NW10103520: Falcom ACOUSTICS 2

[Kai 004]

Just curious, what's with the low score on this album?

[《J》]

It's just reflective of the quality of the album. I myself rated it 1-star, and that's being really generous.

[Jodo Kast]

Originally Posted by Kai 004

Just curious, what's with the low score on this album?

Wondering the same myself. I gave this a perfect 5.0. A flawless specimen of arranged vgm.

[《J》]

Not sure if serious or sarcastic, but I'll answer:

This album is seriously lazy, low-cost and a blatant attempt at a cash grab from Falcom. Dull, unimaginative and static arrangements which are neither satisfying enhancements nor creative experiments; this is literally worse than a high school cover band, since at least high school cover bands have energy. And that hideous sax! The saxophone is one of the most expressive instruments there is, so how do you make a real sax sound worse than VSTs, or even freaking MIDI keyboards/modules from the 90s??? Nakajima had better-sounding synth sax all the way back in the Vantage Master days, 24 years ago. The quality gap between the Sorcerian arrangement and Namba's 1988 version from Sorcerian SAV is just ridiculous.

The only good thing I can say about it is that at least they didn't master it poorly, but I would literally fly to Japan and punch Kato in the face if they brickwalled 3-instrument arrangements and then sold it as fake hi-res. That and gakia2's arrangements are bit more colourful than Singa's and he has some decent ideas; Seize the Day is a decently fusion-oriented take and slightly less offensive since there's some effort put into the extended part, although there's not much else going on and I don't care enough about the song itself. Maybe he could be better if he wasn't confined to Singa's band, but still not good enough and Sunshine Coastline also sucks.

I could go on in detail and rant even more, as the album is full of baffling issues, but that should suffice. Oh, and all the vocal songs have Sasaka's voice mixed in way too loud -- the last thing I want to hear is J-pop female vocals in fully audible Engrish.