Having had no experience with the game yet, I bought the Tales of Eternia OST on the merit that it’s the third game in a series whose music I am quite fond of. How does this soundtrack measure up to the first two “Tales of” soundtracks?
Well, like the other soundtracks, the music is been “enhanced” to sound less like it does in the game. A lot of people don’t like the way these tracks sound, but I don’t mind either way. Some tracks end up sounding better. Also, this soundtrack has 50+ tracks on each disc, so track times were shortened considerably (to about 1:15 for each track). They could have extended these times and made the soundtrack three discs, but I guess not.
Some of the songs are remakes from Tales of Phantasia/Destiny tracks, though I can’t name which ones off of the top of my head. But, any serious Tales fan should be able to hear them when listening.
Featured on the soundtrack are your typical Sakuraba battle, dungeon, town, and “emotional” themes. My samples select the best of each type, and as you can tell, they sound grrrreat!
I’m not too sure how they arranged the order of these tracks…The track “Final Battle” is way in the beginning of disc two, but the track “Wake” (which I think is an end-of-game/credits song) is placed way out in track 52. Oh, also, the opening and ending vocals to this game are not on this soundtrack, but rather on separate singles by the bands/people that sang them.
The Tales of Eternia OST can be purchased at GMO or Otaku for what will likely be $40 after Shipping and Handling (I think that’s about what I paid).
