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Eike
2708
post=146777I put Kenji Ito, albeit with the disclaimer of not having heard much. : (
'kenji... eatto? who's that?' ~ rpgmaker.net
edit: although in retrospect, I put perhaps far too many people. But I listen to my handful of RS songs quite regularly, so
Tonfa
150
3? B-but I could list 50 and still be just scratching the surface 
3. Hanakisou - I actually know next to nothing about this game. The music paints a fantastic wintery/nostalgic atmosphere though. There's a soundtrack for a PC version, a remixed one for a PS2 one and a symphonic remix album.
Winter - Yep.
2. Phantom Brave - It's basically Fun: The Soundtrack.
R&R Junkiee - sup rival
Eye of the Timer - aaah ghosts
1. Ys Origin - Falcom employs some kind of immortal crazy music wizards, I swear. Also violin
Genesis Beyond the Beginning - This is for the INTRO VIDEO
Water Prison - Calm area music
Scars of the Divine Wing - THIS is a boss theme
Personal unfavorite award goes to any movie score-like soundtracks, I cannot tell any of them apart.
3. Hanakisou - I actually know next to nothing about this game. The music paints a fantastic wintery/nostalgic atmosphere though. There's a soundtrack for a PC version, a remixed one for a PS2 one and a symphonic remix album.
Winter - Yep.
2. Phantom Brave - It's basically Fun: The Soundtrack.
R&R Junkiee - sup rival
Eye of the Timer - aaah ghosts
1. Ys Origin - Falcom employs some kind of immortal crazy music wizards, I swear. Also violin
Genesis Beyond the Beginning - This is for the INTRO VIDEO
Water Prison - Calm area music
Scars of the Divine Wing - THIS is a boss theme
Personal unfavorite award goes to any movie score-like soundtracks, I cannot tell any of them apart.
Eike
2708
Good lord, Tonfa. On the strength of Winter, I'm checking out the entire Hanakisou soundtrack and am enjoying it immensely so far!
S. F. LaValle
1069
I'll bite. These are always hard to do. I'll categorize:
Favorites by meaningfulness (nostalgia)
1) Chrono Trigger
2) Final Fantasy 6
3) Secret of Mana
Favorites by play current-day play rotation
1) Final Fantasy XII
2) Soukaigi
3) Dragon Quest series (stylistically so similar, that choosing one may as well be choosing all)
Favorite composers
1) Yoko Kanno (Recently did Ragnarok Online 2, returning to video game music after a number of years)
2) Koichi Sugiyama
3) Nobuo Uematsu. What can I say, the man is still outputting tunes like a madman. Heard FFXIV? He's managing to break some new ground. He seemed quite stale in the 8-10 range.
Most overrated, that's hard to say, never cared much for other opinions. Assuming that any FF soundtrack would be popular, 8 probably has the worst of the lot, including a vocal theme that I loathe. Each entry has its gems, though. 10 was very weak for Uematsu (I know, there's still a gem or two), Nakano's music was too atmospheric to really be memorable, but Hamauzu generated some really fantastic songs for this entry, as well as arranging the piano collections.
Also, I've only played through about half of XIII, but the music has been quite disappointing thus far.
Favorites by meaningfulness (nostalgia)
1) Chrono Trigger
2) Final Fantasy 6
3) Secret of Mana
Favorites by play current-day play rotation
1) Final Fantasy XII
2) Soukaigi
3) Dragon Quest series (stylistically so similar, that choosing one may as well be choosing all)
Favorite composers
1) Yoko Kanno (Recently did Ragnarok Online 2, returning to video game music after a number of years)
2) Koichi Sugiyama
3) Nobuo Uematsu. What can I say, the man is still outputting tunes like a madman. Heard FFXIV? He's managing to break some new ground. He seemed quite stale in the 8-10 range.
Most overrated, that's hard to say, never cared much for other opinions. Assuming that any FF soundtrack would be popular, 8 probably has the worst of the lot, including a vocal theme that I loathe. Each entry has its gems, though. 10 was very weak for Uematsu (I know, there's still a gem or two), Nakano's music was too atmospheric to really be memorable, but Hamauzu generated some really fantastic songs for this entry, as well as arranging the piano collections.
Also, I've only played through about half of XIII, but the music has been quite disappointing thus far.
FF13's music doesn't get better than the battle theme. Everything else might as well be the sound of paint drying (an improvement in some cases).
Other VG soundtracks I don't like
1) Almost anything by Kenji Ito. I think of Kenji Ito's work as the most generic, unmemorable, occasional nails on chalkboard RPG music around. There's a few good tracks on his OSTs but the majority of it just isn't that good.
2) Dynasty Warriors 4. Entirely because of Stabbed Vicious Lump which is played far too much and it is such a fucking terrible track I'm sick of it after twenty seconds and I just want it to burn and die and then I turn off the music and put on "Harleys Making a Racket" as a general musical improvement but then my audio sources don't match up and I don't want to mute the game's SE and voices just because of one incredibly shitty track augh I'm getting a brain aneurysm!
(okay I just really hate Stabbed Vicious Lump the rest of the game is >= decent)
3) Star Ocean 2. It is a series of 30 second loops composed to drive you insane. Every dungeon theme except Mission to Deep Space (which has been ran into the fucking ground it is now hanging out with the dinosaurs) is a tribute to Cthulu forcing the audience to make their sanity saves else they strangle themselves with their controller cords.
Listen to it. Listen to it!
The rest of the soundtrack is only impressive for being so terrible while Valkyrie Profile was so much better in almost every way.
(alright I do Kamikaze and Endlessly)
Overrated
1) Chrono Cross. I'm not saying it's bad and I'm not trying to be edgy, but I don't think it just isn't as good as 99% of the Internet hails it to be. Maybe the sheer disappointment that is CC helped ruin the soundtrack for me or maybe it's because the most frequently played track, Gale, is one of my most hated combat themes but I don't think CC's OST is great. Some tracks are fantastic, some are good, and others are just "there".
2) Final Fantasy 9. See Kenji Ito but now by Uetmatsu. Some good tracks, a bunch of mediocre at best, and then you get Gurgan Roo and Cleyra. I just don't get what people see in this one unlike CC which I can at least admit is good. FF9's music just makes me feel bored.
While I am destroying all my e-cred I think Chocobo Hot and Cold is a terrible minigame too.
I DO Like...
1) Wild ARMs... pretty much in general. XF being the high point and 4 being the lowest. I don't really have too much to say about each except I bought XF before knowing anything about it besides the platform because of the soundtrack. I'll even give XF the crown of RPG music for now.
2) On the other side of the alphabet, the PS2 Ace Combats! Especially 5. They have their low notes but the poor tracks are few and when you're in a level for as long as some missions get having some good tunes really helps the series. Plus they have the most bad ass final boss battle themes yet.
Ace Combat 4: Megalith (so what if the boss was a joke)
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War
Ace Combat 0: Zero
I don't know what the fuck happened with AC6 but it is bo~oring.
I can't think of aseries game for 3rd place so I'll just throw this out:
Other VG soundtracks I don't like
1) Almost anything by Kenji Ito. I think of Kenji Ito's work as the most generic, unmemorable, occasional nails on chalkboard RPG music around. There's a few good tracks on his OSTs but the majority of it just isn't that good.
2) Dynasty Warriors 4. Entirely because of Stabbed Vicious Lump which is played far too much and it is such a fucking terrible track I'm sick of it after twenty seconds and I just want it to burn and die and then I turn off the music and put on "Harleys Making a Racket" as a general musical improvement but then my audio sources don't match up and I don't want to mute the game's SE and voices just because of one incredibly shitty track augh I'm getting a brain aneurysm!
(okay I just really hate Stabbed Vicious Lump the rest of the game is >= decent)
3) Star Ocean 2. It is a series of 30 second loops composed to drive you insane. Every dungeon theme except Mission to Deep Space (which has been ran into the fucking ground it is now hanging out with the dinosaurs) is a tribute to Cthulu forcing the audience to make their sanity saves else they strangle themselves with their controller cords.
Listen to it. Listen to it!
The rest of the soundtrack is only impressive for being so terrible while Valkyrie Profile was so much better in almost every way.
(alright I do Kamikaze and Endlessly)
Overrated
1) Chrono Cross. I'm not saying it's bad and I'm not trying to be edgy, but I don't think it just isn't as good as 99% of the Internet hails it to be. Maybe the sheer disappointment that is CC helped ruin the soundtrack for me or maybe it's because the most frequently played track, Gale, is one of my most hated combat themes but I don't think CC's OST is great. Some tracks are fantastic, some are good, and others are just "there".
2) Final Fantasy 9. See Kenji Ito but now by Uetmatsu. Some good tracks, a bunch of mediocre at best, and then you get Gurgan Roo and Cleyra. I just don't get what people see in this one unlike CC which I can at least admit is good. FF9's music just makes me feel bored.
While I am destroying all my e-cred I think Chocobo Hot and Cold is a terrible minigame too.
I DO Like...
1) Wild ARMs... pretty much in general. XF being the high point and 4 being the lowest. I don't really have too much to say about each except I bought XF before knowing anything about it besides the platform because of the soundtrack. I'll even give XF the crown of RPG music for now.
2) On the other side of the alphabet, the PS2 Ace Combats! Especially 5. They have their low notes but the poor tracks are few and when you're in a level for as long as some missions get having some good tunes really helps the series. Plus they have the most bad ass final boss battle themes yet.
Ace Combat 4: Megalith (so what if the boss was a joke)
Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War
Ace Combat 0: Zero
I don't know what the fuck happened with AC6 but it is bo~oring.
I can't think of a
Neophyte
155
Wild ARMs.
You guys left Symphony of the Night at the doorstep.
edit: GIRL COMPOSERS ARE THE BEST. CLEARLY
You guys left Symphony of the Night at the doorstep.
edit: GIRL COMPOSERS ARE THE BEST. CLEARLY
Yeaster
6164
3) Star Ocean 2. It is a series of 30 second loops composed to drive you insane. Every dungeon theme except Mission to Deep Space (which has been ran into the fucking ground it is now hanging out with the dinosaurs) is a tribute to Cthulu forcing the audience to make their sanity saves else they strangle themselves with their controller cords.
This tears my soul. =(
I loved SO2's music, aside from the castle themes.
Laharl
0
1 - Final Fantasy VII and IX
2 - Lost Odyssey and Persona 4
3 - Donkey Kong Country 2
As for overrated I guess I'd say Tales of Symphonia or pretty much all tales music.
2 - Lost Odyssey and Persona 4
3 - Donkey Kong Country 2
As for overrated I guess I'd say Tales of Symphonia or pretty much all tales music.
I have two things to mention here:
Opoona: You may have heard me talk about this before, but whatever. It's composed by the guy who did FFXII's music, but has a much lighter feel to it, with a heavy influence of futuristic pop. Very calming
example, kicks up around the 45 second mark:
Go ahead a click onto some of the other themes on youtube there. Tons of great stuff.
While I won't directly link to it, the OST is normally VERY difficult to find, since it's never been released, but you can find a link to it if you go to 4-ch.net -> Games and a topic about video game osts.
Also, I just thought I should mention Solstice for the NES: Listen to the opening for christsakes!
and the ending theme is so goddamned catchy. Too bad the game is like impossible:
Opoona: You may have heard me talk about this before, but whatever. It's composed by the guy who did FFXII's music, but has a much lighter feel to it, with a heavy influence of futuristic pop. Very calming
example, kicks up around the 45 second mark:
Go ahead a click onto some of the other themes on youtube there. Tons of great stuff.
While I won't directly link to it, the OST is normally VERY difficult to find, since it's never been released, but you can find a link to it if you go to 4-ch.net -> Games and a topic about video game osts.
Also, I just thought I should mention Solstice for the NES: Listen to the opening for christsakes!
and the ending theme is so goddamned catchy. Too bad the game is like impossible:
post=148434
I would have listed SotN too if it wasn't for this: playing for like half the game.
This is actually one of the most advanced instances of harmony in 20th century music. But I suppose a regular listener would not find it endlessly compelling, heh.
I don't know nuthin' about harmony or dyslexic composition metereosymphonies or whatever the heck but I do agree that SotN has some excellent music.
Tonfa
150
GreatRedSpirit
3) Star Ocean 2.
you have made a powerful enemy today
Actually it is one hell of a weird soundtrack. Half of it is extremely atmospheric stuff (the final battle theme captures HOLY SHIT DOOMSDAY perfectly, for one) and half of it is bad noise. I can't hate on it because that top half is damn good stuff (and I have some nostalgia, okay) though. It and Valkyrie Profile are easily Sakuraba's best works, at any rate. Anything after that has 1 or 2 good tracks (well, several more for SO3) and the rest is either Sakuraba jamming an unrecognizable mess on autopilot for battle themes or trying to do atmospheric music by recording paint drying for 5 minutes.
Integral Body and Imperfect Soul - HOLY SHIT DOOMSDAY
White the Heart - Sure is a snowy town theme
Pure a Stream - I don't even remember where this plays anymore but it's one of the most soothing things
post=148549
This is actually one of the most advanced instances of harmony in 20th century music. But I suppose a regular listener would not find it endlessly compelling, heh.
'regular'?
Yeaster
6164
Actually it is one hell of a weird soundtrack. Half of it is extremely atmospheric stuff (the final battle theme captures HOLY SHIT DOOMSDAY perfectly, for one) and half of it is bad noise. I can't hate on it because that top half is damn good stuff (and I have some nostalgia, okay) though.
My thoughts as well.
Some of the songs are quite bad -- and boring -- but the ones that ARE good, are pretty epic and easily overshadows the bad ones. At least for me.
