VGMdb
Go Back   VGMdb Forums > Discussion > Video Game Music Discussion
Register FAQ Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #31  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 01:38 PM
PerfectZer0's Avatar
PerfectZer0 PerfectZer0 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 115
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phonograph View Post
people have no more the right to hate? you just have to like?
it's not very wise to think that, it's because of that sort of thinking there are wars in the world (imposing a way of thinking)
I'll say it again

Anyone who bashes Felghana's OST is a friggin moron.
__________________
http://vgmdb.net/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=4762&dateline=1296370  437
Reply With Quote
  #32  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 03:27 PM
Xenofan 29A Xenofan 29A is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 609
Default

Are you going to back up that opinionated statement with any kind of argument?
Reply With Quote
  #33  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 03:38 PM
Phonograph's Avatar
Phonograph Phonograph is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 4,329
Default

if anyone bashing felghana ost is a moron, what to say about people who never listened to it?
ignorance makes them stupid? I wonder
Reply With Quote
  #34  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 03:38 PM
PerfectZer0's Avatar
PerfectZer0 PerfectZer0 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 115
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xenofan 29A View Post
Are you going to back up that opinionated statement with any kind of argument?
.....Nope.
__________________
http://vgmdb.net/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=4762&dateline=1296370  437
Reply With Quote
  #35  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 04:20 PM
PerfectZer0's Avatar
PerfectZer0 PerfectZer0 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 115
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Phonograph View Post
if anyone bashing felghana ost is a moron, what to say about people who never listened to it?
ignorance makes them stupid? I wonder
Yup if you come into this topic agreeing with the TC your a stupid dumb face.
__________________
http://vgmdb.net/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=4762&dateline=1296370  437
Reply With Quote
  #36  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 04:35 PM
Phonograph's Avatar
Phonograph Phonograph is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 4,329
Default

so like I never listened to felghana ost and never stated other opinions because obviously I can't
that means I'm stupid, beautiful logic

btw, what's TC ?
Reply With Quote
  #37  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 05:12 PM
PerfectZer0's Avatar
PerfectZer0 PerfectZer0 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 115
Default

..........
__________________
http://vgmdb.net/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=4762&dateline=1296370  437

Last edited by PerfectZer0; Nov 11, 2012 at 05:16 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #38  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 05:16 PM
Phonograph's Avatar
Phonograph Phonograph is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Posts: 4,329
Default

*put PerfectZero on ignore*
Reply With Quote
  #39  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 05:34 PM
Foxhack's Avatar
Foxhack Foxhack is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Mexico
Posts: 514
Default

TC = OP; Topic Creator.

*sighs* All this fighting.
Reply With Quote
  #40  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 05:59 PM
PerfectZer0's Avatar
PerfectZer0 PerfectZer0 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 115
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Foxhack View Post
TC = OP; Topic Creator.

*sighs* All this fighting.
But it's ture Felghana rocks!
__________________
http://vgmdb.net/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=4762&dateline=1296370  437
Reply With Quote
  #41  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 06:12 PM
Foxhack's Avatar
Foxhack Foxhack is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Mexico
Posts: 514
Default

I'm not arguing that. I really like the soundtrack too.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to ... what's the word, berate? people for not liking it or never listening to it.
Reply With Quote
  #42  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 06:24 PM
PerfectZer0's Avatar
PerfectZer0 PerfectZer0 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 115
Default

But the TC deliberately stated Felghana's OST being terrible. I stand up for it. And ppl shoot me down for liking it.

Also ppl who don't like it are terrible people....mostly...
__________________
http://vgmdb.net/forums/image.php?type=sigpic&userid=4762&dateline=1296370  437

Last edited by PerfectZer0; Nov 14, 2012 at 06:36 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #43  
Old Nov 11, 2012, 10:47 PM
GoldfishX GoldfishX is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 311
Default

On paper, Felghana is one of the greatest soundtracks in existence. Classic VGM remade. Still has plenty of the rock attitude of the original versions. Originals not tampered with too much. Back in 2005, I had this thing crowned as the greatest soundtrack since Megaman 2. No really, I did. I went back and read some of my old posts...Very embarassing.

In practice, it is poorly mixed with questionable samples (drums and that synth orchestra in Strongest Foe...yeesh). There's little separation between layers, so stuff like rhythm guitars and drums, even the techno/orchestra parts, get buried and don't "drive" the tracks as they should be. The lead melodies end up feeling bare because of that and even when a solo comes up, its like "oh a solo...how nice". Between the samples and the minimal separation between everything, I literally get a headache when I attempt to listen to this one. It is like a total assault on the senses in the worst way possible. And the techno in songs like Illburn Ruins sounds like a bad fan remix of the song. Even early on, I hated this approach.

I heard plenty of the music online before I ordered the soundtrack, but literally everytime I tried to let it sink in, I got a headache from it (this was before I was aware of the loudness wars). Finally, I just came to the conclusion it wasn't worth the attention I was giving it. Occasionally, I'll still try to enjoy this one with a random sample here and there, but the conclusion is always the same.

Last edited by GoldfishX; Nov 11, 2012 at 11:00 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #44  
Old Dec 23, 2012, 05:40 PM
Jodo Kast Jodo Kast is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Missouri
Posts: 336
Default

I'm just happy that CDJ has Foliage Ocean in stock, thus saving me the step of sending emails to Falcom. I picked it up, along with Pigeon Blood.
Reply With Quote
  #45  
Old Jan 14, 2013, 05:55 PM
taelusramza taelusramza is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 15
Default

I run RPGFan Music now, and I can completely appreciate someone having a different opinion from anyone who writes for the section on a piece of music. Heck, even I disagree with some of our reviews-- but that's because they're ONLY the opinion of the writer. For example, I really don't care for Falcom music, and that makes me a blasphemer to some. Doesn't make me wrong, but I'd be foolish to not acknowledge that a ton of people love that music.

Saying that the site (or SEMO, or any outlet that reviews music) is an insult to VGM, though, isn't something I can agree with. The most important thing to me isn't that we write some review that breaks down the technical aspects of an album in minute detail (especially since approximately none of our writers have any theoretical background in music, other than me, and I'm only learning any of that -now-), utilizing proper musical terminology.

The most important thing to me is that we share an opinion and it starts a discussion (anywhere!), because I believe discussion is part of appreciating music (or any kind of art), and I hope that leads VGM continuing to get more popular and loved by as many people as possible. I completely respect that someone doesn't agree with the content of a review, but to say that facilitating more appreciation of the music is "insulting" just isn't something I can agree with.
Reply With Quote
  #46  
Old Apr 16, 2016, 04:12 PM
Despatche's Avatar
Despatche Despatche is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 339
Default

I just bought Celceta (the game). Some of the songs I've heard so far sound alright when they could have very bad. In The Scorching Flames sounds ok, and I like that it's been repurposed into a boss theme.

I came across all this when looking up what songs are in it. It's clear that I didn't read either thread particularly well, and that I need to. This really shouldn't have been split.

I don't have a problem with preference. I have a problem with the lack of care in that preference, I have a problem with preference being called conclusion. I have a problem with dishonesty and lies.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldfishX View Post
I'm surprised how tiny the tracklist is, considering the original Ys IV is about 60-80 tracks long. This seems to be about half that, with several new stuffs in there.
Ys IV itself is 55 tracks. The Perfect Collection albums have extra material.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matron View Post
(well I actually like 'Tower' and 'Battle #58' is disappointing, but it's not too difficult to be better than both JDK Specials)
This right here is the entire problem with the Falcom community. They live off incredibly dull arranges and cannot process proper FM synth. It is absolutely horrifying behavior that shows a complete lack of taste and respect to anyone who creates or consumes music.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldfishX View Post
Felghana lost me because it tried to do too much of everything, nothing particularly well (hard rock, techno and orchestral vs the splendid keyboard-laced power rock of the redbook audio). Some of the newer tracks have this identity crisis trait, but even the straight rock tracks are just outright boring and pretty stagnant.
Correct, but Felghana didn't try to do everything, it tried to do nothing. It is the safest and the most banal way of handling music on the entire planet.

FM, FC, SFC, PCE, they're all far superior. Ys VI and Origin, both far superior. Felghana is irredemable trash. There is zero soul within the Felghana soundtrack, even as the game threatens to be one of the greatest RPGs ever made.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matron View Post
I still can't figure why the hell they put Ys IV stuff on this game when his president says in interviews things like "this is not Ys IV" or "Ys Celceta was planned to be Ys 8". It's just ugh.
For all we know, Felghana was planned to be Ys VII.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldfishX View Post
The redbook for Ys III and the Perfect Collections for 1, 2 and 4 are mostly the definitive versions for me, yet I still enjoy variations such as Ys Book 1 and 2 redbook (I quite like this version, but I consider it somewhat overrated), Ys III Perfect Collection (minimal effort, but I'm happy with the final sounding product...also bias because it was my first Perfect Collection album), Ys III Super Arrange (solid album, some of the best individual versions of several Ys III tracks) and Ys III/IV JDK Special (solid companion pieces to the better albums of both). These newer versions just join stuff like Midi Collections, Ys 1 and 2 Renewal, Ys I and II Eternal and Ys Provincialism (yeah I went there) as ones that don't quite cut it.
I is horrible, II is incredible. When they did Complete, they redid I to sound more like II. Ys I+II Complete is almost the best way to hear those games; Ys I+II PCE is very interesting and some tracks turn out better.

Ys III X68000 also threatens to be the best way to hear that game, alongside Ys III PCE.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hellacia View Post
I respect the opinions of someone who writes negative reviews 1/5 times more than someone who writes negative reviews 1/100 times, because they don't come off as just "liking everything", they come off as having some kind of actual taste. Let's face it, "I like 99% of what I hear" is not real taste. "I like 80% of what I hear" is far more believable.
Agreed. However, a lot of people are incapable of singling out what's wrong with a game. Too many people have zero knowledge of the era or genre they're getting themselves into. They tend to pick one minor thing that they either just dislike or completely missed the point about, and they snowball that into the entire game/album/whatever being a horribly flawed mess. But above all else, they always treat this flawed opinion as god and judge the creators of that work as devils. I see it all the time at places like SEMO, RPGFan, and of course GameFAQs; the only real difference is that SEMO and RPGFan usually have better English.

I sound like I treat my opinion as god because I do the research and I am confident in my report. I do not throw out opinions lightly because I actually study the work first. Most people do not, and you can tell because they talk about how works they dislike will do horrible things that they would praise in their favorite works as great things. It's pseudo-intellectualism, a word that I hate and only use because it's the best way to describe this horror.

You can tell I do the research because I talk about things with the idea that "dating" is a flawed concept. It leads so many great or terrible things being endlessly praised or endlessly derided simply because they're old. These things become untouchable for the honest, thorough, and group-involved reviews that every work deserves.

Reviews are supposed to be a lot more boring than they are. Getting the material for those reviews is the fun part, and it's something everyone should be a part of. Reviews as they are now are conducted only by and for individuals, and they are expected to make money and/or convert people to their "order" instead of informing people about the work; to achieve this, they are automatically sensationalist and highly preferential. This is why so many people unquestionably accept reviews without ever trying the work for themselves.

Review sites are monsters because they masquerade sheer preference as laws to abide by. These reviews are fundamentally without merit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramza View Post
Newsflash: I'm Patrick Gann. RPGFan was basically my life's work for over a decade. There are almost 1600 soundtrack reviews there, and 1000 of them are me. So it goes beyond opinion to insulting thousands of hours of my own labor.
I honestly don't remember what that conversation in IRC turned out to be.

I will say that you are a horrible person. You lack taste and knowledge in many areas. You brandish your personal opinions against or for work creators, and you care very little about the effort put into a work that anyone with sense would be able to gauge. You dare to refer to your half-hearted, your effortless preference as "labor".

I don't really care that you happen to like the color red, that you happen to dislike the color blue, and that you happen to hate people who like the color blue. There's nothing there for anyone to care about, except for what you will do with this hatred.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NaotaM View Post
It always irks me when people feel the need to pollute their own statements with useless sentences like this, and more so when said people then wonder angrily and defensively when people label them as trolls. You do realize "Well, it's not THAT good" or "God, why do people even LIKE this?" are not valid critiques or statements of any substance, right? I even agree with you and I find your posts obnoxious.

Why even care that much if other people like it? Are you really that befuddled at the opinions of others or are you just being transparently hyperbolic to make your unpopular stance that much more visible and thus validated?
You are a hundred times worse than Ramza. He does not understand merit, this is something he can fix. You do not understand how anything in this world is formed, you are broken beyond repair. I have spent many years trying to explain anything at all to your kind and it has only ever caused problems. I'm not doing it anymore, I'm not falling for the real trolling in this world anymore.

Quote:
Originally Posted by taelusramza View Post
The most important thing to me isn't that we write some review that breaks down the technical aspects of an album in minute detail (especially since approximately none of our writers have any theoretical background in music, other than me, and I'm only learning any of that -now-), utilizing proper musical terminology.
Never do this. You will be doing the exact same thing, just on the other side of the spectrum. Get off the spectrum entirely.
Reply With Quote
  #47  
Old Apr 17, 2016, 06:49 AM
《J》's Avatar
《J》 《J》 is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: Spain
Posts: 120
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
I just bought Celceta (the game). Some of the songs I've heard so far sound alright when they could have very bad. In The Scorching Flames sounds ok, and I like that it's been repurposed into a boss theme.
Celceta's soundtrack is overall good but there are quite a few hit and miss songs (both old and anew). I mostly like the arrangements of Ys IV's music -- they sound faithful to the J.D.K. Special(s) counterparts. Burning Sword is a great field arrange and so far my favorite version of it. Harlequin's Temptation may be missing the choirs from the PCE/Perfect Collection version, but that slap bass and glorious melody still hit it. Ancient Legend, Sanctuary and Tower/Iris are among my favorites arrangements, and In the Fires of Ignition is just great in Celceta -- the most upbeat and metal version of all.

(The Dawn of Ys was really bad in this game for some weird reason.)

I don't really enjoy most of the new songs, but I blame it on Falcom out-sourcing the arrangement of Sound Team jdk's music to Jindo & co. because the compositions themselves are great. Can't say I'm a fan of this direction in Falcom music, and Falcom really needs to grow out of this parasitic dependence on violin that has been noodling Sound Team jdk stuff for about a decade.

Thankfully arrangers were barely involved with Sen no Kiseki II/Tokyo Xanadu and didn't prevent them from sounding really good.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
Ys IV itself is 55 tracks. The Perfect Collection albums have extra material.
Ys IV isn't even 50 tracks if you take both J.D.K. Special albums and remove all the unused tracks and rehashes from Ys I (Fountain of Love '93, Theme of Adol 1993).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
This right here is the entire problem with the Falcom community. They live off incredibly dull arranges and cannot process proper FM synth. It is absolutely horrifying behavior that shows a complete lack of taste and respect to anyone who creates or consumes music.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
I have a problem with preference being called conclusion. I have a problem with dishonesty and lies.
"Matron" was my previous account. It's been 4 years and my opinion has evolved quite significantly over the time.

I wholeheartedly, 100% agree with these two statements here, and this is a stigma you can find in most self-called "experts" of Falcom music in the West. It completely ashames me that I used to think this way thanks to SEMO, RPGFan and Soundtrack Central "reviews" of Falcom albums from the '80s and '90s because "muh old 8-bit/MIDI music" regarding the "terrible synth quality" of their PC-X8/X68000/PCE/early Windows scores and all the Redbook Audio/Yonemitsu/Jindo/Koshiro wanking. They are all guilty of presenting their erroneous opinions and biases as facts because they think they know better than they do when really, they are just as ignorant. It's not until I found Chinese blog FalcomBOB and decided to form my own opinion by listening their old scores via Hoot that I got a better glimpse on Falcom.

Live arranges are overrated.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
Correct, but Felghana didn't try to do everything, it tried to do nothing. It is the safest and the most banal way of handling music on the entire planet.

FM, FC, SFC, PCE, they're all far superior. Ys VI and Origin, both far superior. Felghana is irredemable trash. There is zero soul within the Felghana soundtrack, even as the game threatens to be one of the greatest RPGs ever made.
While I wouldn't go as far as to put Felghana arrangements in the same category as pure trash, I'd say it's my least favorite in the series. Complete, VI, Origin and Seven are all so much better.

I do think Felghana is better than FC and SFC, though. SFC is cute due to the trumphets and the new tracks, IMO.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
For all we know, Felghana was planned to be Ys VII.
Don't really care at this point. We all agree that Felghana is a fantastic game. Celceta was great too but could have been better with extra months of development.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
I is horrible, II is incredible. When they did Complete, they redid I to sound more like II. Ys I+II Complete is almost the best way to hear those games; Ys I+II PCE is very interesting and some tracks turn out better.
Nah, Ys I Eternal is definitely good. It's just that Ys II Eternal is a lot better. Interestingly enough, many tracks from the Saturn version feel like protos for Ys I Eternal.

Ys I & II PCE is overrated but it has some really interesting arrangements like Theme of Adol, Final Battle, Ruins of Moondoria and Subterranean Canal. Ys I & II Complete is the definitely best thanks to the FM-like arrangements and the newly added synth solos.

Sidenote: Ys Super Collection came with certain prints of Ys I Eternal, and Falcom purposedly put 2 of 4 of the game's soundtracks into this disc to boost their Special Edition sales. Ys I Eternal comes with CD-DA and General MIDI soundtracks, but if you get this album, you can install 2 missing soundtracks into the game: GS and SC-88 MIDI.

In the end, Ys I Eternal actually has 4 different soundtracks: CD-DA, GM, GS and SC-88. The latter two are just... incredible. Same about Ys II Eternal's SC-88Pro soundtrack.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
Ys III X68000 also threatens to be the best way to hear that game, alongside Ys III PCE.
Agreed. The Mega Drive version is also really good.

I don't agree with every bit of what you said, but the general thrust is spot on.

Last edited by 《J》; Apr 17, 2016 at 12:49 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #48  
Old May 5, 2016, 05:25 PM
DragoonEnRegalia's Avatar
DragoonEnRegalia DragoonEnRegalia is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 100
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
This right here is the entire problem with the Falcom community. They live off incredibly dull arranges and cannot process proper FM synth. It is absolutely horrifying behavior that shows a complete lack of taste and respect to anyone who creates or consumes music.
I don't see anyone deeply involved in the non-East Asian Falcom community dismiss Falcom's old FM-synth music, not in recent memory. Usually someone new to Falcom games (exposed via something like Trails in the Sky FC/SC or Ys: Memories of Celceta) is going to start with newer Falcom music, but state an interest in the older stuff whether they get to it or not. Who knows how Falcom's own Japanese fans, old and new, react to FM-synth music vs. sequenced PCM stuff and live-instrument recordings. I'm still a fan of their recent works (jdk Band Theta aside) despite my own preference for FM synth, something which at least Kamikura shares. (Collected Music of Ys and Falcom Music Chronicle are worth listening to for both acoustic and rock arrangements). And most fans dislike the Kiseki Evolution arrangements either overall or per soundtrack release—I'm not seeing blind jdk Band worship as much these days.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
FM, FC, SFC, PCE, they're all far superior. Ys VI and Origin, both far superior. Felghana is irredemable trash. There is zero soul within the Felghana soundtrack, even as the game threatens to be one of the greatest RPGs ever made.
Let's agree to disagree. I'm annoyed that Oath in Felghana's OST became the new standard enthusiast press/hobbyist webmasters and contributors writing about Ys music decided to champion, too. But it's still really good work by Jindo in his second year working with Falcom, dumbness like Illburns Ruins aside. I love how some of the songs were expanded, meaningfully (either by varying the melody and/or adding/subtracting instruments/motifs), and the subpar mixing would have to be far, far worse before I'd have trouble making out parts of tracks individually. Chop!!'s a good example of what Felghana does well. Right now I'd rank Felghana up with Ys III PCE, with X68k a notch below.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
I is horrible, II is incredible. When they did Complete, they redid I to sound more like II. Ys I+II Complete is almost the best way to hear those games; Ys I+II PCE is very interesting and some tracks turn out better.

Ys III X68000 also threatens to be the best way to hear that game, alongside Ys III PCE.
Ys Eternal's CD-DA arrangements can be a bit lacking, but the GS and SC-88 MIDI tracks strike a balance between referencing the past (sometimes even quoting Yonemitsu arrangements) and reinterpreting in a new way. II, meanwhile, has a great SC-88Pro soundtrack which never got the full album release it deserved, perhaps because Falcom wanted to keep something exclusive for anyone who had saved up money to buy the sound module. Ys MIDI Collection is the weakest of that album series, but still good.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 《J》 View Post
I don't really enjoy most of the new songs, but I blame it on Falcom out-sourcing the arrangement of Sound Team jdk's music to Jindo & co. because the compositions themselves are great. Can't say I'm a fan of this direction in Falcom music, and Falcom really needs to grow out of this parasitic dependence on violin that has been noodling Sound Team jdk stuff for about a decade.

Thankfully arrangers were barely involved with Sen no Kiseki II/Tokyo Xanadu and didn't prevent them from sounding really good.
This seems more like a problem with Celceta's troubled development, leading to a scenario where jdk Band could step in and get the job done when Sound Team jdk either couldn't and/or was too busy elsewhere. Jindo, Okajima, and Kamikura arranging in-house tunes for the game itself doesn't immediately lead to inferiority (check The Azure Arbitrator in OG Ao no Kiseki). Sadly they did their best work together on the Zanmai albums, only a few of which were planned before Kamikura (and maybe Okajima?) left.

Myopic focus on violin/guitar leads is definitely hurting both parts of jdk, even though past albums (Ys III SAV) and tracks featuring both sax and high brass demonstrate the potential to diversify. Same goes for how Falcom handles their vocalists these days, trying to prop one up as their diva (Kotera) until she leaves for reasons they're scared to hint at publicly, leaving them to try again (Sasaka). This makes no sense to me. Why not just network more aggressively in a variety of music industry circles to find aspiring vocal talent, interview them about doing occasional/recurring vocal arrangements, and make sure to do the same with pianists/brass, wind, and string players? Once upon a time Falcom had a war-chest thanks to Dragon Slayer II: Xanadu and other J-PC releases, giving them chances to experiment and take risks by contracting outsiders to do arranged CDs, and now they've surely got coffers bursting from the seams thanks to Kiseki money and exploding stock values. It's high time for Kondo, Ishikawa, and whoever else manages jdk to revive the old Falcom music era with more Zanmai, better vocal albums, and the return of proper Super Arrange CDs. At the very least they can count on international appeal from outside East Asia, and I don't mean just the three of us posting.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 《J》 View Post
Live arranges are overrated.
Falcom vs. jdk Band 2010 could have been better. Now, jdk Band 2008? That's some of the best product they've done, especially that arrangement of Kraken from Sorcerian.

Re: Soundtrack Central/RPGFan/VGMO being enemies to game music (discussion), I feel that, whether they're awful or not, most of the people I've seen discussing game music in detail elsewhere don't show signs of concentrated ignorance, dismissal, and circlejerking. Actually there's not enough discussion of older music, especially of the Roland/Yamaha/&c. sound module variety, to begin with. These sites haven't made too big an impact on discussions after so many years, instead appealing more to industry musicians and enthusiasts who are often skeptical enough to avoid taking authors' canon(s) for granted, being curious and skeptical enough to listen to game music themselves. I agree with most of the observations above, of course. Buyer's-guide reviews of game music albums have led to multiple, less than historical canons forming and potentially misdirecting listeners from escaping their comfort zones. They're almost worthless in an age where it's getting easier to listen to game music whether you own it or not, and I don't feel reviewers are doing a good job either of disclaiming their biases (with arguments for them) or succinctly describing the music without aping Pitchfork. VGMO's interviews and liner note translations (an area where Shmuplations could rival them) are the site's saving grace, I've concluded after trying my hand at writing reviews (back in the SEMO era) before concluding I'd do better writing opinionated, history-focused feature articles or concert digests.
Reply With Quote
  #49  
Old May 8, 2016, 01:21 PM
GoldfishX GoldfishX is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 311
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by DragoonEnRegalia View Post
Re: Soundtrack Central/RPGFan/VGMO being enemies to game music (discussion), I feel that, whether they're awful or not, most of the people I've seen discussing game music in detail elsewhere don't show signs of concentrated ignorance, dismissal, and circlejerking. Actually there's not enough discussion of older music, especially of the Roland/Yamaha/&c. sound module variety, to begin with. These sites haven't made too big an impact on discussions after so many years, instead appealing more to industry musicians and enthusiasts who are often skeptical enough to avoid taking authors' canon(s) for granted, being curious and skeptical enough to listen to game music themselves. I agree with most of the observations above, of course. Buyer's-guide reviews of game music albums have led to multiple, less than historical canons forming and potentially misdirecting listeners from escaping their comfort zones. They're almost worthless in an age where it's getting easier to listen to game music whether you own it or not, and I don't feel reviewers are doing a good job either of disclaiming their biases (with arguments for them) or succinctly describing the music without aping Pitchfork. VGMO's interviews and liner note translations (an area where Shmuplations could rival them) are the site's saving grace, I've concluded after trying my hand at writing reviews (back in the SEMO era) before concluding I'd do better writing opinionated, history-focused feature articles or concert digests.
As crudely written as some of the STC reviews are for early Falcom albums, one must remember they were written in a time period where little information was available about the albums (and frankly, most game music) and most of the albums themselves were long OOP, which required extensive resources to own. For people like myself, these reviews are probably the foundation for discovering the Falcom juggernaut of music, unless you were lucky enough to own a Turbo Grafx CD/Duo. At the very least, they raised awareness of staples like the Perfect Collections and Symphony albums.

But yes, I stopped writing VGM reviews when it became apparent that spreading the music had become easier. To me, there was value in informing consumers which albums to spend their hard earned money on and which ones to avoid (especially when you're talking prices of Japanese CD's and especially long OOP ones). It was a waste of everyone's time to elaborate on which albums one should download and listen to first. At the risk of sounding elitist, there was a certain magic in hunting down an album that gave a special boost to the underlying music (especially to a retro game music fan with classic Falcom melodies). Throw that same music into a readily available download or Youtube video and I feel it loses a bit of meaning.

(also, this is not to crap on current reviewers, but just my personal anecdote)
Reply With Quote
  #50  
Old May 8, 2016, 07:12 PM
DragoonEnRegalia's Avatar
DragoonEnRegalia DragoonEnRegalia is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 100
Default

Let me clarify: I am extremely grateful that the Western game music album scene blew up, produced catalogs and album reviews in order to spread information and overviews of what so and so albums contained, ultimately leading to VGMdb, blogs like Original Sound Version, and the general ease with which me, <<J>>, and others can listen to CD game music nowadays. They're not much fun to read and consult anymore, but that realization led me to investigate more albums on my own rather than dismissing or putting off listening to them, so I can't say it wasn't worthwhile skimming through Falcom album reviews on SEMO and then listening to their catalog starting in 2014 when I'd already given SNK and Tecno Soft a shot. An RPGFan review got me to search out and find the album for Gotzendiener—that ended on a good note.

Calling these sites (reviews, features, and interviews) insults to video game music, as a whole, is hyperbole. They're products of the early World Wide Web that were novel in their day and forgivable now (though not easy).
Reply With Quote
  #51  
Old Aug 14, 2019, 02:02 AM
layzee's Avatar
layzee layzee is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: .au
Posts: 411
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Matron View Post
(and 'A Great Ordeal' MUST be in).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Despatche View Post
what is THE ORDEAL BECOMES GREAT actually used for
Old discussion but isn't this particular song an impossibility in the foreseeable future because it's a Yngwie work? So no more official Falcom arranges of this track and no more appearances of this on any future Ys IV-related game releases/ports. I'm pretty sure the digital download versions of Ys IV albums are missing this track too. Anyway, pretty funny to think about what was going on the arranger's mind when they decided to make Far Beyond the Sun the final boss theme. If it was just the opening, then okay, but it's basically FBtS the whole way through pretty much. Is the subtitle "Mask of the Sun" just a coincidence?

As for this album, it's all about "Underground Ruins" and "Burning Sword".

Edit: Yep, the Yngwie track is basically ignored and hidden on the Ys IV itunes albums, as if it was floor number 13 (or 4).
__________________
-Project Saitama- The S.S.H. Fan Site
~S.S.H. Discussion Forum~

Last edited by layzee; Aug 14, 2019 at 02:09 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #52  
Old Sep 17, 2019, 09:38 PM
Aifread's Avatar
Aifread Aifread is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 712
Default

Someone on Youtube claimed he read somewhere that Yngwie sued Falcom, but when I asked him about it he said he couldn't find the source again. I always assumed it was omitted from digital releases and arrangements out of fear of legal action rather than because of an actual lawsuit.
Reply With Quote
  #53  
Old Sep 22, 2019, 06:19 AM
layzee's Avatar
layzee layzee is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: .au
Posts: 411
Default

Certainly, omission is the only logical choice. The songs are too similar I think for anyone to take the "homage" or "inspired by" route. Anyway, I was just interested to know what Yngwie himself would think about it. Would he be more like "that's cool that someone used my song in a computer game" or is he the type that is more protective of his IP. More than likely he's too busy admiring his collection of guitars/Ferraris to bother about/be aware of a little video game. And even if Yngwie did sue Falcom, it's probably more "Yngwie's lawyers sued Falcom" (i.e. autonomously and without requiring his personal attention).
__________________
-Project Saitama- The S.S.H. Fan Site
~S.S.H. Discussion Forum~
Reply With Quote
  #54  
Old Jul 13, 2021, 01:46 PM
Despatche's Avatar
Despatche Despatche is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 339
Default

Somehow just rediscovering this. I have no idea how or why I made this post. I sorta remember it, but sorta don't.

Celceta has some good things and some meh things. Some of the arranges and new songs are excellent; 1-03, 1-09, 2-01, 2-08, etc. However, I completely stand by what I said about Felghana. It is simply aggressively terrible to a degree that I cannot imagine early '00s Falcom doing, and yet it exists. I find it quite funny that anyone is attempting to call for bias against arranges, as I will immediately tell you that Ys II Eternal/Ys Complete is fine art (with the extreme exception of Ys II Eternal Subterranean Canal, which basically noone likes... not that this "proves" anything, it's just funny). I also completely stand by what I said about SEMO and RPGFan. There are a lot of horrendous video game-related websites on the internet, not just VGM stuff (RPGFan itself is one of these more general sites of course).

Seriously, the game itself is phenomenal, but Felghana's soundtrack is legit bad. I was already outright muting music every time I played it, but recently the developers of the new PC port actually added in the alternate soundtracks from the PSP port. It is completely impossible to ever go back. I don't think I would be happy with a timeline where XSEED didn't exist, even if something really bad came out about them tomorrow or whatever (what they did to Brittany Avery was pretty bad, "industry standard" or not, but I mean worse), simply because they did us this great justice. It's particularly bad because the "prototype" soundtrack in that giant Felghana box is actually... pretty good. It has that new song for (a?) Chester fight(s?) too, shame they didn't actually use it in Felghana. (Fortunately, they didn't add in Double Boost... hopefully they never do.)

...

Oh. Just noticed my 2016 post. Why don't I remember any of this... In any event, I stand by basically everything in that post. Feel free to hate me for it. Again, Complete is god(dess?). Celceta is cool. The game itself is a little weird because Ys Seven is itself a little weird, but I don't think the people screaming about how they can dodge everything all the time in Seven/Celceta can actually do so.

I will say that, regrettably, I have not had the chance to check out the MIDI modes in either Eternal/Complete (I forget if Complete still has the MIDI modes. The MIDI stuff in Brandish VT and the Brandish 4 arranges seem alright. The thing that bothers me so much about Ys Eternal is that not only is the sound not that great, but that almost none of the cool unique sections added to Ys Complete is present. I am only aware of Tower of the Shadow of Death having its, which is cool actually, though it might be from an earlier version. The Saturn/Eternal version of Final Battle is okay, but... just listen to the Complete version, please. This is also why Chronicles bothers me; they got rid of basically all of the unique sections, which (aside from having pretty good sound) is the whole appeal of Ys Complete. Check out the unique sections on songs like Holders of Power, First Step to End Wars, Final Battle, etc... it's extremely good. It's clear that this was coming off the back of Ys II Eternal which has things like Termination. Ys II Eternal Termination is unbelievably good. Again, the only sour point that I'm aware of with either Ys II Eternal or Ys Complete is Subterranean Canal. I really don't know why they didn't just make it like the PC Engine CD version, which has been my current go-to version for that particular song for this particular reason.

Regarding that question about THE ORDEAL BECOMES GREAT (I will not have it, Aifread), I eventually realized that, sadly, that song is used for some very specific boss fights in The Dawn of Ys, and that the final boss theme is really not a final boss theme. Sigh. I don't remember if I've already said this elsewhere.

Websites being rewarded with clout for "being there when noone else was" is a very large part of why the situation we are in is currently fucked (Fukt?). That leads to memes, real memes, that persist over very long years. It is virtually impossible to talk to people about anything that does not involve knowledge taken directly from these websites. So many people read these websites and never touch the games being talked about, believing every single word that their pastor of whatever website church they go to has to say. This continues to happen today with established names, and with YouTubers. Nothing has changed. For every one DragoonEnRegalia, there are probably a hundred people who fit this description, if not more. I see it all the time in the comments section of these websites or with how people throw around these articles all the time.

Hopefully I don't forget I made this post.

Last edited by Despatche; Jul 13, 2021 at 02:01 PM.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
NW10103180: Ys Foliage Ocean in CELCETA Original Soundtrack Matron Album Discussions 41 Dec 30, 2014 01:02 PM
FYDC-0001: Ys -Foliage Ocean in CELCETA- DRAMA CD Cedille Album Discussions 2 Apr 24, 2013 08:31 AM
Split from WAYO-003~4: NI NO KUNI WRATH OF THE WHITE WITCH THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK Hellacia Video Game Music Discussion 6 Apr 19, 2013 07:03 PM
Dirty Split Original Soundtrack Lashiec Album Discussions 0 Mar 31, 2013 07:06 PM
PCCR-00328: Star Ocean EX Original Soundtrack Revoc Album Discussions 1 Sep 23, 2010 07:10 AM