Uhm I think that even Hitoshi Sakimoto has done some great works: Vagrant Story's soundtracks are beautiful (and that is my most preferred game of all times : P). But Chrono Cross' sountracks are the best.
Uhm I think that even Hitoshi Sakimoto has done some great works: Vagrant Story's soundtracks are beautiful (and that is my most preferred game of all times : P). But Chrono Cross' sountracks are the best.
To be honest I actually felt a bit disappointed with Nobuo's work this time around since I thought Lost Odyssey was fantastic, then hearing this was a bit, how should I put this, underwhelming. I'am not saying it's bad by no means just not the best he's done as of late.
TLS is Uematsu trying out new stuff. He initially composed a couple pieces for TLS and showed them to Sakaguchi who rejected them. Sakaguchi said he felt the music needed to go a different direction as he was trying to accomplish something completely different with this game. It was stated in an "Iwata Asks" column that Uematsu was asked to make music that was more fitting for film, music that centered on ambiance rather than on his usual style of strong melodies. I just thought I'd share as some have been saying that Uematsu sounds off with this game's soundtrack.
IMO, TLS' music really isn't anywhere near the best he has ever done but a couple pieces are rather reminiscent of his older work, and I do like those very much. It's good to see him trying different things but I hope his next collaboration with Mistwalker will let him go back to utilizing his strength, which, I really feel are his sweeping melodies.
Yep I heard, I don't hold it against him, in fact I don't have a problem with composers wanting to try out new things, I mean that's the problem with some composers like famed Tales of composer, Motoi Sakuraba, who while his music is still consistently good has not really pushed anything that blew everyone's minds in a long while. Shows that when you don't mix it up your music can get stale, and feel samey. Plus some of the tracks in the game are still fine, I got a few favorite's, still that meowmeowmeow song is quite questionable haha.
Nobuo isn't my favorite either (that's Mitsuda), but I do love his stuff a lot.
Some thoughts:
-Motoi Sakuraba has been doing the same stuff for far too long now. His Dark Souls OST, however, is fantastic, as little of it as there is.
-Nobuo Uematsu HAD gotten a little "same-y", too, though certainly not like Sakuraba. Though I really loved his Lost Odyssey soundtrack, I'm very glad he was forced to make different stuff with The Last Story, and I thought it ended up really well (EXTREMELY well in parts, even. That Lazulis City music, oh man). You do have to play the game to appreciate what the music really does, just like with Skyward Sword and its supposed lack of "memorable" songs.
-Hitoshi Sakimoto is great, I've never heard a bad thing from him. I've heard a few amazing things, but nothing that really blew my mind forever. He's great overall, can't complain at all.
-Yoko Shimomura is not always my thing, but I do consider her pretty top-notch. Some of her stuff is thoroughly classic (bits of the Super Mario RPG ost, Legend of Mana, Radiant Historia), while other stuff not so much (I've never been a fan of her Mario & Luigi work, for example).
-Yasunori Mitsuda is a god, bow before him. Some would say he lost his shine after Chrono Cross, but I say screw them, he got it back with Soma Bringer.
-Hiroki Kikuta and Kenji Ito...where are they? They were legends!
Anyway, for those that liked the dude in that video above: there's a lot more of his stuff in the link posted in OP. Otherwise, look him up in YouTube as BKMJMBOX, he's pretty amazing through and through.
Editor at The Nintendo Enthusiast.
Personally converted 2 of my fellow editors there into Fragile Dreams. They are now part of my cult.
Mitsuda is incredible; personally, I think he's the greatest VGM composer of all time. But Uematsu is certainly a legend and has composed some of the most memorable songs in all VG for me (Liberi Fatali, One-Winged Angel, Clash on the Big Bridge, several others).