Last year, Square Enix did a remake of the Game Boy classic SaGa 2 (Final Fantasy Legend II) for the DS. A summary of my soundtrack review for that release was that the remake’s music, and its publication on CD, was unnecessary.
Unfortunately, I think I’m about to make the same statement for this soundtrack.
“Estpolis Biography” (known as “Lufia” in North America) was a great SNES RPG, with a decent soundtrack from Yasunori Shiono (though I would argue that its sequel was much improved). This two disc set of music was released for Square Enix’s DS remake of the game, which they were able to do after bringing Taito under their wing. Shiono had no part in the “remaking” of the music, apparently. But that doesn’t matter, because the true “original soundtrack” portion (disc one) sounds nearly identical to the SNES music.
And, of course, all of that OST music has been made available twice over. Once in a now-rare set that included the first two Estpolis soundtracks, and again in 2006 from the Game Sound Legend Series (still generally available), which added the two black sheep (Game Boy and Game Boy Advance entries) to the pile of music.
Disc two? The first six tracks are drama, which I’m sure are interesting to hear if you speak Japanese. Taking the characters from this series and giving them a voice could be enjoyable, but I wouldn’t really know the difference since, again, I don’t speak Japanese. The other half of disc two is a synth arrange collection, 14 of the better tracks from the OST (including every battle theme). Are these tracks alone reason enough to pick up this album? Because if you get the Game Sound Legend Series set, which is a great collection of music, these arrange tracks are the only brand new bits of music you’d get out of buying Square Enix’s Estpolis soundtrack.
I guess, if you’re really a desperate collector, it might be worth it. But while the arrangements are nice, they’re not mindblowing. With the financial muscle Square Enix wields, I would’ve liked some full-on live rock and/or live orchestral performance for this game, but I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
