OST/Orchestral Music you love.

[Michikyou]

Okay, so I'm an avid fan of other game soundtracks and such, and I am making this thread so people can share what soundtrack or tracks they are listening to.

 

I will first link, my favorite game of all times soundtrack:

 

 

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If you know anything similar you love, and would like to share. Please. Please do.

[TheLastCandle]

Dragon Quest VIII's OST immediately came to mind. The Western release was given a massive upgrade, including a fully orchestrated soundtrack. My favorite:

 

[Blue]

Pretty much anything from Hans Zimmer is pure gold to me.

 

As for videogames, Akira Yamaoka and Nobuo Uematsu are my favorite, though I've been liking Uematsu's tracks less since the transition from Squaresoft to Square Enix. I've heard his stuff in Last Story though and it's definitely a return to the golden era of his music to me. Above all, I consider FFIX's OST is best work yet, with You're Not Alone, Immoral Melody, Evil Messenger (Rock arrangement of Immoral Melody), and Assault of the White Dragons as his best tracks.

 

Another videogame of which music I consider a key core and that I find very pleasant is the Wild Arms series, WA3 in particular. Here's the link to the playlist:

 

As for my favorite track in the game, it's certainly the one that plays at the end of the four prologues, Flying in the Midst of the Storm.

 

[Elysia]

Every year I fall in love even more with Yoko Shimomura's work for Legend of Mana. 

 

 

Just listen to its opening theme. It explains everything. 

 

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And then there's Joe Hisaishi, of course, with all the wonderful music he's composed for Studio Ghibli: 

 

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[Kellach Woods]

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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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)

 

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you want more i got more

[ProvaDiServo]

Dodonpachi has got some seriously good tracks.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2FDGa11A3c&index=2&list=PL_YRL8X5TPBEup3yjAusccE-E4IutIPvQ

 

 

Other awesome tracks I'm currently vibing to.

 

My Running/ Lab music

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuF6k0tUIss

 

 

 

 

 

[Zyrusticae]

More little known outside of East Asia would be Blade & Soul's soundtrack as well as Aion's, both of which have some really standout tracks within them. Have some samples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worth noting is that NCSoft does NOT skimp on the soundtrack whatsoever. Most tracks are recorded with a live orchestra, something that doesn't happen too often for video games - for example, most Jeremy Soule soundtracks still use synthesizer software, and even FFXIV's soundtrack is mostly the same way, though there are a handful of orchestrated tracks here and there. That combined with the East Asian flavor of heavy emphasis on melodical themes makes their soundtracks a standout to my ears, versus the ambient orchestrated tracks often heard from Western composers.

 

There's just loads and loads of good stuff in their soundtracks, I can't even begin to list them all here. Mayhaps this will serve to entice someone to look into their stuff.

[allgivenover]

Pretty much anything by Revo of Sound Horizon/Linked Horizon. His work almost always features a partial orchestra.

 

Bell of Battle from Bravely Default

 

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Song of Dusk from Marchen

 

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[Edvyn]

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[TheLastCandle]

Deathsmiles' OST is full of awesome.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMP7a3nbuKk