So I don't know if anyone else  has experienced something similar, but...

For those who don't know, the FF:CC ost came inside a thick plastic sleeve that I can only describe as the stuff that flotation devices and such are made of. Inside the front cover was a blue gel that gave an ocean-y effect to the cover and the picture behind it.

Well, I went into my CD shelf and pulled out my FF:CC ost for the first time in about a year. The gel in the front cover has become rigid and suctioned the plastic around it in an odd wavy pattern similar to sand dunes.

It was in my closet subject to a relatively constant temperature, never getting too hot or cold. I'm wondering if anyone else who owns this soundtrack had a similar experience?

Same thing pretty much happened to mine as well as most others IIRC.  It was bound to dry up over time...

Yeah, lots of others have had that happen to theirs. The last time I checked, mine was still jelly. But then I also live in a place where temperatures almost never go below 57 degrees.

mine went a lovely dried out frosting state and has never changed since! hurrah!

If the gel turns into this gross hard substance, why not just get rid of it?

Then it would turn into a regular edition, and the gel came with the limited edition.

But yes, my gel crap became rock hard as well. I got rid of the whole soundtrack.

Thankfully that doesn't matter unless you're collector who thinks that selling LE edition of FF CC ost will give him more money than the regular edition

But anyways, if I remember, there were thread about this subject on the old forums which did say that warming the gel would help. Thought, can't find the thread anymore, maybe someone else in here has better memory than me.

To be completely honest, I never liked that as a special bonus for the CD anyway - it was random and bulky and just ugly.  I have no idea of the status of my copy in the states, but I likely will have no problem throwing it out if it's gone bad.  Won't ever part with the CDs, though, as I find it one of the most beautiful soundtracks of this generation, if not ever.

I just don't get it. If you had a LE edition of a soundtrack that had a slipcase that eventually turned into a steaming pile of dog dookie, would you keep it because the regular edition doesn't smell like crap? I have a hard time understanding that.

I doesn't smell and it doesn't really matter all that much if it's hard or not.

I was just being sarcastic, but I really liked the gel slipcase. It smelled and looked nice.

Heat seem to reactivate it.
Either put it in a microwave for 2-3 seconds, NO MORE, or put it in hot water >50C° long enough for the gel to take back its liquid form (shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes I reckon).
Later,

Alcahest

*ROFLMAO* Your description just made my night (which so far has been a pretty hellish one).

Reminds me of this heat massage gel-filled thingy that I have, where it turns to hard crystals after about an hour and you have to put it back to its gel form by boiling it in water.

for a permanent solution,, slice open the front and replace dried portion with fresh crest cool mint gel...