Archives

I can’t believe nearly five years have passed and I am only now digging into Final Fantasy VII Remake! This ambitious project focused and expanded upon the events of Final Fantasy VII within the confines of Midgar, roughly the first third of the game. So, how much music would you expect to accompany this remade… Read More »

Among all the great RPG remakes in the past few years, Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven might be the one that surprised me most. This surprise was not necessarily about the high quality of the remake itself (though I’m inclined to agree that it was, alongside Ben Love’s review). For me, the surprise… Read More »

Friends: the main To the Moon trilogy may be complete, but the humbly titled side story Just a To the Moon Series Beach Episode suggests there is more on the way. I couldn’t be more excited about that. Until that new title arrives, however, I want to take a moment to let readers in on… Read More »

When Nintendo announced they were publishing a full soundtrack for Pokémon Legends Arceus, I was elated! While the publisher has a history of (eventually) releasing OSTs for the main series, music for spin-off Pokémon titles has been notoriously overlooked. Thankfully, that trend ends with Nintendo Switch Pokémon Legends Arceus Super Music Collection, published in February… Read More »

Epic. Intense. Eerie. Dramatic. These are probably the four key words I’d associate with both playing Elden Ring and listening to its soundtrack. However, though those words do encompass much of the game’s mood, they certainly don’t cover it all. They don’t include the moments of absolute joy when beating a tough boss, the feeling of determination… Read More »

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hideo Kojima’s graphic adventure classic Policenauts, the duo “F/N” (Motoaki Furukawa / Koichi Namiki) created a new recording and music video for the song “Just who I needed to see.” This catchy tune was the opening track to their 1996 arranged album Policenauts F/N. This is an arranged album… Read More »

I recently took some time to play Wasteland Remastered, as watching Amazon Prime’s Fallout television series renewed my interest in Wasteland. Given I had played the 2013 port of the 1988 PC classic game around the time Wasteland 2 was released, my love for the spiritual predecessor to Fallout made me want to try out the latest version of this classic game. And when… Read More »

In February 2024, The Pokémon Company decided to make up for lost time by publishing not one, not two, but three OSTs on the same day. Among them was the soundtrack to their gen-9 flagship title: Pokémon Scarlet & Violet! This soundtrack is the largest of any from the franchise to date, spanning six discs… Read More »

Wizardry is a series with a storied history, dating back to 1981 with the release of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. From a musical perspective, there wasn’t much to say with the first few titles throughout the ’80s … at least, not in America. As Wizardry found its way to Japan in the late ’80s with Famicom (NES)… Read More »

One of my favorite arrange albums from last year was the third volume in the Prescription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies series. The evergreen duo of soft jazz that is GENTLE LOVE (Norihiko Hibino on sax, AYAKI on piano) are back with a fantastic new arrange album specific to the game ActRaiser. This album, titled… Read More »

The expectations put on a sequel are always great. The next movie has to be better, the next game has to improve the mechanics, the next book has to have even more suspense and tie up loose ends, and so on and so forth. Soundtracks, however, have a lot more freedom than most other elements… Read More »

Of all the soundtracks to go without publication and finally see the light of day 30 years later, I never would have guessed The 7th Saga. The mere fact that this album exists is noteworthy. In this review, I devote equal attention to this soundtrack’s unlikely existence and the quality of the music itself. Investigation… Read More »

Prior to the release of Slay the Princess‘ upcoming Pristine Cut, the developers at Black Tabby Games released a content update patch that offers an extended “true ending” and some other small scenario additions/changes to the game. Alongside this update, they integrated some music that had been in the works and, to my knowledge, was… Read More »

Since I recently reviewed the supernatural themes and dark streets of The Thaumaturge and came away pretty impressed, I was stoked to get my copy of the game’s digital soundtrack. The Slavic themes and minimalist, ambient background music offer quite a surreal experience as you race around gathering clues and making conclusions in the game, so I was… Read More »

Fire Emblem’s legacy is long but relatively new to audiences in North America. That exposure is largely due to Super Smash Bros. Melee showcasing some of the series’ heroes and some of the stellar soundtracks. Moving ahead to more recent entries, 2019’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses featured new pieces from series composer Takeru Kanazaki. While Three Houses is a… Read More »

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask offers incredible source material for musicians to play with, and gosh, have they over the years. Koji Kondo’s work on this poignant entry in the series continues to evoke feelings of joy, pain, mystery, triumph, and more to this day. So it’s no shock that MILK BAR: An EDM Tribute to… Read More »

We’re early in 2024, and I’m already looking at a strong contender for arrange album of the year. The jazz/funk/rock ensemble Tournament Arc came out of left field with a debut album that launched alongside a live performance at Super MAGFest 2024. After multiple listens to this senses-shocking album, I now regret even more deeply… Read More »

The time has arrived! Adol is on his tenth adventure in Ys X: Nordics (stylized Ys X -Nordics- in Japan). And as the name and artwork suggest, Adol will be encountering his fictional world’s Viking equivalents this time ’round. Does Falcom’s “Sound Team jdk” have what it takes to write an appropriate score for this… Read More »

When Arnie Roth created the Distant Worlds concert series celebrating the music of Final Fantasy, I don’t think anyone would have predicted how long this project would last. Seriously, I can’t believe we’re at Distant Worlds VI already! In truth, I have let this impressive series of recordings slip by, having not listened to volumes… Read More »

You’re on a path in the woods and you hear some simple, soothing music. That music comes from the new visual novel Slay the Princess, developed by indie studio Black Tabby Games. The melody you hear continues as you have a conversation with the voices in your head. As you approach the cabin and interact… Read More »

Listen: when I saw there was a published soundtrack for Labyrinth of Zangetsu, no way would I let it go unreviewed. Why, you ask? Two reasons. First: the soundtrack is fully composed by Takahiro Eguchi—a prolific musician whose discography rarely includes RPGs. Having an excuse to write about Eguchi’s music on RPGFan simply made my… Read More »

Last year’s Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series arrived with a surprising music overhaul, featuring recording instruments in a chamber music setting, with the occasional use of full orchestra, choir, and synths to emulate a rock music style. Of the six soundtracks, Final Fantasy II Pixel Remaster Original Soundtrack somehow managed to remain the black sheep… Read More »

Whenever a series acquires popularity, it attaches a level of expected quality to itself solely based on said name. Final Fantasy is one of the most well-known video game brands in the world, and it’s no, pardon the pun, stranger to that high expectation. Spin-offs are interesting cases simply because the expectation for that quality… Read More »

You don’t see “resplendent” used as a descriptor often enough, but after listening to Final Fantasy Series Acoustic Arrangements, I can think of few other words to describe the experience. Gathering together some lovely and memorable pieces that are franchise powerhouses, veteran violinist and lead on the Acoustic Arrangements series Atsuki Yoshida has compiled an… Read More »

The latest entry to Square Enix’s flagship franchise is here, as is its massive soundtrack. Final Fantasy XVI made landfall this June, and its Original Soundtrack followed along in July. Square Enix published two distinct versions of the soundtrack: the standard seven-disc Original Soundtrack and the eight-disc Ultimate Edition. Alongside that final disc, which is… Read More »