KDSD-10001~2: Atelier Iris ETERNAL MANA Original Soundtrack

Hellacia · #1 Apr 14, 2012, 05:23 PM

In the notes section, I added Mami Horie as a pianist in addition to being the vocalist in her respective tracks. Page 2 of the booklet just credits vocal, but page 4 credits vocal and piano, ヴォーカル／ピアノ. I believe it, because in our picture of her here she's leaning over a piano

I will take this opportunity to say that this is probably one of the most kickass game soundtracks I own a copy of. It is so much in the spirit of game music. These guys are geniuses, and I am going to at least check out the other Eternal Mana soundtracks.

jdkluv · #2 Apr 15, 2012, 05:36 AM

With Hellacia I completely agree, a bunch of geniuses (or should it be genii?!). The only flaw (well, it's still kinda weirdly cool) is the recording of one of the vocal tracks, you can hear coughing just at the end. Same with another Gust album, you can hear the guys in the studio having a good ol' laugh!

They were probably saying "We're so motherfudging awesome it's hilarious"

Hellacia · #3 Apr 15, 2012, 09:57 AM

HAHA, haven't listened to the whole thing yet - I'll listen for that. Though, I very, very rarely like vocal tracks, so it probably won't be a big disappointment for me.

Currently digging Lakeside, Fun Shopping in Kavoc, Witch's Forest, Flask Boy, and Small Studio, among other fantastic tracks.

aquagon · #4 Apr 15, 2012, 01:11 PM

It's good, but I don't think that it surpasses the soundtracks and vocal albums of the Ar tonelico series.

Phonograph · #5 Apr 15, 2012, 01:59 PM

only tracks I liked in atelier iris eternal mana were vocal/chorus ones
the rest has no interest to me, I could even say it's mainly boring (like ar tonelico, sorry for fanboys)

edit: byakuya and eternal eyes

Hellacia · #6 Apr 15, 2012, 03:08 PM

Ar Tonelico sounds like another good series of soundtracks. However, I've only heard bits and pieces of the first game's music, and the same goes for this installment of Eternal Mana, so I can't comment on either of the series' soundtracks as a whole. However, I do really love this soundtrack, there's just something so catchy about so many of the songs in this game.

Zethe · #7 Apr 15, 2012, 05:53 PM

It's as great as the SSH arranges.

Muzza · #8 Apr 15, 2012, 11:29 PM

Hellacia I agree, this is a great soundtrack. It's my favourite soundtrack release from Gust! It may just be because this was the first Gust soundtrack I ever listened to, but I find the tunes here fresh, engaging and all completely memorable. I haven't enjoyed a lot of Gust's new stuff unfortunately. I do think that the "it all sounds the same and/or childish" criticism some VGM fans have against the sound team is fair..

"Town Where the Bells Chime" remains the happiest song ever, I'm pretty sure. As for my favourite? Definitely "Small Workshop"! "The Forest Where the Witch Lives" is also good for a quick happy fix. One definitely needs to let their inhibitions go in order to fully enjoy this soundtrack!

Hellacia · #9 Apr 16, 2012, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muzza

I find the tunes here fresh, engaging and all completely memorable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Muzza

One definitely needs to let their inhibitions go in order to fully enjoy this soundtrack!

This is some well-said stuff here. It's unfortunate that their later work doesn't receive as much acclaim, though I'll check it out regardless, of course. Thanks for the input, it's cool we agree on the best songs in this soundtrack!

Ar Tonelico was my first Gust game, with Eternal Mana being my second, but I still prefer Eternal Mana's soundtrack (and I never got too far in either game). Ar Tonelico has all that really chanty stuff that just makes me roll my eyes sometimes...

It's basically a much more serious soundtrack, while this one is ten times more fun. I will take fun.

LiquidAcid · #10 Apr 16, 2012, 05:14 AM

Ar tonelico is one of my favorite soundtrack from Gust. Since I'm currently playing the game itself, I can say that it also works wonders ingame. Well, not for Phono maybe, but for me

Overall I think Gust always creates good scores when there is a collaboration between the composers. E.g. I found Atelier Rorona pretty lacking and I presume one reason is that Nakagawa was the only composer on the team. Once someone joins (like Yanagawa for Atelier Totori) there is a certain synergy effect that really shows in my opinion.

Phonograph · #11 Apr 16, 2012, 06:40 AM

actually, 5 or 10 years ago, I coulda liked that sort of soundtrack
but now, I can't bear anymore. I need more catchy songs (vocal and/or bgm)

LiquidAcid · #12 Apr 16, 2012, 07:02 AM

Hmm, I honestly don't understand what you mean by "catchy". Can you give an example?

I ask because IMHO the Gust soundtracks, especially this one, Eternal Mana, is full of catchy music.

aquagon · #13 Apr 16, 2012, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

Ar tonelico is one of my favorite soundtrack from Gust. Since I'm currently playing the game itself, I can say that it also works wonders ingame. Well, not for Phono maybe, but for me

And not only that: knowing the context in which these songs are used and their history and effects in the games is an essential part of enjoying them, since both the games' plot and the vocal songs are like pieces of a puzzle: you can't really understand well any of both until you see both together, and take the time to read their lyrics.

Zethe · #14 Apr 16, 2012, 09:30 AM

I may not understand them/am not able to put them into context due to lack of playing, but I like zem nonezeless (well, the non-vocals). :>

Hellacia · #15 Apr 16, 2012, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LiquidAcid

Overall I think Gust always creates good scores when there is a collaboration between the composers. E.g. I found Atelier Rorona pretty lacking and I presume one reason is that Nakagawa was the only composer on the team. Once someone joins (like Yanagawa for Atelier Totori) there is a certain synergy effect that really shows in my opinion.

I find this true for all collaboration soundtracks, actually. FFX is by far my favorite Final Fantasy soundtrack and it's for the very reason that Nobuo didn't compose the whole damn thing by himself. When he has to create a whole soundtrack of 90+ songs, there's always a large amount of them that just suck, and then there's his fantastic awesome stuff too. But with FFX, it's like he didn't have to overuse his creativity, and so there was way less suckage by him and the other two guys. Multi-composer soundtracks just kinda rule.

Also, there's definitely stuff from the first Ar Tonelico soundtrack that I really dig, I just had to take a stab at all the chanty stuff

It's still a good soundtrack though.

Xenofan 29A · #16 Apr 16, 2012, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellacia

I find this true for all collaboration soundtracks, actually. FFX is by far my favorite Final Fantasy soundtrack and it's for the very reason that Nobuo didn't compose the whole damn thing by himself. When he has to create a whole soundtrack of 90+ songs, there's always a large amount of them that just suck, and then there's his fantastic awesome stuff too. But with FFX, it's like he didn't have to overuse his creativity, and so there was way less suckage by him and the other two guys. Multi-composer soundtracks just kinda rule.

I feel the exact opposite. Multi-composer soundtracks rarely develop an individual identity in the way that a strong single-composer soundtrack does. I also felt that FFX's music, particularly Uematsu's work, was inconsistent in quality. FFVIII has some exceedingly bland music, but overall has a strong, coherent flow in the way thay FFX never did.

Hellacia · #17 Apr 16, 2012, 10:59 AM

Well, sure, that's a valid point, but to me that's really just saying that not all the music was done in the same style, e.g. with the same synth, with the same general feel... I care less about that than I do about how much I like each track on the CD. If, as you say, FFVIII has some exceedingly bland music, then what does it matter that the music has a coherent flow? That just means it has a coherently bland flow. The tracks on a CD may not blend with each other in multi-composer soundtracks, but in some ways I don't think it's a good thing that they do, because the overall work can become very stale.

This is generally speaking though, because obviously there are single-composer soundtracks whose greatness you just cannot deny (*cough*sagafrontier*cough*).

Xenofan 29A · #18 Apr 16, 2012, 04:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hellacia

Well, sure, that's a valid point, but to me that's really just saying that not all the music was done in the same style, e.g. with the same synth, with the same general feel... I care less about that than I do about how much I like each track on the CD. If, as you say, FFVIII has some exceedingly bland music, then what does it matter that the music has a coherent flow? That just means it has a coherently bland flow. The tracks on a CD may not blend with each other in multi-composer soundtracks, but in some ways I don't think it's a good thing that they do, because the overall work can become very stale.

No, actually, I find FFVIII to be full of great music. There are just a few tracks that I think exceedingly bland. Like you said, in any soundtrack that long, there are bound to be some uninteresting, throwaway tracks (except in our personal favorites...mine being Vagrant Story, of course).

Hellacia · #19 Apr 16, 2012, 04:48 PM

Vagrant Story is a pretty legit favorite. It's still growing on me, and I've heard it quite a few times now.

Ramza · #20 Oct 3, 2014, 07:57 AM

Hellacia -- I'm 2 years late to the party, but I want you to know that your packaging scans for this album are top-notch. They're the standard that other scanners should look for. The discs are especially good, rotated about as good as one can get with scanning. Thank you so much.

Hellacia · #21 Oct 3, 2014, 12:06 PM

Oh wow, thanks man. When I look at these scans now, I actually kind of cry a little inside just because I was using my all-in-one. About a year after I did these, I got an Epson Perfection. If I had scanned this album using that, man, they would look SO GOOD. But I did still put a lot of time into getting things straight and cropping them well. Discs in particular I spend a gross amount of time on, haha. So I appreciate that a lot

Ramza · #22 Oct 3, 2014, 07:35 PM

I put a lot of effort into my discs, but I'm still displeased with the work. The really nice thing about you getting the discs so good in this case is that they were full-color picture discs (something I really miss... so few soundtracks do it these days, I loved that as an LE bonus in the old Falcom days).

So ... yeah. Awesome work. And is there a model number for that Epson Perfection? I need to get something better than my current crappy scanner.

Hellacia · #23 Oct 4, 2014, 05:13 PM

I'm currently using the Epson Perfection V33. I'm thinking about upgrading to the V330, though for some reason it's more than double the price. The V33 gives nice scans and I got mine for $65 brand new at Amazon after shipping and everything. If you want I can show you some scans so you can see the quality and decide if you like it.

To anybody doing scans reading this post: do NOT be like me and bend your scanner glass by trying to get flat booklet scans. If you are pressing down on slightly larger booklets in order to get them flat so that the very inside will be scanned, you WILL tweak the glass a little. It will not look like it, and it won't ruin the scanner or anything, but it will cause your scans not to be straight on one alignment or another. Right now, if I put a completely flat single piece of paper down on the scanner and get it perfectly straight vertically, the horizontal alignment will not be straight. Doesn't matter how much I weigh the paper down, it's not getting straight on both alignments. So especially if you're buying a new scanner, don't do this to your scanner, please

BlazingAbyss · #24 Mar 23, 2025, 11:51 PM

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana -Bonus Sound Track CD-

Spoiler:

Notes
Some translations differ between the NIS America CD and the BGM player.
1.11 CD: "Moment of the Wind / BGM: "Moment of Wind."
1.31 CD: Shopping at Arcose / BGM: "Shopping in Arcose."
1.35 CD: "Popcorn" / BGM: "Operation Popcorn"

Sound Mode

Spoiler:

Notes
2.06 "Delaneri" is a direct translation, it's translated as "Duran" in the script.
2.14 "DO・TA!" was changed to "Do-da!"
2.24 "Duke of Stratosphere" was changed to "Duke of the Heavens."

Sound Mode (Organized)

Spoiler:

Notes
2.19 & 2.36 don't seem to be featured in the sound mode. They're listed as "Done!" and "Future" on the digital release. There's a track with the same name as 2.19 ("できた!") on the Atelier Resleriana OST, but I'm not sure if a translation for it is featured in said game.

Mac_Tear · #25 Apr 24, 2025, 06:12 AM

Altho I already updated the English tracklist to "semi-localized" a few weeks ago, here are the localized tracks from the Atelier Marie Remake DLC for comparison:

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana (Atelier Series Legacy BGM Pack)

Spoiler:

Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana (Atelier Series Legacy BGM Pack / Organized)

Spoiler:

Again, some minor differences between translations. "Little Boy" has become "Flask Boy" in both the DLC and the digital release, the "Far Hometown" digital release is translated as "Longing for Home" in DLC (as well as the OG sound test) and the obnoxious "Tower Forever Gone" has become "Tower of No Return", which sounds much more accurate. Same goes for "Beat of the Rumbling Earth" (Digital) vs "Ground Shaker" (DLC and OG sound test).

All in all, the Series Legacy DLC is almost identical to the original game's sound test, provided by BlazingAbyss here, with minor changes. "A Small Studio" (old) vs "A Small Atelier" (new) - again, more fitting hence the series' nature, or "Legendary Wings" (old) vs "Wings of Illusion" (digital) vs "Phantom Wings" (new), again the latter sounds best in my opinion.

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