Anyone else picked up the limited edition version of Lunar Silver Star Harmony for the PSP?  Gave the bonus "Musical Selections" CD a whirl.  I'll need to re-listen to the original renditions of the Silver Star Story score sometime, but on its own terms, Iwadare's new arrangements here sound very crisp and clean, and the melodies faithfully retained.  They sure bring back a surge of fond, nostalgic memories.

The jaunty world map theme in Going for a Midday Stroll is still one of my favorites, as well as the epic "Tsubasa"-infused follow-up in A Boy Undeterred by the Unknown.  Speaking of Tsubasa, the newly-christened Wings 2009 is now, for the first time ever, a full-length piece in English.  Its lyric was also completely rewritten, and newly performed by Jenny Stigile (now Magallanes, apparently), who turns in a slightly more subdued but still excellent performance.  Same for Nocturne of the Wind 2009; the new instrumentation for this one is absolutely gorgeous, especially the acoustics and harp plucks.  Michiko Naruke's new piano arrangements for Going for a Midday Stroll, Soft Tones on the Sea Breeze, and As Adventure Beckons Us On, while somewhat on the simple side, are pleasant listens.

Aside from that, classics like Meribia - The City of Freedom and Vane - The Magic City remain positively joyful to listen to.  As a "selections" album, I am disappointed that a few of my personal faves didn't make the cut, such as Mysterious Cave, Street Corner, Pretty Girl, Go Go Go!, and Green Earth.  I'm really hoping these are in the game itself.

Lunar's music is about as quintessential as RPG tunes get. I wish I had the scratch for this, it'll have to wait. Here's hoping for a Lunar 3.

Should be arriving later today in the mail. It's interesting that the got the same English singer as before. I wonder how much of the cast has returned. What I've read about Vic Ireland and his take on this particular remake led me to believe he would've tried to interfere with such a thing happening.

Man, Mysterious Cave and Go Go Go! were easily the two best tracks in the game.

Would be nice to have a full OST since the original never got one...

I haven't listened to the soundtrack yet, but the new artwork for the liner note cover is exquisite.

I'm some ways into the game, and I can at least confirm that Mysterious Cave, Street Corner, and Green Earth - all newly arranged - are present.  Should stand to reason that the rest of the score follows suit.  Made up a recording of Mysterious Cave, because it's so bloody awesome.

Mysterious Cave:
http://www.mediafire.com/?wmjyiwqtnmf

From a musical standpoint, the biggest travesty of this port is the way it needs to fade out, and then fade back in the accompanying piece every time you head into a new area or screen.  Even in towns -- you enter a room in a house, and the music needs to fade out/in during the transition.  Exit the room, the same deal.  It's mood-breaking, to say the least.

EDIT: To illustrate my point, I put together this 45 second clip of "Hometown ~ Burg" as an example.

Actually, I'm playing the original Breath of Fire on the SNES and there is a similar problem. It's not that the music fades in or out, but does the music need to change every time I enter a different building? Its clever stores and inns use "Profit" but do we need to switch to "Small Hermitage" every time I enter a run-of-the-mill home? Not really, it breaks the mood and I'd be fine with the default town theme.

And wow, the GBA version sure has shoddy sound. I’m still 50/50 on the score but that is not how you make it better. At least it has better menus.

As usual, I'm behind on everything, but I finally managed to give this a spin.

My chief complaint is that Iwadare seems to be using the instrumentation style of Grandia in these arrangements, and in a lot of cases it does more harm than good. The biggest victim is probably the one here called A Brief Repose. The 'live' instruments seem less jaunty than the PS1 synth version did, and the new second half with added harmony doesn't work for me at all. A shame, since the PS1 version was one of my favorites in the game (most of my favorite Lunar pieces tend to be the 'throwaway' kind in contrast to the more defining ones, go figure).

On the upside, this version does improve other pieces like Vane and Magic Masher and Roar of the Earth over their PlayStation counterparts, and I really enjoy the piano arrangements and the newer pieces (exclusive or Sega-CD carryovers?). But at the same time, I'm glad I have both this version and the PS1 one at my disposal.