Archives

As an extra incentive to buy Thousand Arms, Atlus enclosed a special CD offer with the game. More than just a music CD, the disc also came with Thousand Arms-themed software for your PC. The Thousand Arms Soundtrack and Multimedia CD has total of 40 tracks. The CD does not contain a complete soundtrack, as… Read More »

I’m a big fan of Media.Vision’s Wild ARMs series, so I was excited to hear about the third installment. Although I wasn’t floored by the second game in the series, the music was pleasant and there were definitely memorable tracks. Because of this attitude, when I saw the Wild Arms Advanced 3rd OST in my… Read More »

Even though it wasn’t the most popular of the handful of RPGs us Westerners were fortunate enough to receive during the 16-bit years, Breath of Fire II has developed a small yet loyal following on both sides of the world. The game was a wondrous example of a classic marred by a shoddy, if not… Read More »

As an exercise in the use of hard hitting and rather complex synth beats to capture the feel of a full blown electronic album, the Majin Tensei 2 soundtrack is rather good. Not being a huge fan of excessive use of synth, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the normally dull beats as… Read More »

As with most soundtracks I buy, I had never played Jade Cocoon and thus had to base my opinion of its music on the merits alone. So, when I picked up the Tamamayu Monogatari OST (Jade Cocoon in the US), I listened intently to the melodies, and I found something there that was magical and… Read More »

Perfect Collection Dragon Slayer ~ The Legend of Heroes spoiled me rotten. Despite the 8-bit disc 1, Ryo Yonemitsu managed to transform what I consider a stereotypical RPG score (basic town theme, basic battle theme, basic event themes, etc. ) into a very powerful, yet elegant arranged album that I’ve listened to time and time… Read More »

I’m not all too familiar with Dragon Slayer’s soundtrack, and even though I have both the Perfect Collections and JDK Special, I still haven’t listened to them as closely as I’d have liked. Then, what exactly made me so interested in Dragon Slayer Symphonic Poem? The name of the album had always intrigued me (Symphonic… Read More »

Is it just me or does Popful the elf look almost exactly like Lina Inverse from the “Slayers” anime? I’ve mistaken one for the other on several occasions. In fact, the artwork seems reminiscent of the show (cute, red-haired, money hungry female protagonist with a likable supporting cast) Then again, that isn’t such a bad… Read More »

Sorcerian Perfect Collection Vol. 2 is my favorite of the trilogy, but I think “Sorcerian Pro-Fusion” would have been a much better name for it. Instead of pure synth arrangements, we are treated to a hearty round of rock-meets-jazz, Kukeiha Club-style fusion arrangements of the middle Sorcerian tracks. To my knowledge, this is only the… Read More »

The Sorcerian Perfect Collections are, for the most part, pretty darn good. While they lack the power rock that is present throughout the Ys Perfect Collections, they make up for it with plenty of great synth arrangements. They will really grow on you if given the chance, as their takes on the original music can… Read More »

The Ys series has never ceased to amaze me. It’s one of the few RPGs that uses rock as its main style, yet manages to produce as epic a sound as any other RPG I’ve played. Unfortunately, with the not-so-popular Turbo Duo as its main source of delivery, not many people have had the chance… Read More »

When most people hear the name Falcom they think of hardcore, blazing synth that simply rocks! However, as the newest game from the company, and one of the few original, non-arranged albums to come out of Falcom for quite a few years, Zwei!! breaks this image, and does so with grace and a certain amount… Read More »

Two years ago I stumbled upon a website of a small US project dedicated to creating a CD of remixed Final Fantasy songs. Immediately I was interested, so much so that I decided to respond to the producers’ call for donations from the fans, because without it the project would ultimately die. Pulling out my… Read More »

Project Majestic Mix, an arranged album in dedication to famed Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu, was a fan operation that began under the watch of Stephen Kennedy a four of years ago. Thousands of delays later, the album finally saw its release, and it was definitely worth the wait. The sixteen tracks on the Silver… Read More »

I have to admit that with all of the negative and skeptical press Final Fantasy XI has received ever since being announced at Square’s infamous Yokohama Millennium Conference in January 2000, along with the fact that I didn’t consider myself a fan of Naoshi Mizuta, whose score of Parasite Eve II was a truly monotonous… Read More »

Despite the lack of interest in Final Fantasy XI Online, it doesn’t mean there should be a lack of interest in the soundtrack as well. Not much was known at all about the score to Squaresoft’s first online game other than that Nobuo Uematsu would return; Yasunori Mitsuda had been asked to contribute, as well.… Read More »

For anyone who has actually wondered what it would be like to experience Final Fantasy music in a live orchestral setting, here it is. Recorded live by the Tokyo Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo’s International Forum on February 20th of 2002, (hence the title) who would have guessed this concert would have made it to… Read More »

I’ve quietly fallen in love with the music to a game called Legaia 2: Duel Saga. I did not love the music the instant I first popped the CD into my CD player, nor did I absolutely hate it after the first play through. But, as I listened to it more and more, I realized… Read More »

Hailed as Sony’s rival to Square’s Final Fantasy VIII, when Legend of Dragoon was first released I was intrigued to say the least. The visuals alone looked spectacular, so it had to be an excellent game, right? Well, after reading review after review, I’d realized that it was merely a mediocre attempt by Sony to… Read More »

I often bring game soundtracks to the office to listen to while I work. And, sometimes fellow employees happen to hear some of the music I listen to. It so happens that one day a co-worker was listening in on one of my soundtracks that featured a pipe-organ. From that day forward he jokingly referred… Read More »

Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight is one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time, so I met MIDI Power Pro 6 with much enthusiasm. The album is what seems to be most of the game’s tracks arranged using different MIDI instrumentation. However, the end result turned out to be a lackluster soundtrack. MIDI… Read More »

The Front Mission Original Sound Version is a very good soundtrack featuring my two favorite female composers: Yoko Shimomura and Noriko Matsueda. The music has a clear futuristic-militaristic style to fit the kind of Strategy RPG that Front Mission is. I think it would be fair to say that the FM OSV is one of… Read More »

I’ve loved the concept of the Mysterious Dungeon series ever since I played Torneko no Daibouken (Torneko’s Big Adventure) for the Super Famicom. Though the music and characters were more of an Enix staple, Chunsoft managed to make it a product all their own. However, Chocobo’s Mysterious Dungeon has a sound that is totally Square,… Read More »

Note: “Maou” was renamed “Magus” in the American release of the game. When you see “Maou” in the tracklist, know that it is synonymous with “Magus.” Although he was originally hired by Squaresoft as a game music composer, Yasunori Mitsuda spent the first few years working there as a sound engineer and other various small… Read More »

I’m usually not one to like arranged CDs of game music. I just feel that the ordinary game synth appeals to me more. I like the “special” sound of game music, and since many arranged albums (especially for RPGs) are often orchestral and symphonic in nature, and I don’t like classical music especially much, there… Read More »