Author Topic: OST Ratings (Read 15973 times)

Talaysen · « **Reply #150 on:** February 15, 2014, 08:08:32 PM »

Quote from: SnowFire on February 15, 2014, 05:13:42 AM

Overall Impression of OST: This is a really big soundtrack, so I'm probably missing some good callouts. Anyway, it's Gust. This one seems a tad below average in memorability for Gust, but Gust does good soundtracks, so it's still pretty solid. Lots of good what-I-presume-to-be-dungeony themes (Invitation Flower ~ Autumn is pretty good among those? No idea if it even is a dungeon, of course.). Yesterday's Opponents are Today's Ingredients is pretty good for a regular battle tune, I like it a lot, and MARIA is certainly a different kind of final battle theme. EDIT: And sure, I liked it when I heard the soundtrack, but I'll echo Tallychu's in-chat hype of Just a Coffin and an Automaton. It's kinda short & simple yet awesome anyway. Very dramatic and interesting.

All of the Invitation Flower tracks are world map themes.

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk

Best Song Standalone: Yesterday's Opponents are Today's Ingredients. Really tough competition up here though.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Just a Coffin and an Automaton. It really fits that dungeon. But really, most of the OST is used well in-game.

Final Rating: 10/10

VySaika · « **Reply #151 on:** February 15, 2014, 09:38:51 PM »

Chrono Cross

Best Song Standalone: Dragon God. Easily my favorite song from the soundtrack
Worst Song Standalone: Chronopolis. It just....drones. I welcomed random battles in this dungeon.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Termina(Home World). What got me here was how...subdued it was compared to the lively Termina(Another Wold) theme. Still upbeat enough, still pleasant....but it felt like there was something missing. Which is really the point, it's how the town was with the lack of Lord Viper, being occupied by Porre, etc. Life goes on, things aren't bad....but something's just missing.
Worst Song In Context: Not sure. Gale failed to really offend me, and I can't think of anywhere the music wasn't fitting for the scene. Even Chronopolis...well, a song that drones on and goes nowhere is appropriate for that place I suppose. Terrible anyway, but appropriately so.

Overall Impression of OST: Really good overall, a good handful of songs that knock it out of the park and very few that just miss entirely.
Final Rating: 9/10.

DjinnAndTonic · « **Reply #152 on:** February 16, 2014, 06:20:20 PM »

Ayesha:

Haven't listened to it all, just a bunch of tracks linked in chat, never touched the game.

Best Song: Artemis
Worst Song: Getout.

Rating: Melancholy/10 (8/10)

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #153 on:** February 16, 2014, 07:29:17 PM »

Chrono Cross- 12 raters, 7.7 average rating.

Digital Devil Saga 2

Best Song Standalone:
Worst Song Standalone:

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game):
Worst Song In Context:

Overall Impression of OST:
Final Rating:

Dark Holy Elf · « **Reply #154 on:** February 16, 2014, 07:40:19 PM »

Digital Devil Saga 2

Best Song Standalone: Divine Identity? Sure.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Hunting ~ Betrayal. The throwdown with Heat is just the narrative climax of the game. Remixing the DDS1 battle theme into something with this much punch worked very effectively and made this song stick out in my memory. It plays for two other bosses as well which is a mistake, IMO, but oh well.

Overall Impression of OST: Really rockin' battle themes and some very good dungeon themes at setting a mood, even if most aren't what I'd listen to outside the game very often (beyond Nirvana, the final dungeon theme). Even the random battle theme is a joy which is worth major points for me.
Final Rating: 8/10.

superaielman · « **Reply #155 on:** February 19, 2014, 03:40:13 AM »

Digital Devil Saga 2

Best Song Standalone: Divine Identity.
Worst Song Standalone: Power Plant.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Hunting: Betrayal. Just fantastic.
Worst Song In Context: n/a

Overall Impression of OST: Fantastic. Tons of style, very memorable all around. Music was always the high point of DDS for me.
Final Rating: 9.5/10

SnowFire · « **Reply #156 on:** February 20, 2014, 06:24:23 AM »

Digital Devil Saga 2

Best Song Standalone: Battle for Survival. That is a pretty sweet regular battle theme that is great just on its own. (If we count DDS1, "Junk Yard" is pretty good too.)
Worst Song Standalone: Uh... lots of options. Vague electronicy noise. Nirvana? Rest in Peace My Friend? (Various DDS1 too options, River of Samsara / Eat Them All / etc.)

No DDS so no in-context.

Overall Impression of OST: There's a few good tracks, some tracks that probably work in context but don't do much outside of it and have kinda short loops, and then just random electronica background stuff. See above where I said I'm not a huge fan of Meguro. SMT Nocturne is better for Meguro of the 2005-2007 era hype. Not really on the Brahman / Divine Identity hype train either, it's decent, but not amazing.
Final Rating: 5/10.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #157 on:** February 24, 2014, 05:56:57 AM »

Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk- 4 raters, 8.3 average rating.

Lost Odyssey

Best Song Standalone:
Worst Song Standalone:

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game):
Worst Song In Context:

Overall Impression of OST:
Final Rating:

Talaysen · « **Reply #158 on:** February 24, 2014, 06:39:44 AM »

Lost Odyssey

Best Song Standalone: Neverending Journey

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Neverending Journey

Overall Impression of OST: 6/10
Final Rating:

Niu · « **Reply #159 on:** February 24, 2014, 08:59:11 AM »

Digital Devil Saga 2

Best Song Standalone: Divine Identity.
Worst Song Standalone: A couple of dungeon theme that's kinda just there.

Best Song In Context: Hunting: Betrayal
Worst Song In Context: none

Overall Impression of OST: 7.5/10, consistently nailing the key scenes and themes correctly. But kinda meh and just there for the rest. But the good really out do the bad here, and where the OST is being meh on are places that can afford a meh treatment.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #160 on:** February 24, 2014, 06:27:28 PM »

Digital Devil Saga 2

Best Song Standalone: Divine Identity
Worst Song Standalone: Power Plant. Lordy.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Divine Identity. I dunno, it just gives me that "God as Marathon Boss" vibe.
Worst Song In Context: Enemies Reborn. Probably the weakest battle track on the OST, and doesn't really sell me on its mission so to speak.

Overall Impression of OST: 'salright.
Final Rating: 6/10.

Lost Odyssey

Best Song Standalone: Neverending Journey.
Worst Song Standalone: There was one of the dungeon songs that had a weird industrial vibe to it that didn't agree with me, but fucked if I can remember what it was called now.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): A Formidable Enemy Appears. It works well for that blending of Hurry! theme and boss fight, which LO uses a lot and like no other game ever does. It like Uematsu made the OST and they match the game design to it... except that doesn't explain...
Worst Song In Context: Neverending Journey. What the hell Mistwalker.

Overall Impression of OST: I wish other areas of LO were as polished as the OST. It's really trying to bring the game together, but there's just not a coherent enough game there for it.
Final Rating: 7/10

SnowFire · « **Reply #161 on:** March 01, 2014, 05:17:28 PM »

Lost Odyssey

Best Song Standalone: Neverending Journey. (uncreative)
Worst Song Standalone: Couldn't really pick one out as bad.

No LO so no context.

Overall thoughts: This is a solid OST, if a bit short for how the long the game sounds. Uematsu's still got it, even if on the Uematsu scale it's one of his weaker stabs, it's still just fine compared to others. Other good tracks include Kaette kuru, kitto; Theme of the Pirates; Dark Saint; and Howl of the Departed. Howl of the Departed in particular is at least memorably insane - I nom'd it in an old music tourney for a reason. No tracks really stick out as bad, either. The only downside is that while the good songs are good, there isn't really a truly epic totally awesome track for me, so. Consistently very good rather than erratic a la Chrono Cross.

Rating: 7/10

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #162 on:** March 01, 2014, 09:05:06 PM »

Digital Devil Saga 2- 5 raters, 7.2 average rating.

Final Fantasy VII

Best Song Standalone:
Worst Song Standalone:

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game):
Worst Song In Context:

Overall Impression of OST:
Final Rating:

superaielman · « **Reply #163 on:** March 01, 2014, 10:13:32 PM »

Final Fantasy VII

Best Song Standalone: Fighting. Love this.
Worst Song Standalone: Honeybee inn.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Aeris's theme. I adore Fighting and One Winged Angel but Aeris's death was hands down the best scene in the game. The music helped to make it so.
Worst Song In Context: Cait Sith's theme. I hate the theme, I hate the character.

Overall Impression of OST: A really great OST. It hit the main battle theme out of the park for me and I loved a bunch of other tracks. I don't like Still More Fighting, but eh.
Final Rating: 10/10

NotMiki · « **Reply #164 on:** March 03, 2014, 02:24:24 AM »

in ur topic ruining ur averages

Atelier Ayesha

Best Song Standalone: 3.3 Slag Toccata. It's just great.
Worst Song Standalone: 1.22 Tangomushi.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): 1.5 Sleeping Earth; honorable mention to 2.5 Just a Coffin and an Automaton. The music in this game is at its best when it conveys a majesty of being - a world filled with mystery and adventure. Very Princess Mononoke, those two. Regrettably the music it is at its worst whenever it breaks out the penny whistle or the accordion, and noodles out simple, cloying, intentionally off-key tunes. And it does so a lot. Only having MK out of the Atelier games to compare it to, I would say their strengths and weaknesses are nearly identical (although Ayesha overall is clearly the better of the two).

Worst Song In Context: 1.17 If You Walk Down Main Street. honorable mentions to 2.30 Hanage Military History; 2.31 I’m at the Bazaar. The town/plot event music in this game is just *so* grating. And boring! My god it is boring!

Overall Impression of OST: It's ok. For the most part, its real strengths lie in the tracks sitting outside the main action of the game, with the notable exception of 2.20 North Wind Musette, late-game world map music, which is great.

Final Rating: 7.5/10

Digital Devil Saga 2

Best Song Standalone: Inherent Will. Seriously just listening to it leaves me a little misty-eyed.
Worst Song Standalone: EGG Facility Revisited

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Hunting Betrayal, see Elfboy. Honorable mention to Airport, which is just a great dungeon theme, and Divine Identity, which is up to the challenge of complementing one of the better final boss designs out there.
Worst Song In Context: I want to say EGG Facility Revisited because I just hate it that much, but I must concede that that dungeon is SUPPOSED to be suffused with a sense of wrongness - and it nails that, I guess?? Dunno. (Power Plant isn't great, but it never bothered me, really.)

Overall Impression of OST: I love it, probably more than it deserves. It's just brilliant in context, and although I'd be hard pressed to justify this score objectively, I still listen to it all the time.

Final Rating: 9/10

Final Fantasy VII

Best Song Standalone: Main Theme. One of the longest looping tracks I can think of, starts off a little pensive, builds to a triumphant conclusion, then keeps going...and going...and seems to be building up to a heroic restatement of the main theme...but instead recedes, finally looping back to the beginning. It's truly great.

Worst Song Standalone: Honeybee Manor - in stark contrast to how perfect it is in-game.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Aeris' theme. I mean, really, I don't think I need to explain, do I? Second-best is Those Chosen by the Planet - not really special in its own right, but its use in the Nibelheim flashback is just perfect. In almost any other game it would be the best.

Worst Song In Context: Wutai. Sux.

Overall Impression of OST: It's not really reflected in the best songs, but what I love about this soundtrack is just how weird and tentative it is. The Nightmare Begins, Mark of a Traitor, Fortress of the Condor, Buried in the Snow, and especially Honeybee Manor...there's something rough and unsettling about all of these. They feel a little experimental, and given the new technology Uematsu was likely working with, they probably were. Add to that blockbusters like Aeris' Theme and One-Winged Angel and you have an absolute gem of an OST.

Final Rating: This one seems to stand out more as time goes by. 9.5/10

Dark Holy Elf · « **Reply #165 on:** March 04, 2014, 07:20:30 AM »

Lost Odyssey

Best Song Standalone: Neverending Journey.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Dark Saint. Works well as a rocking boss music, certainly, but even better lategame when it brings a whole dungeon to life.
Worst Song In Context: I'm actually gonna go with the victory theme, I think? While not terrible, it jars a bit with basically every battle theme and even aside from that lacks a bit of oomph? (then again Uematsu has arguably struggled with every victory theme which isn't directly cribbed from FF1).

Overall Impression of OST: Pretty great, the best of the three modern Uematsu compositions I've heard (this, Blue Dragon, and Last Story) and one of his best overall, and I've a high opinion of Uematsu. The battle themes are pretty terrific and set their respective stages well (I'll second CK's hype for Formidable Enemy blending boss and "hurry!" beautifully), the dungeon themes are solid stuff (Dark Saint, Mystery of the Demon Machine, Escape!), and of course there are the dreams, which rely almost entirely on text visual effects and music to bring them to life, and the music (Sign of Hope, Kaette Kuru Kitto (piano), Parting Forever) certainly holds up its side of the bargain there.

Final Rating: 9.5/10.

Final Fantasy VII

Best Song Standalone: Still More Fighting. Oh man that epic boss theme. It's a crime that it never plays again after the awful Diamond Weapon.
Worst Song Standalone: Honeybee Inn sounds right!

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): I'll give A One-Winged Angel the nod over Aeris' Theme today, but yeah, both have earned their place in gamers' memories.

Overall Impression of OST: It's good, though does suffer badly at point with Uematsu struggling a bit with new Playstation instruments (I could really do without those strange bells which carry the melody in the main dungeon theme, for instance).

Final Rating: 8.5/10

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #166 on:** March 10, 2014, 06:40:27 PM »

Lost Odyssey- 4 raters, 7.4 average rating.

The World Ends with You

Best Song Standalone:
Worst Song Standalone:

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game):
Worst Song In Context:

Overall Impression of OST:
Final Rating:

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #167 on:** March 10, 2014, 10:46:36 PM »

Final Fantasy VII

Best Song Standalone: Highwind. I dunno, there's something about how upbeat it is that really works great with the game's instrumentation.
Worst Song Standalone: Honeybee Inn. It's kinda completely awesome in how bad it is, I get a smile out of it, but yeaaah.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Opening- Bombing Mission. Much like the sequence itself, this song is amazing at pulling you into the game long enough to get invested. High marks to Main Theme and Aeris' THeme as well of course.
Worst Song In Context: ... is... there a song used badly in FFVII? You could maybe argue Other Side of the Mountain just because the game basically never uses it, but on the other hand the place it is used kinda deserves a unique song? Yeah.

Overall Impression of OST: Like with Xenogears, a case where I ponder overall rating and actually come down slightly harsher on the game because I weight stand-alone value slightly above in-game value. Which also means...
Final Rating: 9/10.

Niu · « **Reply #168 on:** March 11, 2014, 05:21:21 AM »

FF7

Best Song Standalone: Main Theme
Worst Song Standalone: Can't think of any

Best Song In Context: That Nifelhelm flashback, Those Chosen by the Planet really left a strong impression on me.
Worst Song In Context: Can't think of any.

Overall Impression of OST: Looking back, my impression on this OST changed a lot. Though my evaluation on its musical quality has not changed and still dislike many of synth used.,my opinion on how the OST worked in game has increased tremendously.
Final Rating: 9/10, it could have been a 10/10 if weren't for the problem on the synth and sound quality.

TWEWY

Best Song Standalone: Satisfy, not a big fan of J-Pop, but this one hits on the right spot on one of the few style I like.
Worst Song Standalone: Junk Garage, oh god, I can't stand this.

Best Song In Context: Fighting for Freedom, SHIBUYA. I really liked the map theme in this game as it really does its job to bring out the general mood of the plot and the tension beneath the city. Those two track I found to do its job the finest.
Worst Song In Context: O-Parts, the song I hate the most right after Junk Garage, and they have to use it on the annoy as hell fight against Konishi among all places.

Overall Impression of OST: It's J-POP and Indies and rap that I absolutely have no opinion.
Final Rating: 7.5/10

Twilkitri · « **Reply #169 on:** March 16, 2014, 05:06:41 AM »

Final Fantasy VII

Best Song Standalone: Main Theme Of Final Fantasy VII
Worst Song Standalone: Gold Saucer

Final Rating: 8/10

The World Ends With You

Best Song Standalone: Long Dream
Worst Song Standalone: Owari-Hajimari (English) (JP version is worse, but it looks like it wasn't included in EN!TWEWY)

Final Rating: 8/10

SnowFire · « **Reply #170 on:** March 16, 2014, 05:33:33 PM »

Final Fantasy 7

Best Song Standalone: Main Theme of Final Fantasy 7. See NotMiki, p. much.
Worst Song Standalone: Honeybee Manor.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): The Bombing Mission.
Worst Song In Context: Nothing stands out.

Overall Impression of OST: Erratic. When it's good, it's *amazing*. And it's good in a lot of ways - not just badass confrontations & shocking events (Regular + Boss battle music, One-Winged Angel, Aeris's Theme, Those Chosen by the Planet), but also moody background music (Anxious Heart, Shinra Corporation, lots of others). That said, there's a decent number of "meh" tracks which drags down the average some, and as already noted the instrumentation is early-PSX weird in a lot of places.
Final Rating: 8.5/10

The World Ends with You

Best Song Standalone: Calling.
Worst Song Standalone: Most of them.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Calling.
Worst Song In Context: Sure, O-Parts is pretty meh, they should have had something better for Konishi.

Overall Impression of OST: Among the largest stand-alone / in-context gaps for me. The J-Pop works *great* in-game, and it's used well. I was expecting to at best "tolerate" the music and the fact that it's authentically good was a pleasant surprise - nothing like Calling on the map to get pumped about the next shenanigan in Shibuya. That said, hell no to listening to it outside of the game. It's even worse in that I like the DS versions of the tracks more than the soundtrack versions, which have random little "enhancements"! It's like an 8.5/10 context vs. 3/10 soundtrack split here.
Final Rating: TWEWY/10. (Uh, call it a 7/10?).

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #171 on:** March 17, 2014, 06:06:11 PM »

The World Ends with You

Best Song Standalone: Someday. I always catch myself almost signing to this one.
Worst Song Standalone: Parts.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Calling. Most of the run around town songs are just kinda okay, so having Calling come back around was always a little "yay~" moment.
Worst Song In Context: Truthfully I would have to replay the game for that. The good songs I remember playing, and I don't have a good memory for mismatch issues.

Overall Impression of OST: TWEWY is a game designed around its aesthetic, and the OST is as much a part of that as the low cut hot pants. Buuut as noted previously, I tend to weight out of context a bit higher so I think...
Final Rating: 6/10. One or two songs I really enjoy and a lot of stuff that's only useful in context and tends to blur a bit.

Cmdr_King · « **Reply #172 on:** March 17, 2014, 06:10:43 PM »

Final Fantasy VII- 7 raters, 8.9 average rating.

Suikoden III

Best Song Standalone:
Worst Song Standalone:

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game):
Worst Song In Context:

Overall Impression of OST:
Final Rating:

Dark Holy Elf · « **Reply #173 on:** March 21, 2014, 07:30:09 AM »

Suikoden III

Best Song Standalone: Complex Thoughts. A great three minute theme-and-variation crescendo.

Best Song In Context (ie, song used the best in-game): Green Grave Marker, the track which plays at Lulu's funeral. The actual lines in this scene aren't that great (due in large part to S3 translation) besides Joe's "I will not walk beside that face" but the music (again with the slow building) and those S3 facial expressions really sold me on the mood of the scene.

Overall Impression of OST: I also like The Glittering Sword quite a bit (but am pretty lukewarm on most of the remaining battle tracks), and I'll give a shout-out to a great selection of town themes: Karaya, Vinay del Zexay, Duck, Chisha, and Alma Kinan in particular all have tracks which immediately create a unique mood and feel for their respective locales. I also liked several of the unique dungeon themes for similar reasons. In general the game managed to give almost every area its own track and was better for it.

On the other hand the instruments and composition mean that tracks, even good ones, sometimes don't have the impact I feel they could have had (Glittering Sword is a huge exception). Hard to explain. Something like the Budehuc castle theme kinda typifies what I'm thinking about, here.

Final Rating: 7.5/10

SnowFire · « **Reply #174 on:** March 23, 2014, 04:33:41 PM »

Suikoden III

See Dark Holy Elf, basically.

Best Song Standalone: Duck Village
Best Song In Context: Green Grave Marker

Suikoden III only has two "event / big confrontation / excitement" type tracks that qualify as really good to me in Glittering Sword & Exceeding Love. It's a bit odd since most game soundtracks - and to an extent Suikoden I & II - are usually known for these. However, where S3 really succeeds are the town musics - this game has great town music, usually. See Elf's list - almost all of the town musics sell the area very well while being good tracks on their own. Green Grave Marker is a very nice somber track, too. I liked most of the dungeon / travelling themes too, even if a few could wear after awhile.

I know some people hate on S3's soundtrack, but I like it just fine. It isn't quite as good out-of-context as some other Suikoden soundtracks, nor is it as long, but it's great in-context, so I'll take it.

Final Rating: 7.5/10 (8/10 in-context, 6/10 out)

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Author Topic: OST Ratings (Read 15973 times)