[Chris Porter]

Can someone help me solve a mystery? Please read my account comparing this bonus item "arrange" version with the game's retail original soundtrack and let me know if you've heard of other albums that are guilty of this. Thanks!

I picked up this album on Yahoo Japan Auctions because it says it is an "Arrange Soundtrack", and I picked up the Complete Original Soundtrack (LACA-9013~4) from Amazon. Obviously, I was expecting this arrange album to contain different versions of every track compared to the original soundtrack release. However, that's not the case. Only four tracks out of twenty seven have any differences at all. Here are my findings concerning the differences between the two albums.

・First, all of the tracks on this arrange soundtrack are mastered to be much, much lower in volume than the same tracks on the original soundtrack.
・Except for the tracks I'm going to list below, all of the tracks on this release are identical to the original soundtrack. Any difference of a few seconds in track length is just extra silence at the end of the track.
[Now onto the tracks that are actually different]
・Disc 1, Track 10: They are in a different key; the original soundtrack version has a 9 second piano intro that isn't in this album's version; the original soundtrack has staccato strings come in at about 0:56, which aren't present in this album's version.
・Disc 2, Track 1: The version on the original soundtrack is the full version at 4:50 in length, the one on this album is 3:31 in length.
・Disc 2, Track 6: The original soundtrack version is arranged for acoustic piano and flute (or perhaps synthesized whistling); this albums version is arranged for synth bass, drum kit, harmonica-sounding synth, and another lead synth; also, the version on this album includes a key change at the loop, whereas the original soundtrack version just ends before it loops.
・Disc 2, Track 15: the version on this album is arranged for electric piano and strings, and a sparkly synth comes in about halfway through; this version also doesn't loop; the original soundtrack version is arranged for solo acoustic piano and loops once before letting the final note fade out at the end of the second playthrough.

Note: the final six tracks on the original soundtrack release are arranged tracks. These are completely different from the corresponding tracks on that album. None of those clearly marked arranged tracks from the original soundtrack release appear on these discs.

What do you think? What's going on here? Is this, or was this, common to bill something as an arrange album when it was packed in with the game but there only being a few tracks with any differences? And what's up with the very quiet mastering job? The original soundtrack version was released just two months after this game/album came out.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!