as we already know who the composer will be and that this will be a next gen title, what's everyone's guess on whether ff13's score will be midi, entirely real instruments, or a mix of both?  the tune(s) (sounds like a mash of 3 or so tunes) from the e3 2006 ff13 teaser has some lovely music about.

on a related note, was ff7: DoCerberus all live orchestral?  cause it sounded like it.

thank you for any insight.  cheers.

It would be silly to stick sequenced music on a Blu-Ray disc.  I'd say the music has a 90% chance of being streamed.

Also, yes, almost all of the DoC music is streamed, I think.

i sure hope so myself.  but it's easy to still have some doubts otherwise, cause i still remember myself almost agast, or shocked at the least, that ff10 would still carry on the midi tradition, after being floored by "libera fatali" in ff8 and the arranged score that came subsequently--"...but it's ps2, it's next gen, it's on a dvd disc!"  whatever the case, the teaser tune(s) are a hopefuly sign of things to come.  thanks for your reply

oh, another confounding curiosity i pondered before: wonder why square decided to go mostly non-midi on ff7:DoC and not so on their flagship behemoth ffxii.

Disc space isn't the only issue --- streaming music requires some combination of disc access, RAM (for buffering), and/or CPU (for decompression).  That leaves less of those resources for other stuff, so there's a tradeoff involved.  The developers of FF7DC thought the tradeoff was worth making in their case; evidently the FFXII team didn't think it worthwhile in theirs. 

With PS3, the performance hit should be negligible so everyone will use streamed music unless they want to experiment with interactive music instead (which I'd personally prefer, but probably most soundtrack fans think otherwise).

It'll definitely be streamed, considering the composer and the system.

DoC was streamed but the music was a combination of synth and live instruments (depending on the track). Several tracks were completely orchestral.

ah, that makes sense.  i suppose that could--possibly--explain how GTA has tons of licensed music streaming along with some truly horrendous graphics.  a reversal of priorities for them.  maybe.

edit: actually, perhaps that's not necessarily the case, RAM+CPU conversation.  look at shadow of the collosus, ico, etc for example.  top notch graphics, but still live orchestra.

Looks like the FFXIII OST is due out january 27th on 5 Discs (4 + drama?) for 5200 Yens.

pic here:
http://www.neowing.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=SQEX-10178
Later,

Alcahest

Oh god, I hope not. That would be horrendous, and I certain wouldn't buy it if it was that.

Looks like you'll be saving yourself some money then, cos that's exactly what it says in the description.

Yeah, there's also a regular edition, presumably without the drama CD, so you will probably be better off getting that one, but the packaging won't be as nice, I'm sure.

Keep in mind that a normal edition will be released on the same date and you don't need to pay more than 1,000 yen for a Drama and a possible more geogous case.

I'll actually pick a normal edition. Yeah, I'm poor but am not ashamed of it.

Edit: Apparently, kotowski was faster

I'll easily get the regular version w/out the drama disc, saving $10 will be nice.

Didn't like the LE release of the FFXII OST, what with the unecessary excessive size of the DVD case; glad they still released a jewel-case-sized edition.

Why the hell do publishers insist on using DVD cases for CDs, anyway? It's awkward, and makes me separate them from the rest of my collection.

At any rate, I've really been looking forward to FFXIII, and it's soundtrack, so here's hoping it's 4 discs of GOLD!

I'm really looking forward to this!

Why all the hate for the LE's?  I love em, I'll definitely be grabbing it, drama and all.  Sure they can't all fit nicely on your shelf, they'll stand out, but I think that's kinda the point of LE's, isn't it?

+1 to those who'll be getting the non-gigantic-and-hard-to-put-on-the-shelf edition.  Hopefully it won't be impossible to find like the FFXII one was for me.

IF I get the soundtrack, that is.  Hamauzu is way more hit or miss for me than he seems to be for 95% of the rest of you guys.

I didn't like FFXII's large size either (but never rebought the normal one), though thankfully Grandia III and a couple other things 'justified' it.....but it's the drama thing I don't want. Since there's a normal one with no drama CD, it's no big deal after all.

There's some new tracks from the score up at the official website. Some people put them up on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7caDQLSANXw - A seriously kickass rendition of the Chocobo theme.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La1n2ElYYoA - Atmospheric and then epic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3LBiP2-6fc - A very catchy militaristic tune.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCwUg963Zeo - A terrific piano/strings chamber version of the main battle theme.

I'm hoping someone uploads these as mp3s so I can add them to the rest of the released music.

Now this is a chocobo theme, Hamauzu f---ing delivers it. I have a feeling that this soundtrack will be so sweeeeeeet.

Now I just gotta hope that the regular package looks almost as nice as the LE-version so I don't have to buy the LE one just for the looks.

I can't believe I'm saying -cause I've always loathed the chocobo theme- but damn! This track is just drippin' with Hamauzu funk. This together with that sick tune from the trailer makes this a must purchase for me.

The arranged version of Senkou (slash?) is a good example of Hamauzu being on me, and the militaristic track (aka something sounding like lighter DoC) is when he's off me.