Archives

Langrisser II holds a special place in my heart. Growing up, I had a neighbor who was deeply obsessed with the Sega Genesis title Warsong (Langrisser I, the only one of the series to come to America). He loved the game so much that he managed to secure an import of Langrisser II. This game… Read More »

Originally released in 1993, reprinted (with two other Ogre albums) in 2000, All Sounds of Ogre Battle is a double-treatment to the 23 songs that comprise the original soundtrack to the Super Famicom title, Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen. Much like many future releases from Sakimoto and crew, we are given the… Read More »

“Perhaps the only thing born from one conflict is yet another conflict. Those who are fools will continue to fight.” Welcome to the Ogre Battle Image Album: The Entrance. Like the Final Fantasy III arranged album or the “Symphonic Fantasy White Witch,” this album opens with an English narrator telling the story of Ogre Battle… Read More »

The Nintendo 64 sound chip became obsolete quickly compared to the quality of sound in PlayStation games, because of the limited space in a cartridge. It basically has the sound of a slightly updated MIDI processor. However, despite this, some games on the system were able to either surpass the sound chip’s normal capabilities, or… Read More »

There’s something special about soundtracks from the era of the Super Nintendo. In the much earlier days of video games, compositions had to be both catchy and resilient in order to hold up to the sometimes ear-splitting tune produced by the primitive sound chips available to composers. In recent times, compositions have been able to… Read More »

One of the many things Falcom absolutely loves to produce is an album containing MIDI arrangements of their generally stellar material. They do this with just about every game they’ve made, so it shouldn’t be of much surprise that they made one (or rather two, as far as I know) for the acclaimed Legend of… Read More »

You always feel a little guilty when you review an album to a game you’ve never played. Oh sure, you can do it, but you still get that feeling in the gut that you aren’t doing the soundtrack true justice. It’s always that the arrangement is a little off, or the balance is wrong, or… Read More »

Let’s make this short, because speaking at length about this album would be too painful. The year was 1996, and VGM was progressing steadily: as a market, as a genre, and in terms of technology. Yet somehow, one company had begun to struggle to keep up. While synth was sounding great for early PS1 games… Read More »

After a number of false starts, Falcom finally gets it right. This print of the Legend of Heroes IV OST is the third “complete” soundtrack for the game, and was released in the “Falcom Millenium Series” alongside the Ys Eternal OST. This version of the soundtrack accompanied the re-made PC and PlayStation versions of LoH… Read More »

The PlayStation 2 version of Phantom of Inferno came out well after the original DVD and PC formats and it was blessed with its own soundtrack. This soundtrack is pretty much the same as the DVD original Sound Track, albeit with a handful of added tracks. I heard no difference in sound quality from one… Read More »

The storyline in Phantom of Inferno is one of the more depressing video game storylines I have experienced in all my years of gaming. It had deliberate pacing, an air of moroseness, and an almost constant atmosphere of nagging tension. It goes without saying, then, that the soundtrack would follow suit and have a heavy-hearted… Read More »

Sakura Taisen ~Atsuki Chishio Ni~ (Sakura Wars ~In Hot Blood~) is the soundtrack to the PlayStation 2 remake of the first Sakura Taisen videogame that came out on the Sega Saturn. The soundtrack is composed of songs from the original game and music re-composed by Kouhei Tanaka. I first purchased the game from Japan in… Read More »

The long-running Sakura Taisen (or “Sakura Wars”) series, which has to this day not seen the light of day in the US, started to decrease in terms of quality (and hence sales) as the series progressed. By the time Sakura Taisen 4 was out, people were starting to become disillusioned with the series’ repetitive scenarios… Read More »

Note: according to the back cover, the tracklist is labeled continually from tracks 1 to 56 (like the Nobunaga’s Ambition Online OST and some others in recent years). For the sake of convenience, we have labeled the tracks as they would appear in a CD player (disc 2 track 01 instead of track 21, etc).… Read More »

It’s been awhile! After three fairly decent Sakura Taisen vocal albums, Sakura Taisen 4 skipped the vocal route and just had a skimpy OST. So, four years since Sakura Taisen 3’s very decent vocal album, we are treated to the Sakura Taisen V vocal album. I have a lot to say about this one, but… Read More »

Shadow Hearts is an acquired taste. You either have to be a really special person or have played the games to truly appreciate the music. I fall into the latter category (although I do consider myself to be quite special). This album is an arranged rendition of some of the most famous SH tracks, and… Read More »

After my initial listen, I was disappointed with Shadow Hearts From The New World. It sounded empty and vague, and the Native American overtones felt out of place. But, as is the case with every Shadow Hearts soundtrack, it has grown on me with time, and I can speak for the minority and say that… Read More »

If you wanted to find another soundtrack like Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, you’d have to do some serious looking; it’s one of a kind. Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne Deluxe Pack Incense Disc is the rarest incarnation of the game and almost impossible to find now. The game came with a five-track exclusive soundtrack,… Read More »

Note: the 2005 reprint was made to remove the controversial “Label Gate” copy protection software that was packaged with the original 2004 release. The Shin Megami Tensei III OST was printed months before this album, back before SME Visual Works was overrun by Aniplex. That OST was not entirely “complete,” especially after the Nocturne Maniacs… Read More »

Every time I listen to Tales of Legendia, I am amazed at how breathtaking it can be. Of all the releases on August 24th, 2005, this is by far the most solid. FFXI~Music from the Other Side of Vana’diel remains my favorite of the “big five,” but Legendia is a timeless album that will always… Read More »

Though they are old, there are a lot of soundtracks out there for the first “Legend of Heroes” title. There are also many soundtracks for Legend of Heroes III, IV, and a few for V and VI. But there is only one for Legend of Heroes II. And this is it. Welcome to Dragon Slayer… Read More »

A few years back, Atlus released (in Japan) a late-era PS1 title called Eithéa. The soundtrack was released soon after, and then faded into the background. No one really seemed interested in it. So I figured I’d pick it up. You’ll note that we have “Atlus Sound Team” for composer information (see updates below). That… Read More »

For those that purchased the Legend of Heroes VI from Falcom, this CD single came as a bonus. Clocking in at just under six minutes, and only containing two tracks (one vocal and one without lead vocal), the album is a rather tiny bonus. The best thing it has going for it is the artwork… Read More »

When Bandai published the ported Legend of Heroes “Gagharv Trilogy” (III, IV, V) for PSP, Lantis produced a new theme song called “Beyond Time” (“Toki no Mukou Gawa” in Japanese). Other than that, compositions for the game’s soundtrack remained Falcom’s responsibility. Of course, why create new music when there’s plenty of Legend of Heroes music… Read More »

Myst: the classic point and click puzzle-solving adventure that essentially defined the genre. The game has been re-released and re-made a number of times, and it deserves all the attention it can get. If you’ve never played Myst, shame on you. Originally, Myst was going to be a game without music: just sound effects. But… Read More »