I love Konami’s Genso Suikoden series, but have never played either of the Suikogaiden games, primarily because I do not read Japanese fluently and would have no clue what is going on in these two text adventures. That being said, I can still enjoy the music from both games, and I do, mostly because the soundtracks are primarily a montage of previous Suikoden game music.
Most of the songs on the album are note-for-note copies of tracks from the previous two Suikoden titles. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing (Square did the same thing with their releases of the two Potion albums and Square Vocal Collection), there is little to recommend this OST over simply making a mix-CD of your favorite Suikoden tracks.
This is not to say that Genso Suikogaiden Vol. 2 has no original tracks at all. Track 6, The Young Heroes is a nice arrangement of the track of the same name from the Genso Suikoden II OST, as is One Fine Day, a little ditty adapted from the tune of the same name again from GS 2. Everyone’s favorite pompous theme returns in style, as Theme of Narcissism, and there is also one unused track on the OST entitled Homesickness which an almost verbatim rendition of the track of the same name from Genso Suikoden II.
Finally, there is the ending theme, The Boundless Dream, which is quite well done. I like the vocalist’s performance as it is definitely not standard.
Overall, I have to say that Genso Suikogaiden Vol. 2: Last Duel at Crystal Valley is an adequate album, although I consider it more of a compilation of GS II tracks than an original album. Still, it’s worth a listen if you have some money to spend.
