close look at the First Cut Limited Edition 5-disc set.

The Standard Edition of the OST comes on four discs and is 3990 yen (about $45 USD).
The Limited Edition comes with an additional drama CD, a special box case, a special sleeve and a 32-page artbook. It’s more expensive at 5250 yen (about $58) but is certainly worth it.

The OST is available on January 27 2010 but can be preordered from sites like Play-Asia.

I’m impressed that Square Enix put a lot of effort into promoting the FFXIII OST but I’d be more impressed if they released a Piano Collections CD even if the composer isn’t the familiar Nobuo Uematsu. Their last one was for Final Fantasy X-2 in 2004 (seems so long ago).

I haven’t played Final Fantasy XIII yet so I can’t tell how good the soundtrack will be but I have listened to another of Hamauzu’s works, the Final Fantasy X OST and it was superb. The FFXIII OST is also the first FF OST to have 4-discs since Final Fantasy IX. Anyway, I have high expectations for this OST. Final Fantasy scores never disappoint.

By the way, I’ve been listening to the battle track on the OST website on repeat all morning. You may remember this track from one of the first FFXIII trailers released. Too cool.

Final Fantasy XIII will be released on PS3 and Xbox 360 for North America, Europe and Australia on March 9 2010.