I feel it’s always best to start over after a long break. It’s pretty hard to get back into it otherwise. I’m reminded of one more thing I really like about Bravely Default. There are no equipment restrictions whatsoever - it’s just that jobs have proficiency in given types of weapons and armor. So you could theoretically switch to a completely different weapon for a while if it’s still the strongest after taking it account any proficiency penalties.
That tends to happen. I've been chuckling about people whinging about Romancing SaGa 2's difficulty, and outside of the steep learning curve which can be fixed with a guide on how trout works, I never found the game's too difficult. I did pick up on my old playthrough of Xenogears, but I'm likely going to start over. I stopped in Kislev, but I really love the early game with Bart.
I think I’ve gotten better at game. Last time I played Bravely Default, I played on normal and it was pretty challenging overall. Now I’m playing in hard and things feel easy.
We both appreciate Sakimoto, but between the two of us, I'd say you're the bigger fan. I appreciate his work, but wish his scores were less ambient. Hamazu's has the opposite issue of Mitsuda for me, in that I feel their battle themes are quite good, but the majority of their scores are kind of underwhelming for me. I tend to like quieter themes and Hamazu just doesn't do it for me.
We do? I was always under the impression we both like Sakimoto, and I’m pretty sure you’ve been at least a little more appreciative of Hamauzu recently
Not like this would be the first time. Though I'm pointing out more that what you enjoy in music is different than what I do. We have never seen eye to eye on Hamazu for instance, and we have differing opinions on Sakimoto as well.
I see you’re skeptical. How dare you challenge my authority on this matter
Uematsu is still credited as the main composer for the game, but apparently the videos we've seen tend to re-use old arrangements outside of the battle themes. They've used "Beyond the Wastelands" from Advent Children and the Distant World's version of "Opening ~ Bombing Mission". Course with his health issues, I could imagine someone else may have stepped in to work on the new arrangements for the game, but I also would imagine SE would have mentioned that. So it will have to be a wait and see, but so far, I feel the game is going for more of a Hollywood film route with the musical score. So while it will still be good, since VII's score was always one of the best aspects of the game, I feel like it's being produced in a way to not take away from what's going on the screen. I'm not going to pretend that I don't have a weird relationship with OST scores, so I'll wait and see about BD's music.
Agreed on FFVIIR. The arrangements are solid but by not going Dow the techno route the game loses a lot of its unique identity, imo. Granted, we’ve only seen promotional footage so far, so it might get turn out that the game proper has more electronic sounds in the end. I’m also curious as to what level of involvement - if any at all - Uematsu has on this soundtrack, since I haven’t read anything about it, which is weird as I feel SE would plaster it front and center (as Bravely Default II’s announcement had Revo front and center). I feel the reason why Bravely Default work is that it’s a band - a smaller ensemble of instruments, the performers of which have worked together for years - rather than a full-blown symphonic orchestra. The latter does create the epic Hollywood blockbuster feel you mentioned that works for some things, but I feel that for a smaller scale, classic FF story this much more intimate yet very organic sounding instrumentation is just honest to God perfect
I feel live orchestrated depends on the title and context. I've played games where it works and ones where it flopped for me due to a dissonance with the subject matter. I'm still not a fan of the orchestrated versions of some of VIIR's ost I've heard so far, especially since I feel it clashes with the setting and feels too Hollywood in its execution. Same with Mario Galaxy where the orchestrated music just never clicked with me. I still need to get around to Bravely Default, what little I remember is from the demo. I've been going back and forth on whether I like Death Stranding's OST. The main score that's done in-house is pretty good, but some of the band contributions are hit or miss. Low Roar features heavily in the game, but of like the fifteen or so tracks I've heard, I like maybe three of them. Their sound blends in too much with each other which makes discerning a lot of their tracks difficult cause you can't quite tell when one track ends and another begins.
