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2007 has been a very busy year for Basiscape. Hitoshi Sakimoto alone has scored parts of at least five games and his first anime, and the other members have come and gone as well, sometimes with and sometimes without the company’s founder. The score for Vanillaware’s Action RPG Odin Sphere called upon five of the… Read More »

Note: The limited edition version, with DVD and a number of other promotional items included, cost three times as much as the CD-only version. Its DVD included FMV sequences from nearly every title in the Tales series. Over the years, singles from many Tales openings/endings were released, done by many J-Pop groups. On July 4,… Read More »

“Yume de Aru you ni” (To Be a Dream) is used for the opening to Tales of Destiny in Japan, though Namco omitted the song in the domestic release. The song is by J-Pop artist DEEN, and this single includes the B-Side song, “Umi no Mieru Machi ~Indigo Days~.” As usual with most of these… Read More »

Tales of Destiny was one of my personal favorite RPGs of the Playstation One era. It was a rollicking adventure with likeable characters, loads of charm, fun fast-paced gameplay, and a soundtrack with potential. When I heard the music in the game, I liked the often fast-paced compositions that matched the never-gets-boring pace of the… Read More »

Tales of Rebirth is an installment that was never brought over to US shores, for whatever reason. Their opening theme is “good night” which is a song by J-Pop band, every little thing (ELT). The single also includes their other song, “Koibumi” (love letter), and karaoke versions of both of the songs. They’re solid songs,… Read More »

In Japan, “Starry Heavens” was used as the opening theme for Tales of Symphonia. It was done by the J-Pop band, day after tomorrow. Like other Japanese songs, Namco replaced it in the US with a completely different song. In addition to “Starry Heavens,” their other songs, “Never land” and “These Days,” are included in… Read More »

With the release of Namco’s Tales of the Tempest for the DS, Namco used misono’s single, “Lovely Cat’s Eye,” as an “image” song associated with the game and commercials for it. The single was released five days after the game’s release. With the single, another of her works, “Tomorrow” is also included. I have mixed… Read More »

With the release of Tales of the Tempest for the Nintendo DS, the game uses a song from J-Pop star misono (lead vocalist of the former band DAY AFTER TOMORROW). Her first single, “VS,” was used as the opening song. Along with “VS,” her other work, “Glass no Kutsu” (Glass Shoes) is included along with… Read More »

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology is a game where it seemed a lot of effort was put into one aspect while the other aspects fell short. The battle system in the game is brilliant and the visuals are generally good. But that’s about it. The storyline is a weak, throwaway plot. And the music?… Read More »

A word of caution: this ain’t the Wizardry of yester-year. BUSIN‘s soundtrack is totally different from all previous Wizardry scores. Not better, not worse, but certainly different. Okay, well … maybe a little worse. Instead of the usual neo-romantic orchestra pieces we’re used to, this Wizardry title uses sequenced, synthesized instruments and loops to create… Read More »

BUSIN Ø continues in the musical tradition of BUSIN, in that it sounds nothing like the classical works of Ikuro Fujiwara or Kentaro Haneda. It’s a new breed of Wizardry, truly an “Alternative” style. Like BUSIN, BUSIN Ø goes the route of synth. But there is no pretense this time. They’re not even trying to… Read More »

One of the few PlayStation era Wizardry titles to receive a soundtrack was DIMGUIL. Like many a Wizardry title, this game never reached the US. It’s a shame, because the music was decent, regardless of the game’s quality (i.e. – I have no idea if this game was any good). What makes this album good?… Read More »

Perhaps I should begin by saying I’ve never played a Wizardry title in my whole life. I felt slightly daunted by the task of reviewing this disc. Ask me anything about Falcom or Konami and I can tell you; but I know very little about the this series, its creators or anything surrounding it. However,… Read More »

Angel’s Present, third game in the Marl’s Kingdom series was, in many ways, more of the same. More cutesy characters from NIS, and more cheesy, lovable music from Tenpei Sato. But this time around, Sato’s musical style showed a bit of maturity. Now when I say that, I don’t mean that the cutesy-girl vocals are… Read More »

Phantom Brave was NIS America’s first release, once they had established themselves as an entity apart from Atlus. And from the start, they were releasing bonus soundtracks. In this case, the “bonus” is an amalgam the Japanese OST and arranged album. Despite the number of tracks being the same as the Japanese arranged album, the… Read More »

Riglord Saga is one of the Sega Saturn’s earliest RPGs. Released in the US originally as “Blazing Heroes,” then quickly reissued with a new name (Mystaria: The Realms of Lore), the game didn’t exactly make big waves on either side of the Pacific. But there were a few memorable things about the game. For example,… Read More »

Riglord Saga’s lesser-known sequel came one year after the original, on the same console (Sega Saturn). But this time around, the game’s music was put together by a different group of people. And, I hate to say it, but I wish the original composer had stayed around. Like nearly any Saturn game, the sound quality… Read More »

Tea Society of a Witch (Majyo no Otya Kai) is a love adventure by Front Wing that was published for US audiences by Hirameki. The game is very much a guilty pleasure game for me. It’s extremely silly, very fanservicey (often strangely so), super cartoony, and can sometimes get teeth rottingly cute. Normally, a game… Read More »

“abingdon boys school” is a band that seamlessly blends hard rock with pop-punk, and these two songs demonstrate their diversity. The first is the title track for the single, which is featured in the end credits of the game “Folklore” (FolksSoul in Japan). The latter, a simple b-side, is a surprisingly good track that deserves… Read More »

Released in the US simply as “Folklore,” Game Republic’s action/adventure/RPG “FolksSoul ~The Lost Folklore~” was one of the earliest PS3 RPG releases. The game’s creative team was impressive; this includes its sound team. The composers come from a variety of backgrounds. Kenji Kawai, who handled much of the soundtrack (including the “main themes”) has written… Read More »

J-Pop trio “Mi” performed the opening and ending themes for Shining Force EXA. The songs were released, along with some B-sides, on this single. The first track, “World’s Love” … what can I say? I like it; it’s got good energy and a classic rock beat. Some may complain that it’s a little too typical… Read More »

Motoi Sakuraba comes and goes; at least on my playlist. He can send you into beautiful, enigmatic fantasy worlds, or he can just grate your ears with repetitive drum/bass work. It’s been standard for me in the last four years, whenever I write about a Sakuraba album, to warn readers that I have a love/hate… Read More »

Shining Tears is one of the several games in the Shining series that went the action RPG route. Like many of the Action RPG installments, the reception of Shining Tears is mixed. The game did feature some cool characters and an interesting art style on the environments, but it’s a slow and clunky A-RPG in… Read More »

When people who know him hear the name Shiro Sagisu, they probably think Anime Composer, and they’d be right. Shiro Sagisu is responsible for composing the music to some really great anime, including Neon Genesis Evangelion, Kimagure Orange Road, and Kareshi Kanojo no Jijo. His scores are an incorporation of modern orchestral in innovative ways.… Read More »

Following up on the 2D-based Action RPG “Shining Tears,” the 2007 title “Shining Wind” again features music from Kaoru Okada. The soundtrack only features one disc’s worth of music; the good news is that it was a pleasant surprise through and through. The opening song, written by VGM newcomer Noriyasu Agematsu (composer-contributor to recent Wild… Read More »