COCX-35945: Shin Megami Tensei STRANGE JOURNEY Original Soundtrack

[Don]

According to the composer profile page on the GE-ON-DAN website, Kenichi Tsuchiya also had something to do with this game. Is it possible that this is a co-composed score?

The credits say that it is only Meguro.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnQ8-ECuDoM

I'll have to follow up on that.

EDIT: Ah, he did the sound effects. Question answered.

[Dag]

I'm curious about changing Pious Fear -> The Fear of God. Isn't that essentially the same, the second being more explicit/less direct translation, or it's some English/Japanese idiom or something?

[Raziel]

I think this soundtrack is underrated. Yeah, it's not an easy listen on a casual, but it works wonders in-game and is great on a stand-alone basis as well if the mood is right.

[dissident93]

yea I agree. probs meguro's most obscure work, and his persona stuff (which i love too), seems to overshadow the stuff he did here, for nocturne, and DDS

[Eirikr]

Yep, it's definitely a soundtrack that is best appreciated in-game first, to visualize the right context. Delphinus' theme is perfect for a rainy day.

Here's hoping SMT IV's is equally evocative, but more in the scale of Nocturne's encompassing and varied OST.

[Dag]

This game has the dubious honor of being the only I completed mostly with the volume off, listening to other stuff.

I don't think it's bad or anything, but +60 hours of continuous YE YO YU YA chants would drive me insane, I was sure.


Good thing SMT4 has taken a more classic approach.

[Raziel]

Originally Posted by Dag

This game has the dubious honor of being the only I completed mostly with the volume off, listening to other stuff.

I don't think it's bad or anything, but +60 hours of continuous YE YO YU YA chants would drive me insane, I was sure.


Good thing SMT4 has taken a more classic approach.

Well those are mostly fanservice jingles on the website, nothing really indicative of the final soundtrack.

[Eirikr]

Originally Posted by Dag

This game has the dubious honor of being the only I completed mostly with the volume off, listening to other stuff.

I don't think it's bad or anything, but +60 hours of continuous YE YO YU YA chants would drive me insane, I was sure.

Now I face out I hold out
I reach out to the truth of my life
Seeking to seize on the whole moment to now break away
Oh God let me out Can you let me out
Can you set me free from this dark inner world
Save me now Last beat in the soul

[Dag]

Baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby.......


For the record I think the main battle theme was pretty good and used the YE YO YA well. They should have saved the chants to punctuate certain tracks rather than define the whole thing I guess.

[Eirikr]

Originally Posted by Dag

Baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby baby.......


For the record I think the main battle theme was pretty good and used the YE YO YA well. They should have saved the chants to punctuate certain tracks rather than define the whole thing I guess.

I agree. Something more dynamic would have been cool too, such the chanting getting louder or more pronounced as you approach the boss room of each dungeon. Strange Journey just needed...more, is all. I think I've eaten pizzas with larger budgets than it had.

If SMTIV keeps all the legacy title screen themes from the website, and those couple teasers of what appear to be the game's original themes, then we're definitely talking a larger and more varied soundscape. Need that Soul Hackers trailer now.

[DanteLectro]

I was surprised by this soundtrack as this synthesized orchestra approach is very different from Meguro's previous SMT techno soundtracks. It's fresh, inventive and works on its own as well. Still recognizably his style with SMT's dark occult punk feel. He's usually very innovative with vocals (see Nocturne too), i would even call him a visionary avant-garde composer.

My favorites are tracks 6 and 8.

[Vargas123]

Man, i would give this a score of 3/5. I hate this type of music for videogames. But in the case of Strange Journey, i guess it fits well, it can't be helped.

I think orchestra and symphonic music are VERY unfitting for videogames, i would leave these just for actions movies, don't cha think?

[Eirikr]

I would love to see an action movie where a soundtrack like Strange Journey's would be appropriate for it. Or another Strange Journey. You know, while I'm wishing big.

[DanteLectro]

This is still very much video game music. This conspicuous sound and catchy loopy saturated structure would not work in movies. IMHO.

[Eirikr]

Originally Posted by DanteLectro

This is still very much video game music. This conspicuous sound and catchy loopy saturated structure would not work in movies. IMHO.

Sure. But remove the looping and put it in a movie that matches the mood of any given depressing, oppressive track in the game. A movie for no one!

[waxattax]

Sounds like a movie I'd enjoy not watching. I'd be all about its soundtrack, though.

According to my Play Asia account I ordered this 7/3/10 along with OSTs for Bayonetta, Okami and Meguro's own DDS Avatar Tuner 1&2 Integral. Pretty sure if VGMdb were to rank those four Strange Journey would come in last (actually I just checked- I was right though not by the margin I expected). Yet up until about two years ago Strange Journey was the only one of this batch I had opened and listened to.

As much as I enjoy SJ's OST I understand why even those that agree recommend hearing it in game first. That funeral dirge played at the outset of each mission implying a high probability of failure works brilliantly in game. Hearing that same dirge before leaving home every bright new day full of potential? Not so appealing.

Too late now of course, but I wonder how I would have felt about this music had I heard it on its own first. I also wonder if Dag would truly be insane if the sound hadn't been turned off. Maybe after three playthroughs I'm too insane to realize just how insane I am now but... Wait a minute. How... would I... know..? I... guess that would make it impossible for me to figure out. Huh. Um... Uh-oh? Hey, maybe no one should listen to this OST under ANY circumstances (fantastic as it is).

[MiLO]

Originally Posted by Eirikr

Sure. But remove the looping and put it in a movie that matches the mood of any given depressing, oppressive track in the game. A movie for no one!

A movie for those who like weird stuff. Japan is full of weird stuff. So it's a movie for Japanese!

[Vargas123]

Am I the only one who thinks Strange Journey could have been an awesome 3D computer-animated sci-fi series?

[MiLO]

Why specifically 3D? ..well I guess it could be good like Knights of Sidonia.

[Vargas123]

Well, not SPECIFICALLY 3D, that's right. Also, it could be something like Evangelion, Macross, or Cowboy Bebop...

[Dag]

Actually the game was reportedly inspired by movies like The Thing, so I'm sure it'd fit in some kind of eldritch abomination horror movie.

Certainly not the music I wanted to hear every morning while going to work tho :X

[Raziel]

Does anyone know which sample library was used for the vocals?