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  #1  
Old May 14, 2011, 12:38 AM
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Medina Medina is offline
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Okay, I really want to know where the catalog number comes from. I can't see it anywhere on the packaging, and I've searched out some pictures even in eBay auctions and stuff. I haven't got a very clear shot at the discs but I can't make out any part that would read SQ108 (which is a really odd catalog number for an NTT Publishing release).

I see this number listed in a few other sites, but Daryl's Library explicitly says "No catalog number". A part of me feels that this number was just misinformation that started in one place and spread else where... but I guess Daryl's Library could be wrong.
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Old Sep 21, 2014, 09:02 AM
fahlim003 fahlim003 is offline
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Originally Posted by Medina View Post
Okay, I really want to know where the catalog number comes from. I can't see it anywhere on the packaging, and I've searched out some pictures even in eBay auctions and stuff. I haven't got a very clear shot at the discs but I can't make out any part that would read SQ108 (which is a really odd catalog number for an NTT Publishing release).

I see this number listed in a few other sites, but Daryl's Library explicitly says "No catalog number". A part of me feels that this number was just misinformation that started in one place and spread else where... but I guess Daryl's Library could be wrong.
The code is directly from Squaresoft's US catalog which usually came with their games. This particular case is from reverse of the 2nd poster (blow-up of the cover art) from Final Fantasy 3 on Super Nintendo.


It also shows the code for the Secret of Mana soundtrack, SQ107.
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Old Sep 21, 2014, 09:42 PM
Hellacia Hellacia is offline
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How much meaning does that number have though? I ask because the "catalog number" of sorts for Final Fantasy II, the SNES game, is SNS-P-F4. It says it on the back of the box, as it does for just about every SNES game in existence I'm pretty sure. Its catalog number certainly isn't SQ104... which is what this magazine will have you believe.

These numbers seem to be the magazine's way of keeping track of items in stock, but I don't think the numbers should be given any official relationship to the products themselves. The numbers are nowhere present on any of the packaging for this album. This is the exact same case with all those other Nintendo albums, like the XXXX-WinterXX albums - it was discovered that these were just numbers in a magazine somewhere, and not really on any of the soundtracks themselves. I don't agree that these should be considered real catalog numbers.

Last edited by Hellacia; Sep 21, 2014 at 09:45 PM.
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Old Sep 22, 2014, 08:47 AM
fahlim003 fahlim003 is offline
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Originally Posted by Hellacia View Post
How much meaning does that number have though? I ask because the "catalog number" of sorts for Final Fantasy II, the SNES game, is SNS-P-F4. It says it on the back of the box, as it does for just about every SNES game in existence I'm pretty sure. Its catalog number certainly isn't SQ104... which is what this magazine will have you believe.

These numbers seem to be the magazine's way of keeping track of items in stock, but I don't think the numbers should be given any official relationship to the products themselves. The numbers are nowhere present on any of the packaging for this album. This is the exact same case with all those other Nintendo albums, like the XXXX-WinterXX albums - it was discovered that these were just numbers in a magazine somewhere, and not really on any of the soundtracks themselves. I don't agree that these should be considered real catalog numbers.
The SNS-P-F4 code is the catalogue number for Nintendo since they handled production of all software on the system. Doesn't mean Squaresoft cannot have their own identifier.

It's a valid argument although as you said there is little identification on the album otherwise. The Japanese PSCN-5001~3 has many places for id and codes, even the inner ring of each CD has it's code etched/printed. I imagine the difference is since Squaresoft did the bulk of the work in releasing the soundtracks Stateside, while giving credit to NTT who did most of the work originally on PSCN-5001~3.

What it boils down to is finding a US presser of discs (Zomax Optical) and creating a localized package (plausibly done by Squaresoft).

Some codes from various Kefka Domain inner disc ids:

Example A
disc 1 - ZOMAX OPTICAL-PLYMOUTH MN-Z10649 0BGR2<1005>
disc 2 - ZOMAX OPTICAL-PLYMOUTH MN-Z10650 0BVT1<1005>
disc 3 - ZOMAX OPTICAL-PLYMOUTH MN-Z10651 0BVU1<1005>

Example B
disc 1 - ZOMAX OPTICAL MEDIA-PLYMOUTH MN-Z10649 X5830A IFPI L231
disc 2 - ZOMAX OPTICAL MEDIA-PLYMOUTH MN-Z10650 X5801M IFPI L231
disc 3 - ZOMAX OPTICAL MEDIA-PLYMOUTH MN-Z10651 X5829L IFPI L231

As seen, a unique and recurring id here is Z10649~51. This could be valid since other soundtracks like Smashing Live - The Nintendo Power Smash Bros Melee Promo Orchestrated CD identified by VR1799 which is also found on the underside of the inner ring. Is this good enough? I'm not sure as there is no alternative in identifying pardon nothing at all.

In this case, the codes SQ### are provided in Squaresofts ordering catalogue from Squaresoft. It's their own identification, likely for inventory purposes and not necessarily for absolute identification. Having said that I'm ok with the catalogue method as it stands since it's some id versus none.

Last edited by fahlim003; Sep 22, 2014 at 08:52 AM.
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Old Sep 22, 2014, 11:34 AM
Hellacia Hellacia is offline
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There's really not a need to have a catalog number though. It doesn't make the entry better. I don't think we should go looking for any catalog number we can possibly find. "Some ID versus none" doesn't really matter. Also, in one instance we went with no catalog number versus the pressing plant number on the ring of the disc (see seanne's post near the bottom of the discussion). Of course this isn't a very common trend, many times I see people posting to say they added the catalog number based on what's on the ring of the disc.

*shrug* I don't like adding catalog numbers like that. Random zany numbers on the bottom of the disc are just pressing plant stuff, they're not really numbers from a catalog. I guess the SQxxx numbers are literally numbers in a catalog, but they're so distantly affiliated with the disc that I hate to add them. But if we just had to add something, I guess it would be SQ108.

Last edited by Hellacia; Sep 22, 2014 at 11:37 AM.
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Old Jul 27, 2022, 01:35 AM
zierts zierts is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fahlim003 View Post
In this case, the codes SQ### are provided in Squaresofts ordering catalogue from Squaresoft. It's their own identification, likely for inventory purposes and not necessarily for absolute identification. Having said that I'm ok with the catalogue method as it stands since it's some id versus none.
Exactly this. Also, a belated thanks for those photos. It's amazing that things like this will be lost to time if people throw them away or never post them online.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hellacia View Post
*shrug* I don't like adding catalog numbers like that. Random zany numbers on the bottom of the disc are just pressing plant stuff, they're not really numbers from a catalog. I guess the SQxxx numbers are literally numbers in a catalog, but they're so distantly affiliated with the disc that I hate to add them. But if we just had to add something, I guess it would be SQ108.
Incidentally, by a discussion on the Secret of Evermore soundtrack, I just came upon a magazine ad that lists Kefka's Domain as SQ208, not SQ108. I think these Square Soft catalog numbers were up-issued internally at some point in time, I don't think SQ208 is a reprint.
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Old Sep 1, 2022, 01:55 PM
zierts zierts is offline
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This is going to be a megapost on our FF6 track lists.

I just found a track list scan for the Kefka's Domain album on Discogs that I added as "booklet" here (left out page numbers as I can't confirm them). Checked track list 8336 and there are no discrepancies in it. Unless you want to count the fact that the scan uses Unicode rather than ASCII characters (it's only 2.13 The Empire “Gestahl” and 2.14 Devil’s Lab).

More coming later.

Edit: Okay, done. The Kefka's Domain track list is based on the English booklet track list of PSCN-5001~3 with the following track titles changed (mostly minor punctuation and grammar fixes, and also replacing proper names with the US version's): 1.02, 1.04, 1.07, 1.08-1.09, 1.13, 1.15-1.16, 1.19-1.20, 1.23, 2.01, 2.08-2.09, 2.13-2.14, 2.18, 2.20, 3.07.

And it is in itself the base for the digital release (iTunes and Spotify) track lists 75655 and 75659, which further revised *many* track titles compared to the Kefka's Domain album (again some punctuation stuff and turning them into more of a cross between the Kefka's Domain titles and a literal translation from the Japanese with US proper names, plus one additional US proper name for the Veldt): 1.01, 1.04-1.07, 1.10-1.11, 1.13, 1.15, 1.17-1.18, 1.20, 1.22-1.23, 2.01, 2.02, 2.08-2.20, 3.01, 3.03-3.04, 3.06, 3.08, 3.11-3.13, 3.15.

After correcting the Neshe/Narshe typo, the only discrepancies between our track lists 75655 and 75659 left were 2.12 and 2.16. I'm fairly certain that 75655 is actually based on the iTunes track list as well (Efendija probably didn't know that and changed 2.16 in error; 2.12 could be taken from the booklet track list), so I synchronized the two. 75655 could thus be deleted from the database and replaced with a linked version of 75659 in SQEX-10387~9 (I added to the note field that the Remaster Version wasn't released on iTunes so as not to confuse readers with the track list title "English (iTunes)"). Or you could not display this track list on SQEX-10387~9 at all and just delete my note, your call. I don't feel strongly either way, I just wanted to clean this up a bit and avoid redundancies.

And to cap it all off, the discrepancies between iTunes and Spotify are: 2.08 (Aria di Mezzo Carattere / Aria Di Mezzo Carattere), 2.10 (Grand Finale / Grand finale), 3.04 (Rest In Peace / Rest in Peace). There's still a typo in 2.14 in both (Mgitek Research Facility). They're obviously meant to be the same with some hasty transcription, but the iTunes one generally looks better.

Last edited by zierts; Sep 1, 2022 at 02:38 PM.
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