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 selected to be a part of the arrangement, many were repeats found in Symphony Ys and Symphony Ys ’95 (Feena, Lilia, To Make the End of Battle, etc). The fact is, we didn’t need a THIRD one of these albums.
Well, even if we don’t need it, we do want it, don’t we? Yes, unfortunately, we do. Search your feelings: you know it to be true!
The most important things to recognize in this album are that its sound quality is superior to the original and ’95 in many ways, and that these arrangements are not just rehashing what you’ve heard before: they are, somehow, a new and fresh take on the music we’ve heard in so many incarnations over the years.
I was especially impressed with the final track, which runs for a solid 13 minutes. Though I could’ve done without the reprise of Feena, the other three songs chosen all turn out to be marvelous. To the naysayers who believed it couldn’t be done: it has been done. Termination sounds sweet, yet again, as does Palace of Salmon.
I was somewhat let down with the Second Movement, which featured three classic, adventurous tunes. Burnedbless turned out alright, but the other two are somewhat of a letdown for me.
Now for the really bad news: this album is “not for sale.” That’s right, it’s completely a promotional album. It blows my mind that Falcom would make such spectacular arrangements, and then not release them to the public for general sale. That’s just madness. So, if you come across a copy, you better get it while you can, because this is not an easy find.
