I guess I get frustrated when the "hip, new sound" is chosen over tried-and-true staples of the field. I mean, I could have picked at least fifty composers that would have been a better choice than this one. I'm not suggesting that Sawano is bad or that he doesn't have room to grow, but he's quite young and perhaps isn't quite ready for a project of this magnitude (which is creatively helmed by masters of their craft who have been doing game design for over a decade).
It's sort of the same thing that happened with Xenoblade, I think. "Let's bill the lead composer as Yoko Shimomura, and then hire this cheap young person who hasn't worked on many games (Manami Kiyota) to do the majority of the music!"
I also struggle with whether or not it was Takahashi's call. The switch to Kajiura for Xenosaga Eps. 2 and 3, for example, was not his decision, but that of the new producer and director. Mitsuda was the sole composer of Gears, Saga 1, and Soma Bringer, the former two for which Takahashi was the main guy and the latter for which he served as producer. Then Xenoblade comes along, and evidently Takahashi has a change of heart. I hate thinking about what Xenoblade could have been if Mitsuda took a share of the game BGM, because it's kind of depressing. I really love a portion of the Xenoblade score, but it's not much larger than a fourth at most.
Then this comes along, and with it the chance to make amends. And who do we get. This guy? Really?
Of course, nextday is probably right in that there's a good chance Sawano won't be the only composer. For all we know we could hear ACE+ again. After all, when Xenoblade was first announced, it was only Shimomura's name we heard. This was only rectified when that (admittedly awesome) Iwata Asks was published.
Today I've been listening to the first Gundam Unicorn OST on youtube. Not doing much for me. And I'm actually reminded a lot of Kajiura: lots of sampled rhythm loops and random ethnic stuff from libraries. I even heard a string ensemble sample I remember from Growlanser 2, of all things. It's just really bare-bones stuff.
I'm going to reiterate... I could think of soooooo many composers better suited to a next-gen JRPG. It's not even difficult. Heck, if Takahashi was dead-set on getting an anime composer who had experience with mecha, even narrowing the field in that way there are still better choices. If I was the music director, and Takahashi told me to get a mecha anime guy, I'd of gotten Kouhei Tanaka. If he told me I had an unlimited budget, I'd of gotten Kanno.
Alright, I think I'm done ranting... for now.
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