Archives

This is the vocal album corresponding to the Himiko-den ~Renge~ OST. It contains eight vocal tracks and one instrumental. The eight tracks are broken up as the extended opening, extended ending, and six character tracks. The opening and ending tracks incorporate all six female characters, so the album is very reminiscent of, say, the Sakura… Read More »

Himiko-den was thrust onto the Japanese market almost simultaneously as an anime and a PlayStation RPG. The title spawned no sequels, spin-offs, or anything of the like. It was a once and done deal for this franchise, partially developed by Red. What we have here is the almost unheard-of OST to the game, composed by… Read More »

This Mega CD RPG from Yuzo Takada’s anime 3×3 (Sazan) Eyes had a soundtrack release in 1993. The game, “Holy Demon Legend 3×3 Eyes” (Seima Densetsu 3×3 Eyes) later had its storyline turned into a three-part OAV in 1995, so while the game is a spin-off of the anime, the game itself spawned even more… Read More »

Clamp’s classic manga and anime series, Magic Knight Rayearth, had two RPGs released in its wake. One was for Super Famicom, and the other was for Sega Saturn. The latter was released in the US by Working Designs, and it also had a Japanese soundtrack release. This review exists to consider the Saturn game’s soundtrack.… Read More »

Now and then, Gust takes a break from developing titles for their long-running Atelier series to try something a little different. Most recently, we saw this happen in their joint project with Banpresto, “Ar tonelico.” In 2003, well before Atelier Iris, Gust developed and published “Taishou Mononoke Ibunroku.” The game’s title hints at the genre… Read More »

Twelve ~Sengoku Fuushinden~ (Legendary War of the Sealed God) was released on the PSP from Konami in 2005. It’s definitely on of their games that fell beneath the radar, and it had no chance of being released in the US. But, it’s an RPG, and it’s got music, and Konami’s behind it (with support from… Read More »

After Uematsu’s stellar career working with Square, composing the soundtracks to every Final Fantasy (until XII, where Sakimoto took charge), the veteran VGM writer went freelance, creating the Smile Please studio, and working with his long-time friend Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of the Final Fantasy series) on music for games developed by Mistwalker. The first of… Read More »

Prior to the release of the massive Seiken Densetsu 4 (Dawn of Mana) OST, there was a small promotional CD released alongside the PS2 game. It provided five songs from the game, all which are Kenji Ito’s work. In my opinion, his work is what made the OST great, so this showcases the OST’s strength.… Read More »

The Seiken Densetsu series (known as the Mana series in the US) has been going through hard times. None of the games after Seiken Densetsu 2 (Secret of Mana) and Seiken Densetsu 3 (never released here) on the SNES managed to capture the magic of previous games. The developers reinvented the wheel too many times,… Read More »

Before the game Tales of the Abyss was even released in Japan, a single was released. The band, Bump of Chicken, is a well-known J-Rock group who has stepped into gaming territory. The band’s leader, Motoo Fujiwara, did a few songs for the game, and his band did the opening song “Karma.” As a bonus,… Read More »

I was very much looking forward to reviewing Tales of the Abyss even before playing the game itself. This is, as far as I know, the first soundtrack Motoi Sakuraba has done using entirely streamed audio. As an album, it also follows his recent leaning towards tracks with a higher quality of instrumentation, and his… Read More »

I hold the feeling – and I am not alone on this – that Wild Arms soundtracks succeed or fail with their games, and as this remix album contains tracks from all quarters of the Wild Arms series I was initially hesitant about what to expect from this album. Still, I had very much enjoyed… Read More »

I’ve been following the music for the .hack// series since its inception. It started out pretty good, and then it got better. Now, it’s reached a point I didn’t think possible. I know it’s early to say this, but the .hack//G.U. Game Music O.S.T.2 is already in the running for “soundtrack of 2007.” Feel free… Read More »

Blue Almanac was an RPG released in Japan on the Mega Drive (Sega Genesis) in 1991. This 15-track arranged album is the only soundtrack of which we can speak for this game. The interplanetary fantasy adventure may have been something of a Phantasy Star knock-off, but that doesn’t mean the music was in any way… Read More »

I don’t know how I got suckered into marrying a man whose primary hobby is listening to videogame music…but I did, and as a result, I am regularly listening to the stuff. I was recently browsing through the old collection when I chanced upon a name that I thought was pretty, so I decided to… Read More »

As Patrick’s wife, I’ve learned that a few situations will almost always make Patrick a happier man: playing with our son, makin’ a home-cooked meal, engaging in conversation, and listening to videogame music. I’ve embraced this part of life, but when it comes to the videogame music, I do so with hesitation. After all, I… Read More »

“Ring of Red” tells the alternate history of WWII, where Japan is split into a communist North and capitalist South. The game itself takes place in 1964, after Japan goes through much conflict using the new technology of the “Armored Fighter Walker” (oh boy, more giant mechs). The game was released at the dawn of… Read More »

Blue Dragon‘s new boss battle theme “Eternity” came in the form of a pretty unlikely alliance: Nobuo Uematsu (the Final Fantasy guy) and Ian Gillian (the vocalist of the band Deep Purple). When the song first got out (in a trailer from Tokyo Game Show), people were saying “hey, that sounds like Deep Purple.” They… Read More »

Ayako Kawasumi contributed her vocal talent to three songs on Uematsu’s “Blue Dragon” OST. All three of those songs came, in full form, on this single. “My Tears and the Sky” (or, if you prefer, “Watashi no Mizu to Sora”), is the game’s primary vocal theme, one that was saved for the ending (even though… Read More »

Jeremy Soule is lauded as the videogame composer of the United States. His works are the most critically acclaimed, and many people agree that his work is on par (perhaps above par) to some of the better film scores out there. Though I only dabbled with Morrowind, the third of Bethesda’s “Elder Scrolls” series, I… Read More »

Prior to the release of the game’s original soundtrack, a small album entitled “Save This World: Phantasy Star Universe original score” was released. This album consists of orchestral pieces from the game, excluding the opening and ending songs. Some of the songs are remixes turned orchestral, giving some freshness to the song. The way most… Read More »

Phantasy Star Universe is the true successor to Sega’s Phantasy Star Online. Neither game has a lot of content compared to a lot of other small MMORPGs, nor did they live up to the name of the original four games; but PSU has gotten and cult following, and the game is quite enjoyable if you… Read More »

Note: This is the import version of the promotional CD. Gamestop (and other North American retailers) had been giving away this CD as well, but it included no artbook. This promotional album is for those who had pre-ordered Phantasy Star Universe (PSU) in Japan back in the summer of ’06. It also came with a… Read More »

If you’re a regular reader at RPGFan, there are three things that you have probably figured out by now: 1) I really like Gust (developers of the Atelier series and, of course, Ar tonelico); 2) we at RPGFan keep tabs on virtually every NIS America release; 3) NIS America almost always prints a bonus soundtrack… Read More »

A spiritual successor to Super Robot Taisen IMPACT, MX was released a year after Alpha 2 and a year before Alpha 3. It served to bridge the gap between the two titles for the year, and it managed to be a rather successful title in its own right. …Particularly, its soundtrack was incredibly impressive. Most… Read More »