Archives

I am posting this review for purely informational purposes. Reviews for all three of these albums have been posted separately under their respective titles. One’s under “Falcom,” one’s under “Sorcerian,” and one’s under “Ys.” A quick overview: ten years before this CD was printed, three “maxi-single” albums were printed. A maxi-single is an 8cm disc… Read More »

As a promotional item for their second installment of the series, Namco allowed Brady to release an 11 selection CD with tracks from Xenosaga Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse along with their strategy guide. While it excludes the tracks written by Shinji Hosoe, which is most of the in-game music, the themes of… Read More »

So, the limited edition of Disgaea 2 came with a full 2-disc OST. Apparently, preordering the item may have also gotten you this special little disc. What is it? My best guess is that it’s a bunch of outtakes from the first Disgaea arranged album. Why do I say that? The original Disgaea arranged album… Read More »

Released exactly three years after the first Disgaea arranged album, Disgaea 2 comes to us as one of Tenpei Sato’s strongest works to date, in composition, arrangement, and production value. I say this as no stranger to Sato’s works. I’ve heard many of his lesser-known works from the previous decade, and I’m certainly aware of… Read More »

As a rabid fan of the first Disgaea, Let me say this at the start of the review. The music for Disgaea 2 is a step up from the music for Disgaea. Tenpei Sato’s work continues to impress. Remixes of themes such as “Is It Admiration for Overlord Laharl?” (an 8-bit version of the classic… Read More »

I’ve been importing videogame soundtracks for a long time now. It’s getting close to a decade. In this time, I’ve seen some companies really drop the ball on soundtrack releases. Sometimes we get an incomplete soundtrack. Sometimes the arrangements or horrible. Sometimes they release a boring soundtrack to a boring game. But, the most shameful… Read More »

Most of you have never heard of the game Hundred Swords, and probably for good reason. While it did make an appearance on these shores, it was PC only and not well publicized at all. It also didn’t have much in the fun department, being a rather awkward strategy title. Well, like damn near every… Read More »

Featuring a tempo reminiscent of games like Skies of Arcadia and Star Ocean: The Second Story, Rogue Galaxy’s soundtrack may come across to some as an inspired, familiar sound, to others as a fresh note of high adventure. The OST features 61 tracks, including an arrange of the game’s vocal ending track, “Dreaming My Way… Read More »

Talk about a change. While I enjoyed the Rogue Galaxy Original Soundtrack, the Premium Arrange adds so much to an already fantastic aural setup, I’m not sure where to begin. Let’s start with the contribution by Yasunori Mitsuda, an arrange of the “Theme of Rogue Galaxy”. Where the original was a choral piece that inspired… Read More »

Dreamfall was the hotly anticipated sequel to The Longest Journey. Its amazing story lived up to and possibly exceeded its predecessor, which is no small feat. However, the clunky gameplay left the over all experience somewhat lackluster. The soundtrack, unfortunately, is also just as bad as its predecessor’s soundtrack and in some cases even worse.… Read More »

The Longest Journey is a fantastic graphic adventure game I enjoyed immensely. However, for all my enjoyment of the game, I found the music often sparse, and rather forgettable. It was mostly just short orchestrally styled tracks that appeared once in a while to add atmosphere. Nothing really wowed me about the music. I don’t… Read More »

Remember 11 is the third in KID’s digital novel series Infinity. Infinity started with Never 7, a love-adventure with one of the deepest plots in the genre. The plot was not only filled with summer romance on the beach, but also dealt quite a bit with philosophy, tragedy, and premonition. As expected, philosophy, morality, tragedy,… Read More »

The Remember 11 vocal collection consists of various songs with vocals about or inspired by the game. The first thing that grabbed me was the cover art. The character designs displayed are excellent and distinct from those of prior Infinity games. I notice earthier colors used in the characters than in prior games. This is… Read More »

Released on PlayStation 2 between Episode I and Episode II of Xenosaga, Xenosaga Freaks included a “Xenosaga Database,” a bonus puzzle game XenoPittan (a knock-off of Namco’s own word-game “Moji Pittan”), and a playable demo of Xenosaga Episode II. The PS2 title was thought of less as a game and more as an interactive fanbook.… Read More »

Shoji Meguro is an artist that resonates with a great many people these days. Starting off as a total unknown to me, I only heard about him first through Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne, and then later heard music written and done by him for Digital Devil Saga 2. Meguro’s style is different from what… Read More »

Soul Hackers, one of the finest musical moments of Atlus, gets arranged in the Hyper Rearrange album. I’ll just get this over with and say, while it is a fun and unique album, it’s not what I was hoping for. SH had wonderful music that was crying out for a live performance, or even just… Read More »

Around 1998, Atlus unleashed something. Something sleek, something stylish, something very cool and cutting edge. This was Soul Hackers, which made its way from Saturn to PSX, and climbing the charts along the way. This is the game that Atlus wanted to bring to you in English, but Sony of America would not allow. While… Read More »

Devil Summoner is one of my favorite things…modern, stylish and dark, and full of awesome music. This promotional CD was released along with the latest Devil Summoner game (Kuzunoha Raidou), and has some very nice arranged and remixed songs from all three titles…done by Meguro. While some may say his work on the Raidou soundtrack… Read More »

The Shin Megami Tensei (SMT) franchise has a rather far-reaching grasp in Japan, with plenty of side-stories and spin-off branches to add to the mix. To my knowledge, the first title to reach US shores was the first Persona. Since then, Atlus has brought the Devil Children games, SMT 3: Nocturne, and the two (incredibly… Read More »

The Persona series, for those of you not “in the know” is a spinoff of Atlus’ popular Shin Megami Tensei series. Much like the rest of the SMT series, Persona features characters who encounter demons and the occult. Unlike the rest of the series, however, the Persona titles all tend to be story/place linked and… Read More »

This soundtrack review’s going to be a bit different from how I normally tackle reviews, as I’m going to cover the second disc before the first, specifically because the first disc is the arranged version. So, to begin with, the Shin Megami Tensei series has long been a pillar of mature-themed, occult RPGs in Japan.… Read More »

Those devoted Japanese Atelier fans who paid for the limited edition of Atelier Iris Grand Fantasm were treated to a number of bonus items. One of them was this strange little soundtrack. At the moment, most within the “VGM community” are not even sure what these songs are from. Are they featured in Grand Fantasm?… Read More »

Dreamfall – The Longest Journey EP features 4 songs by the group Magnet (a group that Funcom’s press release touts for having songs on TV shows such as “The O.C.”). The songs feature interesting, atmospheric instrumentation influenced by wide varieties of world music. The parts are all layered very well with plenty of space so… Read More »

Lately, Sega has been printing limited releases of their soundtracks for certain titles, especially those within the “Shining” mega-series. The Shining Tears OST was printed through “SegaDirect,” and is thus a difficult item to acquire. Before that was printed, however, King Records released the opening and ending theme, performed by Soichiro Hoshi. I like the… Read More »

My husband has made me listen to countless videogame soundtracks ever since we started dating. Some of them have given me terrible headaches. Others, however, have come to grow on me. I admit that I don’t care for much of anything that is synthesized through a sound chip; I prefer live instruments. One day, while… Read More »