• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

More people need to know about Motoi Sakuraba's Music!

M

Muskieratboi

Member
So. Yes.

Motoi Sakuraba.

Who, you might ask? He's not a huge name to the average gamer like Uematsu or Shimomura.. but He's Freaking Prolific. And I'm gonna bet a lot of you have heard his music!

Some examples for your audio pleasure:

Tales of.. EVERYTHING -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3SA9LuqQgA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSV_L_re3Vw

Shining Force 3 -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG1vfYetOH4

Star Ocean Series -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uytCtG1Jx6I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgMXWnWH1TA

Eternal Sonata -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM3BIOvEJSw

Infinite Undiscovery -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCW6OQh8W5s

Half-Minute Hero -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIRQ1j169fU

Phantasy Star Nova -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HczQXk7ZgVM

Mario Golf Series (Yes, Mario Golf!) -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8eGjGGDhaI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FguNfetDbsQ

Oh, and of course.

MOTHER-FREAKIN' DARK SOULS! -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6GK8HhjQQE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8ShsHeYkeI

There's plenty I missed. Let's all geek out at awesome music :P


EDIT: I forgot to Mention Golden Sun. I am ashamed of myself.

NaDannMaGoGo said:
Damn straight, need more Golden Sun.

Venus Lighthouse
Saturo's Theme
Jenna's Theme
Forest Requiem

Holy shit, I just could add on and on to this. The GS/GS:TLA OST is unreal. GS:DD wasn't nearly as good, even though it was done by him as well :(

Wait, can't forget the Main Theme
Click to expand...
 
More awareness is fine but I think a lot of people already know Motoi Sakuraba from Dark Souls and Valkyrie Profile. He's hardly obscure.
 
One of the main reasons I loved Mario Tennis on N64 growing up was the music. It's so amazingly intense but I was always confused that a Tennis game out of all games had such great music. Then I found out that Sakuraba was the composer and it all came together.

Tiebreaker is still my favorite song in the game.
 
I also know that he makes 'memorable soundtracks' very rarely these days. The "Sakuraba sound" being diluted with all the super generic soundtracks he made for later Tales games and all.

The only recent soundtrack I can think of that was even worth listening to was Dark Souls; even then Shunsuke Kida's Demon's work was better IMO.
 
I can't stand his Tales work. It sounds like it was all written in a month. When he steps outside his comfort zone, he can be interesting but it's been a while since he's tried.
 
Yeah, he's got pretty good music for the most part.

Loved a lot of his stuff for Valkyrie Profile, Star Ocean, and a fair number of the Tales games.

Some favs:
The Valedictory Elegy Baten Kaitos Origins
Progresses Toward the End - Tales of Destiny (PS2)
Surprise Attack! - Tales of Destiny (PS2)
Mighty Blow - Valkyrie Profile
Mission to the Deep Space - Star Ocean TtEoT

Marcel said:
More awareness is fine but I think a lot of people already know Motoi Sakuraba from Dark Souls and Valkyrie Profile. He's hardly obscure.
Click to expand...

True. If you've played a good number of RPGs, you'd probably know his music right off the bat.
 
He's the boss. He has a very distinctive prog style, but he can do some very different stuff and it's also very good.
 
I've never known a composer to swing so wildly from incredibly memorable tracks to flavourless filler, the takeaway I suppose is that motivated Sakuraba can certainly be a treat.
And he makes for a pleasant round of Golf.
 
Isn't Sakuraba like one of the most known composers out there? I'd hazard a guess at top 5 in the video game world. Love his work though. Baten Kaitos Origins had an outstanding soundtrack.
 
I love Sakuraba overall, but I think he has been running out of ideas. Flat out re-using some identical melodies in other songs, and some of his work feels uninspired. I don't necessarily blame him, he does so much work, it's hard to pump out amazing stuff every often, but overall I far prefer his older work than his newer stuff.

Star Ocean 2, and Golden Sun are among the best he's ever done. More recently, I actually like Infinite Undiscovery's soundtrack believe it or not.
 
My favorite composer forever. Love Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile,and Baten Kaitos, and I feel the music is like half the reason I love those games.

He has actual music albums too. Check out "What's Up?", "Gikyokuonsou", and "Force of Light", they are on Spotify. Same crazy style with lots of electronic keyboards.
 
He's very good but the last scores of him i truly loved was from Tales of the abyss...

I think that Hitoshi Sakimoto also needs a mention :>
 
His Mega Drive stuff is pretty good too if you can get past the odd sound engine he used that made the percussion sound like handclaps.
 
This guy has composed the OSTs of so many of the games I've played... Weird this thread is the first time I find out about his existence.
 
OP makes thread about Sakuraba. OP lists no Baten Kaitos or Valkyrie Profile music.

Lol okay guy, looks like we have a badass over here.

Edit: It's even worse when you start off listing that he does Tales of Everything. Like, I'm pretty sure he puts that in the smallest, italicizes wingding font he can find when he puts it on his resume. Asterisked and cited on the bottom of the back of the page.
 
Spikain said:
Seriously? A thread about Sakuraba and no Golden Sun music? >: (

Doom Dragon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qDvmZoJFVY&spfreload=10
Elemental Stars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7pBcKlONnA
Overworld: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UDJg4FnMFA&spfreload=10
Vale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA5WiJtleQs&spfreload=10


and, like, every other part of the soundtracks to both Golden Sun and The Lost Age
Click to expand...

Was about to post some since I didn't see any in the OP.

Golden Sun's soundtrack was fantastic.

Dehkan Plateau
Walls of Gaja Rock
 
Sakuraba's a staple meal for anyone getting into game music these days. You can listen to Shining Force III and immediately grasp the essence of what a generic JRPG soundtrack is like (I reflect more positively on the arrange album(s); Shining the Holy Ark sounds better too). He doesn't have any edified style as much as he adapts to needs for different games and side-projects, meaning that his prog might only feature on solo work while he does orchestral stuff for Souls games.

Meanwhile, his work at Telenet and Wolf Team, using Yamaha FM chips and the occasional MIDI or CD tech, is awesome stuff:
Sol-Feace
Granada
Zan: Yasha Enbukyoku (part of a series of historical Japanese wargames)
Suzaku
 
If you ignore much of this Tales work (though he's still composed many good tracks across the series - especially in earlier games; I'm particularly fond of Symphonia and Destiny) he's one of the best composers out there.

Funnily I'm not too big of a fan of his Dark Souls stuff. In recent years, Resonance of Fate (co-composed) is one of his best works. This thread makes me think not many people have played it or gotten far in it since I see no RoF tracks posted.

Some of my favorites:

Red Hot Choi Polis
Lucia
Etsia
Aetersyl
Warehouse District
Patertopolis
Freud Remnants

Too bad there isn't another console Tri-Ace game or Baten Kaitos on the horizon for him to compose another really good soundtrack :(
 
JCX said:
Isaac's theme (Golden Sun)
Click to expand...

Spikain said:
Seriously? A thread about Sakuraba and no Golden Sun music? >: (

Doom Dragon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qDvmZoJFVY&spfreload=10
Elemental Stars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7pBcKlONnA
Overworld: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UDJg4FnMFA&spfreload=10
Vale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA5WiJtleQs&spfreload=10


and, like, every other part of the soundtracks to both Golden Sun and The Lost Age
Click to expand...

Hollow said:
Was about to post some since I didn't see any in the OP.

Golden Sun's soundtrack was fantastic.

Dehkan Plateau
Walls of Gaja Rock
Click to expand...

Damn straight, need more Golden Sun.

Venus Lighthouse
Saturo's Theme
Jenna's Theme
Forest Requiem

Holy shit, I just could add on and on to this. The GS/GS:TLA OST is unreal. GS:DD wasn't nearly as good, even though it was done by him as well :(

Wait, can't forget the Main Theme
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

10 Upcoming Games Like Resident Evil You NEED To Know About
Opinion Trailer 
0
208
IbizaPocholo replied
GAF lied to me about the HORRIBLE Xenoblade X music
Clickbait 
47
304
Gambit2483 replied
Hidden gem smaller titles other people probably dont know about but should.
2 3
132
4K
John Bilbo replied
I need more from XSX/PS5
2
70
887
DragonNCM replied
  • Poll
Are people still excited about big Sony games in 2026?
2 3 4 5 6
286
627
Jacob4815 replied
Top Bottom