Archives

The second half of the Legend of Heroes V OST, generally regarded as the better half, is filled with catchy melodies and good, solid songs. I don’t believe they stand out among the crowd, but they are consistent, if a little redundant. When I say “redundant”, what I mean is that many of the melodies… Read More »

A man turns to you, and he yawns. “Welcome”, he says, in between sighs, “to RPGFan’s review of…” yawning, the man collapses on the ground and falls into a deep sleep, unable to finish the sentence. Alright, so maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit: Falcom’s tome to New Age music, “Preprimer II”, isn’t quite that… Read More »

Riviera ~The Promised Land~ Full Arrange Soundtrack is probably the best soundtrack that you’re not listening to. It’s also the best Game Boy Advance game you’re not playing, too, but that’s beside the point. Minako Adachi and, on a lesser note, Shigeki Hayashi have done a great job in creating an old school soundtrack for… Read More »

Just after the release of Ys & Ys II Eternal, at just around the time when people said “okay, now Falcom can move on to things other than Ys & Ys II”, Falcom decided to treat us to a *third* complete symphonic arrangement of music from these two games. Though a few new songs were… Read More »

Released in late 2001 alongside the Zwei!! OST as the fifth run of albums in the “Falcom Millenium Series”, Ys Healing is an album that I avoided because I had wrongly assumed that it would just be another “Best of” Ys album featuring previous arrangements of softer Ys songs. We all know Falcom’s made enough… Read More »

Ah, Falcom. Always throwing in those amazing extras. Not about to dissapoint us, Ys – The Oath in Felghana, a comprehensive remake of the classic Ys III, came with a nice box full of Ys III music from the past 16 years or so. The main draw to this set, besides a huge catalog of… Read More »

Released one year after the first Ys Piano Collection, this second album features tracks from the the first four Ys titles (which were all that existed at this time). Generally, I found that Fujisawa (the performer/arranger) stepped up from the previous Ys piano arrangements, which were first of all not “true to form” piano solo,… Read More »

In June of 2005, Falcom released a huge landmark for themselves: Ys – The Oath in Felghana. I call it a landmark for many reasons – we see Falcom fully returning to their roots, both musically and production wise. There are real instruments again in the soundtrack (finally), music that is current with the time… Read More »

The second (and last) volume of Magic School Lunar! Magical Island is also the last Lunar CD to be printed in Japan (at least, at the time of this review; hopefully there will be new Lunar games with new Lunar music in the years to come!). If you wish to know the history and relevant… Read More »

I really enjoyed this arrange album. Phantom Kingdom is probably the most unique soundtracks of 2005, and I didn’t think Super Sweep would be able to top it. I was wrong. For the most part, this arrange album is extremely well done. First off, this album is the poster child for diversity. There are more… Read More »

The Atelier Best album was released as a promotional item that could only be received by preordering Atelier Viorate in Japan before its June 26, 2003 release. As a result, this is a rare item indeed. Is it worth the trouble for an Atelier fan to hunt it down? Only if you don’t plan on… Read More »

When Gust announced Atelier Elie Unknown Origin, it was spoken of as a gift to the fans of the series. And what a gift! Are you unaware of what makes this collection of music so special?! Allow me to inform you. Years upon years ago, Sony Records released a two disc set that was the… Read More »

The Atelier Iris ~Eternal Mana 2~ Soundtrack Book is a special item that became available with the Japanese release of the game. Just like with the Japanese release of its predecessor, Atelier Iris ~Eternal Mana~, the soundtrack book covers two areas. Most of the tracks on this CD are directly from Eternal Mana 2‘s OST,… Read More »

Atelier Judie (pronounced “You – Dee”, with a soft Germanic “J”) is the fourth game in Gust’s Atelier series, the first in the two-part “Gramnad” sub-series. Featuring music from series veteran Akira Tsuchiya (primarily on disc one) and two Kobayashis for the rest, Judie has a lot to offer. This two disc set of music… Read More »

The Atelier Lilie soundtrack features more songs than any previous Atelier soundtrack. It is a powerhouse of music. Unfortunately, we must recognize that quantity and quality are two different things, especially in the case of this two disc set. Wait, wait, wait! Don’t be taken aback by this warning! This is still the high-quality music… Read More »

I heralded Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana as my favorite soundtrack of last year, and for good reason. If you don’t know why, then you need to go pick it up. Recently, I returned to the series’ roots and I found Atelier Viorate, which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. It is more refined than… Read More »

One thing about the Lunar series is that each piece of music, no matter how slow or fast, has the same feel to it. Noriyuki Iwadare is to Lunar what Yasunori Mitsuda is to Chrono Trigger/Cross. Even if a new game from either series were to come out tomorrow, the music could be matched up… Read More »

This is the second of four “half-drama” soundtracks released for Lunar: Silver Star Story. The album opens with “Fairy Rain,” the image song for Mia Ausa. This is a light and pretty song; not an “epic ballad,” but more of a sentimental reflection. The other vocal track doesn’t have lyrics; it is “Luna of the… Read More »

Lunatic Festa Vol.3, as the name implies, is the third CD out of a set of four Lunar: Silver Star Story soundtracks, which contain half drama tracks, and half music and vocal songs. This particular Festa CD starts off with one out of the two vocal tracks on the CD. Jessica’s theme, “Pretty Girl,” which… Read More »

The fourth and final Lunar: Silver Star Story Lunatic Festa CD is set up just like its three previous Festa series entries. Unlike previous Festa CDs, the layout has changed slightly. The first track is still a vocal, but the last track is an instrumental. Instead, the fifth track lays out Nash’s theme song, “Magic… Read More »

Among all of the Lunar soundtracks one can hunt down through various message boards and auctions, Lunar Songs 2 is the second-to-rarest, only slightly more common than the oldest Lunar CD in existence, The Silver Star OST. Not surprisingly, Lunar Songs 2 opens with a song once found only on that OST, the opening theme… Read More »

Falcom Special Box ’97 was the last of Falcom’s well-known “boxes,” as they were running into financial troubles (and lack of inspiration) after 1997. Other than the revival of the special box (in the form of Falcom Special Box 2004), this was the end. Was it because Falcom didn’t have enough material to release another… Read More »

After taking a six year hiatus, Falcom’s “Special Box” series was renewed with Falcom Special Box 2004. Unfortunately for VGM fans, there wasn’t much to be found on this collection. Well, I ought to take that back. Technically, this box has more music than any one previous special box in Falcom history. The problem? The… Read More »

JDK Specials are on the lower end of Falcom arrangements, being somewhat close to an OST release. The Legend of Xanadu JDK Special, thus, is nothing to get too excited about as far as arrangements go. However, the sheer genius in composition is what makes all Legend of Xanadu music stand out. Take a listen… Read More »

Being a more-than-casual soundtrack enthusiast, I believe I know what it is that other soundtrack enthusiasts want. Furthermore, I know what common complaints are floating around about the state of videogame music, as well as the soundtracks that bring the music directly to us. One common complaint is that some games (in fact, many games)… Read More »