Tag Archives: RPG

Interviews

Artist Interview: Hiroki Kikuta

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While Hiroki Kikuta is best known for his SNES-era scores to Secret of Mana and Trials of Mana, he’s also been an indie game developer himself, and worked on productions big and small, from his time doing a lot of eroge titles and original works up through his partnership with Scarlet Moon where he’s constantly in demand to contribute to indie RPGs. His biggest titles recently include Indivisible, Trinity Trigger, Infinity Knights: Xross, and Visions of Mana.

Read his full biography, credits list, and hear some sample music on his Scarlet Moon Artists page. Check below for an interview with Hiroki Kikuta about his style, inspirations, and collaboration with Scarlet Moon.

Continue reading Artist Interview: Hiroki Kikuta →
Interviews

Artist Interview: Nami Nakagawa

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Nami Nakagawa is most famous for her vocal work on the original NieR and the Demon Slayer anime series, but we find her versatility, being able to sing in Japanese folk, pop, and even “children” vocal styles and her relentless public service as a volunteer for various causes throughout to Japan to be even bigger reasons why we love to work with her so much.

Read her full biography, credits list, and hear some sample music on her Scarlet Moon Artists page. Check below for an interview with Nami Nakagawa about her style, inspirations, and collaboration with Scarlet Moon.

Continue reading Artist Interview: Nami Nakagawa →
Album Information

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 →
Interviews

Interview: Visions of Mana Music Team

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Visions of Mana is just weeks away! The first entry in the Mana series in quite some time, we were excited to learn about the game alongside the news that series composer Hiroki Kikuta would be returning to write a portion of the score. We now understand that the score was split three ways, with Kikuta handling cinematic music, Tsuyoshi Sekito handling action and battle music, and Ryo Yamazaki writing exploration and event music. We’ve been able to get a word in with all three composers about their history with the franchise and their experience working on Visions of Mana, including the gear they used for the score.

Click below for the full interview. Continue reading Interview: Visions of Mana Music Team →

Interviews

Interview: FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Lead Composer Mitsuto Suzuki

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FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH is out in the wild and everyone’s taking note of the meticulous care the team has taken in re-imagining this definitive RPG. The amount of music written for the game is massive, with eight discs total for the special edition (seven for the standard edition), so when we say it took an army of talent to create it, that’s not an exaggeration.

At the helm of the score for this second installment is SQUARE ENIX composer Mitsuto Suzuki, who is no stranger to the FINAL FANTASY series, having contributed to FINAL FANTASY XIII-2, LIGHTNING RETURNS FINAL FANTASY XIII, MOBIUS FINAL FANTASY, and FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE. Being a huge fan of his work, and loving the interview series conducted on the SQUARE ENIX MUSIC channel on YouTube, we had a few questions of our own (provided by Scarlet Moon’s Dale North) related to the direction he took, his process, and his gear.

See what Mitsuto Suzuki has to say below. Continue reading Interview: FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Lead Composer Mitsuto Suzuki →

Reviews

Review: Tree of Savior – Vocal Songs of Masters from Ep.13

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This is the last collection of music we’ll be writing about from Tree of Savior for now. There were some additional releases in 2021 that we may get to at some point. This vocal collection features only five tracks by S.F.A and Initium, and as the title suggests, they are all vocal tracks. You can catch up on our series of Tree of Savior soundtrack reviews here.

The album opens with “Killer Jesters (Clown Theme),” coming as a chugging metal track with electronic guitar and deep operatic male vocals that becomes a duet with female vocalist as the track progresses. “Aoba (Sadhu Theme)” is a sweet and swaying vocal pop song, while “Escarcero onda (Cryomancer Theme)” is a hip Korean ballad with spacey electronics and wailing electric guitar in the background. “Rondo Miserabile (Psychokino Theme)” is a fun swinging jazz cafe theme with sultry vocals and accordion, and “Lyudmila (Arquebusier Theme)” sports operatic vocals on top of an epic electronic backing, slowly building into something quite powerful.

The vocal collection is available on Steam.

Reviews

Review: Oriental OST Collection 2020 (Tree of Savior)

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Nearing the end of our journey through all of the additional digital Tree of Savior soundtrack albums, Oriental OST Collection 2020, while not identified as music from Tree of Savior on the album cover, is definitely from Tree of Savior featuring mostly S.F.A but also a few tracks from soundTeMP and Cinenote. As the title suggests, this is largely music featuring ethnic instruments from the region, and is contemplative and soothing in its presentation. If you want to get caught up on our reviews, they can be found here.

The album opens with “Absolution” with droning bass pads with strings and zither over the top, coming off as foreboding and resolute. It’s then on to the contemplative and sweeping “Bamboo Grove,” the seeping and somber “Farewell,” the driving “Heartstrings” with its rolling percussion, and the airy and floaty “Juvenile Xanadu.” “One Eyes Swordsman” is a change of pace with chugging bass and buzzing saw pad, whereas “Reincarnation” is a bumping electronic track. It’s back to sweet and emotional with “Slower Whisper,” grandiose with “Southwest,” and beautiful piano and bells in “The Sword of Tears.” The album closes out with the dreamy electronics of “A Tale of Wind and Cloud” and the bustling “Tyro Emperor.”

As always, you can find the Oriental OST Collection 2020 release on YouTube and Steam.

Reviews

Review: Tree of Savior – Splash August 2020 OST Collection

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We’re nearing the end of our journey through the Tree of Savior add-on digital soundtracks. “Splash August 2020” is appropriately upbeat and poppy, making for great summer vibes. Catch the rest of our Tree of Savior reviews here.

This collection features almost exclusively S.F.A minus two tracks, and the total run-time is about an hour. The album opens with party-like “Samba de Seoul” with the sound of ocean waves kicking things off, followed by the entrancing and dreamy vocals of “Pristine EDM mixed,” the uplifting funk rock in “Vent,” and the emotional and contemplative “Pintura Cueva.” “Fiesta Bloom” offers uplifting and pop-infused trance, “The Wisdom of Crowds” goes disco, and “Sweet Poison” (by soundTemP) is a pumping electronic track. There’s electronic chip orchestra with Baroque harpsichord and strings with “Homage to Zborovye,” decisive and epic orchestral with “Avoidance,” Hollywood western in “In My Dreams,” and the sound of birds and waves in the island-flavored “Summer Breeze” to close things out.

This is a nice assortment of tunes that can be heard on YouTube and Steam.

Reviews

Review: Tree of Savior – Silent JULY 2020 OST Collection

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This time we take a look at the “Silent” July 2020 soundtrack release for Tree of Savior. Fortunately it’s not silent, although it is a lot more mellow than other releases. You can catch up with all the Tree of Savior reviews here.

The album opens with acoustic guitar and male operatic vocals in “Deives Velliava” before moving on to the aptly titled “Sad feelings” with somber strings and piano, the powerful and moving “Snow Hill,” and the reflective “Beautiful Than Flowers.” There’s a lovely music box track with “DayDream,” the contemplative and frosty “Consistency,” the somber-yet-hip “Eclipsed Road,” the sweeping “Orsha,” and the more pop-flavored “Amaranto.” “Milden Miles” adds dancy piano to melancholy strings, “Journey in Heaven” sports angelic choir and funky bass, “November Rain” comes as a relaxing flamenco style track, and “Tiger Cherish” is a powerful and lovely English ballad.

In all, the “Silent” collection differentiates itself quite nicely and is available on YouTube and Steam.

Reviews

Review: Tree of Savior – Nostalgic September 2020 OST Collection

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Onward to the “Nostalgic” September 2020 music collection from Tree of Savior. This volume features S.F.A artists, Initium, and more soundTemP. You can catch up on all the Tree of Savior soundtrack reviews here.

Perhaps the “nostalgia” in this collections’ title comes from the sort of classic South Korean MMORPG soundtrack that hearkens back to the Vol.1 release, replete with vocals throughout, opening with the amazing opener, “iKURU,” a lovely and warm J-rock track. It’s then onto more grandiose orchestral rock with “Dienos Advento,” the decisive vocal ballad “Through the Forest,” and the beautiful and dark “Guillotina Tristeza,” all with female vocals. There’s the desperate “La Patria,” the funky “The Dignity of Wrath” and “Bodacious definition,” and the sweeping and emotional “Massivity.” The team goes huge with “Vaste Terre,” an orchestral rock track, while “Signs of Penance” goes full electronic, “Even Horizon” gets an adventurous orchestral sound, and “Uno Impetus” is a catchy Megadeth-like tune. SoundTeMP’s lone contribution, “World is Missing You,” is soothing and beautiful with sweetly strummed acoustic guitar and, let’s say, nostalgic woodwinds. The album closes with “Deives Veliava,” a big female vocal performance over piano and strings.

The Nostalgic September 2020 collection is available on Steam.