So the GAME Ni No Kuni II seems to be getting kinda mixed reactions, but I've seen very little discussion of its music.  Nobody's brought it up here that I've seen, and there's zero discussion on the vgmdb page for the soundtrack (https://vgmdb.net/album/76900).  I love Hisaishi and I loved his work on the first game - anybody have any experience with the new one?  I know I could just listen to a rip on Youtube, but I'm curious as to what any of you might have to say about it and also kinda want to leave the music unspoiled until I play the game.

As a resident Hisaishi enthusiast, it is a phenomenal score. When you play the game you'll probably notice it gets a bit repetitive since you're bouncing in and out of combat / overworld or staying in the same localized area(s) for periods of time. Kenichiro Saigo is listed as "additional music" in the staff roll but at least as of yet (and maybe never), we're not really sure what tracks he was responsible for. 3 of the 4 town themes are distinctly *not* Hisaishi (Ding Dong Dell being the exception, but that's a rearrange from the first game) so he may have been responsible for them. But if I'm being completely honest, a lot of the soundtrack sounds like someone trying to emulate Hisaishi and I question how much contribution he really had, especially given his age, priorities, and workload over the last 5-6 years (side projects and concerts). I would not be surprised if he just hired this guy as a ghost writer to write the bulk of the music and he just did the main themes. It's still really good, though.

The town theme for Hydropolis is probably one of the best town themes I've heard in years.

I found the soundtrack seriously underwhelming after the wonderful original.

As jb already said above, it sounds like someone trying to emulate Hisaishi, in the same way that the game feels like Level 5 trying to emulate a Ghibli movie, which they're just not good at without the proper people involved.

That said, as a game I actually like it more than the first one (just got the Platinum Trophy a couple of days ago!) and yes, Hydropolis is the absolute highlight of the soundtrack.

Yeah but will the OST have all the music this time? Last time it was just Hisaishi's contribution so it was easy to know who wrote what.

Hydropolis is very, very Bizet, to the point where I find it kinda distracting. But hey, if you're gonna steal, do it from the best.

https://youtu.be/K2snTkaD64U

The first thing I thought of was https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh91NFMiCvg, which is also from Carmen.

Thanks for the responses, everyone!  I'm looking forward to giving this one a listen.  Still suuuuper behind on games from last year, so it might be a while; HOWEVER, it sounds like I'm in for something at least solid when I get there!