VGCD-0021: DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~Avatar Tuner~ 1 & 2 Original Sound Track:...

[Kaleb.G]

I added a track list guide for people comparing this album to the stand-alone albums for the two games. All my comparisons are based off the #gamemp3s rips. I left out minor differences that couldn't possibly be confused (ex. "Heat" = "Heat's Theme" when those are the only tracks that have the word "heat" in them), but I made sure to list the really important differences (ex. the "Heroic Battle"/"Epic Battle" swap between the two albums).

Also, there are very minor track length and volume differences between the three albums, but nothing noteworthy, except that extended version of "Pray" on the stand-alone DDS1 album. Actually, I would like to note the stand-alone DDS2 album has an annoying habit of putting 1~2 seconds of silence in front of every track, and it seems the start of the tracks are clipped by almost half-a-second as well. This is not the case with the Integral album.

[Kaleb.G]

Also, I want to track down that Rare Devil track, if anyone has it, please?

[Dag]

Ok here is the MP3, in its unaltered glory: http://www.multiupload.com/P2MLUXS976
Unfortunately I don't have the WAV.

Quick list of missing tracks just because:
- Hideout of the Chickens / first movement (ominous track that plays before it)
- Sweet Home / first movement (shorter, simpler version of 1-30 that plays a bit before it)
- Man's Tomb / variation (minor variation)
- Man's Tomb Second Movement / variation (ominous track)
- Spider String The Second Movement / variation (this is fragmented in the game, it's missing the last part without the main riff)
- Hunting / riff variations @~35s (you can hear two in 2-18, one more when 2-19 fades. The game would use one variation per battle, and there were 5, though Hunting -Surprise- doesn't have variations and only uses the first riff from the OST. I looove this track so it's a pity they didn't include all).
- DDS2's Rare Devil Battle (the mp3 above, plays in special battles)
- Tower of Reunion / first movement (alternate version of 3-23, plays before it, very similar though)
- Two mostly ambient/ominous town themes.
- Time Capsule / ending song (included in a single)
- A few (5-10) minor cutscene tracks, from both games (I think DDS1 only missed a couple, some may be considered SE > ex.- VS Ravana 2)
Pretty disappointing since they had enough space to put them.

The track order is all wonky too (I think if they spreaded/mixed better the cutscenes and battle themes it would be a better listen) and not all tracks loop fully. Bah.


Plus "Blade" (2-09) is "Sicily" arranged from Maken X and Shao, never fails to amuse me.

EDIT: in this AMA some gentleperson asked Meguro about Blade/Sicily:

Spoiler:

BeatrixDavis123: There's a song in Digital Devil Saga (Blade) that sounds very similar to Maken X (Sicily), was the song reused for a purpose?

Meguro: You nailed it. In Maken X you use a sword (Ken) as you do with DDS (Blade).

[Kaleb.G]

Thanks for that track! Too bad this album's not complete, but at least we weren't stuck with only the 1-disc albums.

[Myrkul]

It seems like the Lyricists credits are incomplete & wrong on this entry.
They can be found on the booklet so should be easy to fix.

[CHz]

They sure were. Not sure how Meguro got credited for that, but I fixed it.

Reading of 羽月 美久 as Miku Hazuki is confirmed through DDS2's credits: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuxY4CFRWcY#t=4m30s.

[Alcahest]

And another thanks for the Rare Devil track!

[MatsuuraVI]

The page for the "Rare Devil track" (listed on the page as "Promotional BGM for Digital Devil Saga 1") moved to:
http://5pb.jp/records/sp/dds/dds.html

though the links for the files themselves didn't get updated. Here they are:
WAV: http://5pb.jp/records/sp/dds/DDSWV.zip
MP3: http://5pb.jp/records/sp/dds/DDSMP.zip

[Phonograph]

but chz, let's see, the game logo has an interpunct
since according to that milo game logo is the SUPER MEGA BEST REFERENCE OF DEATH THAT KILLS DEATH (cf. panzer dragoon zwei thread)

so in all logic, it should be used ;pppppp

[MiLO]

Yeah I guess interpunct should be used since it's on printed material (on front cover in particular).

So it would be this: アバタール・チューナー

[CHz]

The game title has an interpunct but the album title doesn't.

[MiLO]

Oh yeah that's true. The game logos (on Front cover) are just game logos. While the actual [Japanese] album title doesn't have interpunct in it. Obi reference.

[Raziel]

It's sad that we will probably never see a magnum opus of this scale from Meguro anymore.

[layzee]

Originally Posted by Raziel

It's sad that we will probably never see a magnum opus of this scale from Meguro anymore.

I blame Persona.

Peak Meguro indeed.

Give us just one Avatar Tuner-focused live concert. Please.

[Dag]

I'm sure Meguro sleeps much better now. I remember reading he wanted the other sound team guys to grow so he purposedly reduced his output.

[Aifread]

Meguro never really had the SMT sound in my opinion. Even Nocturne felt far removed from the groundwork laid by Tsukasa Masuko, Toshiko Tasaki, Hidehito Aoki, et al. I don't think I realized that until Ryota Kozuka reminded me what SMT sounds like. Dunno what's going through the minds of the Atlus execs to not let that guy write more than a handful of tracks per game after he's given them two of the best OSTs the series has ever had.

[Sir_Hobo]

Originally Posted by Aifread

Meguro never really had the SMT sound in my opinion. Even Nocturne felt far removed from the groundwork laid by Tsukasa Masuko, Toshiko Tasaki, Hidehito Aoki, et al. I don't think I realized that until Ryota Kozuka reminded me what SMT sounds like. Dunno what's going through the minds of the Atlus execs to not let that guy write more than a handful of tracks per game after he's given them two of the best OSTs the series has ever had.

Well, Kozuka did entirely direct the music for all three Persona Dancing games, so Atlus clearly values his work. The music in the teaser for SMTV clearly sounds like his style again, too. Seems like he's getting plenty of well-deserved recognition to me. I definitely agree that Kozuka nailed the SMT sound better than Meguro, as much as I love Meguro's work.