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  #1  
Old Dec 23, 2015, 05:42 PM
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Info from here: http://www.famitsu.com/news/201512/16095452.html and this tweet https://twitter.com/SaGa25kawazu/sta...15134211899392

I think this is Yamashita's first time doing work for Square Enix. Kameoka retweeted the news so I'm assuming she's involved with the orchestrations as well.
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  #2  
Old Dec 25, 2015, 11:38 AM
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Now I'm super-psyched. This could be amazing...
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  #3  
Old Jan 19, 2016, 12:04 AM
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http://www.square-enix.co.jp/music/s...333.1354436092

sample! sounds goooooood
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  #4  
Old Jan 19, 2016, 11:13 AM
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So glad this is a CD and not a BluRay! Hurry up March! I need this music!!
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  #5  
Old Jan 27, 2016, 04:24 AM
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Website update with more great samples. 2 CDs and the Square Enix e-STORE also has a Kenji Ito Romancing Saga 2 solo piano CD as a preorder bonus (limited number of copies).

http://store.jp.square-enix.com/item/SQEX_10542_3.html

Last edited by cal; Jan 27, 2016 at 11:31 AM. Reason: typo
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  #6  
Old Jan 27, 2016, 10:47 AM
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ooh pre-ordering that thanks for the info!
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  #7  
Old Jan 27, 2016, 01:27 PM
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Are the RS2 piano pre-orders only limited to SQEX jp site?

Last edited by Argentis; Jan 27, 2016 at 01:32 PM.
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  #8  
Old Jan 30, 2016, 08:53 PM
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Oh my God, those samples are incredible. The brass in Coup de Grace! Aaaa! Preordered.
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  #9  
Old Mar 10, 2016, 09:08 PM
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Orchestration credits are up on the official site. Yamashita on disc 1, Kameoka on disc 2, and 1 track by Hamaguchi!

I can already see this being one of the best VGM albums of the year.
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  #10  
Old Mar 11, 2016, 08:36 AM
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I'm guessing that this is Yamashita elaborating on existing Hamaguchi orchestrations from Unlimited SaGa?
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  #11  
Old Mar 11, 2016, 10:03 AM
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That would make sense, yeah. An arrangement of arrangement.

Btw, here's the full crossfade for convenience (16m22s): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22621624/mix.mp3
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  #12  
Old Mar 13, 2016, 02:53 AM
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Awesome, thanks for sharing this - should tide us over till the release.
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  #13  
Old Mar 22, 2016, 09:31 PM
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For those that care, it's up digitally on the North American iTunes!
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  #14  
Old Mar 23, 2016, 07:37 PM
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"Yuki Taguchi" -> Yuko Taguchi, is the name printed as Yuki?
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  #15  
Old Mar 23, 2016, 07:56 PM
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My bad, typo. Thanks for catching that.
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  #16  
Old Mar 24, 2016, 04:19 AM
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there is no (orchestral version) in the tracklist actually (I had spoken of that useless redundancy on irc a while ago)
I wonder why it appears in that "official" english (it's from itunes, no?)

I think it's in lord of vermilion that they call devil king's henchmen Devil Lord, but in that "official" thing it's Sinistrals
I find it strange, it's really official? (official from square-enix japan or it's a guy at itunes who made the shit?)
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  #17  
Old Mar 24, 2016, 06:16 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Phonograph View Post
I find it strange, it's really official? (official from square-enix japan or it's a guy at itunes who made the shit?)
Pretty sure someone at Square Enix gives iTunes the tracknames, same with anyone else putting stuff up on there.
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  #18  
Old Mar 24, 2016, 07:39 AM
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it's sure that square enix gave the music (since itunes can't make it from a hat) but giving the english tracknames
being "pretty sure" doesn't mean it's true

recently, I saw the romancing saga 3 osv itunes version and tracknames are so wrong that I can't imagine square-enix naming tracknames like that
(like they never played their own game, so I have serious doubts about that "official" thing)
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  #19  
Old Mar 24, 2016, 12:34 PM
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I mean, it never stopped them from making wild inconsistencies when they offered official English track titles for the FF series, either. I use the SaGa series digital track names because that's all we've got outside of the couple of Theatrhythm DLC tracks they offered.

Also, they can't seem to decide if they want to stick with "Beat Them Up!" (re: original, separate English track listing off of the RS OSV) or "Battle 2" (the Japanese) which drives me batty. Make up your damn mind, SE localizers.
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  #20  
Old Mar 29, 2016, 08:19 PM
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Localization woes aside ... I just listened to this album 3 times today.

And I really want to know who gave it a rating other than 5. Not to pick on them ... I just honestly want to know ... what would have made this album BETTER for you? And/or, what orchestral albums are superior to this?

Outside of, maybe, the Jonne Valtonen stuff (Symphonic Fantasies etc), I don't think I've heard better symphonic-orchestra VGM. For me it tops drammatica, it tops all the DQ in the world. This is classy, exciting work. And a huge surprise. I love SaGa, I love the source material, but I figured it would come with flaws, with poor track choices, with vanilla arrangements.

NOPE. I am tickled pink by this one.
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  #21  
Old Mar 30, 2016, 02:13 AM
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personally, I won't give 5, maybe a 3.5 (and I'm kind)

when you hear samples on the site (separately) that sounds ok but in the actual album it sounds weird
about poor track choices, you have bad choices of saga frontier tracks
seriously, emilia and asellus? like the worst saga females in existence, even their scenario sux in game
there are better last battles than those ones (lute, coon)

also why the fuck there are 2 different orchestra sessions? cd1 is philharmonic prague, cd2 is victor studio
they couldn't make the whole recording with one orchestra? (or it was too expensive for them, I don't know)

aside that, I'm fine with tr.1-04,05,09 and tr.2-03 (+rs3 part of 2-04)
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  #22  
Old Mar 30, 2016, 05:54 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Phonograph View Post
also why the fuck there are 2 different orchestra sessions? cd1 is philharmonic prague, cd2 is victor studio they couldn't make the whole recording with one orchestra? (or it was too expensive for them, I don't know)
I can't read Japanese, but as far as I understood in this interview with Kenji Ito, the second orchestra session was recorded originally for Imperial SaGa.

Quote:
4Gamer:
 一方,ディスク2はこれまで商品化されていなかったサガシリーズのアレンジ音源とのことですが。

伊藤氏:
 ええ。一昨年の8月に「インペリアル サガ」のゲーム内で使用するアレンジ楽曲として日本で収録したものですが,ゲームには実装されなかったモノ です。曲名を見ると,けっこうおいしいのばかりが使われないまま残っていましたね(苦笑)。
 アレンジを担当してくれたのは,元プロキオン・スタジオのスタッフで,アニメ版「艦隊これくしょん」の劇伴 などを担当している亀岡夏海さんです。アレンジの手順は山下君のときと同じで,僕がどの曲を使うかを選んで アレンジをしてもらい,それを監修するという形です。
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  #23  
Old Mar 30, 2016, 12:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Phonograph View Post
personally, I won't give 5, maybe a 3.5 (and I'm kind)

when you hear samples on the site (separately) that sounds ok but in the actual album it sounds weird
about poor track choices, you have bad choices of saga frontier tracks
seriously, emilia and asellus? like the worst saga females in existence, even their scenario sux in game
there are better last battles than those ones (lute, coon)

also why the fuck there are 2 different orchestra sessions? cd1 is philharmonic prague, cd2 is victor studio
they couldn't make the whole recording with one orchestra? (or it was too expensive for them, I don't know)

aside that, I'm fine with tr.1-04,05,09 and tr.2-03 (+rs3 part of 2-04)
Much as I would LOVE an orchestral Coon final battle arrangement -- I wonder, do you think these orchestral versions help you to appreciate Emilia and Asellus more?

(personally, I'd like to have heard some environmental themes -- SO many town themes in that game, and many of them are great).

Also, I'm surprised you didn't mention 1-02. I thought that was an incredible medley of SaGa 2 battle themes. When the woodwinds keep up to the tempo during the standard battle theme ... I didn't think they would. I honestly was listening for it thinking "they'll slow down. They won't make it. It's impossible." And I don't care if they did it in post-production (which they very well may have done). It's just breathtaking how on-point those notes are. The precision of the chiptune, in orchestral form. So good.


EDIT/PS -- unrelated, I'll do packaging scans for this as soon as I can, unless someone beats me to it (Kirafreedom?)
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  #24  
Old Mar 30, 2016, 12:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Revoc View Post
I can't read Japanese, but as far as I understood in this interview with Kenji Ito, the second orchestra session was recorded originally for Imperial SaGa.
Yeah, the musician credits match with Imperial SaGa. Nice catch.
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  #25  
Old Mar 30, 2016, 01:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramza View Post
Much as I would LOVE an orchestral Coon final battle arrangement -- I wonder, do you think these orchestral versions help you to appreciate Emilia and Asellus more?
I hated their scenario when I played the game in 1997, I never replayed the game because it's one of the worst saga game ever made

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramza View Post
(personally, I'd like to have heard some environmental themes -- SO many town themes in that game, and many of them are great).
some themes are good but I wonder if it could render well with an orchestra
I like few themes (still for sf1: tomb of mu, travel theme, schoether, ultimate weapon, as for battle theme battle #5 has always been my fav)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramza View Post
Also, I'm surprised you didn't mention 1-02. I thought that was an incredible medley of SaGa 2 battle themes. When the woodwinds keep up to the tempo during the standard battle theme ... I didn't think they would. I honestly was listening for it thinking "they'll slow down. They won't make it. It's impossible." And I don't care if they did it in post-production (which they very well may have done). It's just breathtaking how on-point those notes are. The precision of the chiptune, in orchestral form. So good.

...
it could shock you but I never liked gb saga game music
at least, fucking ito made a medley of vanguard, rs3 will stay my fav saga game (followed by saga frontier 2, even if the end of gustave 13 is shitty)
as for remakes, rs2 looks good and I HIGHLY hope a rs3 remake (instant buy for me)
other remakes have no interest, but I hope if a rs3 remake is done that won't be a rs3d shit like that visual abomination aka adventures of mana
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  #26  
Old Mar 30, 2016, 03:02 PM
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Personally, I would give it a 3. High-quality orchestration, performance, and recording, but unambitious medley-based arrangements that don't expand much stylistically or melodically on their originals. There isn't any sort of arch to the album with medley after medley and two seemingly unrelated recording sessions. It doesn't justify the pricetag of 4100 JPY as the two discs could have been squeezed to one. I vastly prefer the more interpretative Romancing SaGa arranged albums, Final Fantasy orchestral albums, and even Xenogears Myth.
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  #27  
Old Mar 30, 2016, 06:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Phonograph View Post
it could shock you but I never liked gb saga game music
at least, fucking ito made a medley of vanguard, rs3 will stay my fav saga game (followed by saga frontier 2, even if the end of gustave 13 is shitty)
as for remakes, rs2 looks good and I HIGHLY hope a rs3 remake (instant buy for me)
other remakes have no interest, but I hope if a rs3 remake is done that won't be a rs3d shit like that visual abomination aka adventures of mana
Regarding the Game Boy SaGas -- yes, that does shock me. But to each his/her own, right? I was just impressed that they pulled off what they did with the SaGa 2 battle themes with such a large orchestra.

As for the games themselves ... yes, I am still crossing my fingers that the upcoming RS2 remake comes to the US (slim chances, but we can hope right?). But more importantly, indeed, RS3 deserves a good *2D* remake, I absolutely agree. I've played a rough fan-trans of it and loved what I did play. But it deserves a fair shake.

Now, if they *did* go 3D, it doesn't have to be the devil. I don't know your opinion of Minstrel Song, but I thought the cel-shaded characters were great.

~~~

To Chris: unambitious, eh? I suppose you and I have different definitions of the word. Not in terms of a scalar "okay you've reached ambitious," but more like ... what is ambitious and what's not?

I suspect what you're saying is that these are vanilla transcripts, that it doesn't move far from the source material. The opposite of what we find with the Boecker crew (Jonne and Roger). And that's ... sometimes true. But when I think of ambitious, I also think about what the arrangers are willing to push the performers to do. Many arrangers will hold back on tough parts to get through the recording more quickly, so as not to strain the performers (who, sadly enough and probably due to a lack of funding in orchestras / unions, aren't keeping their talents sharp). But these arrangements pushed whole sections of musicians to do things that normally one wouldn't do.

In fact, I will argue that Kameoka DID do this on disc two. In my opinion, Natsumi Kameoka is guilty of dumbing down low string and low brass for the sake of simplicity in MANY arrangements. Kosuke Yamashita wasn't afraid to push, and I think that pushing came with its own rewards.

That said, I did notice right away after I ripped the audio to my PC that the two discs combined were 75 minutes and I just wanted to slap SE. Make it one disc, even if they were two separate recording sessions!
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  #28  
Old Mar 30, 2016, 06:10 PM
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DUBBLE POST!

I'm working through the scans. The first two I put up were front and back of obi.

Obi's back side has two codes to input somewhere... one for PC, one for GREE.

I'm *guessing* the first would be in-game content for Imperial SaGa and the other would be in-game content for ... RS2 remake? Or a ring tone or something?

If someone could do the translation and find out what the codes are for ... If I have no use for them, I can PM my codes to someone.
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  #29  
Old Mar 30, 2016, 06:34 PM
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I agree that Yamashita's arrangements were majestically orchestrated and made the most of the performers. However, I felt they generally failed to add much depth to the originals in terms of musical content or emotional depth. I don't mind conservative arrangements if they expand on the originals in some way as with most of Final Fantasy's or Monster Hunter's orchestrations. But in this case, almost all arrangements are endless medleys that rehash the originals with vastly superior orchestration. I would describe the album as a 75-minute orchestral medley rather than a 75-minute symphonic experience.
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  #30  
Old Mar 31, 2016, 03:10 PM
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- Removed "(Orchestral Version)" from all of the JP tracks, as Phono stated earlier, it's nowhere on the physical product at all. Physical trumps digital, if someone wants to add a Japanese (iTunes) tracklist that includes them, go ahead. Even the English (iTunes) version doesn't have the (Orchestral Version) tag on some of the tracks (102, 104, 105).
- Changed '-' separator to '―' per inserts.
- Added - separator to the end of Emilia in Disc 1 M07

Shittiest English "official" tracklist I've seen in a while, great job SQEX. I'll post my English "unofficial" version in this thread when I'm done with it but probably won't add it as a tracklist.

- Renamed "English (official)" to "English (iTunes)"
- Removed "(Orchestral Version)" from Disc M02, M04, M05, they are not labeled as such in iTunes
- M03, part 1 is mislabeled in English as being from Romancing SaGa. It's from Romancing SaGa Minstrel's Song (did not update track title since it's a typo but added product information, see JP title)
- M05 should be "Final Battle!" not "Here and Now" but since it's "Official", I'm not changing it.
- M09 should be "Normal Battle Medley" not "Feldschlacht Medley" but again, not changing it as that is how it's in iTunes.
- Disc 2 M01 again should be "Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song", not just plain "Romancing SaGa"

Here's the tracklist I'm using, which is mostly formatting fixes (' - ' instead of ': ', ' ~ ' instead of ' - ' in series numbers [i.e., 1-3], added the ':' to Unlimited:SaGa, corrected all the notes above, etc):

Quote:
The Minstrel's Refrain - SaGa Series Medley 2016
In My Father's Footsteps - Battle Medley from Final Fantasy Legend II
We All Are Tested - The Ultimate Trial from Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song ~ The Emperor's March from Romancing SaGa 2 Medley
No Turning Back - Last Dungeon Medley from Romancing SaGa 1 ~ 3
Final Battle! - Last Battle Medley from Romancing SaGa 1 ~ 3
Fields of Valor - Battle Medley from SaGa Frontier
The Bewitching Traveler - Last Battle -Emelia- Medley from SaGa Frontier
The Curtain Rises - Opening Medley from SaGa Frontier 2
Days of Strife - Normal Battle Medley from SaGa Frontier 2
Beyond Limits - Unlimited:SaGa Medley

In the Mazewood's Arms - Claudia's Medley from Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song
The Mystics' Dream - Asellus's Medley from SaGa Frontier
Full Speed Ahead! - Vanguard's Medley from Romancing SaGa 3
Ultimate Glory - Battle 2 ~ Seven Heroes ~ Four Sinistrals Battle Medley from Romancing SaGa 1 ~ 3

Last edited by dancey; Mar 31, 2016 at 05:07 PM.
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