I like this album. Much better than Distant Worlds II. I think the new arrangements are quite nice and the selection is diverse and sometimes unexpected. I didn't really look at the tracklist before I started listening and was surprised to hear the moogle theme (which I especially enjoy) and "Town" from the first Final Fantasy arranged. "Fight with Seymour" and "Force Your Way" were also pleasant surprises and came out pretty well.
My complaints are mainly that I want more original stuff. That instead of something like yet another "Zanarkand" we could have had "Eternal Wind" or something else really good that's been underperformed. Something on the same level as "Troia" (which is great to have performed finally, though I think it could have been done more robustly), another standout that has somehow gone mostly un-arranged after all this time. Maybe they fear too many people wouldn't know Final Fantasy III. Also, "Eruyt Village" could have made a great ensemble arrangement but instead they did the solo FFXII Piano Collections version. I know it's more expensive and time-consuming to make something new than play something old though and it may not have been possible.
So this album isn't everything I'd like it to be, but it is very pleasant otherwise and the price isn't steep. Of course you can listen on Bandcamp before you buy (note, the FLACs there are 24-bit/96 kHz) to see for yourself. The recording sounds very nice too; when I started listening I thought it was a studio recording, but no, it's a concert. Alexandre Goyette complained on the Google Play store, "Background noise very irritating especially in The Promise..." I think what he's referring to is Arnie breathing too close to his violin's microphone (something I've heard on other studio albums, actually). It's just a couple tracks where you can hear anything like that, otherwise the players and the audience are very quiet and everything sounds fantastic.
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