Arc Rise Fantasia is, at first glance, a generic JRPG that could not be less inspired if it tried—which isn’t a bad thing, considering the game is greater than the sum of its parts, though the horrors of the English dubbing tarnish its image a fair bit. However, taking a glance at the composers the developers hired to do the soundtrack, the musical pedigree is far from generic.
With big names such as Yasunori Mitsuda (who composed the music for Chrono Cross, which I personally believe to be one of the best game soundtracks of all time) scoring music for the game, it sets expectations high. While the soundtrack to Arc Rise Fantasia is not exemplary by any means, it is, without a doubt, a well-composed soundtrack.
Shunsuke Tsuchiya does many of the battle songs, as well as quite a few event and town tracks, and they are serviceable at best. The normal battle music is uninspired and bland, but inoffensive. By comparison, Yuki Harada’s boss theme, “An Unexpected Battle,” blows Tsuchiya’s battle music out of the water. I’m unsure what it is about the piece that makes it so gripping; it might be the electric guitar in the beginning that eventually goes to the background, or the dramatic pacing of the music, but it’s a rather incredible listen and made me savor each boss battle in the game.
Yasunori Mitsuda’s compositions also have a strong presence in the soundtrack, and are some of the highlights of the music. Mitsuda’s pieces offer a rather relaxing theme with softer music that is pleasant to the ears. While Harada’s music gets the blood pumping, Mitsuda’s music is relaxing, with a subtle melancholy in the way which his music flows. Nothing exemplifies this better than the track “At the End of Despair,” which has absolutely beautiful composition.
However, Yui Makino steals the show with the vocal tracks. In much the same way that music was an intrinsic part of Ar tonelico‘s story, thus having the game heavily reliant on its soundtrack, Arc Rise Fantasia‘s Divas (seriously, that’s what they’re called – I fully expect a JRPG to use the term hooker non-ironically in the future) cast magic by singing, and thus Yui Makino’s vocal songs are an essential part of the entire experience. Emiri Kato also has a vocal track, but it pales in comparison to Makino’s work.
At first glance the soundtrack may seem unimpressive, but those willing to listen can find quite a few gems in this soundtrack. Having multiple artists each work on part of a unified soundtrack lends it an incredible variation, from blood-pumping battle tracks to calm and serene melodies. As far as video game soundtracks go, you could do much, much worse.
