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While the Shin Megami Tensei series can be pretty diverse, including in its music and its gameplay, their similarities are more obvious than their differences. They all share the demons that you fight alongside and against, the apocalyptic and sometimes post-apocalyptic storylines, not to mention the guy behind the music for the last decade –… Read More »

When Persona 3 first came out in 2007 in North America, it seemed that its music got very mixed reviews and reactions. Possibly those of us who play a lot of JRPGs are more used to often slower, more dramatic pieces instead of the upbeat, modern, sometimes almost-hip-hop tracks that you get in P3. I… Read More »

For 20 years, Ys I&II have undergone countless musical remakes that there is no other series (that I can think of) that does it as much. They’re definitely classics in their own right, but it’s all too familiar no matter how much gets tweaked. Regardless, Falcom continues this remake trend, and no one complains. Ys… Read More »

This is a sample CD of music that came as a preorder bonus with Ys SEVEN for PSP. It covers music from Ys 1 through Ys 7 (including Ys Origin, the Felghana remake of Ys III, and multiple remakes of Ys I and II). The CD serves as a great reminder of two things: first,… Read More »

Note: the mis-spelling of Opening (Openning) in the tracklist is the mistake of the publisher (Team Entertainment), not RPGFan. After two less-than-memorable scores for the two PSP games in the new RPG series “Valhalla Knights,” the developers contacted veteran Motoi Sakuraba to score the Wii installment “Eldar Saga.” Was it more of the same prog-rock… Read More »

How many of you remember the Valhalla Knights RPGs for PSP? Well, I don’t remember them much either. They weren’t terrible games, but they were not very memorable either. The same could be said for this promotional CD featuring music from both Valhalla Knights games. The music is decent and has all the right elements… Read More »

So I pop this album into the CD tray on my computer, with no prior knowledge of the music. All I knew of ahead of time were those old SMT GBA titles (released as “DemiKids” in the US), and that the CD is long out of print (First Smile is dead). I later learned that… Read More »

Although I have not sampled much of Shoji Meguro‘s work, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2 – Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon instills a sense of curiosity in me. Meguro’s love of rock and horns may seem like an odd combination for a single disc soundtrack, but when put into practice, his work carries a… Read More »

The Devil Children “Perfect Sound Tracks” is essentially an OST, though it includes two vocal tracks and the synth manipulation on the tracks sound of a slightly higher quality than the way they sound coming from a Game Boy. Note that this soundtrack is not representative of the 2002/2003 GBA Devil Children games, which were… Read More »

Shin Megami Tensei NINE is probably Atlus’ single greatest failure in the SMT franchise history (unless you count Virtual Boy’s Jack Bros.). NINE was originally planned to be an MMORPG. With years of development and no progress to show for it, Atlus released NINE in Japan only on the Xbox, a console with notoriously poor… Read More »

How long has it been since we got a completely original Ys game and soundtrack? Within the six years between Ark of Napishtim and Ys SEVEN, we received a remake of Ys III (Oath in Felghana), two remakes of Ys I&II, and a prequel (Ys Origin) that borrowed many musical elements from the first two… Read More »

In the Pokémon HeartGold & SoulSilver soundtrack, we find a couple of diamonds (and pearls) in the rough. Seriously, when they named this album “Music Super Complete,” they weren’t kidding. Every single melodic theme, and all its many variations, found a way onto this soundtrack. The average (mean and median) track time is under 50… Read More »

Apparently, chiptunes are what you need as the defining mark of intentionally “retro” gaming. From Software’s new game, 3D Dot Game Heroes, re-imagines the pixelated 8-bit world we love by taking it fully 3D… but keeping the idea of the “pixel” intact. Everyone and everything in this world looks like the blocky, pixelated worlds of… Read More »

So here it is, the theme song single for Final Fantasy XIII. Or, at least, the Japanese version of it (Leona Lewis is doing a new English theme song called “My Hands”). And what can I say? After listening to Sayuri Sugawara‘s “Because You’re Here,” I’m underwhelmed. Don’t get me wrong. The song is good,… Read More »

I should preface my review by stating that I have not played Infinite Undiscovery, but the soundtrack makes me wish that I had. Yet more incentive to purchase an Xbox 360. Although many reviews of Infinite Undiscovery vary in their recommendation of the game, I can assure you that the soundtrack is sure to not… Read More »

After playing Borderlands, I was hard pressed to remember more than two or three of the game’s music tracks. After starting up the OST for a listen, however, I began to think I had been mistaken in writing off the soundtrack as forgettable. That’s because the first few tracks are actually decent. The rest? Forgettable,… Read More »

Unless we are quick enough to forget that Japan has come up with such quirky RPG hybrids as the “racing RPG” (Racing Lagoon) and the “soccer RPG” (Inazuma Eleven), we won’t be surprised at the existence of Dun-Dam, a DS title labeled in all Japanese ads as a “Dam Management RPG.” I always wanted to… Read More »

Intentionally retro soundtrack, from Naoshi Mizuta? Sign me up! Final Fantasy Gaiden DS, the 4 Warriors of Light, (later localized as Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light) features a blend of today’s MIDI-synth mixed with emulated NES and Game Boy chiptunes. Yeah… that’s right, sometimes it sounds like you’re playing a Game Boy game.… Read More »

License to Doujin received. It’s time for a bunch of remixers with clever monikers to take on classic Squaresoft music. If you really know your Square music history, you’ll know that there have been approximately four albums to attempt this same sort of style. First was Final Fantasy Mix, which had unreleased tracks and fan/artist-based… Read More »

If you are anything like me, when the trailer for White Knight Chronicles surfaced, you were instantly intrigued. Besides the visuals, which provoked the possibility that this may well be that big next gen RPG that PS3 owners have been waiting for, it also featured a track that instantly just drew you in. This track… Read More »

Ah, Lunar. RPGFan’s first namesake. Noriyuki Iwadare’s brilliant, flowery masterpiece. How can I not be excited about a new version of the soundtrack? Lunar: Harmony of Silver Star (Silver Star Harmony in North America) is a remake of Silver Star Story, which was a remake of Lunar: The Silver Star. The first Lunar has been… Read More »

Kai, how do you do it, man? The ex-composer for Piranha Bytes (he very recently went freelance) worked on the Gothic series, as well as the new Action RPG “Risen” for PC and Xbox 360. The soundtrack was included as a bonus with the game. And yes, in case you were wondering, it is as… Read More »

Kenji Kaneko level-up! I’ve been following Kaneko’s work with Idea Factory for some time now. And it seems he’s slowly but surely getting better. I said as much in my review of the “Record of Agarest War” OST review. Between that, Cross Edge, and now Trinity Universe, it seems Kaneko is looking to increase his… Read More »

Sakura Note is a new DS RPG, with music by Final Fantasy veteran Nobuo Uematsu. Every time a new project from Uematsu crops up, the community seems either hopeful or nervous. Will this project be another flop? Will it be “average?” Or might it actually meet and surpass our expectations? After a few listens, here’s… Read More »

A Witch’s Tale is a turn-based DS RPG from Hitmaker and NIS. This charming, if flawed, RPG looks and sounds like a Halloween episode of any given cartoon. The music certainly complements the game’s vibe, but listening to this soundtrack outside the context of the game feels like having eaten too much candy corn after… Read More »