I know that Ys IV never had an original soundtrack released, so would getting the Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys J.D.K. Special and Falcom Special Box '95 be the closest thing to actually having the original soundtrack? Also, is it possible to listen to the audio tracks on a CD player from the game itself? Thanks.

Not sure what's on the Falcom Special Box, but if you get JDK Special and all three Perfect Collections...I think that about covers most of it.

Anyway, yes, most of the music is listenable in a CD player, although many songs are unfortunately only PSG and not redbook. Just note that a lot of computers have problems reading the audio tracks on PC Engine CDs, unless you use certain programs.

Just get the three Perfect Collections dude. Good stuff.

The Ys IV Perfect Collections and 1 disc of Falcom Special Box '94 contain tracks that were used on the PC-Engine CD Ys IV: The Dawn of Ys.  That is as good as it gets.

I tried to put Ys IV into a CD player, and I couldn't get all the audio tracks to play.

The tracks on disc 1 of SB94 are straight lifted from the Perfect Collections. If you own all three Ys IV PCs (a difficult task indeed) FSB94 is a waste of money...oh wait, except for the other two discs, which are superb. ^^

As you mentioned, Falcom Special Box '95 does have Ys IV music. It's the JDK Special "Part 2." It's just some tracks that the first JDK Special missed. If you're looking for a complete music collection, the 2 JDK Specials are an integral part of the mix.

But Smeg is right in saying that, in terms of audio quality, you WANT the PCs, not the JDK Specials.

Ramza

There are three tracks on the fourth disc of Falcom Special Box '93 (Pre-release of Ys IV, Legend of Xanadu, and Brandish 2) that are minor variations on the Ys IV PC versions of Celceta, Battle #58, and Ridge ~ Ruins.  As I said, these are MINOR variations, but worth checking out if you're a completist.  The rest of this disc is pretty sweet as well.

Edit:  You couldn't get the Ys IV game CD to play in a CD player, Stephen?  That's odd; my CD players have no trouble picking up the tracks.  Granted, you have to skip ahead to Track 3 to hear anything, and the redbook isn't complete (no Puroma Rock, for example), but it's not bad.  Of course, now I've ripped the tracks and burned them to another CD, to limit wear and tear on my precious.

Quoted for added stress. The JDK Specials...um, suck for the most part. You do sort of get the original compositions, but it's this incredibly bland synth that really takes away anything special from the music it tries to play and (IMO) isn't even comparable to NES music.

What's odd is hearing the delicious redbook audio done as a JDK Special and being made to sound like a bad chiptune. I don't understand why anyone who owned the Ys IV CD game would pay for that...

There is a "complete" rip floating around that has the redbook tracks and the various PSG tracks though. Perfect Collections are still the way to go though...

I try to only get original soundtracks to games, meaning no arranged albums for me, but I will get an arranged album if it pretty much covers most of what was on the original soundtrack (Only when an original album is not available, obviously). So, I'm not really looking for the highest sound quality or best arrangement (Though I went with the soundtrack for the Ys I & II Eternal and the remake of the third Ys game), but whichever soundtracks cover the majority, if not all, the game's original score in a uniform fashion.

I'll go with the three Perfect Collections only because I think they cover more ground than the two JDK specials. Thanks for the clarifications and advice, especially Stephen, for the information about the relation between the sound from the PCs to the PC Engine version of Ys IV.

I was a previous owner of the PC-Engine game and I have 2 of the 3 Perfect Collections (I had the 3rd but don't have it anymore), so I was able to compare the music.  The Perfect Collections, while not OSTs for the game, are either identical or very close to the music used in the CD game.  I was actually surprised when I tried to play the game, because after playing for an hour, I was thinking, "wait a minute, isn't this on the Perfect Collection?"

Crash, yes I can put the CD game in, but it did not cover all the music on the Perfect Collections or used in the game.  After all, they were in Redbook while the Perfect Collections were 3 discs.

Ys IV Perfect Collection Vol. 3 is the hardest of the 3 to find.

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How likely is it that Falcom will reprint anything from back then? I don't really follow game music news all that much, but aren't reprints for any soundtrack relatively rare instances unless it's Square-related?

Also, as a minor follow up question, are the Perfect Collections for the other Ys games also similar to the in-game sound of those games?

I think people have been expecting the Ys IV PC's to be reprinted since...1999, when they started doing the Falcom Millenium Series. They chose some good albums for reprints (JDK Band 1-w00t!), but I thought they could've done a lot better with their choices overall. Did anyone want to see Preprimer instead of the Ys IV PC's? Anyday now, Falcom...

(though seriously, they have the perfect excuse with Ys Origins coming out, so it may actually happen).

Ys III Perfect Collection is drastically different from the Duo redbook audio...It's actually less arranged and more like a standard OST version, with pretty good synth. Fun (and complete), but underwhelming. The Duo redbook is a much more dramatic and drastic arrangement overall and is one of the definitive Falcom "albums".

Ys 1 and 2 Perfect Collections differ from the original Duo redbook, but they're both more in the same ballpark. Both are that distinct 80's synth-rock of Falcom's by Yonemitsu, but they still differ from each other pretty good. Both versions are highly recommended.

Just a note: Both Duo redbooks mostly contain the "main" tracks, while more minor tracks are chip generated and you can't listen to them on the CD. Most level themes, boss themes and major themes are accounted for though (though no "Protectors", sadly). Also, some Duo tracks have the vocal parts included with the music. Minor issue, but it can be annoying in a few spots. The Ys Book 1 and 2 Redbook is worth it for the voice clips, in addition to the music, IMO.

Felghana Perfect Collection is interesting...It's technically not an arranged album. It's the OST for the game (which, in turn, is a bunch of killer arrangements of Ys 3's music), plus the Super Arrange (an arranged album of the Felghana OST, which is already itself an arrangement). So really, the OST's the same, but the OST's sound is much better than the gamerip that was floating around. Clearer sound and more fleshed out endings, so the gamerip is essentially obsolete now (really it was .ogg files taken from the game and converted, IIRC). Uh, the Super Arrange...Kinda turned out bad. This pretty much explains it:

http://www.rpgfan.com/soundtracks/ysfel-sav/index.html

Short story: Just get the OST.

Ys: Oath of Felghan Super Arrange Version isn't that bad to me.  The main problem is that the OST has very good composition (being a remake of the original) and synthesizers already, so the Super Arrange Version ends up sounding similar.

Agreed about Felghana SAV, "A Premonition ~ I Suddenly Recall" is flippin' epic.  As far as the other songs, they are a nice assortment of styles, the only reason people find the SAV weak is the songs have been arranged 50 times over, so they don't offer anything particularily new or remarkable.  Solid listen IMO.

I'm also a fan of Ys IV JDK Special, it's not in the same league as the Perfect Collections, but it's nice listen for old-school aesthetic and to have most of the songs together.  The synth also sounds better than a lot of the other JDK Specials.

For my own thoughts: I loved the new version of "Searing Struggle" and I kinda enjoy having the pasted vocals put into the already-amazing "Believe in My Heart". But...That was kinda it. Both promo tracks should have been included on the OST and not made to fill out a 10-track arrange album. I was tired of Styx back when I only had Ys 3 Perfect Collection and the redbook...It's like Falcom's version of the Final Fantasy Prelude: I don't NEED to hear it four more times (twice on the OST, twice on the SA). I KNOW what it sounds like already. And I dunno...Ys 3's synth rock level and boss tracks are what has always made it stand out, not the various tracks they chose for orchestral arrangements ("Sealed Time" notwithstanding), which could be plopped into pretty much any RPG. 

Two more tracks in the vein of "Searing Struggle" would have made it more respectable to me and balanced things out (or at least have gotten it up to 10 actual arrangements).