Namco Bandai has pushed the Tales series so hard, that the time has finally come that Motoi Sakuraba can’t compose for all of the planned releases. While he is still quite active with his partner-in-crime Shinji Tamura, the soundtrack for Tales of Innocence was composed by Kazuhiro Nakamura (not to be confused with the martial arts fighter of the same name). Nakamura is relatively new to the scene, but he does a decent job, particularly for a DS soundtrack.
One track that really impressed me was the battle theme, “Break Through with the Sword.” It is not at all in the same vein as a Sakuraba track, as it focuses primarily on upper-octave instruments: no frantic bass lines to be found here. If anything, I am reminded of Noriyuki Iwadare’s battle themes.
There are times, however, that Nakamura manages to capture the sound that Tamura and Sakuraba are so famous for. Track 16 does the whole “religious cathedral, serene but majestic” thing perfectly (I’m thinking of Star Ocean 2’s “Sacred Song” as a reference point). But Nakamura doesn’t have the Sakuraba-rock down. And don’t be confused when you see “Welcome to the Jungle” on here…it is in no way a reference to Guns ‘n Roses, and it doesn’t sound anything like Slash. It’s more of an island-music track.
The soundtrack is solid, but there are definitely those tracks that stand out, and other tracks that simply aren’t worth your time. Sadly, I think that the best tracks on the OST still go to KOKIA’s beautiful vocal tracks, and we got the “in-game” (read: shorter) edits on this OST. So the opening/ending single for Tales of Innocence is at least as worthwhile a purchase as the OST, if not moreso. Ultimately, this soundtrack is forgettable in the grand scheme of “Tales” soundtracks. But there are a few worthwhile songs, and if you enjoyed the game itself, you may find yourself inclined to purchase this album.
