After the first two Ys games, each one after is sort “odd-man out” in its own special way. Ys III, while having some great music, was definitely the worst game in the series. And, of course, as each game was released, each one had more original tracks. Here, find out what they did to incorporate all this crazy music.
Disc 1 is the trademark “Special Arrange Version” found on any Perfect Collection. However, I fear that this disc may be a thing of “quantity vs. quality”. As compared to Perfect Collection Ys’s 14 tracks, this disc more than doubles that with 32. So, because of this, each track is significantly shorter than the tracks on the first Perfect Collection (except for a handful of track which range between 3 and 5 minutes). And, the effort and quality put into the music seems less as well. There are still good tracks with music that sounds good enough to be live instruments (and I’m sure some are), but it just feels like there’s too much filler music on here.
Nonetheless, I have to commend Falcom for taking on such a massive arrangement all at once. I mean, it probably wasn’t too hard to put together the Ys III JDK Special, with all of its X68000 music, but this style of arrangement takes focus on every little detail. And I mean, this is every original track right here! So, I did pick out the five best-sounding arrangements, but understand that there are monotonous, boring tracks on this first disc.
Disc 2’s mix-up of arrangements really shines on this Perfect Collection over others. It starts with three great vocals (sung by Yuji Toriyama, who appears courtesy of CBS/Sony Records), each with its own great feel. My favorite track is track 1, because it doesn’t sound much like the track the music is from. Then, the New Age tracks here DEFINITELY excel the quality of the New Age tracks from Perfect Collection Ys. Those tracks sounded so…I don’t know, I just felt like Fujisawa was trying to force a smoother tone on those tracks, which just didn’t have that. These tracks work out well, and I enjoy them much more.
Even though Wanderers From Ys had its own “Super Arrange Version” CD, Falcom decided to throw in two new SAV tracks on this Perfect Collection. That was fine with me, of course, because this version of “Chop!!” is the best (Note that the “Introduction” does not have the !! at the end because it’s not listed as such in the booklet for disc 2, only for disc 1…hmmm…). Then, Falcom totally skips the JDK Band tracks (they’re on Ys III JDK Special), and throws in a whole new type of arrangement: FALCOM SOUND TEAM JDK VERSION…I don’t even know what to say of these arrangement. They sound like they could’ve gone on the Special Arrange disc, but that they were alternate versions or something. So, I don’t know what to say about them, but they sound like more good synth to me.
This soundtrack is somewhat hard to find; but due to its popularity within VGM circles, asking around message boards and keeping an eye out on eBay usually allows for a person to find it within a few months. Be sure to keep an eye out for the limited picture-disc edition!
