Xenosaga Episode II: Jeseits von Gut und Böse

[Fynn]

This is the game that got the most unfair treatmen in all of VGM History, IMO. I mean, I've been listening to the cutscene OST latelly and I am amazed. Yuki Kajiura is without a doubt a worthy successor to Yasunori Mitsuda. Her tracks are beautiful and ambitious. But why did the game have to be ruined by the abysmal majority of tracks by Shinji Hosoe? I swear to God, it was his music that made me stop playing the game. I didn't even know that was possible!

So what do you guys think about it? Unfair treatment, or was this game so bad it deserved to be mauled by Hosoe's mediocrity? Of course, you mileage may vary on the quality of his compositions... But I Hate them. And now love Kajiura.

[Wolf Kanno]

Most people love Yuki Kaijura's tracks, hell, I wasn't happy with XSII but I still bought the cutscene OST cause they were so good. Hosoe's tracks are abysmal and it is better just to forget about them entirely if you ask me.

I feel XSIII's OST got more of a shaft personally just because no one talks about it and it's easily the best OST in the series.

[Fynn]

The biggest issue in Hosoe's contribution is that while I was playing, they were so bad, they completely overshadowed Kajiura's music. I mean, I noticed the cutscenes had some nice pieces. But it's just that the area and battle tracks were pounded into your head over and over and it was them that made the lasting impression. Now I'm listening to the cutscene OST and I can finally appreciate how good a composer Kajiura really is. But the circumstances I just mentioned above - I think it is unfair. I do not understand how it could come to this. They had a good composer and a terrible one. They made them write for the same game. There goes any of my enjoyment of the game whatsoever...

EDIT: I just visited his official website. Xenosaga II is missing from his discography. I guess even he is ashamed of what he did there...

[Roogle]

I agree with Wolf Kanno. Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra easily had the best soundtrack in the series as Yuki Kajiura was allowed to compose it entirely. Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht was a very disappointing soundtrack for me as I felt they spent too much of the budget on the songs they did create, leading to repetition, particularly in the battle theme.

[Ultima Shadow]

Yuki Kajiura is amazing. She's right up there with Nobou Uematsu. Xenosaga Episode II had some gems thanks to her, but the soundtrack as a whole was really bad. And yes, Xenosaga Episode III had the best OST by far.

[Rostum]

The Opening Theme and Fatal Fight (Jin & Margulis) are amazing. I really like Yuki Kajiura.

[Roogle]

The problem with Xenosaga Episode II: Jeseits von Gut und Böse is that two composers created completely different styles of music to be used at different points in the game leading to a complete lack of harmony. Yuki Kajiura produced amazing songs, some of which were used in the next title that she composed by herself, but they were sparsely placed in the second title in between substandard electronic tracks. The victory theme for Xenosaga Episode II: Jeseits von Gut und Böse reminds me of a child going to the dentist and finding that they have no cavities.

[Forsaken Lover]

The game itself is awful and that detracts from the experience. Then there's the fact the voice-acting is mostly terrible. I can't very well cover my ears from teh dreadful acting while trying to listen to the awesome tunes.

I did take a listen to XSII's OST and it is very good. Though I still say amidst all the crap in this game, this song was really nice.
YouTube - Xenosaga II Soundtrack: Labyrinthos

Really if you can stop yourself from stabbing out your eyes after the first disk, Episode II can become mildly good.

Also yes...Episode 3's OST had a lot more variety and is probably better overall. But Episode 1 was still awesome. It's Mitsuda so what can you expect.
YouTube - Xenosaga~Pain

[Wolf Kanno]

I feel the only thing that was truly bad about Episode 1's OST was that the majority of tracks were actually good but rarely used. Instead relying on what felt like the same 10 tracks for most of the game and having the other 90% of the soundtrack relegated to being played only once and often times only for the first 20 to 60 seconds of the track.

Episode 2 did the same thing except the obnoxious tracks are the ones you hear all the time.

[Roogle]

I liked that the subsequent titles in the series seemed to have learned from the mistakes of repetitive battle tracks. Episode II and Episode III both feature multiple battle and boss battle themes.