How is the notion of Story relevant to Final Fantasy VII music?

What is the difference between narrative and story? According to the Hartleys text, the narrative is the way in which the sequence of events are presented in the story. (Hartley, 2002)

Nobuo Uematsu is one of all time favorite composers for game music. I became fascinated with how sound was used in the video games from an early age when I was fortunate enough to be gifted a PlayStation (PS) from my uncle and the first game title that I played on it was Final Fantasy VII (FF7).

Game developers of the early nineties finally were able to use CD quality sound in their games to become more immersive, titles like Gran Turismo had rock and punk artists featured in their sound tracks. (Gran Turismo 1 - Complete Soundtrack (NTSC-US/PAL), 1997). The addition of CD quality songs elevated the experience of the game play and paved the way in which video game designers could use better quality tracks to enhance the experience and story. ("Gran Turismo (video game)", 1997)

Originally Nobuo decided to write full CD quality tracks into the FF7 game but decided against it due to file size restrictions on the PS. ("Final Fantasy VII", n.d.) Ultimately he decided to compose to MIDI and this became the defining flavour to the game. Unlike in his previous titles, for FF7 he produced the sound tracks like as if it was for a film score since this was the first role playing title in the Final Fantasy series to have full cinematic cut scenes and so warranted the use of full orchestral pieces. The music supported the story line and character development throughout the game play and morphed with each characters development or death in FF7.

Aerith's death scene. (Square Enix, 1997)

The musical scoring of a Japanese role playing game became a vital element in delivering the story from cut scenes into battle sequences to the world map areas where the player roamed. The ambient music allowed the player to become more immersed with the story. (Sang, 2016)

For full tracks used in FF7 that was later sold as a separate soundtrack CD.

(Square Music, 1997)

Sources:

Hartley, J. (2002). The key concepts (3rd ed., pp. Page 154-155, Narrative). USA: Routledge.

Gran Turismo 1 - Complete Soundtrack (NTSC-US/PAL). (1997). [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWzABnQHZ8g&index=3&list=PLIZ3AyUqd_gfjgyclS6uhKpzaVl_UujSo

Final Fantasy VII. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_VII#Music

Sang, N. (2016). The Amazing Music Of Final Fantasy VII. Retrieved from https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/05/the-amazing-music-of-final-fantasy-vii/

Square Enix. (1997). [Image]. Retrieved from http://finalfantasy.istad.org/2013/10/final-fantasy-vii-recap-ep-ix-angst-zero/

Square Music. (1997). Final Fantasy VII - Complete Soundtrack [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlfGch8mGhg&feature=youtu.be