One of my favorites because Square never really replicated it for other FFs is the FF4 Celtic Moon arrangements. Favorites off that album are Troian Beauty and the Main Theme from FF4.
In a WHOLE other register it's been a common thought in a lot of the circles I hang around in that the Killer Instinct (XB1) soundtrack is, well, a killer soundtrack, easily surpassing the other two (mostly because KI2 was kinda bad in themes) due to the attention to detail and work put in each track (crowdsourced chanting, Tibetan human bone leg flute, officially collaborating with various "Youtube" musicians). Plus, you get some good samples off of the composer's own youtube channel. Link to my three most recent favorites in spoiler tag.
Two of the most underrated soundtracks by virtue of practically nobody outside of Japan knowing what they are would be the Live-A-LIVE soundtrack. Yoko Shimomura's first soundtrack at Square, and definitely the one that shows her talents the best due to the range of tracks she needed to compose for it. Two of these ended up in Theatrhythm Curtain Call, one of them being my favorite - Megalomania.
The second one you likely would guess if you've remotely seen me post character themes and that's Treasure of the Rudras (aka Rudra No Hihou) - A criminally underrated game also known as "that other SNES game that has a OST composed by the Mystic Quest guy". Wait did you just say the Mystic Quest guy? Yep. Arguably Ryuji Sasai's best OST (Because the other three he helmed mostly on his own are Final Fantasy Legend III, MQ and Bushido Blade 2) and one you can definitely notice a clever reuse of themes to create an overarching series of notes tied to each character, which was actually clever for this particular title. (In particular - each character has an overworld theme which is remade in a more harder hitting style for boss battles, and a slower, more emotional version for nights)
you want more i got more
In a WHOLE other register it's been a common thought in a lot of the circles I hang around in that the Killer Instinct (XB1) soundtrack is, well, a killer soundtrack, easily surpassing the other two (mostly because KI2 was kinda bad in themes) due to the attention to detail and work put in each track (crowdsourced chanting, Tibetan human bone leg flute, officially collaborating with various "Youtube" musicians). Plus, you get some good samples off of the composer's own youtube channel. Link to my three most recent favorites in spoiler tag.
Two of the most underrated soundtracks by virtue of practically nobody outside of Japan knowing what they are would be the Live-A-LIVE soundtrack. Yoko Shimomura's first soundtrack at Square, and definitely the one that shows her talents the best due to the range of tracks she needed to compose for it. Two of these ended up in Theatrhythm Curtain Call, one of them being my favorite - Megalomania.
The second one you likely would guess if you've remotely seen me post character themes and that's Treasure of the Rudras (aka Rudra No Hihou) - A criminally underrated game also known as "that other SNES game that has a OST composed by the Mystic Quest guy". Wait did you just say the Mystic Quest guy? Yep. Arguably Ryuji Sasai's best OST (Because the other three he helmed mostly on his own are Final Fantasy Legend III, MQ and Bushido Blade 2) and one you can definitely notice a clever reuse of themes to create an overarching series of notes tied to each character, which was actually clever for this particular title. (In particular - each character has an overworld theme which is remade in a more harder hitting style for boss battles, and a slower, more emotional version for nights)
you want more i got more
