Favourite JRPG composer?

[Phosphor Glow]

So I was just thinking a bit ago about different composers mostly known for their work in JRPGs, and I was just curious as to who generally seems to be the favourite. I'm expecting Uematsu, but maybe you guys will surprise me.

Mostly it came from the thought that, aside from a couple of his OSTs, I really don't like Sakuraba's work all that much. It's all very samey and uninteresting to me.

Anywho, vote away!

[shiranui]

Shoji f'n Meguro, the king of hard rock battle themes and catchy J-pop soundtracks.

[Phosphor Glow]

Jun 19, 2010 13:39:32 GMT -5 @shiranui said:

Shoji f'n Meguro, the king of hard rock battle themes and catchy J-pop soundtracks.

Yeah, Meguro is pretty good. Nothing of his work really sticks out for me, but I remember enjoying it when I played some of the SMT games.

[shiranui]

I'd say the Persona games have Meguro's best work. Some of the stuff he composed for the main SMT series and Digital Devil Saga can sound pretty generic at times, but his Persona compositions are a lot more memorable for the most part.

[Phosphor Glow]

Jun 19, 2010 15:23:20 GMT -5 @shiranui said:

I'd say the Persona games have Meguro's best work. Some of the stuff he composed for the main SMT series and Digital Devil Saga can sound pretty generic at times, but his Persona compositions are a lot more memorable for the most part.

That's good news. I have 2: Eternal Punishment, and 3 FES, but I haven't played them yet. After I beat FFXIII, I'm strongly considering playing one of those.

[J is Justice]

Uematsu, but FF XIII has my favourite soundtrack of the series, I think.

[thwak is T.hawk]

I think meguro is a SLIGHTLY better composer than uematsu since he has more range and is a bit more consistent.

For instance, can you point to any composition that uematsu has done in the past 10 years that is worth noting? That's not to say that he's a bad composer, it's just that he's been very hit or miss lately.

Also, dude forgot to list Yoko Shimomura. She's definitely up there in terms of good VG music composers.

[Mozenrath]

Jun 19, 2010 19:45:25 GMT -5 thwak is T.hawk said:

I think meguro is a SLIGHTLY better composer than uematsu since he has more range and is a bit more consistent.

For instance, can you point to any composition that uematsu has done in the past 10 years that is worth noting? That's not to say that he's a bad composer, it's just that he's been very hit or miss lately.

Also, dude forgot to list Yoko Shimomura. She's definitely up there in terms of good VG music composers.

Final Fantasy X has one hell of a soundtrack. Especially if you count Mistahhhhhhhhh Goo's singing of The Skies Above.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

Out of the ones listed than it's probably Uematsu although my favorite is Miki Higashino. She was the lead composer on Suikodens 1 and 2.

[Allie Kitsune]

Sorry, Dude. Sakuraba gets the nod from me for his stuff from the first Valkyrie Profile alone.

Meguro has his moments, and is probably the best at composing Battle Themes, but he got too J-Poppy with Persona 3 and 4 and that kinda dragged him down a little.

Shimomura is good, though I think Live-A-Live was her best work.

Uematsu is a little overexposed to me.

WAIT! Changed my mind!!! KENJI ITO. KENJI ITO, KENJI ITO, KENJI ITO!

The man behind the OSTs for the Romancing SaGa series (including the PS2 remake, although he had assistance on that one) and SaGa Frontier. No other JRPG composer fits my tastes quite as well as Ito.

[Mozenrath]

Jun 19, 2010 22:36:49 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Sorry, Dude. Sakuraba gets the nod from me for his stuff from the first Valkyrie Profile alone.

Meguro has his moments, and is probably the best at composing Battle Themes, but he got too J-Poppy with Persona 3 and 4 and that kinda dragged him down a little.

Shimomura is good, though I think Live-A-Live was her best work.

Uematsu is a little overexposed to me.

WAIT! Changed my mind!!! KENJI ITO. KENJI ITO, KENJI ITO, KENJI ITO!

The man behind the OSTs for the Romancing SaGa series (including the PS2 remake, although he had assistance on that one) and SaGa Frontier. No other JRPG composer fits my tastes quite as well as Ito.

Any relation to Judge Lance Ito?

[TheJaredAnderson]

I threw a rave at my house about 3 years ago and played the entire FF7 Overclock remixed soundtrack and it got to the Golden Saucer song and I turned it because it was very PSX and bad sounding and everyone boo'd lol. Oh nerdz

[Mozenrath]

Jun 20, 2010 0:00:24 GMT -5 TheJaredAnderson said:

I threw a rave at my house about 3 years ago and played the entire FF7 Overclock remixed soundtrack and it got to the Golden Saucer song and I turned it because it was very PSX and bad sounding and everyone boo'd lol. Oh nerdz

I have to admit, Final Fantasy 7 was in a pretty awkward period for music, with them still in the bit-tune era. The Golden Saucer game fits the gaudiness of the place, but it's not something I want to listen to outside of the setting.

[sunwukong]

Mitsuda. Xenogears may be my favorite game soundtrack ever. The Chrono games are always extremely well done (even Cross, which I hate as a game).

[aka Cthulhu]

Hmm, it's probably a three-way tie between Uematsu, Sakuraba, and Meguro. Also, Tenpei Sato count? Not sure if the Disgaea series and the other games count as JRPGs but I like the music in the games.

[Phosphor Glow]

Jun 19, 2010 19:45:25 GMT -5 thwak is T.hawk said:

I think meguro is a SLIGHTLY better composer than uematsu since he has more range and is a bit more consistent.

For instance, can you point to any composition that uematsu has done in the past 10 years that is worth noting? That's not to say that he's a bad composer, it's just that he's been very hit or miss lately.

Also, dude forgot to list Yoko Shimomura. She's definitely up there in terms of good VG music composers.

Lost Odyssey. Honestly, it's one of my favourite Uematsu soundtracks. It's just breathtaking and gorgeous to me.

Jun 19, 2010 22:36:49 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Sorry, Dude. Sakuraba gets the nod from me for his stuff from the first Valkyrie Profile alone.

Meguro has his moments, and is probably the best at composing Battle Themes, but he got too J-Poppy with Persona 3 and 4 and that kinda dragged him down a little.

Shimomura is good, though I think Live-A-Live was her best work.

Uematsu is a little overexposed to me.

WAIT! Changed my mind!!! KENJI ITO. KENJI ITO, KENJI ITO, KENJI ITO!

The man behind the OSTs for the Romancing SaGa series (including the PS2 remake, although he had assistance on that one) and SaGa Frontier. No other JRPG composer fits my tastes quite as well as Ito.

I'll agree with you on the VP OST. It's fantastic. It's just that for the most part, Sakuraba, at least to my ears, tends to be either bells and harps and bells and harps, or really generic progressive rock. Don't get me wrong. I love prog. But it just doesn't tend to create any sort of atmosphere or work at all when Sakuraba does it. Not to me, anyway.

Jun 20, 2010 0:10:31 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Jun 20, 2010 0:00:24 GMT -5 TheJaredAnderson said:

I threw a rave at my house about 3 years ago and played the entire FF7 Overclock remixed soundtrack and it got to the Golden Saucer song and I turned it because it was very PSX and bad sounding and everyone boo'd lol. Oh nerdz

I have to admit, Final Fantasy 7 was in a pretty awkward period for music, with them still in the bit-tune era. The Golden Saucer game fits the gaudiness of the place, but it's not something I want to listen to outside of the setting.

I actually disagree. I think FFVII's OST is fantastic and not especially awkward. I mean, yeah it's still very synthy, but I really love the instruments that were used, and the whole feel of the OST is just amazing.

[Allie Kitsune]

Jun 20, 2010 12:32:41 GMT -5 Phosphor Glow said:

I'll agree with you on the VP OST. It's fantastic. It's just that for the most part, Sakuraba, at least to my ears, tends to be either bells and harps and bells and harps, or really generic progressive rock. Don't get me wrong. I love prog. But it just doesn't tend to create any sort of atmosphere or work at all when Sakuraba does it. Not to me, anyway.

Sakuraba's thing is that he seems to love to play around with weird, weird stuff sometimes (look at the bizarre time signature from the Valkyrie Profile boss theme, for instance, and his love for 70s rock organs)

Back to Ito for a second, I can't remember the name, but the guy he had helping him re-arrange the music for Romancing SaGa PS2 is one of the guys who worked on the music for The Last Remnant, which is why Romancing SaGa PS2's battle themes were suddenly so guitar and synth-rock heavy. If you listen to any of The Last Remnant's battle themes, you'll definitely hear the similarities to Romancing SaGa PS2's heavier songs.

I'd also be remiss in not mentioning Yuzo Koshiro, this time around. Koshiro's better known for doing music in action games (Streets of Rage, Revenge of Shinobi, Actraiser) and racing games (Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune series), but he was also the primary composer behind Ys 1 & 2's music, which is still some of the most enduring and classic game music there's ever been (even if the songs are better known by their multiple arrangements by various members of Falcom's JDK Sound Team).

[Fundertaker]

Jun 19, 2010 15:23:20 GMT -5 @shiranui said:

I'd say the Persona games have Meguro's best work. Some of the stuff he composed for the main SMT series and Digital Devil Saga can sound pretty generic at times, but his Persona compositions are a lot more memorable for the most part.

Yes they are. God, everytime I play P3FES I get that tune from the school stuck in my head for at least a month.

But I second Miki Hagashiro. God, were the OST's for Suikoden 1 and 2 beautiful. And then you had those city specific themes that anytime I remember a city the music pops up in my head as well. Like the human part of Two River and that jolly tune.