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#1
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Tracklist and samples for Disc 1 are up: https://www.jp.square-enix.com/music/sem/page/so2rost/
For a first listen, I don't sense any drastic changes to the original themes, which is a good thing as the original was really good on its own. Unsurprisingly, my favorite track from Disc One would be the regular battle theme, which really benefits from the upgrade and sounds like it came straight from one of those live concerts Sakuraba is known for. What bothers me is the brass in some tracks like "Walk over". It may be the low audio quality, but it does sound pretty MIDI-esque for my ears - at least it's not the brass sound I would expect from Sakuraba. |
#2
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That said, I'll have the game in my hands before the OST so I'll have the context fresh even though the pieces will probably be used in the same way. Also, just as a side note, I believe you can switch to the original OST in the game, so if you want the original OST when playing you can have it. Additionally, I think the remake is also using the voice acting/translation from the PSP version from what I saw. I get why you'd do that, but I actually wasn't the biggest fan of the new translation. I get it's leagues better than the PS1 version, but something about it didn't jell with me as much. Maybe it'll be different this time. Edit: Oh, I like what they did with "Mist Began to Form" and "Heraldic Emblem" - those are two of my favorites. I like that they left "Heraldic Emblem" mostly alone. I also like what they did with "Rescue operation" but I don't think anyone can top the OG. Also, am I the only one that's a little concerned that this music may overwhelm the VA in the game? Some of the instruments in these songs are pretty loud. I know can probably adjust this in the game but I don't think I've ever thought this prior to playing a game before. I know the music did drown out some of the VA in SO3 ("Requiem For A Saint" [A personal fave] was infamous for this) but that was eons ago. Anyway, thx for posting the link. Again, I haven't gotten the OST yet but I do feel my purchase is justified with only sampling 1/4 of the tracks. This doesn't look like a WA:ACF situation for me again. Last edited by Brad Evans II; Oct 31, 2023 at 07:44 PM. |
#3
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Tracklist and samples for Disc 2 and 3 are up! One more to go. From what I've heard I really like the arrangements, even if they stay pretty close to the original. Sounds like Sakuraba is staying in his recent Tales of comfort zone instead of experimenting with new sounds this time.
Sorry to be the one, but as far as recent Square Enix remasters went in terms of musical upgrade (Live a Live, the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series, etc.) I would have LOVED they included a few more live instruments, exept his usual prog-rock ensemble. I wonder if they didn't have the budget or if it was a directional decision. The music clearly would have benefited from that! Those voice samples of "Mist began to form" or "Theme of RENA" aren't really my thing to be honest. One of my favorites so far is "Dynamite", which benefits greatly to the original version. I never played the original game so I'm really looking forward on playing this release. |
#4
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As for the samples, I liked most of them but I was disappointed with "KA.MI.KA.ZE" and "Endlessly" - the latter being a buzz kill as I love the OG. I really dig what they did with "Field of Nede" as that wasn't one of my faves in the original. Oh, and at least they didn't mess up "Deadly hatred" as I love that one as well. |
#5
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Note the patch for the Switch appears to be *mostly* for other languages. It appears the entire game is on the cart, but there are rumors of a bug that may stop your progress without the patch. It doesn't sound like you'll always encounter it, but the patch will make you avoid it completely.
Dude, maybe putting "3GB patch *required*" on the front when it doesn't appear to be is a good way to scare people like me off. Edit: I got a little bit into the game, here are a few thoughts: The new music fits the game pretty well IMO; as much as I like the OG I can't imagine switching back at this point. I will say, like said before, I think the music can be loud and get in the way of the VA a little ("Pure a stream" for the first village proves this for me) but again, you can adjust it and it's not bad enough where it's giving me SO3 soundmixing flashbacks. I think the PSP translation/VA fits this newer version of the game better than the PSP port. Maybe all the graphical changes separates the game enough from the PS1 original enough for me not to be as critical in this regard? I will say I do like the combination of the 3D backgrounds with the OG sprites - it's just the right amount of new while retaining some of the charm of the OG game. Also, those new idle character animations were a nice touch - I don't think those were there originally. I don't feel the additions to combat (outside of spell animations not pausing combat anymore, mind you) are needed but they don't detract, so no harm no foul. I'm still only an hour or two into the game but I think they might have pulled this off. The whole think kind of indirectly reminds me LiveALive for some reason, but in this case I have some nostalgia for the game to begin with, which was unlikely with LiveALive. Also, man, I know ppl are probably sick of me brining it up, but man, if Alter code:F could have done something like this - man, the missed opportunity. I wish Sony would do something HD with Wild Arms 1 & 2 but that's probably not going to happen. Anyway, I'm liking it so far and I like that the music doesn't try and recreate the wheel like Naruke tried to do. The only thing that's a bit weird (with the OST; not the game) is the order of tracks kind of throws me off. Some tracks just come up much later than they did on the original release. The original tracklisting just must be engraved in my head. Edit, Edit: Ack, I see they changed the enemy composition on the one mountain. I guess I can't powerlevel there in this version. I should have known they'd fix that one. Last edited by Brad Evans II; Nov 3, 2023 at 02:14 PM. |
#6
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Just a note that'll probably be revealed when the tracks on disc 4 are announced - there are new tracks on here. I thought I heard that was said somewhere but I thought I was misremembering. I encountered one of them and... er... wasn't really impressed.
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#7
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As for the overall remake soundtrack, I'm not sure yet. Maybe I'm getting old lol but I'm not satisfied how most of the music turned out here. Maybe my expectations were higher knowing SE's capaticity of delivering high quality soundtracks (especially to unknown or mobile games, strangely, see LIVE A LIVE!). But maybe it's because I simply didn't play the original game so I have no identification with the BGM exept knowning the OST by standalone basis (which I really enjoyed and which is, next to SO3 my favorite OST in the series). And I totally agree with the old tracklist engraved in my heart as well lol. |
#8
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I'm a bit confused, I haven't heard "Breath of air" in the game yet; I did cross the sea over to another continent (which is were this plays in the OG) but there was just a loading screen between departing and arriving. Did I accidentally skip over it? I don't think I did as the advance scene/skip scene command isn't just a single button press. Hmmm....
Maybe it crops up later? Edit: If you have a choice between consoles, you may want to skip over the Switch for one of the others. Don't get me wrong, the game plays fine on the Switch (outside the horrendous pop-in of trees on the world map; at first I thought this was an esthetic choice, but no, it's only in the switch version - land masses and locations do not pop in however) but the game just looks smoother on the PS5 when I was looking at some footage. Last edited by Brad Evans II; Nov 5, 2023 at 06:47 PM. |
#9
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#10
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I was wondering if there was a steam release.
Still, the world map seems to be the only place were the Switch version seems to struggle IMO, which is a little excusable given the substantial upgrade to that part of the game. I'm sure the increased fps helps in every regard on the PS5 but I don't think combat is too harmed by the 30 fps cap on the Switch which is obviously the bigger deal given the combat is the game's main event. Also, I think the way you're meant to switch targets in combat on the Switch is crap, pressing down on the joystick mid combat does not feel intuitive at all to me; you're just better off manually moving towards your target and allowing (i.e. indirectly forcing) the target reticle to move over to your intended target and then reengaging with the attack buttons. However, I have to ask, have you heard the music yet Goldfish? What did you think? I get Mac's apprehension but I think some of that might dissipate if they get to play the game. Last edited by Brad Evans II; Nov 6, 2023 at 06:31 AM. |
#11
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English liner notes:
I decided to use the original audio files from STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY for this remake to make sure the music was as faithful as possible to the original game. However, getting my hands on said files was far from easy. Back then, when we made the game, we were working on PC9801 computers and using flexible magnetic diskettes. This time around we had to dust the cobwebs off those old machines and use the ancient software on there to try and convert the files for use on modern hardware. We succeeded in transferring some of the tracks this way, but not all of them. Ultimately, I wound up recreating the ones we couldn't salvage by ear. I swapped out the old sounds for their modern equivalents, trying to make them sound as close as possible to the original tracks. That said, they still ended up sounding a lot cleaner than the originals, so I used a plug in to make them sound a bit rougher. They still don't sound identical to the originals, but I hope players will enjoy them as new interpretations. There are also some pieces rearranged intentionally, and some that feature actual recordings of strings, guitars, bases, drums. I even composed some new tracks. While this is a remake at its core, there are new tracks and rearranged ones so I like to think it's just as accessible for those who have never played SO2 before. Equally, those who have experienced the original can enjoy the differences in the music while indulging themselves in some nostalgia. Motoi Sakuraba |
#12
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I think I encountered a few of the other new tracks, but they didn't really pop from the speakers. I'm not saying they are bad, but I kind of want to get my copy of the OST so I can get a more one-on-one moment with them. My copy of the OST did get delivered today, but I had to have it sent one state over as CD Japan doesn't ship to PO boxes (this gets bloody annoying....) so I'll have to wait until my sister ships it to me.
As for the game, I did get to the second half and yeah, this version is balanced quite differently than the original. Usually I don't bother crafting until I go into the final dungeon for the last time, but the increased health on monsters (which was probably done to counteract magic being a much more viable attack option this time) made me start crafting ahead of schedule. I LOVE the new animations for crafting as well - very cute. Also, prior to what has been said, some of the later spells do pause the action, but you can press a button to skip the animation and get back in less than a second. The game really reminds me of SaGa Frontier remastered a few years ago. I can't really envision playing the OG or even the PSP version anymore. I do think the last dungeon on the first half is better on the PS1 (it's kind of a iconic moment for that game) but most of the issues kind of seem like nick picks when they are put up to the improvements. Oh, and thanks for posting that bit from the liner notes. Yeah, listening to these tracks, they are so damn close to the originals in some ways I'm not surprised to read that's how they did it. I will say I am kind of stunned they still had that original equipment and data (some of it) lying around. Many companies just don't tend to archive things due to space limitations and the like and I get that. |
#13
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Makes sense that the originals were written on PC98 because the old Wolf Team was using a lot of the same Roland MIDI sounds for their PC98 games that would later end up in Star Ocean 2, Valkyrie Profile, and the Masaaki Uno-directed Camelot soundtracks. You can especially hear the beginnings of the late 90s Sakuraba everyone knows and loves in Hiouden II.
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#14
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I'm having to make a SLIGHT adjustment to the updated sound setup, but I'm loving it. I haven't gone track by track, but the favorites I've pulled out have all passed the smell test. It sounds pretty in line with what Sakuraba has done with the SO2 live and the Band Arrangement album (which I HIGHLY recommend). But overall, it probably warrants a side-by-side shootout as to which version is better. There isn't a clear-cut winner in most cases. I will say that some of the organ sounds I'm hearing might wear out their welcome in-game sooner than later, but hold up just fine for a quick listen (listen to the new Endlessly to see what I mean).
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#15
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Edit: Wow. "Beast of Prey" is really different now.... Last edited by Brad Evans II; Nov 8, 2023 at 04:56 PM. |
#16
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Anyway, near the end of the game. Apparently I was under leveled at one point cause I got curb stomped by a fight I had no issue with on the original version. It was weird tho. The one fight with three guys I had no problem then a little later a fight with two targets and BAM, brick wall. Anyway, thankfully it pretty damn easy to lvl now and I'm past that point. |
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