Tag Archives: Basiscape

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Battle Champs Original Soundtrack (BSPE-1231)

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Battle Champs is the English title for Cygames’s Little Noah, a new mobile RPG centered around leveling up your champ, building a base, and defeating your opponents. Hitoshi Sakimoto has taken up music duties, providing the iconic high fantasy sound he has become known for, and Basiscape Records has released the soundtrack on digital platforms. What sets Battle Champs apart in the context of Sakimoto’s past works are its playful nature and ethnic flair, which fits nicely with its vibrant visual style. Even the battle themes are upbeat and playful!

Right from the whimsical bells and harp and sweeping strings of “Introducing: Battle Champs,” you know that you’re hearing the music of Hitoshi Sakimoto. Listeners can consider “The Airship” to be a key theme, always contemplative, but growing more mature in its arrangement over the course of “Level 1,” “Level 2,” and “Level 3.” The battle themes also stand out for not being your typical RPG battle theme… instead, they are energetic and fun, sporting exotic instrumentation and percussion as in “Destroy it All!,” and my favorite track, “Now, Everybody!” with its ascending build and high-energy percussion. Your typical RPG trappings do appear with the adventurous rolling march, “Guild Battle,” the uplifting fanfare, “Now That’s What I Call a Victory!,” the epic and tumultuous “Winborne Dragon,” the stirring and emotional “Ooh, I Can’t Believe It!,” the solemn and deliberate, “Let’s Talk Strategy,” and the melancholy and somber “Oof, Ouch… Pull it Together!” The album ends with a series of moodier tracks, touching on everything from lumbering danger and outright terror to a searing desert theme to close things out.

If you want to hear Hitoshi Sakimoto’s latest, check out the Battle Champs Original Soundtrack on iTunes.

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Wizardry Variants Daphne Original Soundtrack (BSPE-1229~30)

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Hitoshi Sakimoto is once again contributing to the biggest RPG franchises across the industry. While not a total stranger to Wizardry, having contributed to Wizardry Gaiden: Prisoners of the Battles and Wizardry Gaiden: Five Ordeals, Wizardry Variants Daphne is his first full Wizardry score. While many fans knowhis signature fantasy orchestral sound, he actually got his start doing electronic music, and this time he is able to blend both sides seamlessly to create some really cool soundscapes, with key themes and stingers weaved throughout to tell the game’s story through sound. The two-disc collection with English and Japanese track titles, Japanese commentary, and images from the game is certainly worth your attention.

As to the music, expect dark and foreboding soundscapes. Sweeping strings, but with guttural electronic bass swells. Live folk instruments, but with crystalline synth pads. It’s a great combination of styles with a number of surprising moments. Key themes include the somber opener, “Distant Memories,” which will have Sakimoto fans feeling right at home, and the pop-infused main theme that features throughout in “Wizardry Variants Daphne.” Electronic elements are highlighted in different ways across tracks such as the otherworldly “Tales of the Abyss,” the growly “Inhuman,” and the distant and menacing “Port of Amnesia.” The orchestral/instrumental side is emphasized with the regal “Royal Capital Luknaia,” the spunky “Adventurer’s Guild,” the inspirational “Battle Cry,” the spectacular organ piece “Beginning Abyss,” the melancholy “Endless Rain,” and the folksy and somber “A Day in a Castle Town.” The two sides come together closely in “A Life for a Life,” an intense hybrid with synth arpeggios and explosive brass, “Great Calamity,” a chaotic and epic final battle theme, and “Final Destination,” a sci-fi theme with glistening synths and fantastic strings. Moods range from desolate, desperate, reflective, and downright terrifying to triumphant and adventurous. It’s really a fun listening experience.

Those who are interested can import the Wizardry Variants Daphne soundtrack from CD Japan or stream it on Apple Music.

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Unicorn Overlord Original Soundtrack and Acoustic Arrange Album

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Basiscape teams up with Vanillaware and Atlus once again, scoring the beautiful RPG adventure Unicorn Overlord. Featuring loads of fantasy music that Hitoshi Sakimoto and the Basiscape team are best known for, the Original Soundtrack totals four discs of music, and there are separate arrange albums in the form of the widely available Acoustic Arrange Album as well as a collection of 16-bit arrangements that came packaged in with the Monarch Edition of the game.

Let’s dive in and see what the Original Soundtrack and Acoustic Arrange albums have to offer.

Continue reading Unicorn Overlord Original Soundtrack and Acoustic Arrange Album →
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Mist Train Girls ~Kiri no Sekai no Shasou kara~ Original Soundtrack (BSPE-1102)

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Basiscape is back, starting 2022 off with the soundtrack to Mist Train Girls. Titled Mist Train Girls ~Kiri no Sekai no Shasou kara~, this album acts as the soundtrack to the popular JRPG browser game based on the novel/animation by the same name, following “train knights” who are inspired by train stations around the world. The score is directed by Basiscape’s Yoshimi Kudo with music by Kudo, Watanabe, Kaneda and Kikuchi.

Listeners will enjoy the vocal opener, “Mist Song,” with stylish orchestral and electronic elements and moody lyrics presented in both short and long versions. What follows is everything from an industrial waltz and grandiose sweeping orchestra to magical bell-infused rock and tense drum ‘n’ bass. The score is at moments ethereal or exotic, and at others regal or unsettling. The soundtrack crescendos into an epic rock and choir track that must be for the final boss before the soothing and swelling closer ends things on yet another magical note. The team does a great job of capturing the mystery and intrigue of magic throughout, and even if you may never play the game, the score is worth your attention.

You can pick import the soundtrack on CD Japan if you’d like.

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CARAVAN STORIES Original Soundtrack Vol. 8 (BSPE-1081)

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Basiscape is finally wrapping up their eight-disc CARAVAN STORIES soundtrack series.  While many of the earlier volumes focused on specific regions and races of the world, Volume 8 concludes with music from the game’s story. As such, this volume offers a more eclectic mix of music compared to past volumes, but that doesn’t mean the series doesn’t go out with a bang.

It begins with the bombastic and spooky-yet-comical “Assault on Enigma” before launching into the mechanical and piston driven percussion of “Demon Transformation,” the whimsical strings and woodwinds of “Claw Knights,” and the seriously spooky “Guriam Borderland.” It’s then on to the alternating determined and chill “Philosopher’s Tower,” the desolate “Ancient Fortress” featuring sitar, and the playful “Slapstick Castanet” with accordion, marimba, and bassoon. There’s the dancey “Jillian’s on Stage,” the rapid-fire Celtic strings and brass stabs of “Duel,” and the regal and sinister “House of the Lord.” “Crescent Hot Spring Town” is contemplative and features swaying strings and toy percussion, “Rallying Man” is energetic and adventurous with a signature Sakimoto aesthetic, and “Trumbull Dominion” is slow and brooding and includes tinges of jazz. The closer, “The Snow Girl and the Three Santas,” sports a huge big band with brass, tambourine, bells, and an appropriately celebratory mood.

The final album in the series can be purchased physically on and digitally on iTunes. Feel free to catch up on the rest of the albums in the series here.

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CARAVAN STORIES Original Soundtrack Vol. 7 (BSPE-1077)

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We’re nearing the end with Basiscape’s massive CARAVAN STORIES soundtracks. This Japanese mobile/PC RPG’s soundtrack spans eight volumes, each dedicated to a different race from the game. Volume 7 is focused on the lizardmen, and is appropriately bleak and ominous. Composition duties are largely split between Basiscape’s Kazuki Higashihara and Yoshimi Kudo.

The album opens with the exotic and ominous percussion and tense strings of “Hugo’s Cauldron” before jumping into the pumping bass, epic bell tolls, and intense strings and woodwinds of “Bunwaii Desert” and it’s night variant with folksy guitar. The battle-like “Burning Blade” with its explosive percussion and ascending string stabs might remind you of Final Fantasy Tactics, while the electronic percussion, grandiose strings, bagpipes, and sense of tragedy in “Lloyd-Hann” is also a highlight. There’s the robot-like “Kinsfolk Fractured Zone,” marimba and bass synth in the comical yet frantic “Voracity of Chaos,” gurgling synths and pounding percussion in “Tyrant of Chaos,” intensely catchy synth lines in “Power Struggle -Inferiority-,” and an industrial sound with a wonderful chorus in “Battle with Head of Warrior.” Rounding out the album are the militaristic march, “Hero’s Trial,” a spooky waltz with a male operatic lead incorporating the main theme in “Caravan Trip -Festival of the Dead,” a broodier male vocal track with an auto-tuned backup choir in “Mansion from the Depths,” and a surprisingly serene and otherworldly version of the main theme titled “Caravan Trip -New Year-.”

There’s one volume remaining in the CARAVAN STORIES series. Watch out for that soon. In the meantime, Volume 7 can be purchased on . It’s also available digitally on iTunes. Information on past volumes can be found here.

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CARAVAN STORIES Original Soundtrack Vol. 6 (BSPE-1076)

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Basiscape is back with Volume 6 of their epic mobile RPG soundtrack to CARAVAN STORIES, with this volume dedicated to the oceanic Gessy folk. Expect beautiful waterscapes and a touch of the exotic. It all begins with angelic pads, woodwinds, and marimba in a serene opener before moving on to everything from dancing marimba and playful energy in “Temple of Pakama” and chaotic dancing accordion in “Laurara’s Dance” to watery crystalline bells and glassy pads in “Narupopo Fruit Garden -Nightscape-” and bubbly and uplifting in “Chaktek Great Rift Valley.”

The highlight of the album is easily the vocal theme, “Coraggioso! Coraggiosamente!,” a male operatic piece that is energetic and a lot of fun, giving “Maria and Draco” a run for its money. The album continues with the familiar “Iyarr’s Narrator” which is warm and full of mystery, a touch of the series main theme with whistling, twangy guitars, and bagpipes in “Caravan Trip -South-,” dangerous didgeridoo and exotic woodwinds in “A Wild Kid in a Great Island,” and intense ninja-flavored action with chugging shamisen and explosive percussion in “Sword Fight.”

CARAVAN STORIES Original Soundtrack Vol. 6 is another great addition to the series which will wrap up after Volume 8. Grab it on CD Japan if you want the physical edition or on iTunes from mostly anywhere.

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CARAVAN STORIES Original Soundtrack Vol.5 (BSPE-1075)

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Basiscape launches into the second half of their gargantuan CARAVAN STORIES soundtrack with Volume 5, this time focusing on the elves. As you’d expect, there’s a majestic and jovial character to the album, making for some of the best listening so far. It begins with upbeat and jazzy piano that will have you tapping your feet in “Luwiera’s Forest,” dreamy female vocals and running piano, acoustic guitar, and ethereal pads in “Iyarr Ancestral Song,” and harp and pizzicato strings accented by Hamauzu-esque piano and strings in “Luwiera Town.” There’s the dance-y piano lines and female vocal snippets of “The Sword of Aurous,” the beautiful yet dangerous electronic-infused “Lappi Mine,” and the angelic and triumphant “Aleia” with regal strings and harpsichord. This volume’s vocal theme comes as a male vocal ballad with acoustic guitar that has a surprise ending. There’s tense and ominous in the extremely dissonant “Dark Corridor,” mesmerizing repetitive piano runs and strings that slowly build in “Tenement of the Blue Spirit,” and descending harp and hissing percussion in the desolate and dark landscape of “Wolven Cape Rovanier.” The main theme takes us out with a whimsical opening and lovely piano and woodwinds at the end.

Volume 5 may be my favorite yet. You can grab the physical CD on or the digital release on iTunes worldwide.

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CARAVAN STORIES Original Soundtrack Vol.4 (BSPE-1074)

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Basiscape’s epic CARAVAN STORIES continues with Volume 4, this time dedicated to the dwarves. As such, expect lots of warmer sounds and reverberating cavern-esque soundscapes compared to past volumes. It begins with prancing bagpipes and mechanical clicks and whirs in “Baldu Pipe Town,” the soothing and mysterious woodwinds and piano of “Billibino Pumpland -Nightscape-,” and the energetic galloping battle tune with chugging bass and fluttering woodwinds in “Dynamic Ingenuity.” There’s ominous and dank with glitchy xylophone in “Arlosa Mine,” an explosive orchestral battle track with “Duel Battle -PV Version-,” a twangy Western vibe in “Start of Hunting Season,” and folksy fiddle, bass, and hand percussion in “Mad Cow Brewery.” The vocal theme comes as a full on death metal track with chugging guitars, explosive bass drum, and screaming vocals titled “Markings of a Lifetime,” which comes as quite a surprise. The album closes with the adventurous “Ghelbours Foothills” and its spookier nighttime counterpart, and the CARAVAN STORIES main theme with added mischief in the rolling guitars and strailing strings.

CARAVAN STORIES Original Soundtrack Vol.4 is available physically from and digitally worldwide from iTunes.

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CARAVAN STORIES Original Soundtrack Vol.3 (BSPE-1073)

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Basiscape’s massive score to the mobile RPG Caravan Stories continues into Volume 3, which focuses on the orcs. You’ll find lots of tribal percussion, big brass, sweeping strings, and ominous soundscapes throughout, starting with the exotic and swaying “Garhudom Woodland,” and healing and folksy “Western Dogaa,” and the galloping Panzer Dragoon-esque “Muddy Warrior.” There’s the customary vocal pop song, “Oh, A World Nearby?,” the unsettling and buzzing “Fort Dogaa,” the regal “Audience,” and the rolling marimba and flying strings of “Kuaranii Cascades.” The angelic pads and layered shamisen of “Pyramid of the Moon” exude mystery, the droning pads and quirky electronic sounds of “Urdon Fungal Jungle” are ominous and foreign, and the spooky voices and rattling in the distance in “Deep Grief” are unsettling. It all ends with the grandiose Sakimoto-esque main theme with huge strings, brass, and percussion.

A physical CD can be imported from or bought digitally worldwide through iTunes.