Archives
2005-12-27
Welcome to the less popular half. When Falcom ran their 4th “Millenium Series” reprints, they split up Perfect Collection Ys and Perfect Collection Ys II in a whole new way, so that completionists would have to re-own the albums in a whole new setting. The first discs from the two albums made it to theā¦ Read More »
2005-12-20
For a release as big as Ocarina of Time (a.k.a. the only reason to own an N64), it’s no surprise that Nintendo of America published a soundtrack available through special order through “Nintendo Power” magazine. Compared to the Japanese release, this release had some advantages and disadvantages. The first advantage, at the time of itsā¦ Read More »
It’s rare that any of our import soundtrack reviews hail from Europe. It is even more disconcerting that this import soundtrack is for a Japanese title: a Zelda game, no less! But here it is: Ocarina of Time Vol. II – The Lost Tracks. Printed by Nintendo of Europe as a promotional item (after releasingā¦ Read More »
Short version: Great soundtrack! Long version: Recently, Magna Carta: Tears of Blood was released here in the USA for the PS2. Though I myself can’t decide whether it’s a wonderful game or a piece of crap, most people generally seem to enjoy the game greatly despite its faults. However, before Tears of Blood (known asā¦ Read More »
Tears of Blood: the newest chapter from Softmax’s Magna Carta series is a separate game rather than a sequel to Phantom of Avalanche. The game (known is Japan and Korean as Crimson Stigata) has a new cast, storyline and soundtrack. Thankfully, the soundtrack actually has a full retail release, unlike Phantom of Avalanche. While it’sā¦ Read More »
You know you all love Mario and Zelda music. You know it’s not because they’re impressive or stirring melodies. You know it’s not because they break new ground in the genre (although I guess they did back in the old days). The reason you like these tunes is because they’re fun, they’re catchy, and they’reā¦ Read More »
No preamble to this review, I’m afraid. The Mario Story OST is, simply put, one of the most mediocre offerings I’ve ever received from a video game soundtrack. Yuka Tsujiyoko has managed to make a soundtrack that, while it may fit the game itself is, like the characters in it, about as substantial as paper.ā¦ Read More »
2005-12-10
Welcome to a blast from the past. In this soundtrack we find the beginning careers of many prominent composers. While I am unsure of who Akie Daiba is, the other three listed composers have continued careers and worked alongside one another for various games. Noriyuki Iwadare, obviously, is recognized for his work in the Langrisserā¦ Read More »
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 gameā¦ 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 theā¦ 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 Battleā¦ 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, orā¦ 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 toā¦ Read More »
2005-12-07
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 ofā¦ 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, orā¦ 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 gamesā¦ 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 LoHā¦ Read More »
2005-12-04
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 oneā¦ 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-heartedā¦ Read More »
2005-12-02
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 scenariosā¦ 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).ā¦ 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, butā¦ 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, andā¦ 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 thatā¦ 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,ā¦ Read More »
