After years of listening to Breath of Fire III and other works by the title's two composers, Akari Kaida and Yoshino Aoki, as well as poking around on websites and reading interviews, I'm finally ready to engage in a serious discussion about each composer's specific duties.
I have revised my ideas a number of times, and while there's no way we'll ever come to a conclusive list of credits, I'd like to try and get us started. The reason I'm posting is to present my personal thoughts for each track of the BoF3 score, and then get opinions from everyone who is interested. Naturally, I'd like us to be able to come to a consensus on who composed what. There are three major methods I have used in the identification process:
1. Direct confirmation (interviews, personal websites--something from the composer themselves, or something officially credited in a game or on an album)
2. Similarity to a composer's previous or future works
3. Gut instinct (hey, I'm a composer too, I know what I'm doing
)
Before we begin, I think it's important that anyone who wishes to contribute should be strongly familiar with at least one of the two composers. Ms. Aoki's credentials are fairly transparent; there isn't a lot of guesswork in what she has done. On the other hand, much of Ms. Kaida's initial composition credits were done within a team, and, as we all know, Capcom hates its composers and doesn't like to individually credit them for their work. Below I will provide a decent list of material that is potentially available for readers' reference (some links included)--this is NOT a complete credit list for either composer:
Yoshino Aoki
Mega Man X3 (included this to avoid confusion, please read my post here)- Breath of Fire IV (includes two reprises from BoF3)
- Mega Man Battle Network 2, 3, and 6 (includes some arrangements of Akari Kaida's work)
- Shadow of Rome (ask me if you're interested in a game rip, as there is no official OST print)
- Mega Man Star Force 1, 2, and 3 (I added individual credits to the MMSF1&2 album, see here)
- Luminous Arc 2 (album)
- Genso Suikoden Tierkreis (see here for breakdown of the first OST print)
- Daletto World (see this video for a sample of the music)
- Shiki-Tei (see this video and this video for samples of the music)
- Yuusha 30 Sou (aka Half-Minute Hero, disc 2, track 30)
Akari Kaida
(
Personal Website - currently down)
- Rockman and Forte (Kaida is confirmed to have composed Groundman)
- Tricky Sliders (there is a sample on Kaida's website)
- Dino Crisis (album, track 31 "Abandoned Hope")
- Mega Man Battle Network 1 and 5
- Super Ghosts and Ghouls (gameboy advance port--Kaida evidently did some of the additional music)
- Onimusha 3 (album, disc 1 track 03 "Main Theme -Samonosuke's Theme-")
- Mega Man Battle Chip Challenge (in an interview Kaida says she did the battle music for this GBA title)
- Okami (album, 4 tracks)
- Luminous Arc and Luminous Arc 2
- Mega Man Star Force 3 (ask me if you're interested in a game rip, as there is no official OST print... yet)
Breath of Fire III OST (incomplete 1997 print)
Breath of Fire Special Box (complete 2006 print)
For this discussion, I will be using the complete 3 disc score as it appears on the Special Box. If you are listening to the .psf rip, be warned that some track titles are inaccurate and do not match what is listed on the Special Box version.
Below I will post the complete tracklisting along with my assumptions about who composed what. Afterward, the discussion may begin! Stay tuned!