As the title implies, I'll post random VG tunes on here whenever I feel like it. Couldn't put this under music box since only admins can post there. Anyways, here goes.
Even though it's already been a while since I played Prinny: Can I Really be the Hero? some of the music still finds its way to my head. One of the tunes is the BGM of the forest level, Green Labyrinth.
More Tenpei Sato! This time it's Elegant Darksters/Demons AKA Magnificent Dark Family AKA A Dark Race Becomes Magnificent (they just can't settle on a translation, can they?). This is one of the staple tunes of the Disgaea series, and there's a different version for every installment...except Disgaea 3 for some reason. I prefer the '05 version from Disgaea 2.
Original from Disgaea: Hour of Darkness
'05 from Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories
Heroic Saga from Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten (may have been somewhere else but it's where I encountered this version)
Even more Tenpei Sato! Don't worry, next time it'll be a different composer...probably. Since it is christmas and all I felt like putting up something christmasy, so here is the theme of Prinny 2's winter stage, 魔界のケリスマス, which translates to something like Hell Christmas (it probably has a proper English name but I'd have to check it in the game and I left my psp at the old address)
Another one of my favorite composers, Motoi Sakuraba! But this isn't one of the "hyperactive battle themes" as I recall Jarath called them. Endlessly is just a normal dungeon theme from Star Ocean: The Second Story. The reason I like this one so much is because I think it has just right dungeon atmosphere.
Among Motoi Sakuraba's work Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria's soundtrack is bit of an oddball. Some dungeon themes sound almost like his usual battle themes while the rest is just extraordinarily...ordinary. The regular boss battle theme, Never Surrender, comes closest to his usual work.
Yes, Square had RPG series besides Final Fantasy. The SaGa series is largely forgotten because, well... First off, the three SaGa games on Gameboy (known as Final Fantasy Legend here in the west). These were your basic RPGs of the time and are simply...meh. They don't really connect to the rest of the series, system- or otherwise as far as I can tell. As for the three Romancing SaGa games, I've only played the third one, but I think they all have the same VERY open ended and non-linear gameplay, the battle system iconic to the franchise and multiple main characters. These aren't known simply because they weren't released outside Japan. There's a fan-traslated rom of the third one which is why I've managed to play it properly, but more on that in a bit. Now, the two SaGa Frontier on the PSX...the first one is similar to the previous ones but simply isn't that good. Individual characters do have a bit more story, events etc. than before but that simply isn't enough when the side quests and getting around are a bore. There's also the issue of final dungeons coming out of nowhere and giving you no choice of turning back (for one of the characters the final dungeon comes around after 15 mins of gameplay and you wouldn't dare think it really is a final dungeon). The second one mixes the battle system up a bit and, contrary to previous ones, doesn't give you the choice of main character but keeps shifting back and forth between two main characters and the story is linear. Haven't really gotten around to playing this one. Romancing SaGa 3 is awesome. The characters, gameplay and music are all great. The game gives you the choice of 8 different main characters, although the choice doesn't matter that much besides the opening scenario and some details: there's a dungeon you can only access as Harid, Mikhail has to manage his country and so on. The game is very open ended and most of the time you'll be doing side quests. Heck, sometimes you think you're just wandering around doing a side quest when you suddenly notice it's vital to the story. Some of the events (including story ones) require your party's average HP to be above a certain level. The battle system is turn based, which is pretty basic, but the character development is a bit different. There are no levels. Each character has fixed basic stats (strength and so on) while HP, TP/WP (used for weapon techs), MP/JP (used for magic) and weapon/magic profiencies can randomly rise after a battle (provided the type of weapon, tech or magic was used during the battle, respectively). Magic can be bought. I always felt that magic was useless but that was probably because I didn't use it so it didn't get stronger. When attacking or using certain techs the character may randomly use a new tech and learn it. There are also evade techs to evade certain types of attacks, which can be randomly learned while receiving the appropriate type of attack. All of this can lead to very different parties towards endgame. There's also the commander mode, which is activated when the main character stays behind as the sixth character (you can have a max of 6 characters, max battle party is 5). In commander mode you don't select actions as usual, but issue commands to characters how they should act (focusing on a single enemy, being defensive and so on). You can also use formation-dependent group techs in commander mode which can be ridiculously powerful (I've found two which deal 9999 damage pretty much every time, normally best techs deal 1-2k towards endgame). Anyways, I chose this particular BGM because Grand Chase's Thanny battle really reminded me of this. Now that I listen to them back to back they're not all that similar, but...I dunno. Yay for wall of text!
Especially the earlier Castlevania games had great music (in case of Simon's Quest pretty much its only redeeming quality) and the later 2D "MetroidVania" style ones have some good tunes as well. This particular piece of music from Portrait of Ruin kept playing in my head whole week and kept me sane during the marches...almost.
Just what is it with Motoi Sakuraba's normal battle themes? Don't get me wrong, the boss themes are great but normal battle themes are on a whole other level. Felix's battle theme from Golden Sun 2 - The Lost Age is another prime example.
I feel like crap today so out of place cheery music! Imagine playing BlazBlue for the first time, going into arcade mode choosing the character that piques your interest. You've heard that the game is very similar to Guilty Gear, in terms of music as well - heavy and awesome. The first fight happens to be against Taokaka and you get...
...something so cheery that you wouldn't think it was a battle theme. Well, it does fit the character so it's all good. Although it is kinda trolling when BGM is set to random and this comes up in a character-wise serious fight like Ragna vs Hakumen, Carl vs Relius or Noel vs Tsubaki.
In most Disgaeas game over music is typical sad game over music, but in Disgaea 3...
...the game over music is obviously so happy it's trolling. Considered leaving this out since it isn't very good but decided to put it up anyway.
I haven't put up FF music here probably because everyone already knows about its awesomeness, but then I realized that it makes no difference: these are just random BGMs I choose to put up on a moment's whim, after all.
This particular remix of FFVI's boss battle by SSH (Saitama Saishuu Heiki) I first ran into in a very, VERY random Japanese youtube video.
What happens when I'm too bored to play anything but not bored enough to actually think about experiment reports? I put stuff here where no one reads it anyway.
For no particular reason, here are my top 10 final boss themes. First some ground rules. One game per series, spin-offs are counted as being separate (because they're usually rather different especially when it comes to music). Here a BGM is considered a final boss theme if it plays in any part of the final boss, so if there's different music for different phases they all count, not just the last one. That's enough technical stuff, time to get to the actual list!
10. Final Fantasy Mystic Quest - Battle 3
While I refuse to accept Mystic Quest as a Final Fantasy game (I consider it a spin-off, I don't think the European release even had "Final Fantasy" in the title), I think it still gets bashed a little bit too much. Yes, it's really easy and the story is a joke, but that's kind of intended...well, the difficulty part anyway. It says "entry-level RPG" on the box! The game had its moments and served its purpose for what it was. And at least the music's pretty good. As for the music in question, it really gets you pumped up, and the composition is surprisingly good. As a final boss theme it's actually rather standard, which is why it's so low on the list.
9. Kirby Super Star Ultra - The Greatest Warrior in the Galaxy
Ahh, Kirby. So upbeat, cheery and WHAT IS WITH THIS THEME. It's so different, intimidating and chaotic. The boss itself isn't too hard, in Meta Knight mode at least. The music's still awesome though.
8. Pokémon Fire Red/Leaf Green - Champion Battle
It's Blue/Green/Gary at maximum douchiness. What's not to love/hate? Oh and I guess the theme is pretty awesome too. I really prefer the GBA remake soundtrack to the original, the remixes are just spot-on and the original soundtrack kinda feels like it suffered from hardware limitations (not as bad as Gold/Silver though).
7. Golden Sun: The Lost Age - Doom Dragon
Golden Sun just doesn't get enough love. No matter how much it is, it's not enough! And where the hell is GS4? Dark Dawn's ending was pretty much begging for a sequel! Nevertheless, out of the games released so far, the second one just seemed to do everything right, especially the music was astounding, and the final boss theme is no exception...even though it sort of seems it's just a part of another song. Maybe it's because I heard the Felix/final battle mashup in Brawl so much.
6. Cave Story - Last Battle
Of course I had to have Cave Story in here somewhere. What did you expect?
5. Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - Final Battle
Ah, Yoshi's Island. So bright, colorful, happy...wait, didn't I do this joke already? Yeah, the theme's memorable because it's so different from the rest of the game's brainwashingly cheery music. It's just pure awesomeness.
4. Romancing SaGa 3 - Last Battle
Romancing SaGa 3's soundtrack is just amazing, and the final boss theme is among the best tracks. It's just so incredibly epic.
3. Earthbound - Pokey Means Business!
Oh cool, they're going for a retroish sound. Seems like a standard NES-era boss theme HOLY SHIT WHAT JUST HAPPENED. Another style breaker...I'd say, but Earthbound's soundtrack is all over the place as it is. Still, I'm pretty sure everyone's at least taken off guard by the sudden change about a minute in. That aside the theme is certainly intimidating and fit for a final boss.
2. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness/Time/Sky - Dialga's Fight to the Finish!
Most battle themes, I find, can be divided into three categories: 1. Intimidating, to emphasize the threat of the enemy. 2. Energetic, to get the player pumped up for the fight. 3. Atmospheric, contributes to the atmosphere created by the situation and the environment. Most normal battle themes tend to be energetic while obviously final boss themes tend to be intimidating. However, this theme doesn't really fit any of the categories. If I had to describe it with a word I'd say...adventurous. It really does feel like it's the climax of your adventure and that it's over after this one final fight, for better or worse. The Mystery Dungeon games have surprisingly emotional stories and the music really conveys that.
1. Final Fantasy VI - Dancing Mad
You just can't beat Final Fantasy when it comes to epic music, and Dancing Mad is the most epic of the epic. The earlier phases build up to a grand payoff when Kefka finally shows up and the final part of the song starts. It's just unbeatable when it comes to final boss themes. ...What, were you expecting One Winged Angel? Waaaay overrated, both the theme and especially the character. Just let the mama's boy stay in the basement.
There's a crapload more epic boss battle themes imo, such as Final Fantasy's 4 and Champion Lance/Trainer Red themes from pokémon gold/silver.. but nice list nonetheless, and I agree on the fact that Golden Sun doesnt get enough love for what it's worth, which is a lot.. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, my favorite GBA game, followed by Advance Wars and of course the Legend of Zelda franchise..
Other franchises that have kickass OSTs include The World Ends With You and the Ace Attorney series.. gotta love those Turnabout Soul (Jazz) remixes.. I'll leave it up to you Just to post the vids, since I'm just too lazy to do so.. *cough* Godot's Fragrance of Dark Coffee in Turnabout Soul *cough*
Actually, I might've put those up there if it wasn't for the somewhat arbitrary "one per series" rule. Also, any Cornered from any Ace Attorney kinda sorta counts as a boss theme...they were a little too sketchy by definition to put on the list. Note that the list was on final boss themes, I might do a top 10 or maybe even a top 20 boss themes later. Oh, and TWEWY? The game was good but the soundtrack didn't really do it for me. That's probably just me, though.
And now that I'm writing might as well do a "honorable mentions" of sorts for the final boss themes list. But first, that Turnabout Soul remix of Fragrance of Dark Coffee.
Can't say that it's much different from the original since the theme is rather jazzy already but a good remix nonetheless.
But yeah, onto the honorable mentions. These themes that are pretty great but didn't make it to the list because of technicalities and such.
Honorable Mention #1: Other Final Fantasy final boss themes More specifically 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9. I can't really put them in any order since they're all pure awesomesauce, saying that Nobuo Uematsu has a knack for what he does is a severe understatement. I just feel that 6's is just a notch above the rest. Oh, and I don't feel like putting all of them up, I'm sure you can find them if you feel like listening to them.
I can definitely see why this theme is so popular, especially since it's also used for the battle against Red. That's actually where most people remember this track from, it seems. Can't really blame them as the fight against Red was far more memorable than Lance. Nothing like wiping out Red's level 80-ish team with level 55s (It's a frigging lv 81 Pikachu! Quagsire used Earthquake! nuff said). As for why the theme isn't on the list, I simply think that it's not quite as good as Blue/Green/Gary's theme.
Honorable Mention #3: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity - Bittercold Last Battle
This track is genius. The composition is insanely great and all the elements just fit together perfectly. At first I couldn't quite decide between this and Dialga's theme and even considered putting them both on the list under the same entry, but eventually I decided to leave this one out since it's just a bit...standard, compared to Dialga's theme at least.
Hm.. Actually, listening to the Gates of Infinity theme, I just remembered another franchise that has, in my opinion, a very nice soundtrack, that being the Professor Layton series.. I'd like to ask your opinion on it (Especially Layton's orchaestrated theme from Curious Village).. Since you're apparently the one man that cares about soundtracks as much as I do :3
Anyway, took a quick listen through Curious Village's soundtrack and all I can really say is...nice. For some reason these slower, atmospheric soundtracks have never really been my thing. I do acknowledge the importance of music creating atmosphere especially with these kinds of soundtracks and I'm sure it fits the game like a charm but these tracks don't really seem memorable to me. I'm sure actually playing the game would fix that though. Layton is one of those series I've kind of had a interest for but never got around to trying out. Unfortunately I'm a bit low on both time and money to really get into any new video game series right now. Oh, and Layton's theme was indeed pretty good. Reminded me of Disgaea for some reason, must've been the instruments they used or something.
On a totally unrelated note I was a bit disappointed in Pokemon X's soundtrack, or the battle themes anyway as they just don't seem to stand out (the trainer battle theme kinda grows on you after a while though). Even the remix of 1st gen's wild battle was just...meh. I have to hand it to them though that most of the music on the field really just seems so very, very...French. Actually, Curious Village's soundtrack seems to have the same sort of vibe, although it's more mysterious and melancholy.
I've played and cleared all Layton games so far, and as far as I know, they're 100% playable on an emulator, so if you wanna give those a spin, try running them on No$ .. I've also heard that the Unwound Future theme is one of the best of the Layton series, and the best game.. At least the plot is amazing imo, since it's the last of the Past-trilogy
Home
