What it says on the tin. What is a track or twelve you feel is underappreciated whether it's overlooked in a great OST or just from a game that doesn't get enough love?
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What it says on the tin. What is a track or twelve you feel is underappreciated whether it's overlooked in a great OST or just from a game that doesn't get enough love?
So, so many, I don't know where to start or where to end :D
I'll just throw a couple out here that are great but from games barely anyone probably even played
White Knight Chronicles 2 - The Battlefield Flower
The Caligula Effect - Peter Pan Syndrome (Boss battle version)
Exist Archive - XENO Factor (just don't suffer too much from Motoi Sakuraba burnout when listening to this)
Ugh I know I’m gonna get flak for this since I feel like I’m the only person on the Internet who’s ride-or-die for Masashi Hamauzu, but honestly, anything he does just ticks all the right boxes for me. He sounds distinct and it’s very clear he’s coming in from a classical background. He always feels like he knows exactly what he’s doing, and with so much game music just being stuck in the same neoromantical thing that movies are also generally stuck on, it’s just incredibly refreshing to have games sound more impressionistic.
So yeah, the Unlimited Saga OST is neat.
On that note, Yoko Shimomura may not be underrated herself, but she’s a good example of full-on romantical that still sounds distinct. You can always tell it’s Shimomura. It’s a big shame her last two big projects - that being KHIII and FFXV - were mostly relegated to much lesser composer (Ishimoto has completely condemned himself in my eyes for whatever he was trying to do in the KHIII final battle theme). More than anything it’s probably due to her tendency to miss deadlines, yet she always comes back to add stuff at least! So while the two tracks I’m linking aren’t exactly unpopular, they are less talked about by virtue of being from DLC that not everyone would play. But they’re both Shimomura with some amazing structure and layers and it’s all just... *chef’s kiss*
drakengard ost
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkrT...O31FlgRaxKNyCD
Unlimited SaGa's score has a few highlights but I still find it a bit too pastoral for my taste. It's not helped that Hamazu is trying to cover for Kenji Ito who had established that SaGa really works best with more of a hard rock/epic soundtrack.
Speaking of Kenji Ito... The man has done some wonders with the SaGa franchise, but I really do feel Romancing SaGa 3 might be his magnum opus. I've heard some good things from SaGa Frontier 1, but without context it's hard to judge. Still I want to give a shout out to RS3 for having a fairly versatile soundtrack. It's on par with FFVI and VII's collection of different genres and it makes the world feel fairly distinct.
Katrina's Theme
Magical Tank Battle
Four Demons Battle 1
For underrated artist in general, I'd point to Michiko Naruke whom is mostly known for her work on the first four Wild Arms game and the remake. I've pasted her music on here before but I'm choosing some stuff that isn't played to death because even her work has a few tracks many people know.
Bring it Back to the Soil
Lone Bird in the Shire (Rudy's Theme)
First Ignition
Atomic Arms
Overture
From Dusk til Dawn
Here's another one from the SaGa series that particularly gets stuck in my head all the time:
I don't know. It feels like most of the time I mention something that might be underrated it turns out there's a lot of people who like it. Probably the best chance for something to be underrated is for it to be largely unknown. My tastes aren't all that unusual. Most tracks I like a lot will probably be liked by a decent number of people as long as the track is well known. I will say that some things like Angel's Fear from SoM probably doesn't get quite the amount of love I think it should, but I know lots of people love SoM music, so I'd probably be splitting hairs with that. I think there was a previous thread like this in which I generally mentioned BoF music and, stealing tracks from CT notwithstanding, I still feel this holds true. Alan and Cerl from the first BoF stands out in particular. Also, the Dragnier theme in BoF3 and the major boss theme.
Oooh yeah DONDEN is great
The Dragon Quest 1 world map theme
That's why I said in the OP that it could either be underrated in the ''unknown by obscurity'' sense, or you can choose a track from a popular OST that just doesn't get the love it deserves. Like I absolutely love ''Angel's Fears'' from SoM but I also feel that this track, along with ''Meridian Dance'' are fairly well known especially if you listen to the VG Remix scene. So instead I would probably choose isntead:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lord Golbez
A Wish
Eternal Recurrence
Since both are awesome tracks that don't get as much love as they should from the OST. So yeah you can do eithe ror if you want.
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Going back to Del and the GB SaGa entries, my choices are:
Reflection Theme
Title Theme
From SaGa 2:
Burning Blood
Save the World
Not to mention the beautiful remixes of SaGa 1's music.
SaGa 3:
Ending Theme 1 ~ Sol's Demise
Holy Ruins
The FFL series had some great tracks.
As for the DQ1 overworld, you have to admit it is catchy. Also somewhat brilliant that the 16 second loop flows together well enough that it seems like the song just continues.
Yeah. Angel's Fear is definitely far from an unknown track, but I feel like it's a top tier track of the era and doesn't necessarily get the same kind of love similar level tracks from CT and FF6 get. A Wish was definitely another one I considered mentioning. While it probably doesn't get as much attention as Angel's Fear, I probably also wouldn't put it on quite the same level.
Beyond the Beyond.
This now-maligned game was the first RPG on the PSX, before even FFVII, so of course I played it. While the game seems to be mostly forgotten, but the music was great. Especially the final dungeon BGM, where the music subtly speeds up every time the party moves down a floor. The composer would later create the immortal Valkyrie Profile soundtrack.