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Originally Posted by Spirit_Chaser
I already expect backlash from this list once I go more public with it because of certain soundtracks I know that have mass followings. I am aware of Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy (only had Mystic Quest in my list), and all those other games that receive grand praise, and though some came close they didn't make the cut for me and that's alright.
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I'm as much of a fan of JRPG soundtracks as the next guy, but most of them are so long that they inevitably have a lot of dud tracks in addition to the great ones, which would keep them off of my list too. More condensed works like Mystic Quest, Crystal Chronicles, Valkyrie Profile, and Baten Kaitos have all of that fat trimmed and make for better listening experiences start to finish imo.
The one sole exception I've found to this is Shin Megami Tensei IV. That soundtrack is massive and yet consistently high-quality. Recently we've been seeing these huge soundtracks productions with a lot of talent behind them, but it feels like there are too many cooks in the kitchen and no clear focus, whereas SMTIV is pretty much Ryota Kozuka's baby and you can hear his vision throughout. I really hope Atlus let him lead a project again (fingers crossed for SMTV).
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Originally Posted by Spirit_Chaser
Alien soldier is still the most deranged beauty that exists in video game history. The only other soundtrack I can think of that dared to take that far of a twisted approach is Evergrace.
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PREACH. I always considered Alien Soldier to be like the FM synth equivalent of Evergrace and I adore both. One more I'd put in that camp is Drakengard/Drag-On Dragoon 1. That soundtrack actually got a lot of negativity from people back in the day because of how unconventional it is and led to them changing composers for the rest of the trilogy, but nowadays I think more people are coming around to it.
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Originally Posted by Spirit_Chaser
Out of curiosity, what are soundtracks I didn't list that would make your cut?
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Aside from the ones I mentioned above: R4, Klonoa 1 (on par with Kirby 64 imo), Street Fighter 3rd Strike, Tales of Legendia (still far and away Shiina's best work) and Golden Sun. I'd probably wanna include Hirofumi Taniguchi in there somewhere as well, but I dunno which one I'd go with. Moon feels like cheating because of all the licensed indie music, so maybe Chulip?