SaGa Frontier II Original Soundtrack

The first time I turned on SaGa Frontier II in late 2000, I was expecting what I had come to know and love from the music of the series - your typical Squaresoft synth in most of the tracks, a soundtrack that consisted of mostly filler tracks, a few noteworthy pieces, and killer battle themes. What I got, however, was radically different and, as I listened more and more, quite a refreshing change of pace.

SaGa Frontier II marks the first game of the series to not be composed by Kenji Ito, whom I would have to say knows what he is doing. However, Masashi Hamauzu, with his lighter, more airy tones and heavy use of piano chords, has really outdone himself here. Instead of your obviously synthetic effects that we get from Ito (which work for battles quite well, in my opinion), we get more of a thematic effect. When you hear the first battle theme, "Feldschlact I", pay attention to the main theme in the background. You'll hear it all throughout the soundtrack, in various battles themes, several places as background music, and even the last two battle themes on the entire soundtrack.

Though the soundtrack is for the most part light, like the game itself, there are a few pieces that stand out as darker and heavier with intent than the others - "Unmacht", for example, with is dark overall theme and heavy use of strings. "Manifest", the track being played whenever your party makes a foray into a Megalith, would be another prime example of this .

Overall, I would say that this makes for very enjoyable listening, whether or not you have played the game itself. In most cases, I don't like the battles quite as much as Kenji Ito's (with the notable exception of "Todesengel", which I think is a master stroke of genius for this soundtrack), but the overall feel of it is much lighter and much more uplifting than many contemporary RPGs, and I think this is something that we should stop and enjoy once in a while. I would highly recommend this OST to anyone.

Let me start by saying that SaGa Frontier II OST is not traditional SaGa music that most people are familiar with. It's not composed by Kenji Ito, and it has a totally different sound. But does that make it bad? Absolutely not! This soundtrack is one of the best I own, and while you may not think the same at first, it will grow on you big time.

This soundtrack marks Masashi Hamauzu's second solo project (his first being the *excellent* Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon OST), and it is also his best work. The first thing you'll notice after you hear some tracks is his unique style of composing. He uses chords and variations that more traditional RPG soundtracks (epic or symphonic for example) don't normally use. He also uses a lot of piano in this album. In fact, almost every song has piano in it at one point or another.

The second thing you'll probably notice is the extreme "bounciness" to the music. Most tracks are very upbeat and happy sounding. This might not sit well with some game music fans, but it's fine by me. Part of the reason for the happier sounding music (other than Hamauzu's style), I think, is the game itself. It doesn't have an evil or menacing plotline like the past SaGa games, but follows two different people and their experiences and doings throughout history. It's actually very interesting and well done. And as much as I am a fan of Kenji Ito's SaGa music (and the games as well), this change is refreshing. I would like to see Kenji Ito come back for the next SaGa game, but if Hamauzu returns, I won't be disappointed either.

Not all the tracks are bouncy though. There are slow moody songs, jazzy dungeon songs, and very catchy battle songs (although not nearly as good as Kenji Ito's). All these styles come together and round out the soundtrack, giving you everything you'd normally find in an RPG soundtrack, but in completely different fashion.

As with all Square soundtracks, the synth is crisp and sounds good. While it doesn't come anywhere near the realism of the Chrono Cross OST (which is outstanding), it's very well done.

There have been some major complaints leveled against this album since its release. Most of these complaints are from people who haven't played the game extensively. You might like this music better if you've played the game first, but it's easily enjoyable on its own, if you give it a fair chance. If you do give this album a chance, I'm confident you will come to love it and Hamauzu's unique musical style.