What composers make you fail to understand how they can receive such high praise?  For me it's always been Hitoshi Sakimoto.  People always like his scores are so incredible, but everytime I listen to one I'm bored to tears.  I can't find anything special or redeeming about his compositions, and they all feel completely generic to me.  He seriously has to be the most overrated composer in the history of vgm.

Hahaha, this thread could get pretty hot pretty quickly.

I'm going to vote for (uh, against?) Iwadare, Tanioka and Falcom ST JDK.

EDIT: Just saw Chris's post. Put Yamane way up there on my list

Iwadare. Shimomura. Sakuraba (although I think his overrated days are probably over).

Michiru Yamane, Noriyuki Iwadare, Motoaki Furukawa (post-1991), and Kazumi Totaka for me. All capable of moments of brilliance, but I find most of their work composed on autopilot.

Hitoshi Sakimoto. theres some good stuff like Final Fantasy Tactics with Iwata, then Breath of Fire V. The rest is pretty bland.

Iwadare can only be called "over-rated" when considering his full career. If you narrow in on Lunar 1+2 and Grandia 1+2, and perhaps the Langrisser work he did, he's definitely something special. Sadly, his quality of composition has gone downhill in recent years. The same can be said of many composers, ESPECIALLY Mitsuda.

But looking for someone who is just downright over-rated ... yeah, I want to say Sakuraba. But then, a lot of critics are beginning to turn on him, so that may be unfair.

As for Sakimoto? I still think he's awesome, so ... no, not over-rated.

I can't think of any composers I'd TRULY consider "over-rated." Not a one.

Personally I think Sakimoto tends to be underrated by a lot of people, but that's just me.  As far as overrated goes, I'll go with.. drum roll please.. Falcom Sound Team jdk.  Yeah that's right, I said it, who wants to fight?  Some of their stuff is alright but the way people praise them like they're gods always makes me scratch my head.  #2 would definitely go to Motoi Sakuraba.  Again, some of his stuff is decent but most of it bores the pants off me.  The only things I ever liked of his were the first Valkyrie Profile and I thought he was pretty impressive in his live concert.  Other than that, snooze fest.

YOUR MOM IS OVERRATED AND CLOUD COULD KICK SQUALL'S AZZ ANY DAY!!!!!!111

-Mike

I'll draft: Sakimoto, Yamane, Mitsuda, Yamaoka

If anyone actually cares for elaboration, please say so, otherwise I'll leave it at that. But those are four I've listened to extensively and don't really see/hear the big deal. Although it must be said I have a lot more respect for the last two than I do the first two.

Tempted to say Shimomura, Hamauzu and Nakano, as all have just grown off me completely over the years.

I'll second Iwadare as well...Much of his Grandia 1 and 2 stuff was excellent, but as far as a career goes...I have doubts with everything else of his I hear. And Sakuraba got by on the strength of a couple scores for way too long before I stopped seeing what the big deal was.

*waits for someone to say Uematsu*

Edit: Okay, since two people mentioned JDK, I need to muster some sort of defense. I think for what they set out to do, they accomplish it very well. Their music (original or arranged) always seems to embrace more of an old-school feel and isn't shy that it's out to provide more of an anthemic backdrop to the action, that is ripe for being arranged. I think there's a bit of honesty in there in trying to make deliberately fun compositions, whereas a lot of groups try to make their music sound more important than it really is. I find it pretty refreshing, especially compared to the empty orchestral pomp and atmospheric crap of so many games today. I find soundtracks like Sorcerian and Ys tend to be pretty accurate and quality examples of what people think of about VGM in the late 80's/early 90's (and yes, I mean that in a good way)...They're right up there with Rockman for me. And arranged better to boot.

The problem with saying "JDK" is you're talking about an entire sound team that has various members (including Yonemitsu, who may or may not have been a member) and different eras. Now the CURRENT JDK, I'm becoming far less fond of and I don't really think they have the charm that the older one did (which was deeply rooted in 80's synthpop/hard rock).

No kidding! Let's try to keep it civil, shall we?

Like Ramza, I have a hard time calling any composer overrated, since they're all different and usually compose in vastly different styles (and different people enjoy different styles of music).

That said, my picks are Shinji Hosoe, Kouichi Sugiyama, Kenji Ito, and Hitoshi Sakimoto (<---although he's a borderline case - some of his stuff is downright brilliant at times, but most of it just puts me to sleep quickly).

I have your back on that one, man. I'll never forget hearing about how "great" the Ys IV Perfect Collections were and then once I heard them I was like... wait. THIS is what everyone has been fapping off about? Granted, some of the stuff from Ys I and II (Duo redbook) were cool, but that's just because it  sounded like a cheap, synthy Iron Maiden ripoff. All set with that.

Speaking of my mom, she said something about you leaving a sock under the bed? Whatever that means.

I'll go ahead and say it.  Sure he came up with "Aerith's Theme" and "Phantasmagoria", but going back through and listening to his CD's, some of them really are chores to get through.  He hasn't captured the same spirit since FFVI and his latest stuff really bores me to tears.  '

Also, let me add Chris Huelsbeck.  Meh.

Extra edit:  Sorry Zane, but Masafumi Takada.  I listened to Killer7 and double meh. 

Again, this topic could just as easily been entitled "OMG!!  Whose ur fav. composer?!?11/?"  or more appropriately "(insert person's name here) SUX!!1!"

.

Fap, fap, fap...Still fapping after all these years. Only minor issue I've had with them is the recording quality tends to cover up sound layers at times, but that's fixable.

And the Duo redbook didn't have "Protectors" on it (which WAS an Iron Maiden ripoff...listen to "Flash of the Blade" on Powerslave). I think Yuzo meant that as a joke...

As for Uematsu...I don't think HE is overrated, but past FFVI, I think he ventures into overrated territory just a wee bit. Nothing unusual though (sort of like how a band maintains popularity long after their best releases *cough* Metallica), but I'm hard pressed to say anything has touched his 1994 masterpiece and general SNES-era output. I do find it ironic how little attention Blue Dragon/Lost Odyssey have gotten though, probably since they aren't FF-related.

Maaan, how could I forget Tommy Tallarico...? Put him at the top of my list!

And add Jeremy Soule while we're at it.

Oh, shit! I didn't even think about American composers. Add Soule, Jack Wall, Jesper Kyd and pretty much anyone else that has scored any type of X360 action game in the past two years.

Yes, but remember, his haters probably greatly outnumber his fans. And I think even his fans understand WHY he is hated by a lot of people. Although he's gotten a lot more mainstream exposure and won some awards, I still think among hardcore VGM fans, he's not terribly popular.

That said, I wholeheartedly endorse your selection and I think it hurts western VGM a great deal that he gets to be such a poster child for it.

(wow, I thought being a fan of ambient stuff, you'd like Soule)

Really? Hmm, I didn't even know he had many haters, I've mostly heard positive stuff about him.

Just because you like a genre of music doesn't mean you like every artist working therein. Soule's stuff just never caught me, none of it.

Copy and paste this for me. Give me the Final Fantasy Tactics soundtrack and I'm done.

Others: Masashi Hamauzu and Junya Nakano (though somewhat less then Sakimoto)

Yes, I realize those are all (or were) SE composers...

As for Sakuraba I've only heard his SO output so I can't really say I've ODed om him.

I also think Noriyasu Agematsu from the WA series is given too much credit... I'll admit (he/she) has managed to take the reigns of the series but I still perfer to sit it out when it comes to the soundtracks. The battle tracks on Wild Arms XF were different enough to catch my ear, but Agematsu's additions were the weakest in my opinion. This isn't a "Naruke wasn't there" cry either... I didn't care for her style after the series went to the PS2 with WA3.

Sakimoto and Hamauzu for me.  Sakimoto is very good at what he does, but I don't find most of his stuff very memorable (though I will grant that his stuff might be better when accompanied by the actual games - I like the FFXII score a lot because I remember it from playing the game).  Hamauzu has a few really good tracks that I like a lot, but overall I'm not a big fan of his work.  I remember when hearing the FFX soundtrack for the first time a buddy and I were trying to figure out which tracks Uematsu did and which he didn't - "[Hamauzu's] random hammering" became our name for a lot of his entries.  :\

Also I'll say again that almost everyone on Nintendo's current sound staff is overrated... by Nintendo themselves.  Get Kondo back writing music and move Yokota onto as many projects as possible, because I'm really disappointed by so, so much of what comes out of the rest of them.

As Conn said, it comes down to personal preference. I'm not sure I would call any video game composer overrated (it's such a specialized area, and let's face it there isn't a plethora of video game composer out there). On the other hand video game series (Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy, Final Fantas...) yes, some of those are definitely overrated. I tend to find myself enjoying various albums, and I don't particularly pay special homage to any one composer.

On a side note, I didn't really know Soule had "haters". Obviously there are people who don't care for his style, but that's true for every composer that has ever lived. So, I want detail... where does this notion of "haters" come from? Give me references! Personally, I think Soule is underrated.

Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (never released, damn that one needed a soundtrack!)
Dungeon Siege
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
ES IV: Oblivion
Icewind Dale
Neverwinter Nights
Secret of Evermore
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

those are all awesome works! Unfortunately many US games never see an official release. More and more are seeing official releases, which is a good thing, hope the trend continues (so support Western video game composers you bums

cheers,

-avatar!

Same here, but this is because there really isn't one composer whose entire body of work I can say I enjoy completely - I think Nobuo comes the closest for obvious reasons but that's nostalgia talking. If asked a few years ago who my favorite composer was I'd have said Naruke but I wouldn't say that now; I'd be more likely to rattle off multiple names, albums, eras or a combination of such info instead (Like Naruke PS1, Nobuo SNES)

Sakuraba: His progressive style of game music is completely underwhelming and I pretty much refuse to give any of his new stuff a spin based on his previous works
Tanioka: FFXI music is pretty bland, even though I bought the box set. I'm a sucker for box sets.
Suikoden composers: How many times can you rearrange something in an already limited Celtic instrument set.  Seriously.
Kajiura: Mostly aimed at her anime stuff, but Xenosaga II follows in the same vein.  It's all rather bleh.
Tallarico: Probably THE most overrated american composer, and he eats up press and praise 100 times more than he deserves.
(Amiga, C64, Atari, or anything pre NES-chip composers): I know better than to say how can you call this music, but honestly, composing things for those sound chips is not any sort of musical feat, it's more a technological achievement.

I think there are only two composers whose entire officially published work I enjoy completely. One is Masafumi Takada (Silver Case, Michigan, killer7, Samurai Champloo, God Hand, No More Heroes, RE Umbrella Chronicles) and the other is SSH (Both Atelier arranges, Lostchild A/B/X/Z, 69-2). I can't even say that I like all of Miyake's stuff; his track on FM Sound Maniax is way too long and obnoxious, just like the RR7 track he did.

Always depends on "overrated by who?"  Uematsu is greatly overrated by (Japanese/RPG-oriented) game fans in general.  Among the tiny group of game music snobs, he's maybe slightly underrated.

"Memorability" itself in game music is WILDLY overrated.  When critiquing music game reviewers don't seem to have any other words in their vocabulary.  There's more to a piece of music than how catchy it is.

You didn't read the part I wrote immediately after that, did you...