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

He's OK. A lot of the work he does for Tales is straight garbage, I don't know why he seems to bring it harder with other series (Baten Kaitos being an example).
 
Dragoon En Regalia said:
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
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Ctrl+F Sol, not disappointed. Agreed that he absolutely botched up Shining Force 3's soundtrack. After hearing 1 and 2, then the CD soundtrack from Shining Force CD, I expected great things from 3. His Holy Ark stuff sounds great, but dunno why he went the route he did with 3.

EDIT: I like his work in everything aside from Golden Sun. He makes great battle themes for standard JRPGs...but his overworld and town themes leave alot to be desired. Give him a strange JRPG like Baten, Valkyrie, Demon's or Resonance though and he knocks it out of the park. Also shooters.
 
Just avoid his Tales garbage and you'd be fine.

I personally love his work in Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile series.
 
A guy who can be this damn legit good at Prog composition should not be chained down. He is an immense talent i'm glad to have encountered time and time again.

Probably best soundtrack? Star Ocean 2: a wonderfully diverse and tense album that shows his downtempo side and has real nice tone.

Mental Atrophy said:
Not really a big fan. There's always a few good tracks but overall I find his work muddy.
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Back, BACK foul heathen!

Last Battle ~ Decision

We Form in Crystals

Jenna Theme

Majula

World Wide Business

Ancient Ruin

In the Beginning, There Was Light
 
The quality of his music is all over the place. Some of it is top tier. Some of it is grating. The Tales music is largely really samey and it gets really old, but I heard that Namco insists on this for some reason.
 
Don't know any of his work outside of Dark Souls, but Gwyn's theme is one of my favorite boss battle themes of all time. So damn good.
 
His work in the Tales series is the most forgettable music in a JRPG series I've ever played. I can't remember a single track from any Tales game except Symphonia.

The rest of his work is pretty good.
 
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
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Nods*

Golden sun music was golden-tier , excellent choice !
 
Ultratech said:
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



True. If you've played a good number of RPGs, you'd probably know his music right off the bat.
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I fucking love The Valedictory Elegy. Actually Sakuraba tends to make kickass battle theme in general.
 
Sakuraba is one of the best examples of mediocrity in videogame music. Dude is the embodiment of "quantity over quality". Producing a good track every now and then, such as Gwyn's theme, doesn't change that fact.

Easy_D said:
His work for the Dark Souls 2 DLC is some of his best work.

Like https://youtu.be/vAVCkVclNR4

And https://youtu.be/ztPGThfD_GY
Second being the best damn song of all Souls games.
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That first track sounds like something you'd hear in a Tales of... title. Most of his work does unfortunately.

Also, average music at best.
 
Discoid said:
Why does his Tales music suck so bad compared to the rest? Legit question. His Dark Souls music is ace.
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Budget and time. It's on record that he's given very little time to write the music for Tales games and the producers all want them to have a certain sound.
 
I actually dig his Tales works (LOVE Symphonia, and I'm also fond of the Abyss/Vesperia OSTs), but they severely dropped in quality following Vesperia. You can tell he's burned out.

His contributions for Smash/Kid Icarus: Uprising are also ace.
 
I love Sakuraba's more erratic compositions like the boss theme for Golden Sun: TLA.

ZeroX03 said:
His work in the Tales series is the most forgettable music in a JRPG series I've ever played. I can't remember a single track from any Tales game except Symphonia.

The rest of his work is pretty good.
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Symphonia's probably the only above average Sakuraba Tales soundtrack (And that was collaborative, last I checked), though I do have a soft spot for Abyss' soundtrack, as well.

I do think Dogfight is one of the best battle themes he's ever composed for the series, though.
 
Sakuraba particularly excels at battle music, I find.

Some more obscure choices
- Infinite Undiscovery: Ferocious Valor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIXjHOMeQIg Especially love the part at 1:53 (having a real string ensemble makes such an amazing sound)
- Eternal Sonata: Unbalanced https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtej01QXHU0 A violin and piano concertante boss theme, isn't that just freaking amazing a concept?
- Eternal Sonata: Your Truth is My Lie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc12ovl1GTc What I'm saying is, give this guy access to real instruments more often (I mean, seriously, a flute during a boss fight, and it fits so well too)! I hate Eternal Sonata as a game, but adore its soundtrack.
 
Despera said:
Sakuraba is one of the best examples of mediocrity in videogame music. Dude is the embodiment of "quantity over quality". Producing a good track every now and then, such as Gwyn's theme, doesn't change that fact.


That first track sounds like something you'd hear in a Tales of... title. Most of his work does unfortunately.

Also, average music at best.
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That track is actually pretty good, it makes you feel like you're fighting against a majestic creature. His Tales of music is nothing like it.
 
dlauv said:
I can't stand this guy's music. His Mario theme is in the book of one of the worst things in the world.

Kirby too.

His non-Nintendo & non-Tales stuff doesn't sound too bad though, to be fair.

Edit: Got a private message telling me the Mario song may be fan-made and fake. It doesn't really sound fan-made to me, but he could be right.
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If I'm not mistaken, I believe that Mario arrangement was from a Famicom tribute album of some sort? I'm trying to look it up.

Edit: Yup, it's from 2004's Famicom 20th Anniversary Arrange Soundtracks. I found store listings for it, too, so I'm pretty sure it's legit.
 
He's spotty. A lot of his stuff is derivative and samey, but some of it stands out.

Dark Souls is a stellar soundtrack, I very much love it. I also love his works in Kid Icarus and some parts of Golden Sun.
 
Being a big time tri-Ace fan, I suppose it's a given I have a great appreciation for Sakuraba's music.

I especially enjoyed his material in Valkyrie Profile 1 and 2, Resonance of Fate, and especially Star Ocean 3.

I don't care much for his Tales material. I think it's a bit constrained to be honest compared to some of the more creative stuff he does, notably with Star Ocean 3 which varies from classic orchestral to jazz and even prog rock.

I especially enjoy his arrangement albums, notably the Star Ocean 2 arrange.

Also by indicator of the Star Ocean & Valkyrie Profile Live Concert album, He seems capable enough to even perform his material to the point it sounds better then his studio recorded stuff.

Also I don't know many video game composers that are able to be as varied from Mario Golf, Smash Bros, Golden Sun, Star Ocean, and Dark Souls. All of these having entirely different themes and tones, that sound varied enough you would think it's a completely different person doing the composition for each of these games.
 
I first learned of this magnificent man from Golden Sun and started noticing how he was popping up in a ton of my favorite games. He is one of my favorite composers!
 
I don't know what to think of Sakuraba sometimes. I definitely hold a lot of his work in high regard: Valkyrie Profile, Dark Souls, Golden Sun, early Tales (Phantasia, Destiny, Eternia), Baten Kaitos, etc.

But he just puts out so much half-assed music nowadays, especially with the Tales franchise. He can still be really good when he wants to be, at least. Maybe if he took a year off he'd get some of his musical mojo back?

EDIT: Also, I just started Resonance of Fate and I'm really liking what I hear so far.
 
When it comes to sweeping, majestic, extremely calming soundtracks, Sakuraba hits those notes like no other composer:

Star Ocean 2 - Field of Expel

Star Ocean 2 - Pyroxene

Star Ocean 2 - White the Heart

Star Ocean 2 - Look Forward

Star Ocean 3 - Rust Color

Star Ocean 3 - Chrysanthemum in Winter

Valkyrie Profile - Epic Poem to a Sacred Death

Golden Sun - Imil

Golden Sun: The Lost Age - Felix Battle

Golden Sun: The Lost Age - World Map 2

Tales of Rebirth - Icy Edge

His world map themes are particularly amazing. This guy's music really touches the soul. Pyroxene might be his most underrated track - I never see it get mentioned, but it has such a sense of mysticism, wonder, and adventure to it. Definitely one of my favorite dungeon tracks ever, and that is no hyperbole.
 
I am not the biggest fan of his work overall but what he did in Dark Souls 1&2 impressed me. A lot of his stuff just flows together for me.

This song from Baten Kaitos cracks me up though. I remember having to spend 45 minutes with this obnoxiously goofy track for a super long boss fight.
Baten Kaitos: Chaotic Dance
 
GrumpyAlien said:
I am not the biggest fan of his work overall but what he did in Dark Souls 1&2 impressed me. A lot of his stuff just flows together for me.

This song from Baten Kaitos cracks me up though. I remember having to spend 45 minutes with this obnoxiously goofy track for a super long boss fight.
Baten Kaitos: Chaotic Dance
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You think Chaotic Dance is goofy. You should give Star Ocean 3's Bitter Dance a listen.

I do enjoy Sakuraba's music A LOT, but there occasional tracks that make me believe that Sakuraba was not entirely in the right state of mind when he made them.
 
While I do agree that the quality of his OSTs varies quite a bit, I'm constantly amazed by the range this guy has. If I took his best works I'd find quite a few that sound nothing alike and about which I was probably surprised in the past when I found out it was Sakuraba.
 
Got some people who need ejumacatin' about his work and WHY some of it is subdued.

Sakuraba said:
"I think that the definition of progressive rock is itself somewhat vague. Truthfully, I am not fully acquainted with either progressive rock or the scene behind it. I do know that it has never been very successful in terms of sales, and I think that the world needs that kind of music. If all music were easy to understand, it would be quite boring."
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These are not the words of a punch clock note chucker.
 
SolVanderlyn said:
Pyroxene might be his most underrated track - I never see it get mentioned, but it has such a sense of mysticism, wonder, and adventure to it. Definitely one of my favorite dungeon tracks ever, and that is no hyperbole.
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I consider Star Ocean 2 his finest work. His best map themes, best battle themes, best dungeon themes, best character themes. It's like everything came together for that score.
 
Seven Force said:
Symphonia's probably the only above average Sakuraba Tales soundtrack (And that was collaborative, last I checked), though I do have a soft spot for Abyss' soundtrack, as well.

I do think Dogfight is one of the best battle themes he's ever composed for the series, though.
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Tales of Destiny has some reeeeeeeeeally good tracks. Sounds completely unlike any of his other Tales works. Too bad Leon's theme is the only one that's frequently given attention.

Heat Wave
Storm
Abandoned Factory
Cry for the Moon
Despair
And of course, Irony of Fate
 
Discoid said:
Why does his Tales music suck so bad compared to the rest? Legit question. His Dark Souls music is ace.
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They DO NOT suck, only the later games do...

Phantasia, Symphonia, Destiny, almost every Tales of BSO before Tales of Vesperia rocks, but the work that came after this, not so much imo
 
Mental Atrophy said:
Not really a big fan. There's always a few good tracks but overall I find his work muddy.
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I have to agree. Tales of Vesperia to me was an exception personally but even then I think that was more of a generally good soundtrack rather than one with a ton of really outstanding tracks.
 
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