It’s time to check in on the mobile/live service title Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe: now back with a third collection of music! It’s a good one, but it could be the last collection released as well. I am writing this review while grappling with the frustrating news that the global version of Re;univerSe is shutting down in December 2024. Presumably, the Japanese-only version will continue to run and may have new content. Should that occur, a potential vol.4 might be on the way, though that may strictly be a digital release, whereas in this case, I am a proud holder of the physical Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe Original Soundtrack vol.3 CD!
Astute readers may remember that I panned the Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe vol.1 OST for serving as a “best of” album, bringing little new to the table. In 2022, when Square Enix released RSRS vol.2, things started to get interesting. In that OST, we got eight brand-new arrangements of previous SaGa series music and seven original tracks composed by Kenji Ito. These original tracks served as key scene and battle BGM for the game’s main story arc, involving Polka Lynn Wood and his family. In vol.3, we’re treated to the entirety of the second story arc’s music (“Liam”) and the five tracks used in the third (and relatively short) “Shirei” story arc.
Additionally, we get two surprise arrangements of previous SaGa tunes: Nobuo Uematsu’s “The Top Floor” from The Final Fantasy Legend and Kenji Ito’s “Beat of Evil” and “Coup de Grace” from the first Romancing SaGa. (Quick aside: All digital and physical promotional materials render the track title “Best of Evil” for this album, but it has been firmly established as “Beat of Evil” across the SQEX catalog, so “Best” is probably a typo). Noriyuki Kamikura handles the impressive new arrangement for “The Top Floor,” which players hear just prior to confronting the final battle with Creator in The Final Fantasy Legend, when all the truths are laid bare and the player faces quite the plot twist. Kamikura’s approach to arranging this track borders on perfection for me. The instrumentation choices are solid, and I love how he elaborates on the original melody to build a more substantive piece of music.
The aforementioned Romancing SaGa track is a medley of final dungeon into final boss, and it’s one arranged by Sorao Mori (one of the DESTINY 8 guitarists) to provide a sort of epic rock-orchestra blend. While not as impressive as Kamikura’s transformation of “Top Floor,” this is still a fantastic listen. It’s essentially a bonus DESTINY 8 recording all its own, though the production is clean enough so that it can loop easily.
As for the original music? There’s a lot to cover, and while it’s all excellent, it is a big mix of styles much like vol.2. But I think I’ll start with my favorite track. “Entrance: Celestial Fulcrum” is an operatic non-lyrical piece featuring vocalist Ayano Nonomura. Nonomura also recorded vocal themes for SaGa Scarlet Grace and SaGa Emerald Beyond (“The World’s Heartbeat,” so good!), and her return is very much welcome here. This track was recorded to celebrate the game’s fourth anniversary and functioned as an elaborate title/menu theme. And, though composed by Kenji Ito, the arrangement was handled by one Kohei Tanaka. For me, this was a huge surprise. Tanaka has composed some of my favorite cinematic, orchestral, and vocal themes across many games and anime, including One Piece, the Sakura Wars series, Resonance of Fate, Gravity Rush, and my personal favorite, Alundra. Tanaka’s ability to balance piano, orchestra, and vocal is top-tier. To my knowledge, this is the first time Tanaka has ever worked on a SaGa game, and perhaps the first time he’s worked on a Square Enix IP at all. This is me shouting to the Square Enix Music team: more Kohei Tanaka, please!
Another aside: the story of how Kenji Ito and sound director Hidenori Iwasaki coaxed Kohei Tanaka into doing the arrangement is fairly humorous. I know the story thanks to Square Enix continuing their excellent tradition of printing the album’s liner notes in both Japanese and English. The full liner notes include six pages of interview with Ito, Iwasaki, and Nonomura, and it’s just one more reason to add the album to your physical collection!
With these songs covered, let’s look at the two “arcs” of music. For Liam’s Arc, we have a bunch of great new battle themes. “Ever Forward” serves as the standard battle theme for this arc, and its name suggests a parallel to the previous battle theme “Ever Higher.” Tsutomu Narita handled arrangement here, and his prowess as a synth-keyboard performer shows, creating lots of crunchy dissonance for this or that melodic line, often traded between more clear and resonant violin performances. And, solid as these two tracks are, I’m not sure they can compete with “Divine Beast Battle I” and “II,” arranged by Noriyuki Kamikura.
The first of the Divine Beast Battle themes has this half-time creepy intro that breaks into a swift, pulsing piece that blends the rock band well with parts of the orchestra, particularly brass hits and great violin solo lines. For DBB2, Ito and Kamikura immediately launch in with the kind of strength and flair that we’ve come to expect from the major Romancing SaGa trilogy battle themes, especially in their DESTINY 8 arranged forms. The high brass on this track is noteworthy, with trumpets utilized as both a beat-keeping metronome and a siren-esque fanfare. Given the way DBB1 and DBB2 build towards Liam’s finale in the game, these were important pieces of music to raise the stakes in a world crumbling, with Liam and his team striving to pick up the pieces before it’s too late.
This ends with “Beyond the Destiny -Liam-,” an orchestral final battle theme with arranger Minako Seki putting the perfect touch of looming disaster into the music with clever orchestration of the diminished and half-diminished chords Ito scattered throughout the piece. I found the choir to be particularly effective here.
The five final tracks from the new “Shirei” arc take a decidedly traditional Japanese approach. All throughout these five tracks, we hear traditional shinobue and nohkan flutes by Kohei Nishikawa, biwa by Akiko Sakurai, and Chinese erhu by Reiko Tsuchiya. This instrumentation is sometimes kept to itself, as with the “Celadon Lights” theme as a solo biwa performance. But more often, these instruments join with the rock and orchestra performers to create something new and inspiring. The battle theme “Phantasmic Crescendo” balances the biwa (wielded by the story character Shirei) and the erhu (wielded by Kihachi) alongside Minako Seki’s fantastic rock-orchestra arrangements, and the flutes decorate the piece all throughout. It’s all quite impressive. Consider me a fan. I didn’t know this was in Kenji Ito’s wheelhouse!
I may have skimmed over a few tracks, but I hope that in this review and analysis of Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe Original Soundtrack vol.3, you’ve come to recognize what it is that draws me back to this series, including a surprisingly robust mobile gacha title that is now fading from the global stage. Kenji Ito and the team of arrangers and performers supporting him in all things SaGa continue to impress. This may seem like a weird choice for your collection, especially if you didn’t play the game, but I truly do recommend it nonetheless.
