I actually don't think Uematsu's ever done anything that rates as classic, and I think One-Winged Angel is a terrible, terrible, fiddly and over-complicated arrangement. He's good - more technically skilled than I will ever be - but he's not even close to great. People like FFVII's music solely because OMG SEPHIROTH-SAMA HAZ T3H BIG SOWRD, no more, no less.
I've heard FFXI's soundtracks. What I took in was better than the average for the franchise, but nothing too memorable. X-2, XII, Tactics and Tactics Advance are the only ones so far with excellent music; Tactics in particular started my love for most of what Hitoshi Sakimoto's done.
EDIT: Here's a "top ten" (in no particular order) I posted on a VGM forum I used to hang out a while back: still pretty representative of my taste in VGM, though it does include remixes, vocal themes, so on.
The Castle Of Sand - Ake OST complete edition ~ Primitive Rex Tremendae / Megalith ~ Agnus Dei - Ace Combat 4 OST Hyllian Suite - Beyond Good And Evil Digi-Boy's Theme - F-Zero GX OST Love Panic Room [feelsounds' Tech-O remix] - 3LDK (from the remix album feel so good!) Eul-Ma-Nah Cho-Hul-Kka (How Much Is Enough) - FFX OST ~ Korean edition Blue Water, Blue Sky (May's Theme) - GGXX OST Sona Mi Ereru Ec Sanctitu - Panzer Dragoon Azel OST Late Goodbye - Max Payne 2 OST
(track 19, I don't actually have the name) - Saga Frontier 2 ~ Rhapsody
(Note: Ake and 3LDK are, um, Japanese hentai games. Never played a single one - stop laughing! - but damn if they don't have some amazing, amazing music. feelsounds were a sound production team - now defunct - who I think did music for very little else... about as niche as it gets, but I honestly think they did some of the best music I've ever heard for computer games in general.)
I do love me some game tunes, especially from the following lot:
G-Darius
Salamander 1 & 2
Zone of the Enders 1 & 2
Super Metroid
Armored Core 4
Metroid Prime
Turrican 1 & 2 (Super Turrican 2 on the Snes had some great music as well)
R-Type
EinHander
Omega Boost
Gradius I, II, III. V & Gaiden
ACE 2 & 3 (it's mainly re-jigged anime music, but I love it all the same)
Killer7
Okami
Skullmonkeys (some of the oddest tunes I've ever heard)
Geppy X
And I'm sure I've left out a few more, but that's all I can think of at the moment.
Got to be boring here, but Super Castlevania IV is my fave, as a complete soundtrack. All those double bass sounds and the crazy-depressing jazz quality it possesses makes it one of the most unique soundtracks I've ever heard. Obviously, there's loads of games that have some great tunes but this is all good stuff.
Silent Hill 2 was great at times. The magaten games also have great soundtracks. The Persona one's have always been cool, and Nocturne had some absolutely immense boss music - heavy rock, but nothing like that crap they threw in for the last boss in FF X.
Will have to agree with Adam Stone though, SOTC has the best OST of any game I've played. Its absolutely gorgeous, and works incredibly well in the game.
Gitaroo Man is one of my faves. The Legendary theme is ace.
Symphony of The Night is amazing - I know like JazzFunk says it is boring to mention an "obvious" CV title, there is no denying that when Konami serve up a Vania game the soundtrack is usually the biz-omb.
I loved the use of music in Bioshock - the first eerie strains of "Beyond The Sea" set the tone and although there isn't much music in the game, when there is it is expertly implimented. And GTA Vice City - cruising around the city as the sun is going down, as "Crockett's Theme" washes over you. Pure magic brother.
Currently I am enjoying the soundtrack in IV - last night I performed a drive-by slaying soundtracked by Les Savy Fav.
Doh, forgot the F-Zero games, always have brill music although the style of X (heavy metal) is completely different to GX (Euro house/trance).
Originally posted by nemesis
Also crazy comets. Had a miles better version of the Gyrus arcade game song.
Probably confusing it with something else, Gyruss uses Bach's Tocata and Fugue in D Minor. There's a few games on the C64 that use it also, but CC is not one of them. Absolutely killer track though that the Robmeister put together. You can listen to a slightly more fleshed out version played by 8 Bit Weapon here (recorded by me at BIT Live last year!):
Back in Time Live 2007... 8-bit Weapon... and the mosh rhythms of doom from Crazy Comets cause the floor to explode in dance. Catch them at CGE!http://www.8b...
the loading screen music for commando. you remember, that grey screen would come up with a counter on it and some kickass beats would start up. used to have a mini disc of it which i recorded from the tv, but in realising mini discs were the worst invention ever, i seem to have lost it.
The loading music to Commando is actually a cover of Trans X's Living on Video. Still a cool cover piece though.
Probably confusing it with something else, Gyruss uses Bach's Tocata and Fugue in D Minor. There's a few games on the C64 that use it also, but CC is not one of them. Absolutely killer track though that the Robmeister put together. You can listen to a slightly more fleshed out version played by 8 Bit Weapon here (recorded by me at BIT Live last year!):
Yep your right. Listening to it on youtube made me remember. Cracking tune tho and the Gyrus tune was excellent, especially for it's day. Proper classical stuff.
I also used to love the C64 loading tunes by Konami. Anyone remember Rambo's loading music. Tremendous
Showing some C64 love here! Fave tunes:
- Delta CBM64: Title and ingame, title really sets the pace and in-game is haunting
- Lightforce CBM64: Main Theme, a burbling, moody classic
- Game Over CBM64: Main Theme, electroSID mash up madness
- Street Hawk CBM64: Title, Loved the overlapping voices in the main bit
- Ghouls N Ghosts CBM64: All the tunes are outstanding, a tour-de-force
- Knucklebusters CBM64: In-game, another long lasting chunky track from the Hubbard
- Uridium CBM64: Title, a short pumping classic.
- Escape from Singe's Castle CBM64: Another Hubbard meisterwork - all the tunes really suit the levels, especially Boulder Alley.
- R-type AMIGA: Title, Class tune - first time I heard it my jaw hit the floor as it was one of the first games I played on the Amiga after selling my CBM64.
- Turrican II AMIGA: A number of classics on the TII soundtrack
- Lionheart AMIGA: Some classy, atmospheric tunes, the title tune is a stand out.
- Castle of Illusion MD: Some very hummable tunes here
No love for Radical Dreamers/Chrono Cross? The games might have been pap but worth playing just for the amazing soundtrack.
Yeah man, was just thinking of Chrono Cross the other day. It would have been a good game if not for the crap final moments. I reckon they literally lost the plot towards the end and just cobbled it together. Such a shame as it starts and progresses really well, and the fight/lvl system was pretty unique from what I remember.
Lots of the FFXI soundtrack remind me of Chrono Cross, moreso than the other Final Fantasy games infact.
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