When Bandai published the ported Legend of Heroes “Gagharv Trilogy” (III, IV, V) for PSP, Lantis produced a new theme song called “Beyond Time” (“Toki no Mukou Gawa” in Japanese). Other than that, compositions for the game’s soundtrack remained Falcom’s responsibility. Of course, why create new music when there’s plenty of Legend of Heroes music out there already?
Though this soundtrack claims (by the front packaging) to be a soundtrack for both “The White Witch” (LoH III, “Shiroki Majo”) and “A Tear of Vermillion” (LoH IV, “Akai Shimizu”), the tracklist shows clearly that these are taken entirely from Legend of Heroes III. It can be assumed that the LoH IV logo was stuck on the packaging because it too shares the beautiful opening theme song from riya.
This tracklist of LoH III music is from a hodge-podge of sources, much like “Very Best of Legend of Heroes III”, but now an OST for the PSP version. These arranged tracks (be they from the Electric Orchestra, the “White Witch” Symphonic Fantasy, Symphony Gagharv Trilogy, the Piano Collection, or other sources) fit nicely into the game…but as a soundtrack release, there is a feeling of awkwardness. This soundtrack was pieced together in a way that makes it feel artificial, especially for fans of the game and its music.
I was not able to determine the origin of every single song on this soundtrack; this may be my own ignorance, or it may be that some songs were taken from the most recent OST releases and upgraded in synth for the PSP release. I do not know.
At the end of the day, however, this soundtrack contains virtually no “exclusive” music. The only exclusive track it has is the “cuckool” mix of the theme song, which is enjoyable, but not nearly as good as the original. As this is the case, I recommend fans of the Legend of Heroes series skip over this soundtrack if they already own other LoH CDs and get the theme song single instead of this soundtrack. If, however, you don’t own any LoH soundtracks and the series is new to you (thanks to Bandai’s bringing Tear of Vermillion to America), then go ahead and pick up this unique blend of White Witch sounds.
