The third CD of the Orchestral Game Concert series may not be the best of them all but it does have a lot of good songs and make it a worthy addition to any game music fan’s collection. As is the case with every other OGC CD, what follows is a track by track account of the CD (almost).
The first track comes from Nintendo’s classic shooter, Star Fox. Since it isn’t really RPG related, I won’t say much apart from the fact that it’s a pretty nice song.
Track 2 comes from the well-known Japanese RPG series Fire Emblem and it’s a pretty good song too. Too bad we never got to see this RPG series in America and it looks to have a pretty good soundtrack.
The following track comes from Zelda: Link’s Awakening on the Gameboy. In some portion, it sounds a bit like the classic overworld Zelda music but it doesn’t sound as good because you’re always expecting it to go into the familiar direction of the classic Zelda theme but everytime it dissapoints you by veering into a different direction. Not that it’s bad, it’s just NOT the overworld them from Zelda, that’s all :).
Track 4 is the same track that can be found on OGC2 and you can find a sample of that on the OGC 2 review. I don’t know why they had to include this track again in this third CD but I don’t mind since it’s a great song.
The next 2 songs come from Torneko’s Big Adventure, but personally I didn’t care much for those 2 tracks and find them very average.
Probably the best “unknown” track on this CD is The Legendary Warriors from the game The War Emperor of Ki. I’ve never heard of this game but this track is very good. It starts in an epic fashion with lots of trumpets and other instruments then slows down into a beautiful melody before rising up again towards the end for a big climax.
Track 8 is the obligatory Dragon Quest song. This time from DQV and I really don’t like their choice for this one. Definitely one that I skip when listening to this soundtrack. Then again, I’m a big fan of slower, more melodious songs and this is a fast-paced boss song I believe.
The next track is the worst of the CD in my opinion. It comes from a game called Half-Boiled Hero and I find this song very annoying. Maybe I’m just not a fan of Xylophone.
Then, we move on to the track that Square fans want the most from this CD. The intro song of Seiken Densetsu 2 on the Super Famicom (know as Secret of Mana here in the US). It’s good stuff and won’t disapoint fans of the game.
Just like the obligatory Dragon Quest song, you also always have on those OGC soundtracks a classic Yoko Kanno song. The one on this CD is a song from Nobunaga’s Ambition. Not bad but nothing to write about either.
Track 12 is from a game called Lennus (known as Paladin’s Quest in America). Just like the Lennus 2 songs from OGC4 & 5, this one is also great. I never thought this series had great music like that.
Track 13 & 14 are both from Albert Odyssey and they are 2 of the best songs on the CD, especially God’s People which is just sooo beautiful. Fans of the Albert Odyssey music found in the Saturn game will like those songs as they sound very similar in style and even has some themes that were included in the Saturn RPG.
The last 2 tracks aren’t that good but they’re not “bad”, just not to the standard of other OGC songs. They are from Kabuki Story of Heaven’s Magi and Elfaria respectively.
Overall, Orchestral Game Concert 3 is neither the best nor the worst of the series in my opinion and it does offer some great classics in there; so if you’re a fan of orchestral music, you can’t pass this one up.
