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It only took three notes from a guitar before the audience at Blizzcon 2008 knew what was coming. The familiar theme of Tristram from the original Diablo is about as iconic as video game music gets. It’s up there with the Zelda theme, the Prelude from Final Fantasy, and numerous other tracks from our childhood.… Read More »

I noticed the music while playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a sadly rare occurrence with Western RPGs. The orchestral soundtracks given to these games are all too frequently ordinary and forgettable. They all sound the same. Many WRPG music composers favor atmosphere over melody, which makes for effective soundtracks, but not ones that can… Read More »

While Morrowind has an (incomplete) CD release alongside in addition to digital release, and Skyrim has a full four disc soundtrack in physical form, Oblivion’s soundtrack was only available as a digital download from DirectSong. In terms of distribution, the collector in me would love to have a physical artifact. Form and format aside, this… Read More »

A limited edition CD version of the Morrowind soundtrack was released alongside the game, but that soundtrack was definitely incomplete (and also, initially, came without a tracklist). Later, using DirectSound, Jeremy Soule would release a more complete digital-only soundtrack. That’s what we’re talking about here. What motivated me personally to write this review? I’ve been… Read More »

Western-style fantasy RPGs tend to follow a pattern when it comes to music – atmospheric and ambient; cinematic rather than melodic. For that reason, the music tends to be more of a complement to the game rather than a core component. Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning’s soundtrack is a classic example of this – sweeping orchestral… Read More »

I call lots of game music composers “veteran composers,” because this industry has not yet lived long, and anyone who’s been at it for more than a decade deserves the title. But there are true gurus who have been at it, consistently, for nearly 3 decades. Guys like Nobuo Uematsu, Koichi Sugiyama, and of course,… Read More »

Compared to Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 may have a more technically impressive and complex soundtrack, but I’ll always like this one a little more, I think. Perhaps part of this arises from my memories of Mass Effect, my first foray into the current generation a few Christmases ago that made that winter very special.… Read More »

Final Fantasy Legends: Hikari to Yami no Senshi (Warriors of Light and Darkness) is a relatively unknown entry in the long-running RPG franchise. The game was released episodically for the Japanese i-mode and EZweb distribution platforms in 2010, with iOS and Android ports planned for release in 2012. Upon localization, the game was titled “Final… Read More »

To the Moon is a game that has been lauded up and down here on RPGFan, and with good reason. The game excelled at creating an emotional atmosphere and story without becoming hokey. For me, it was able to do that for two reasons: the writing and the music. Of course, the latter is my… Read More »

So good, and at the same time, so unsatisfying. Truth. If you’ve followed BioWare’s other soundtrack releases, you’ll notice a trend: they release one “OST” followed by a number of add-on soundtracks, mostly for DLC and to release some b-side music that didn’t fit on their official soundtrack. Take note: I hate this method of… Read More »

Editor’s note: Track 7’s title is a combination of the words Dragon and Egg, but without an official translation we have opted to leave it in its original French. French track translations were provided by Matthieu Marchione. Thanks, Matt! – Stephen Admittedly, DOFUS is not a game in which I am very familiar. In fact,… Read More »

This album, likely to be the final bit of (published) original music for Square Enix’s long-running MMORPG, picks up some of Naoshi Mizuta’s fantastic work in the late stages of the MMO’s life, and it also catalogs some forgotten music from a composer I miss dearly. The first disc is the FFXI “the rest” side.… Read More »

Taking the time-travel trip into the obscure reaches of the Megami Tensei franchise has been a great experience, and I owe it to SuperSweep for publishing these albums. The Game Boy soundtracks for Last Bible I (localized on GBC as “Revelations: The Demon Slayer”) and II are some of my personal favorites. Now, we have… Read More »

One of the few aspects of Sands of Destruction that developed any sort of reputation good or ill was its soundtrack. The dose of Mitsuda never saw a big OST release, however; all we got was this five track “Premium” tease. Unfortunately, just like the game, this selection of Sands’ music isn’t enough to warrant… Read More »

Though I’ve only played the first Disgaea, I think I can safely estimate the series’ tone as complex and utterly unique. An accompanying soundtrack, therefore, must be equally complex: amusing, playful, strange, morbid, and emotional. Thankfully, Tenpei Sato has composed an intricate soundtrack for Disgaea 4 infused with plenty of energy. The OST starts with… Read More »

I’ve experienced this soundtrack in so many different ways, and I’m still learning how to appreciate it. It doesn’t (often) come naturally. I first experienced this music in its original form by importing the soundtrack a decade ago. That same music, track for track, makes up the first two discs of this six disc set.… Read More »

Self-arranging is a tricky task, and one that I wouldn’t recommend most composers attempt. Most VGM arranged albums are found to be superior in the hands of an objective third party, or sometimes, a whole group of people. But when it’s been 20 years since you first wrote the music, revisiting your old scores is… Read More »

I’ll admit, I’ve been on a bit of a Persona 4 kick lately. Between the currently-airing anime, the upcoming fighting game, and the Playstation Vita port, it’s a great time to be a Persona fan. This brand new arrange album, Never More -Reincarnation: PERSONA4-, is the delicious cherry on top of a Shin Megami Tensei… Read More »

Any soundtrack for a product based on The Lord of the Rings doesn’t have much of a chance after Howard Shore’s tremendous score for Peter Jackson’s films. Comparisons can’t help but be made, even across media. Prolific composer Inon Zur took up the challenge of creating something equally fitting for Middle Earth. He only gets… Read More »

This bonus disc, presented as a special item to Japanese and North American purchasers of a boxed copy of the Innocent Sin PSP remake, has a smattering of offerings, none of which really sell the quality of the soundtrack. The first 3 tracks are “remix” side. On the six disc full OST, they can be… Read More »

Does Square Enix release a Final Fantasy IV soundtrack for every rerelease of the game? A question we best not consider here perhaps, but we can examine if this soundtrack is worth buying, particularly if you have all the others. For the FFIV fanatics (a legion if the numerous iterations of the game are any… Read More »

I was excited to listen to the Dissidia 012 soundtrack; not only is it a Final Fantasy work, but Takeharu Ishimoto composes all of the original pieces for the game and guides a team of arrangers to tackle tracks from games past. Though he is relatively new to being an official composer for Square Enix,… Read More »

Shinji Hosoe and sanodg (Nobuyoshi Sano) may not be household names among video game music aficionados, but their work as both composers and arrangers is pretty extensive. I first heard about these gentlemen in much the same way other RPG enthusiasts did: Hosoe through his music for Xenosaga II and Sano through his music for… Read More »

When I first saw the title “Unchain Blades Rexx,” I wasn’t sure what to make of it. It looked like a cheesy band name with every stupid emo or pseudo-punk cliché in it. I later learned that Unchain Blades Rexx is a dungeon-crawl RPG led by the staff from Lunar and Grandia. Given how good… Read More »

I’ve never been apprehensive about listening to a soundtrack before. With video game music in particular, I always relish the thought of reliving my time with a game through its music, so tied to memory as our ears are. What nightmare thoughts might surface while listening to the soundtrack of the indelible Dark Souls? Fortunately,… Read More »