Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramza
I often wonder what would've happened if Noriko Matsueda hadn't left VGM.
I imagine she would've contributed to XIII-2 and Lightning Returns, helping bolster the jazzy side of those OSTs. I already love those soundtracks as they are, but they were collaborative efforts, and having Matsueda as part of that collab would've been amazing.
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+1 from me. On the other hand, XIII-2 not only showcased Mizuta's strength but also allowed Suzuki to really come into his own.
Ah, the subject of this thread is actually something I admittedly think about all the time. In fact, I've already played two RPGs where I replaced the entirety of the soundtrack with other carefully selected music. It really improved the overall experience for me. Unfortunately it's really only effective when you can mute the music separately from other audio. I've got two sets of speakers in front of my TV, one for the game audio, one plugged into my PC. It might sound ridiculous, but for me, it's pretty important to have enjoyable music.
I first started putting serious thought into this because of--I guess there's no surprise here--Yasunori Mitsuda. (side note: because he's part of current discussions elsewhere, my opinion of him might be misperceived: he's really not my
best composer evar). I still play JRPGs regularly (what few there are that aren't straight-up action games, that is), but I've found that my favorite composers don't score them anymore. Take Mitsuda, for example: you've got some Inazuma Eleven games here and there, but he hasn't touched an RPG (that I would consider playing, anyway) for years. The last new RPG I played that he composed a reasonable amount of music for was Arc Rise Fantasia in 2009!
Mitsuda is just a convenient example. Many of the greats have either A) moved on to another field or B) been relegated to mobile composition. It's sad too, because there's just so many options out there. Let the younger generation of composers do all the mobile stuff: give the serious works to the experience composers. Perhaps that sounds a bit elitist, but maybe a bit of mentoring for the younger composers would help them reach their full potential. Just think of how many of your favorite composers have mentioned in an interview about being influenced by a resident senpai (pardon my rough usage of that term as an analogy).
I'd like to revisit this again, but off the top of my head:
Bravely Default. Producer Asano wants fantasy rock, does he? Ryuji Sasai is his man, and his recent collaboration with Square on SaGa 3 proves he's still in top form.
Drakengard 3 & NIER. Nobuyoshi Sano reinvented what a "game soundtrack" can sound like, and this is no hyperbole. His absence from the later Drakengard installments was painfully apparent.
Tales games. I mean no disrespect to Sakuraba fans, but Tales' soundtracks (and scripts, for that matter) need some life injected into them. I
made this years ago as an example of an Aoki/Kaida pair taking over the music.
Front Mission 4 + 5. Though I'd have preferred a solo Matsueda effort, any configuration of previous series composers would've been better than what we eventually got.