After taking a six year hiatus, Falcom’s “Special Box” series was renewed with Falcom Special Box 2004. Unfortunately for VGM fans, there wasn’t much to be found on this collection.
Well, I ought to take that back. Technically, this box has more music than any one previous special box in Falcom history. The problem? The five discs worth of music found in this collection were also released separately. The exclusives, which make this box “special,” had nothing to do with music.
The three non-music discs are as follows: Ys VI Material Collection (which contains a whole lot of high quality images and other neat-o things to put on your computer), Ys VI Movie Collection (which contained every FMV from the PC version of Ys VI, as well as a number of other FMVs and trailers for other Falcom titles), Legend of Xanadu Complete Reissue Edition (the game itself…for your playing pleasure).
These three discs are worth the standard price of the box alone (anywhere from $60 to $100, depending on who you go to for purchases).
As for the five discs of music, we at RPGFan already have separate reviews for these two soundtracks. To give a summary, the Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim Original Soundtrack is some high quality Falcom music, showcasing Falcom’s ability to write new melodies and keep them in the same style of music the Ys series has seen from the beginning…and The Legend of Xanadu Original Soundtrack is definitely mediocre by comparison (though I need to emphasize that the game itself is quite good: it just doesn’t have the world’s best OST).
There isn’t much else to say about this box: if you really want it, you’ll hunt it down and get it. Apparently it wasn’t the best marketing idea in the world, because Falcom did not release a “Special Box 2005” of any sort. That’s what you get for not putting exclusive music in your box, Falcom!
