#1
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Top Ten RPG Composers - Your Opinion
In this thread, please list who you consider top ten RPG composers. It's up to you what criteria you use, e.g. whether prolificness, influence, or personal considerations are most important to you. I'll see if I can tally up the results between three sites (SEMO, STC, VGMdb) and then post up an interesting feature about it.
------------------------------ Here are my own. Those who achieved top places are those who I felt were the most influential, as well as competent. Only ten places, so I had to leave out some who are worthy of great consideration, like Hiroki Kikuta, Yoko Shimomura, Mieko Ishikawa, Kohei Tanaka, and Miki Higashino. 1) Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon) 2) Koichi Sugiyama (Dragon Quest, Shiren the Wanderer, EVO) 3) Yuzo Koshiro (Ys, Oasis, Etrian Odyssey) 4) Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono, Xeno, Soma Bringer) 5) Jeremy Soule (Elder Scrolls, Guild Wars, Secret of Evermore) 6) Motoi Sakuraba (Tales, Star Ocean, Baten Kaitos) 7) Hitoshi Sakimoto (Ivalice Alliance, Vagrant Story, Odin Sphere) 8) Noriyuki Iwadare (Grandia, Lunar, Langrisser) 9) Shoji Meguro (Shin Megami Tensei) 10) Masashi Hamauzu (Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy X, Unlimited SaGa) |
#2
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1. Jun Ishikawa (Arcana, Alcahest)
2. Hiroki Kikuta (Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, Soukaigi) 3. Motoaki Takenouchi (Shining Wisdom, Shining Force II, Landstalker, Granhistoria) 4. Masashi Hamauzu (Saga Frontier II, Final Fantasy X, Front Mission: Gun Hazard) 5. Junya Nakano (Threads of Fate, Final Fantasy X, Front Mission: Gun Hazard) 6. Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Front Mission: Gun Hazard) 7. Shogo Sakai (Mother 3) 8. Noriko Matsueda (Front Mission, Bahamut Lagoon) 9. Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 8, Front Mission: Gun Hazard) 10. Yoko Shimomura (Front Mission, Super Mario RPG, Legend of Mana)
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iridescentaudio.co.uk |
#3
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I guess I'm most impressed by originality, personality, confidence, daring, and just general devotion to one's art. I don't think I've ever successfully produced a sorted top ten list that's accurate to any degree, but here goes:
1. Saori Kobayashi (Panzer Dragoon Saga, Hoshigami Remix, Sylvan Tale) 2. Masashi Hamauzu (Final Fantasy X & XIII, SaGa Frontier II) 3. Hiroki Kikuta (Seiken Densetsu 2 & 3, Soukaigi) 4. Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross, Tsugunai: Atonement, World Destruction) 5. Hiroshi Tamawari (Vandal Hearts I & II, Azure Dreams, Twinbee RPG) 6. Yoshino Aoki (Breath of Fire III & IV, Suikoden Tierkreis, Luminous Arc 2) 7. Hitoshi Sakimoto (Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics, Breath of Fire V) 8. Kouhei Tanaka (Bounty Sword, Sakura Taisen series, Resonance of Fate) 9. Miki Higashino (Suikoden 1 & 2, Vandal Hearts) 10. Junya Nakano (Threads of Fate, Final Fantasy X, Musashi: Samurai Legend)
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Soundcloud | A'deo Chronicle OST | Horse Isle 2 OST | Mega Man XA | Royalty-Free Music Vol.1 |
#4
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Guess I'm the only one who thinks Kenji Ito should be within the Top 10. Not that he's always clicked with my personal preference, but his career was, if not paramount, pretty important to the Eastern RPG history.
1) Nobuo Uematsu 2) Koichi Sugiyama 3) Yasunori Mitsuda 4) Kenji Ito 5) Motoi Sakuraba 6) Yuzo Koshiro 7) Yoko Shimomura 8) Hitoshi Sakimoto 9) Noriyuki Iwadare 10 Shoji Meguro |
#5
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Top Ten Best RPG Composers:
1. Masashi Hamauzu 2. Hiroki Kikuta 3. Yasunori Mitsuda 4. Saori Kobayashi 5. Junya Nakano 6. Yoshitaka Hirota 7. Noriko Matsueda 8. Jun Ishikawa 9. Yayoi Wachi 10. Hitoshi Sakimoto Give these people your money. |
#6
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Great idea. I tried to pick the most influential composers and put them in order
Honorable mentions to Hiroki Kikuta, Yoko Shimomura, Yasunori Shiono, Tomoyuki Hamada & Tenpei Sato. 1st edit: I had to cut Hiroki Kikuta for Kouhei Tanaka :-/ 2nd edit: more changes, reduced to 10 people. Last edited by Teioh; May 11, 2010 at 03:51 AM. |
#7
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1. Ryuji Sasai
2. Ryuji Sasai 3. Ryuji Sasai 4. Ryuji Sasai 5. Ryuji Sasai 6. Ryuji Sasai 7. Ryuji Sasai 8. Ryuji Sasai 9. Ryuji Sasai 10. All the composers for Chrono Trigger - tied |
#8
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1. Yuzo Koshiro
2. Mieko Ishikawa 3. Hayato Sonoda (and the rest of 'em, like Shirakawa, Ishibashi etc) 4. Nobuo Uematsu 5. Seock Jin-Lee (and the rest of 'em) 6. Yasunori Mitsuda 7. Hitoshi Sakimoto 8. Go Shiina 9. Hiroki Kikuta 10. Motoi Sakuraba Strictly not 10 but still..... WHAT FALCOM BIAS? God even the 30th in my list would be SHEER GENIUS. |
#9
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Quote:
Then again... I've also got Naoshi Mizuta on my list. So make of that what you will. XD |
#10
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1. Yuzo Koshiro
2. Noriyuki Iwadare 3. Nobuo Uematsu 4. Ryuji Sasai 5. Yasunori Mitsuda 6. Noriko Matsueda That's all I can think of, really. Was considering adding Sakuraba, while I like some of his stuff I don't think he deserves to be in a top 10. Oh dear, forgot one. More might come to me later. Last edited by Lowe; May 10, 2010 at 11:13 PM. |
#11
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1. Kenneth W. Arnold (Ultima III, Ultima IV, Ultima V)
2. Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy series, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon) 3. Miyoko Kobayashi (Terranigma, Langrisser) 4. Hiroki Kikuta (Seiken Densetsu 2 & 3, Soukaigi) 5. David R. Watson (Ultima VI, Ultima VII the Black Gate, Ultima VII Serpent Isle) 6. Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Cross, Tsugunai: Atonement, World Destruction) 7. Jeremy Soule (Elder Scrolls, Guild Wars, Secret of Evermore) 8. Yoshitaka Hirota (Shadow Hearts series) 9. soundTeMP (Ragnarok Online, Granado Espada) [I know it's a unit, but we lack individual credits] 10. Kenji Ito (Romancing SaGa, Seiken Densetsu) I know it's a funny choice for No.1, but the concept of RPG music wasn't really defined until he came along. |
#12
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Trying to do a list based on influence on music direction in JRPGs, chonologically:
1983: Kenneth W. Arnold (great pick, SS) 1984: Junko Ozawa 1985: Kentaro Haneda 1986: Koji Kondo (by the way of Zelda, corner case, but I think his influence on JRPGs can't be denied) 1986: Koichi Sugiyama 1986: Takahito Abe 1987: Yuzo Koshiro 1987: Nobuo Uematsu 1989: Motoi Sakuraba 1990: Kenji Ito |
#13
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aha <3
In the same vein, Tim Tully for Might & Magic 4 & 5 Also, nice to see Mieko Ishikawa mentionned in there ~ |
#14
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We gots taste yo'!
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#15
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#16
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Chris, I noticed that some of us wrote our list based on personal preference, where others focused on composers who most influenced the genre. I'm not sure what your goal for this data is, but I wonder if this divide will skew the results you're looking for?
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Soundcloud | A'deo Chronicle OST | Horse Isle 2 OST | Mega Man XA | Royalty-Free Music Vol.1 |
#17
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As for individual credits: ESTi (La Tale, Tales Weaver) Ryo Kunihiko (Aion ~The Tower Of Eternity~)
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The statement below is false. The statement above is true. One man was smart, he felt smart. Two men were smart, they smelt farrr...darn it! I'll never get it right. What is "the box" that people are supposed to think outside of anyway? Hmm. Maybe it's similar to the Borg from Star Trek who dwelled as a collective hive-mind within a...box/cube. Those that deviated from this hive-mind would, in effect, be thinking outside of the box. it has both a figurative and a literal meaning. |
#18
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1. Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy Series)
2. soundTeMP (Ragnarok Online, Granado Espada) 3. Hiroki Kikuta (Seiken Densetsu, Soukaigi, Koudelka) 4. Falcom Sound Team JDK (Ys, Sorcerian, Xanadu) 5. Yuki Kajiura (Xenosaga, but majorly for anime music) 6. Yasunori Mitsuda (Xeno Series, Chrono Series) 7. Masashi Hamauzu (Final Fantasy Series) 8. Kenji Ito (SaGa Series) 9. Yoko Shimomura (Legend of Mana, Super Mario RPG) 10. Noriyuki Iwadare (Lunar, Grandia) Last edited by Gaia; May 12, 2010 at 08:05 AM. |
#19
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Not like ZUN composed for RPGs though right ? But yeah, totally agree about the mass hysteria comment aha ~
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#20
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I thought Seock Jin-Lee, the main composer for Ragnarok Online was worthy of a mention. Also, Ryo Kunihiko was in soundTeMP?!
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#21
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1. Hitoshi Sakimoto
2. Shoji Meguro 3. Yoshitaka Hirota 4. Masashi Hamauzu 5. Motoi Sakuraba 6. Yasunori Mitsuda 7. Kenji Ito 8. Hiroki Kikuta 9. Yoko Shimomura 10. Nobuo Uematsu |
#22
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Oops. Late reply.
Anyway, he may be under a different alias or something, but according to soundTeMP's website, Aion ~The Tower Of Eternity~ Original Sound Track soundtrack is listed as having some affiliation to the group. Perhaps KeyLogic may have made a wrongful assumption?
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The statement below is false. The statement above is true. One man was smart, he felt smart. Two men were smart, they smelt farrr...darn it! I'll never get it right. What is "the box" that people are supposed to think outside of anyway? Hmm. Maybe it's similar to the Borg from Star Trek who dwelled as a collective hive-mind within a...box/cube. Those that deviated from this hive-mind would, in effect, be thinking outside of the box. it has both a figurative and a literal meaning. |
#23
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Not in ranked order:
1. Motoi Sakuraba 2. Takanori Arisawa 3. Yutaka Minobe 4. Anyone involved with original Breath of Fire soundtrack 5. Masaharu Iwata 6. ??? 7. Yuzo Koshiro 8. Shoji Meguro 9. ??? 10. Yasunori Mitsuda Last edited by Vert1; Jul 4, 2010 at 10:25 PM. |
#24
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My order:
1)Koichi Sugiyama 2)Nobuo Uematsu 3)Yasunori Mitsuda 4)Yoko Shimomura 5)Kenji Ito 6)Sound Kids&Tsukasa Saitoh 7)Hitoshi Sakimoto 8)Tsuyoshi Sekiyo 9)Miki Hagashino 10)Shoji Meguro |
#25
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List with my personal favorite series/games listed.
1.) Kota Hoshino (Evergrace, Lost Kingdoms) 2.) Yoshitaka Hirota (Shadow Hearts) 3.) Gust Sound Team (Atelier Iris, Ar Tonelico) 4.) Kimitaka Matsumae (Jade Cocoon) 5.) Matt Uelmen (Diablo II, Torchlight) 6.) Junichi Masuda (Pokémon) 7.) Shoji Meguro (Shin Megami Tensei III, Persona 3) 8.) Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy VI-X) 9.) Ryu Umemoto (Eclipse, Xenon) 10.) Masashi Hamauzu (Musashiden II, Final Fantasy XIII)
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#26
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#27
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Oh hey, I forgot about this. I'm looking forward to seeing what Chris does with it.
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#28
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A little late to the game, but here's a list. I had some difficulty to actually think of 10 names at first, but then ended having to cut people out. I don't like picking favourites because it all depends so much on the day.
1. Hitoshi Sakimoto 2. Masashi Hamauzu 3. Yoshitaka Hirota 4. Jeremy Soule 5. Jun Ishikawa 6. Miki Higashino 7. Michiko Naruke 8. Matt Uelmen 9. Yoshino Aoki 10. Naoki Kodaka (Albert Odyssey Gaiden is an RPG, right?) Mentions to at least Hiroki Kikuta, Kohei Tanaka, Yoko Shimomura and Noriyuki Iwadare. I'm so terrible with names.
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Collection |
#29
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Hi all! Thanks for participating in this survey. I think it's been very interesting. The article is now at last up, featuring the top 20 plus commentary:
http://squareenixmusic.com/features/...omposers.shtml Any thoughts on the results? Expected or surprising? Positive surprises? Disappointments? I'm personally pretty pleased and think the results fit quite well with what I expected, plus my own listings. I would have wanted at least one Western composer and would have switched Hamauzu with Sugiyama. But overall, pretty cool. Anyway, sorry for the delay! Hope you enjoy it. Hopefully do something like this again soon. |
#30
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Well, some time ago I wanted to take a part in this topic and started going through my soundtrack collection, listing works and composers. And to my great surprise, I couldn't come up with one composer who would be worthy of a place in a top-ten. I am still not quite sure how it could happen, considering that RPG is perhaps my favorite genre and that music became about the most important aspect of games for me, but there it is. One problem that I did identify is that most RPG composers that I know seem to only have one great RPG title with the rest somehow disqualified (not great, not RPG, not published...). (Another problem is that I only have a very slight in console game musics - for some reason most of the titles, including most of the fan favorites, don't do a thing to me.)
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