Archives

When Falcom started their “Zanmai” music series, released at Japan’s twice-annual Comiket, they started with a humble offering: five versions of the same song. “Hoshi no Arika” (which translates to “Where the Stars Are”) is the ending vocal song from The Legend of Heroes VI: Sora no Kiseki. This was a pivotal release for Falcom;… Read More »

The Triforce of Bass is an interesting album for me. While I’m not normally a fan of electronica, the best way I can describe most of the album is a mix of classic Zelda music intermingled with some electronic flavor. This album is a compilation of three artists, each of whom takes a slightly different… Read More »

The in-game version of The Dragonborn Comes is very bare, sung by Skyrim’s bards unaccompanied by any instrument. And because each line of the song is a separate dialogue bit for them, it’s filled with awkward pauses that stop it from being a very toe-tapping tune. Tera Catallo and Ro have, thankfully, filled things out… Read More »

In Skyrim‘s soundtrack, “From Past To Present” is a fairly soft piece that features a full orchestra. It is clearly meant as background music for walking the world and enjoying what there is to see there, not an accompaniment to battle. Kyle Landry’s version of the track retains much of that feeling, but it does… Read More »

Joypad’s latest properly-licensed, fanmade release makes up for lost ground that Square Enix didn’t properly leverage. Now I know what you’re thinking: “Square Enix totally milked Final Fantasy VII, are you crazy?!” Yeah, sure, Compilation of FFVII. I hear you. But from a musical arrangement perspective? They missed their shot, over and over. A quick… Read More »

The best video game soundtrack fits perfectly with its game. It sets the tone, establishes the world, and brings life to something that, by its very nature, lacks any tangible quality. In this way, the soundtrack for Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch stands out as some of the best work in the… Read More »

Heartstring Bugs is a curiously titled indie otome (girls-side) dating sim with a goofy premise. Elly is the shy protagonist determined to make her remaining three years of high school better than her miserable freshman year. She has a chance encounter with a juvenile alien virus that “infects” her with the ability to catch glimpses… Read More »

As anyone who has listened to me or read my scribblings on the music of the Kingdom Hearts series, they know it’s something very near and dear to my heart. I’ve heard my fair share of arrangements and remixes, some great, some not so impressive. I’ve been aware of and a supporter of pianist/composer Kyle… Read More »

The original version of the Skyrim main theme practically screams “Epic Fantasy.” Strings, horns, forceful but unintelligible chorus of singers… this song has all of the boxes checked. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It fits the game and gets it started off on the right foot. Lindsey Stirling and Peter Hollens’ cover of… Read More »

I loved Torchlight. I played it on XBLA and on PC, then played Torchlight 2. I love Diablo. I’ve played all three and had a good time with all of them. And I don’t think the fact that I am a fan of both series will surprise anyone reading this, since they both fit into… Read More »

Code of Princess is a fun, side-scrolling action RPG for the 3DS by Agatsuma Entertainment. The average player would likely refer to Code of Princess as a spiritual successor to Guardian Heroes (some of the Guardian Heroes staff are part of Agatsuma), which is just fine, because Guardian Heroes was a good game. Code of… Read More »

“They just might be our future…” It’s hard to listen to Chrono Trigger‘s “The Day the World Revived” and not be reminded of the impoverished inhabitants of 2300 A.D. Doan and his people had given up on life, until Chrono (yes, I say “Chrono” because real life isn’t limited to 5 characters), Marle, and Lucca… Read More »

A musty smell hangs in the air. An old man makes his way across the room and gently removes the music box from a gnarled shelf, pausing to blow away a layer of dust that has settled on its lid. Propping the lid open, he returns the tiny antique to its perch, gives its silver… Read More »

My initial thought on discovering the existence of “T. Sekito’s Guitarworks Selection” was, “It’s about time.” See, I think Tsuyoshi Sekito is one of Square Enix’s best kept musical secrets and a criminally underused composer. Brave Fencer Musashi sports one of my favorite Square Enix RPG soundtracks, and I still have songs from that game… Read More »

It is no secret that I really liked Record of Agarest War 2, my favorite aspect of which was its music. I was, therefore, disappointed that the only soundtrack of the game I could access was the 23-track pack-in CD for the European version of the game. One of my biggest complaints for that album… Read More »

Nobuko Toda, known for her work on the Metal Gear Solid series since Snake Eater in 2004, breaks away from her previous and more ambient works in order to venture into an exciting industrial electronic motif for Senritsu no Stratus OST. Most of the 36 tracks are reminiscent of a Matrix or Bourne movie, with… Read More »

Vana’diel is very much alive. Skeptical? It’s easy to be, but Final Fantasy XI has been running for well over a decade, with four major expansions and six add-on scenarios to date. This past week saw the worldwide release of the game’s fifth expansion pack, Seekers of Adoulin. Naoshi Mizuta has returned once again to… Read More »

The Music of Mugen Souls, as performed by the G-Castle Shampuru Philharmonic is a cute title, but a little misleading. I originally thought it was an arrange album, so I was mildly disappointed to hear it was just a selection of 20 tracks from the full two-disc, 51-track soundtrack. I loved Mugen Souls’ music and… Read More »

I’ve listened to the Dragon Quest X Symphonic Suite every day for a month straight. I’ve been waiting for something profound to hit me so I can tell you, dear reader, all about it. That time never came. So then I thought I’d start the review with a quick overview of the series, explain how… Read More »

Having only freshly boarded the love-train for the Zero Escape series, I only recently took notice of veteran composer Shinji Hosoe’s work on both 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward. Despite the relatively low sound quality of the DS original, I was still a big fan of the moody yet memorable tunes that accompanied the game’s… Read More »

Final Fantasy Vocal Collection consists of ten vocal themes from the Final Fantasy series. But don’t look for anything really old here — the series only began utilizing vocal songs in Final Fantasy VIII, with the love song “Eyes On Me.” Since then, the series has incorporated vocal themes with mixed results. Some songs are… Read More »

Though Daisuke Minamizawa has been composing intermittently since 1996, the Final Fantasy Solo Guitar Collections have been his first commercial performances. However, with string plucking like this, one could easily be fooled into thinking Minamizawa’s created several albums over his lifetime. In the West, few have probably heard of his compositions and arrangements. Still, with… Read More »

The brooding introductory notes take me back to days of portentous rainfall and melancholy. The unique bond between music and memory makes listening a deceptively complicated act. There’s always something else at play: associations — where did the listener first hear this music, last hear this music? Was the listener content at the time, or… Read More »

I’ve played a lot of Pokémon over the years. Every generation, in fact, including the remakes. Even after all of that, I’m still looking forward to Pokémon X/Y when they hit the 3DS later this year. But Red/Blue/Green will always hold a special place in my heart. I played Red for long enough that I… Read More »

The name TPR (of Phoenix Rise Music) might not be immediately familiar to you; it wasn’t one I knew prior to this album. I first spied it only a few weeks ago, in fact, under a newly released Joypad Records album called A Melancholy Tribute To Final Fantasy IX. However, after having listened (again and… Read More »