Here's the situation: I already have Kingdom Hearts II OST, and I'm thinking about picking up the original Kingdom Hearts OST.

In which case, should I go for the Kingdom Hearts stand-alone OST, or should I go for the boxset?

Looking at the boxset, there seems to be a few extra tracks, and they've granted longer track times to pieces from Kingdom Hearts II, but the price tag on it is definitely more than the price of all Kingdom Hearts OSTs bought separately; probably because the boxset is a limited edition shtick.

So let me ask you, is the boxset really worth it, or is Square-Enix really getting pompous with their price tags?

Unless you *need* the Chain of Memories OST, I wouldn't buy the box. That's the majority of the original content right there.

If you going to sell your KH2 OST to help foot the bill, maybe that'd work out.

Ramza

I always found it extremely fishy they'd bring out a boxset effectively correcting the main issue with KH2's OST about a year after its' release. They should've just released it as a 4 disc set with looped tracks to begin with.

But...My guess is they were effectively testing the market for the boxsets with FFXI and KH before opening the floodgates. Look for Chrono, Saga and Seiken ones soon...Lord knows what they'll do with the rest of FF.

Pretending I were into KH music and I didn't own either (or I were willing to sell one), I'd get the boxset. The looped tracks on KH2 would be my justification.

My recommendation is to sell your KHII OST and not get the boxset. Or the original KH OST.

Amusing. You love KH about as much as I do.

I love it when people troll threads just for the sake of pointing out that they don't like the music under discussion.  Clearly Bernhardt likes KH music, so what exactly is the point of you coming in here and saying this?

Anyway, I would say the box set is worth it if one is really interested in hearing full looped versions of the KH2 ost.  The original soundtrack release was kind of abysmal.  Personally I also liked getting the stuff from Final Mix on a legal, pressed CD, too.  The biggest problem is the bloody steep price tag, which makes it hard to recommend the set if you're not a really big fan.

I don't see how those two questions are related.

-Joshua

Hahahaha, chill out. Clearly you like KH music and clearly you can not handle any comments that are against something that you take interest in or enjoy. So does that mean that I don't have the right to post in this thread because I don't enjoy shitty Shimomura music and I'm not able to share my opinion on the matter? Blah, blah, blah. Relax, dude. If Bernhard wants to spend his money on KH music I'm sure my one sarcastic comment isn't going to deter him from doing so.

Box sets are always cheaper any way you look at it.

Not only do you get:

Kingdom Hearts I OST
Kingdom Hearts II OST (Extended, as well)
Kingdom Hearts Re: Chain of Memories

You get the 2 -FINAL MIX- Bonus cds, which would cost you as much as the box set individually, if you tried to get them elsewhere.

I already owned the KH2 OST and bought the box, it's worth the extra little bit of money.

I bought the box set for completist reasons, but I don't think it's worth the money.  Shimomura is capable of so much better than this.

She might be capable of better, but KH2 was, in my opinion, and at the time, her best work in a while.

KH1's OST felt too remixy (she seemed to have a lot more freedom with the second game's soundtrack), and I don't really remember anything memorable from the time between that and Parasite EVE.

As for the question at hand, I haven't heard the Final Mix tracks or the CoM tracks, but if I were in your position and concerned strictly with the music, I'd just stick with the KH2 OST.

Of course, the lack of looping doesn't bother me too much, and I'm not a total completionist (outside of Sato's work and non-compilation GUST), so my opinion may or may not be of value.

No love for Legend of Mana?

Whether or not I like KH music is kind of irrelevant to what I was saying - I'm equally annoyed when people contribute nothing but jabs even at composers I'm not so fond of.  I guess I just don't understand the mentality.  It just doesn't appeal to me to go into every thread about Sakimioto or Hamauzu and post "But ACTUALLY they are teh suxxor rofl" in the middle of something that isn't even a debate to begin with.  Different people have different tastes, and what exactly does it accomplish for me to jump in and say something like that?

So yeah... really a lot less about what I think about KH/Shimomura and more that I'm bothered when I see excessive pointless negativity on a board that is typically so civil.

For some strange reason, I thought that came before Parasite EVE. I dunno how I got 1998 and 2000 confused.

Okay, so nothing memorable between Legend of Mana and KH1/2.

What did she even do between LoM and KH?

I can't think of anything...

-Joshua

Nothing in terms of VGM, as far as I know... Well, Yasunori Mitsuda spent some time doing music for commercials and promotions in the middle of his VGM career, so it's possible she did something similar. Or maybe even an anime score we don't know about. We've also seen composers take breaks from the industry as a whole, such as Higashino when she had the baby, or Naruke when she took ill, so maybe there was something going on in Shimomura's personal life at the time.

Interesting how many times that has happened in the past by other forum members in other threads, but you decided to wait and say something to me in this thread which is, coincidentally, about a series and a composer that you happen to have some interest invested in. How curious. Can I see your Forum Police badge (or your Kingdom Hearts tattoo)?

Wouldn't that be interesting. But what would they throw in for the "incentive" to buy those sets? It makes me wonder if there's a correlative reason why the Chrono Cross arrange album has been delayed so much...

Kind of hard to delay something that never existed in the first place.

I thought the Chrono Cross arranged album was delayed because Mitsuda has never been properly schooled in music composition.  Look at the Piano album for Sailing to the World:  Hamauzu arranged it all.

I didn't mean the physical release of the album, I meant the recording and writing and all that. I could have sworn that I read that the album was either "in planning" or "underway" or something.

Mitsuda's been talking about it on and off since about the summer of 2005, though it's never been mentioned exactly what the holdup is. I doubt it has anything to do with his education in music, though; it seems unlikely that after more than a decade of being in the business he'd suddenly go "What the hell was I thinking?! I don't know how to write music! ;o;"

My guess is either this is more of a side project that he works on between other jobs, thus the slow goings, or there's some kind of legal tie-up between Mitsuda/Procyon and Square Enix over who actually has the rights to the music.

I don't mind waiting, I just hope it doesn't get canned. :/

THinking about it, I seem to remember she got married some time in there.

-Joshua

Eh, the KH games to me seemed fairly mediocre but mindless fun to me and while I enjoy the OSTs, they're far from my favorite of Shimomura's work.  If it were just something I had interest in, I would have far more likely called you on the much more asinine post of "Zzzzzz...." in the thread about Trusty Bell. 

Also, I don't really think it requires a "Forum Police badge" (oh ho ho, you sure are clever!) to ask people not to be mean spirited.  And if you've been paying attention for the last, oh, eight years or so, you would probably have noticed that I've said things like this to a lot of people here who haven't been very nice. 

Uh, I don't want to get into this argument but was playing the "I've been posting here for x amount of years" card really necessary?

Too late

Err... sorry, didn't mean it that way.  Was just pointing out that I've said such things a lot in the past and don't have anything specifically against Zane.