Previously, the music for Chaos Seed was only published as part of the GM Progress series, and on this album, the music was almost entirely high-quality synth arrangement and some music from a Sega Saturn remake. A proper OST never saw the light of day, back when this SNES title from the same creators as the Estpolis (Lufia) series first made waves in Japan. Ten years later, Scitron finally saw to it that a proper soundtrack came our way. Conveniently, it also includes pretty much all of the music from the GM Progress arranged album.
So you may be wondering how this SNES RPG has three discs’ worth of music. There were very few SNES RPGs to pull off such a large collection of music, with Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger leading the pack. Well, here’s the trick: Chaos Seed was remade shortly after its SNES release and put on the Sega Saturn with improved synth. So, starting about halfway through disc two, we jump from the SNES music to the Sega Saturn music. If you look on the front cover, you’ll see two logos for Chaos Seed. The one on the left is for the SNES game, the one on the right is for the Saturn remake (entitled Senkutsu Katsuryu Taisen Chaos Seed).
Though this is a large, looming soundtrack on the surface, a dig through the layers of the music helps us discern where the gems lie. Namely: character themes, dungeon themes, and some of the battle themes are where Yasunori Shiono and crew excel. The rest (town themes, event themes, jingles, re-used generic mood music) can be easily ignored. And I’d say it’s a 50/50 split between these two groups of music.
In many ways, Shiono’s relationship to Motoi Sakuraba helps define the sound. So if you know you like old school Sakuraba (first Star Ocean, Tales of Phantasia, etc) then you are likely to enjoy this soundtrack, particularly for its battle themes.
Among Yasunori Shiono’s soundtracks, I think I prefer both Estpolis and Energy Breaker to Chaos Seed, if only because the others have consistently strong soundtracks. This three disc set demonstrates some great music, but also a lot of bland music. Your own perspective may lead you to disagree with me, though, so please use your own discretion when considering whether or not to add this member of the Game Sound Legend Series to your VGM collection.
