NW10102500: VM JAPAN ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK

[isdapi]

Composer info from Staff Credits:

http://www7.tok2.com/home/bgr/pc18/vmjapan/vmjapan.html
http://jdk.sakura.ne.jp/games/vm_japan/staff_credit.htm

[niki]

One of the best post 2000 Falcom works to me <3

[jdkluv]

Originally Posted by niki

One of the best post 2000 Falcom works to me <3

Me too, I hope the game gets ported to PSP or something so we can get the equivalent of VMP/Zwei' 08/ Brandish: TDR fresh arrangements. (Doubt it, though!)

[Zethe]

The most unusual Falcom release. But certainly among their very best. love it.

[niki]

Still surprised at the elegance and power of this unusual soundtrack everytime I listen to it <3

[《J》]

Posting here the source of the VM Japan composer breakdown available at the notes (that I myself submitted), as requested by Dag at the Ys IV composer breakdown thread.

The source of the credits is actually... very strange, yet really interesting. It comes from the Chinese version of the VM Japan Power-Up Kit (which is some sort of expansion) - you see, the disc contains a text file under the folder "/VMJP/BGM/" called "BGMLIST.TXT". This is the content of said file:

;=====================================================================
;=== ＶＭＪ　ＢＧＭリスト ============================================
;=====================================================================

FileName	タイトル	JDKﾌｧｲﾙ		使われる場所				担当 	状態

VMS000.WAV		SVM001		エキスパ後半				白川	仮
VMS001.WAV		SVM002		メインメニュー				白川	仮
VMS002.WAV		SVM007		ワールドマップ				白川	仮
VMS003.WAV		SVM003		ゲーム設定				白川	仮
VMS004.WAV		PVM004		戦闘結果（勝利）				園田	仮
VMS005.WAV		SVM013		戦闘結果（敗北）				白川	仮
VMS006.WAV		PVM008		戦闘開始（ジングル）			園田	仮

VMS010.WAV		SVM014		フェーズ間ビジュアル（汎用）		白川	仮
VMS011.WAV		SVM015		フェーズ間ビジュアル（悲しい）		白川	仮
VMS012.WAV		PVM007		フェーズ間ビジュアル（緊張）		園田	仮
VMS013.WAV		HVM001		シナリオエンディング			服部	仮
VMS014.WAV		PVM010		フェーズ間ビジュアル（エキスパ）		園田	仮
VMS015.WAV		PVM012		フェーズ間ビジュアル（夕焼け）		園田	仮
VMS016.WAV		SVM012		フェーズ間ビジュアル（不穏）		白川	仮
VMS017.WAV		SVM020		フェーズ間ビジュアル（不気味）		白川	仮
VMS018.WAV		PVM013		シナリオモードクレジット			園田	仮
VMS019.WAV		SVM016		エキスパモードクレジット			白川	仮

VMS020.WAV		PVM001		竹林・桜（フェイズ１）			園田	仮
VMS021.WAV		PVM005		寺社・仏閣（フェイズ２）			園田	仮
VMS022.WAV		SVM002		鳥取砂丘（フェイズ３）			白川	仮
VMS023.WAV		HVM002		鍾乳洞（フェイズ４）			服部	仮
VMS024.WAV		SVM006		火山地帯（フェイズ５）			白川	仮
VMS025.WAV		HVM003		ムー大陸（フェイズ６）			服部	仮
VMS026.WAV		PVM006		各面共通ボス				園田	仮
VMS027.WAV		SVM004		聖帝陵（シナリオモードボス）			白川	仮
VMS028.WAV		SVM018		大豪雪地帯（EX前半）			白川	仮
VMS029.WAV		IVM002		鬼押し出し・花崗岩（EXボス）			石橋	仮

VMS030.WAV		SVM017		村祭（ミニゲーム用メニューなど）		白川	仮
VMS031.WAV		PVM011		華緒数応打（オセロ）			園田	仮
VMS032.WAV		PVM009		闇凧（モグラ叩きぽいもの）			園田	仮

VMS040.WAV				新モード通常戦闘（天下一武闘会）		園田	仮
VMS041.WAV				新モードボス（対マサカド戦）			服部	仮
VMS042.WAV				隠しボス（メルレット戦）			石橋	仮
VMS043.WAV				新モード用エンディング			白川	仮
VMS044.WAV				新モード用イベント				白川	仮

;---------------------------------------------------------------------

I can confirm this file is nowhere to be found in the Japanese version. The file was written in Shift-JIS code, so I suspect it to be resides by Falcom that *somehow* made its way in the Chinese version. Perhaps the Chinese publisher/distributor (T-Time Technology) had something to do with it?

Spoiler:

Disc 1:
01　??????　Alone in the Moonlight*
02　SVM002　Narrative of an Illusion
03　SVM007　Traveling Skies
04　SVM003　Warriors
05　SVM014　The Glory of Love
06　PVM008　Battle Flare
07　PVM001　The Eastern Cherries
08　PVM005　Rainy Landscape
09　SVM002　A Sandy Road Blown by the Wind**
10　HVM002　The Cave of Styx
11　SVM006　Distant Blazes
12　PVM004　Fasten Your Sandals After the Victory
13　PVM007　One Controlled by Black Magic
14　PVM006　Trouble Ahead
15　SVM013　Rainy Scene
16　PVM012　Into the Crimson Sky
17　SVM015　Yearning
18　??????　Wandering Together Down the Road of Demons***
19　?????? Master of Chaos -The Trial-***

Disc 2:
01　SVM012　Gathering of the Fates
02　HVM003　The Pagan Island
03　SVM020　Evil
04　SVM004　An Ill Omen
05　HVM001　An Elegant Banquet
06　PVM013　How They Flee When Night Falls
07　PVM010　VM March
08　SVM018　Battle Cry
09　SVM001　Alone in the Moonlight -Battlefield Version-
10　IVM002　Master of Chaos
11　SVM016　Farewell to the Seasons
12　SVM017　Through the Day
13　PVM011　Silent Battle -Chaos Strike-
14　PVM009　Attack the Villain
15　??????　Burning Sands**
16　??????　An Ill Omen -Indian Version-***

SVMXXX = 白川 = (Atsushi) Shirakawa
PVMXXX = 園田 = (Hayato) Sonoda
IVMXXX = 石橋 = (Wataru) Ishibashi
HVMXXX = 服部 = (Maiko) Hattori

*This one plays at the Opening FMV, therefore it has no composer code. It's pretty obvious that Shirakawa composed this, though - it sounds identical to his other contributions to the soundtrack.

**There are two tracks (Narrative of an Illusion & A Sandy Road Blown by the Wind) that share the exact same code (SVM002). This is actually an error - A Sandy Road Blown by the Wind was composed by Ishibashi. He confirmed so in a fan response through e-mail, and Shirakawa himself says it was written by "another composer".

It's very likely that A Sandy Road Blown by the Wind's composer code is actually IVM001. Too bad most websites (such as Ys Music Files) report otherwise.

***Those are bonus tracks exclusive from the OST, so they are not inside the game. As such, those have no composer codes.
· Wandering Together Down the Road of Demons: Perhaps the hardest one to guess. I'd say Shirakawa - reminds me to the Ruins -The Prop- arrangement from the Brandish MIDI Collection.
· Master of Chaos -The Trial-: As I wrote at the notes - "combines "Battle Flare" (by Sonoda) and "Master of Chaos" (by Ishibashi) into a single track".
· Burning Sands: Atsushi Shirakawa (confirmed).
· An Ill Omen -Indian Version-: An arrangement of An Ill Omen (duh). Pretty sure it's Shirakawa, as it sounds exactly like Warriors and Brandish 4's Opening.

The last five tracks (VMS040.WAV ~ VMS044.WAV) are from the VM Japan Power-Up Kit, which are not in the VM Japan OST. You can listen them here.

Personally I find all this very fascinating - not only it provides some interesting Sound Team jdk insight, but as well serves as an extremely useful resource for discerning other Falcom soundtracks. It also gives us a very good idea of the composers' (involved with this soundtrack) styles, like Sonoda's militaristic style for instance (this ≈ this ≈ this ≈ this ≈ this ≈ this ≈ this ≈ this ≈ this ≈ this ≈ this ≈ this ≈ this)

[Aifread]

Big thanks to Spirit_Chaser for the composer breakdown. So the only track that's unknown now is 1-19? Otherwise it seems we have complete credits, which I never thought we'd see from this era of Falcom.

[Chris Porter]

I added some images of the case front and back (sealed).