The schedule became tough once it entered the actual development stage, and aside of the regular battle theme or the events music, most of the soundtracks was composed within the past one year. Due to that awful schedule, he solely determined the direction of the score and involved other staffs only in the post-composition process (e.g. mixing, arranging, recording or orchestrating). The method he took was also to work on 20-30 tracks simultaneously in one month and to submit them in bulks to the director, instead of focusing one track at a time. Overall, he did this composing session three times (=60~90 tracks were composed in this way). Starting to working on another once getting stuck with one, he apparently could quickly finish composing a couple dozen tracks without a slump.
Square-Enix had four years. And so they had with FFXII (if I'm not mistaken), but have you seen those bags under Sakimoto's eyes in the soundtrack's booklet? Hamauzu himself looked quite tired in the SaGa 20th anniversary video as well...
Yoshihasa Hirano's official website has confirmed a few details about the orchestral recordings. He confirms that the orchestral tracks for the game were recorded for Warsaw Symphony Orchestra in Poland. It's highly likely that Hirano orchestrated the scores, returning from his role on Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, though he doesn't officially confirm this role. This is one of several recent examples of Japanese composers outsourcing their orchestral performances to the more experienced orchestras of Europe.
