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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 »

Xenosaga Episode III is the series’ conclusion, and therefore the conclusion of a musical legacy reaching from Mitsuda’s Xenogears and Xenosaga scores, to the most recent two, which only had partial soundtrack releases, both by Yuki Kajiura. Three things, then, are brought up: how does this Xenosaga’s music compare to the last one, how is… Read More »

Falcom’s MIDI Collection series was a special little bonus that Japanese fans had the chance to purchase… a long time ago. Not technically for sale in stores, these special albums included both data (MIDI files, images, etc) and arranged CD audio tracks. This review, of course, deals with the latter. The Brandish MIDI Collection is,… Read More »

Alright, pop-quiz time: who here knew there were more Brandish games than Brandish 1? Anybody? Did anyone ever fathom that the series not only had more than one entry, but in fact had FOUR entries? Am I the only one struck somewhat odd by this knowledge? Sorry, just a personal opinion, but I’ve always thought… Read More »

I spent many a year avoiding Brandish music, even in the midst of my Falcom music obsession. Falcom had seen much success with Ys, and series favorites such as Sorcerian and Legend of Heroes also hogged much of the spotlight. Considering the relative obscurity of the Brandish series, I didn’t want my impression of Falcom… Read More »

Running in a similar vein as Final Fantasy X-2 and Tales of Destiny 2, LoH VI “SC” (Second Chapter) continues as a direct sequel to LoH VI. Its vocal theme, “Gin no Ishi Kin no Tsubasa” (Silver Will, Golden Wings) is an arranged vocal version of a popular theme originally written for the First Chapter,… Read More »

It took me awhile to get over how much I didn’t like this promotional album (released with the PC title Xanadu NEXT as a bonus) so that I could write this review. Every time I sat down to write it, I remembered, “oh wait, it sucked.” Oh God, did it suck. The only good songs… Read More »

A few years ago, the Tear Ring Saga soundtrack was released quietly and without fanfare. I picked it up from a fellow reviewer and friend (that would be Ramza) when he sold it one day, and found myself enjoying it immensely. I would agree with his review; perhaps I would praise it even more. While… Read More »

Included in the limited release of the import PS2 title, Berwick Saga Orchestrations is housed in a nice DVD-size case with a classy, marbleized look. Though at first glance, it appears to be perhaps an arranged CD, the unfortunate news is that it is not. Most of the tracks are lifted directly from the OST,… Read More »