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Sakura Taisen 2 (or Sakura Wars 2) is the second installment of Red Company/Overworks’ popular dating simulation-strategy hybrid. The actual game already is a truly outstanding example of distinctly Japanese games, and its soundtrack managed to impress me in a similar way as the game. While being wonderfully lighthearted and romantic at some points, it… Read More »

Second soundtrack of the series, Sakura Taisen 2 Steam Gramophone is in various ways an improvement over the first one. The character themes are there, and the way the music is spread on the two CDs is much better than that of the first soundtrack. Moreover, this soundtrack includes all three game size opening songs… Read More »

The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is the second game in the legendary Zelda adventure/RPG series to be released on the Nintendo 64. The first N64 Zelda game, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time, had a fabulous and highly under-appreciated musical score. I’m proud to say that The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask… Read More »

The music to Bokujou Monogatari (Harvest Moon: Back to Nature in the US) isn’t spectacular, it’s not even great by PSX standards, but it’s familiar, sweet, and most definitely a pleasure to listen to if you’ve played and enjoyed the game. Mostly all of the themes found within the game are here, including all four… Read More »

Even though I’ve been an avid collector and fan of game music for quite some years now, I’ve never quite gotten into Falcom. There are many different reasons for this, but the main one is my dislike for most arranged game music. And as most would agree arguably, Falcom is the company that has pushed… Read More »

One of Square’s most underrated and often overlooked composers, Noriko Matsueda, started her career at Square in 1995 to compose for the Square/G-Craft strategy RPG Front Mission along with the highly talented Yoko Shimomura. Shimomura had mostly taken care of the fast-paced themes, while Matsueda took care of the moody tracks. While the game may… Read More »

Suikoden music lovers rejoice! Konami has teamed up with composer Hiroyuki Nanba to bring you a compilation of arranged tracks from not one, not two, but all three Suikoden titles, and the result is glorious. Published under the Konami Game Meets the Famous Artist Collection series, Genso Suikoden Music Collection Produced by Hiroyuki Nanba is… Read More »

As a big fan of Suikoden music, I couldn’t help but seek out the two Genso Suikoden Music Collection albums. While I tend to enjoy Hiroyuki Nanba’s arrangements more because of their experimental nature, Kentaro Haneda‘s arrangements are solid through and through, relying on traditional instrument combinations and a mixture of chamber music, piano, and… Read More »

Well, this was one lucky find for me. This CD is one of three Langrisser CDs I know of that Iwadare doesn’t list on his personal site, because he didn’t work on them, his music was only used for them (the other two are the Langrisser III Song Album and a Langrisser V drama CD).… Read More »

When I got Thousand Arms, there was no doubt in my mind that I would send in that card and the $2 for postage/handling for the soundtrack/multimedia CD. I had seen the intro movie on RPGfan before the game came out, and I fell in love with Ayumi Hamasaki’s “Depend on You,” the song that… Read More »

To be honest, there’s always a slight absence of something when reviewing a game’s soundtrack without having actually played the game first. Often enough, the events transpiring in gameplay accompanied by the song add to its likeability (or the listener’s distaste for the track). But, despite all this being absent, Growlanser II‘s OST still manages… Read More »

There are only two opinions one can have of Hoshigami: 1) you absolutely hated it; or 2) you never played it. Knowing this, my decision to actually buy and listen to this album became a rather difficult task. I was then forced to resort back to the age old adage that one should not judge… Read More »

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 II 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 »