Archives

Tengai Makyou (Far East of Eden in English) is probably one name in video games most Westerners aren’t familiar with. Unlike its sister series Sakura Taisen, it’s seen very little patronization from our domestic shores, perhaps due to being even more culturally foreign than its relative. A product of RED Company, TM has been a… Read More »

Editor’s note: track 6 of this album, while being essentially the same melody, is two different tracks depending on where you got the CD. The Amazon Japan preorders came with the track arranged by Takayuki Kobara. Elsewhere, a separate version of the CD came with track 6 arranged by Yuichi Hirose. Mitsuda’s been working on… Read More »

Note that the packaging lists the two discs as though they were one, so disc 2 tracks 1-21 appear on the packaging as tracks 25-45. Growlanser V ~Generations~ is the most recent in a lengthy series of RPGs from Atlus. With this release, the series is now as long as Langrisser, the previous series with… Read More »

Very few things have crossed cultural and merchandising lines quite as well as Pokémon. Whether this was due to great advertising on Nintendo’s part, the fact that it got such a huge initial flush of brand-related items, or just the fact that the game has an infectious charm is up for grabs. But whatever it… Read More »

If there is one composer out there that may be best described as a workaholic, it’s Motoi Sakuraba. The man produces music for so many games every year, and then he also manages to produce all sorts of arranged albums. In this case, Mr. Sakuraba’s second live album is a full concert devoted to Valkyrie… Read More »

Wild Arms is one of those RPG series that I have, unfortunately, never quite had the pleasure of participating in. I can’t really say it’s anyone’s fault other than my own, the general plotline for the games appeal to me. The music, composed as far as I know solely by Michiko Naruke, is brilliant. (You… Read More »

Knowing only the premise of Auto Assault (car combat in a post-apocalyptic wasteland a la Mad Max), I was not expecting much from this soundtrack. As it turns out, this industrial-rock-electronica-infused, orchestral soundtrack (with a dash of Middle-Eastern leanings) was a pleasant surprise. The album was arranged with a burst of flavor canvassing the total… Read More »

NIS America comes through again with a stellar preorder bonus soundtrack. The Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories “Best of” Soundtrack takes songs from the two disc Japanese OST and compiles it into one beautiful disc, and it hardly misses a beat. I rarely agree with a publisher’s notion of “Best of,” but in this case, I… Read More »

There comes a point when we videogame music collectors abandon reason and start to buy impulsively. I continue to follow the Growlanser series because of Urushibara’s awesome character designs, and out of hope that the music will somehow be as good as it once was when Iwadare did the score for the first game. The… Read More »

In my younger years, a random purchase (motivated by my need to unveil obscure Japanese aural artifacts of the last two decades) led me to discover Yasushi Miyagawa and his compositions for Startling Odyssey 2. The album was split into an arranged and original section. The arranged tracks were really the only thing that I… Read More »

Technosoft had published a number of arcade-friendly games before they called it quits, including the well-known ThunderForce series. However, they also dabbled into the realm of RPGs with their “Neorude” series. They self-published fifteen soundtracks during their time in business; the first ten are still relatively easy to find. Volumes 11 through 15 are so… Read More »

Technosoft had published a number of arcade-friendly games before they called it quits, including the well-known ThunderForce series. However, they also dabbled into the realm of RPGs with their “Neorude” series. They self-published fifteen soundtracks during their time in business; the first ten are still relatively easy to find. Volumes 11 through 15 are so… Read More »

Tokyopop released two albums in 2001 to complement Squaresoft’s release of Final Fantasy Chronicles for PlayStation. One of them was an “official” soundtrack for Final Fantasy IV. The other was this album. In terms of track selection, the album is almost entirely a replica of the Chrono Trigger OST released in 1999 for the PlayStation… Read More »

The long-awaited US release of Final Fantasy III comes in the form of a complete upgrade. The graphics are 3D, the gameplay includes DS-friendly control elements, the story is beefed up with real character development, and the music has been rearranged by by Tsuyoshi Sekito and Keiji Kawamori to complete the update on all fronts.… Read More »

The Front Mission series has had an unusual number of composer changes throughout its 12 year history. All of those games’ soundtracks have been diverse, while still sharing common elements. These elements are exactly those that set Front Mission music apart from the vast majority of strategy RPG music. Most apparently, all of the games… Read More »

Note: this album was one of the few printed in the US as a “for sale” item. Most US-released albums are preorder bonuses and otherwise promotional items. Keep that in mind. When .hack// hit the American audience, there was an initial craze for solid content. Though the response was delayed, in 2004 Geneon Entertainment published… Read More »

The original .hack// series left many gamers feeling unsatisfied. The four titles all took place in the same world, with no change to graphics, or (relevant to this review), sound. Other than the opening and ending tracks, most of the music was shared among the four games. While I am not certain that .hack//G.U. will… Read More »

The Ar tonelico hymmnos musical was and is probably the biggest letdown of the year for me. I knew it was going to have drama tracks on it, based on the credits posted before the album’s release. But…it basically is a drama album. When you go see a musical, there are generally two things in… Read More »

After the sterling presentation provided us by the original Potion: Relaxin’ With Final Fantasy, I truly did not expect a sequel. It seemed to be one of those one-shot deals, a collection of timeless works in one package. You can imagine my surprise, then, when I noticed the sequel, Potion 2, while I was walking… Read More »

I got into RPGs a long time ago playing Final Fantasy II (Final Fantasy IV) back on the Super Nintendo. For its time, I found the story and characters to be very engaging with simple, yet addictive gameplay. This was also the game that got me into RPG music. Even during the time when audio… Read More »

Despite my love of Tactical RPGs, I’ve never really ploughed into the genre with much gusto, and have never played Yggdra Union. This made it difficult to consider the soundtrack in the same way as a player, who would no doubt recognise tracks left, right and centre. Considering the soundtrack in relation to other work… Read More »

Motoi Sakuraba seems to think that if he keeps publishing enough content, the day will come that RPGFan can’t keep up with reviewing all his work. If he thinks he’ll win that battle, he’s dead wrong. Released less than a month after four discs worth of OST material, the Valkyrie Profile 2 -Silmeria- Arrange Album… Read More »

The Valkyrie Profile -Silmeria- OST was split into two soundtracks. The first of the two is titled Volume 1: Alicia Side. Composed by Motoi Sakuraba, it combines a full orchestra with a familiar progressive rock front on some of the more “action” based tracks. Two CDs long, the album starts off with Overture to the… Read More »

The second half of the Valkyrie Profile -Silmeria- Soundtracks, Silmeria side is another two CD compilation containing all the songs that didn’t make it into Alicia Side. If you’re reading this, that means you have most likely read part one already. Since no introduction is really needed, let’s go straight into the music. CD 1… Read More »

Probably the most unique arrangement concept in VGM history, the “voice mix” albums take clips from in-game dialogue and randomly throw them into some arranged music tracks. Sakuraba’s done this with the first Valkyrie Profile, as well as the third Star Ocean title. I highly enjoyed both of those voice mix albums and expected to… Read More »