Archives

Phantom of Inferno is a fantastic visual novel developed by Nitro Plus and localized by the late Hirameki Studios. It was initially released on the PC, but later received a console port. Quite a few exclusive music tracks were added to this console port, and they were a very cool addition. Those exclusive music tracks… Read More »

When I reviewed Gray Matter, I mentioned that the music, gameplay, and graphics came together to immerse the player in a big way, but I emphasized the role that the audio played in that immersion. Even out of the context of the game, this is beautiful, absorbing music that stands up on its own. Composed… Read More »

I’ll be completely candid—I’ve been apprehensive about this album since it was first announced. It seemed to be not only out-of-the-blue but also somewhat unnecessary and certainly not very timely. Probably most importantly, though, it was announced and released in a very short period of time, something that cannot be said about the still-unreleased Chrono… Read More »

The Xenogears original soundtrack is considered by many to be one of the great original RPG soundtracks. Yasunori Mitsuda succeeded in composing some truly memorable tracks and fans immediately began to dream of a possible orchestral arranged album. However, while many other RPGs ended up getting a fully orchestrated arrangement, fans of the Xenogears soundtrack… Read More »

Joe Hisaishi is known almost exclusively for his work in scoring the films of Hayao Miyazaki with Studio Ghibli. When game developer Level-5 announced their partnership with Ghibli for animation on the Professor Layton series, I wondered how long it would take before more “Ghibli resources” found their way into gaming. It wasn’t the first… Read More »

Criminal Girls is a double-whammy of goodness. So good it should be illegal. Seriously, almost all games like these would separate the products: sell the “OST” (disc 1) as one product, and the “character vocal collection” (disc 2) as another. Make more money, and frustrate consumers. Now that I think about it, this seems the… Read More »

Alright, let’s talk about Another Bible! Before publishing the third Last Bible soundtrack, which I’m sure will be a winner (it’s slated to be two discs!), the “Discovery” series from SuperSweep released a Game Boy soundtrack for what one might call a Gaiden-Gaiden. Another Bible is a spin-off of Last Bible, but it drops the… Read More »

Editor’s Note: “Where’s the review for Vol.1,” you ask? RPGFan only covers certain titles in the Akumajou Dracula (Castlevania) series, those with strong RPG elements like Symphony of the Night or the GBA/DS titles. None of the Castlevania titles represented on Vol.1 fit that criteria, but Vol.2 has over half its tracks coming from Castlevania… Read More »

Almost immediately after diving into and reviewing the soundtrack from the original Kingdom Hearts, I began listening to and considering the newest album in the series, which contains the original soundtracks from Birth by Sleep, 358/2 Days, and bonus tracks from Re:coded. Bonus tracks is an apt description, as there are only seven Re:coded tracks… Read More »

SuperSweep Records has begun a great new series of CD publications called the “Discovery” series. They dig up old game music that never had a soundtrack release, and release it. They’re starting with some totally forgotten titles in the MegaTen universe. “Last Bible” is a Gaiden series in the MegaTen world that would later bring… Read More »

SuperSweep Records has begun a great new series of CD publications called the “Discovery” series. They dig up old game music that never had a soundtrack release, and release it. They’re starting with some totally forgotten titles in the MegaTen universe. “Last Bible” is a Gaiden series in the MegaTen world that would later bring… Read More »

Bottom line (at the top): unnecessary for hardcore collectors, perfect introduction for newcomers. I actually don’t own this CD. I don’t need to own it. I confirmed with someone who does own it, and there were no bonus or hidden tracks. Nothing is new. It is a compilation in the most true sense of the… Read More »

Hailed as “the last PS2 RPG,” Flight Plan’s latest console outing for the Summon Night series is a follow up to Ex-These. Granthese will probably not come to America, but import soundtrack collectors should take note of the impressive two disc soundtrack. This music is jazzy, funky, and ultimately quite catchy. It’s incredible work on… Read More »

Shibuya is known as the fashion center of Japan. This fact inspired much of The World Ends With You (TWEWY), a game in which fashion trends impacted gameplay. Although some would disagree, TWEWY holds some of the best video game music ever recorded. Intuitively, fashion and music both seem to draw on artistic sensibilities; thus,… Read More »

Pop artist Aya Kamiki adds two fantastic songs to the 428 soundtrack, making this one of the hottest soundtracks I’ve heard to date. Composed by Aika Ohno and Hitoshi Okamoto, these songs have an engrossing beat with or without lyrics – Kamiki simply helps to perfect the sound. The first track may sound conventional by… Read More »

Admission of bias: whenever Japanese and Korean composers work together, I’m immediately intrigued. The tension and sense of competition between these countries, particularly in the realm of gaming and other media, has always bugged me. I’m much more interested in cooperation than in competition and the ego-trip that comes with it. That’s why I like… Read More »

It’s another letdown, but at least I knew what to expect this time. Square Enix decided to remake classic Game Boy titles SaGa 2 and 3 (known in the US as FF Legend 2 and 3) on Nintendo DS. I had extremely high hopes for the SaGa 2 DS soundtrack, but it was a true… Read More »

Earlier in 2010, Takashi Okamoto worked with Takeshi Abo on Summon Night Granthese. The people that left Flight Plan to create their own titles, Apollosoft, collaborated with NIS to create a new strategy RPG called Blue Roses. Okamoto followed that crew to work on Blue Roses, and he worked solo. Okamoto’s previous works with Flight… Read More »

I don’t think anyone who played the original Kingdom Hearts when it was first released could have imagined the massive proliferation of the series now, almost 12 million copies and a decade later. Equally hard to imagine was just how far the series would come, both in terms of its superbly convoluted narrative and in… Read More »

Kikuta is back. Again. The composer best-known for his work on Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2) disappeared from VGM for quite some time. He came back in 2007 with an album on his own “Nostrilia” label, featuring the music he wrote for Square Enix’s lesser-known MMORPG Concerto Gate. Since this album, though, we hadn’t… Read More »

Spin-offs of spin-offs … of spin-offs. Before I even touch this soundtrack, let’s review Falcom’s history. Falcom had a “Dragon Slayer” series, once upon a time. One of the off-shoots was Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes. This title spawned its own sequel, Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes II. Falcom then dropped the “Dragon… Read More »

If you’ve even heard of the Wii RPG Opoona, you know that it was met with little response beyond a yawn and maybe a thumbs-down. Its soundtrack, by the Basiscape sound team (Sakimoto, et al), was being hailed in some distant corners of the Internet as a gem. Yet, there was no soundtrack release. Gamerips… Read More »

With The 3rd Birthday’s soundtrack, Square Enix had the delicate task of connecting the game aurally to its predecessors while still forging ahead and creating something new. Much like the evolved gameplay and the “new” Aya Brea, the soundtrack had to evoke feelings of the old with new material. Thanks to a strong pedigree and… Read More »

The “Narikiri Dungeon” gaiden series that was spun off of the very first Tales game, Tales of Phantasia, has had long-running success in Japan on handheld platforms. The latest title, “Narikiri Dungeon X,” is the first to have its own retail soundtrack release. And while you may be thinking, “isn’t the chief soundtracks reviewer at… Read More »

PRESS START (noun) – A Japanese game music concert series. Something gaijin Japanophiles would probably love to see, if they even knew about it. Compare to PLAY!, Video Games Live, A Night in Fantasia, etc. These songs, for the 5th anniversary CD, are recordings from two different concerts (2008 and 2009). The album starts off… Read More »