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Just a couple that come to mind:

Grandia 1-The first OST's first disc is fully orchestrated and I generally like the style Iwadare applies in there. It's not overly epic or serious, but just rather fun and adventurous. I prefer his rock/synth-based work from the soundtrack more, but I still have the orchestrated tracks pooled in with them on my Ipod and I never skip them.

Drag On Dragoon 2-Haven't heard all of this OST, but I haven't heard anything from it I didn't like. "Breakthrough" is pretty amazing actually. Have to try all of it one of these days.

Legend of Heroes VI Super Arrange-I believe this is the one coming out with the SC Super Arrange, since it was never commercially available (just a preorder bonus). "Silver Will" and "First Movement - Princess' Distress ~Lament of the Knights~ Parallel Expectations" are both easy standouts.

Tales of Legendia-Very surprising release. Mostly live stuff, great diversity.

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I'm not too bothered by synth-orchestra, so it basically could pass for live to me. The violins in "Silver Will" sound live enough to me anyway. Sounds more realistic than Terashima's work though (which I generally like).

Name a Dragon Quest Symphonic Suite. Any of them.

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The only real symphonic stuff I dig is the Shadow of the Colossus album. I guess you could throw some Sakimoto and Halo in there, too, but SOTC is where it's at for me.

Dragon Quest VII/VIII Symphonic Suite.

Well, if you really want to enjoy the best orchestral works, you should listen to the masters (Beethoven, Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, etc) but I assume you know that already

OK, so in terms of game orchestrations, here are some of my recommendations (unfortunately, I don't have all of these myself, but I have listened to them and they are wonderful):

Albert Odyssey Legend of Eldean: it's soooo good!  The game was not great, but the music is A+

Heart of Darkness: the first computer game to have full orchestration.  Wonderful stuff!  Think Speilberg does a computer game.

Orchestral Game Concert 1 - 5: perhaps the most classic of all orchestral game music!  Amazing stuff, if you can find it.

Shining Force II: very high quality stuff, well worth the effort to find. 

Super Smash Bros. Smashing...Live!: the best of Nintendo, played by a full orchestra.  Furthermore, this isn't that hard an album to find.  What more is there to say except GET IT!

Symphony Sorcerian: Not as good as Symphony Ys, but very close... definitely gets a high "A" in my book! 

Symphonic Suite from Actraiser: seriously, does this need an introduction?!

Symphony Ys: superb stuff!  Quite easy to find, thanks to a reprint (otherwise this baby would have cost an arm and a leg, and possibly other various body parts too)!

There are lots of others of course.  Now, are you looking for albums which are classically arranged, or a full orchestra?  There are many albums which don't use real instruments (such as "The Dig") but nevertheless sound very orchestral and are just as soothing in my opinion. 

cheers,

-avatar!

Seiken Densetsu's Let Thoughts Ride On Knowledge still brings me to my knees every time I listen.  Final Fantasy's Symphonic Suite holds a special place in my heart, while FF8's Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinoces still maintains the very best balance of excellent selection and superb orchestrations.  I also love the orchestral underpinnings in FF Love Will Grow, if that counts.

Dracula New Classics is wonderful, as well as Shenmue Orchestra Version, Bio Hazard Orchestra Album and the Garou Densetsu Symphonic Sound Trax.

That's pretty much a given.

Some of my faves have already been mentioned (Shadow of the Colossus, the Game Music Concert discs, and Super Smash Bros. Melee), but here are a couple more, both of which alternate between orchestral and rock arrangements:

Gradius III Symphonic Poetry

YS Dramatic Concert

Also, as an honorable mention, the second disc of the All Sounds of Katamari 2-CD set, which features the orchestral tracks from the chapter "cut scenes" in We Love Katamari (among other aural oddities), is quite good.

Totally agreed. the Seiken Densetsu orchestral tracks are 100% awesome. In my mind, NOTHING has come that close in years. And to think the original score was for GameBoy synth. Makes me think they should take other GB scores and turn them into full orchestra, just to see what happens. It's a shame the SaGa 1~3 never got a full orchestra album.

Even more totally agreed on FLWV and Love Will Grow. The orchestrations behind Love Will Grow really are incredible. The FF3 "Have You Ever Seen Me" is in this fun 1930s semi-jazz style...it rules.

Also, like a few already said, the OGCs rock my socks off. Every time I try to rank one over the other, I end up failing. They're all great.

Also, I await an album based on the PLAY! Concerts. Hopefully that'll be half-decent. ^^

Ramza

Also, if you're lucky enough to have it, cherish your copy of

Falcom Neo Classic

The London Symphony Orchestra performing music from Ys, Xanadu, and Legend of Heroes...feel free to drool as needed

cheers,

-avatar!

Falcom Neo Classic is one of the first rare (read: expensive) VGM albums I got. The LILIA suite is my favorite orchestral Falcom track by far. Aside from the Legend of Heroes track I feel the rest of the first disc isn't that special though (then again, I haven't listened to it in a while).

I tend to lose interest in orchestral music/arrangements rather quickly, but this is some of the stuff I like:

Xenosaga OST
Coi Vanni Gialli
Drag-On Dragoon 2 OST

I just recently listened to the album, and I have to say, IT ROCKS!!  Each and every single track is beautiful.  Sure, Lilia is the most famous and majestic of the tracks, but they're all fantastic.  This is most definitely one of the best game albums I have ever heard!  I am a big fan of arranged (and especially orchestrated) works, so I love this stuff

cheers,

-avatar!

I think I'd have to go with Ys Dramatic Concert (well, the actual symphonic part) and the Eternal Arcadia OST...

I believe that it was the London Philharmonic Orchestra that did the first disc of that album, no?

The London Philharmonic is a world-renowned orchestra.

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I like Grandia OST 1 - Disc 1 and Symphony Ys 95.

I have previously owned Dragon Quest I & II Symphonic Suite, Dragon Quest III Symphonic Suite, Dragon Quest Symphonic Suite Roto, Dragon Quest Symphonic Suite Tenkai, Symphony Ys, Gradius in Classic I, Shining Force II, and Falcom Neo Classic. 

Of that lot, Gradius in Classic, Falcom Neo Classic, and the DQ albums were very well done.  (They all happened to be done by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.)

I'd say the Grandia OST has about one of the warmest orchestral sounds ever in gaming history. Not only does this come from the chords that the strings hold or their melodic lines but also the orchestra's versatile brass section. I've played brass for 7 years and most that I hear on game soundtracks are militaristic, fanfare-type of brass sounds, with an emphasis on the punch and cut. Grandia has some very neat brass phrases that are unlike this tradition (but a substantial amount of is fanfare-ish, admittedly).

And I can't find the Grandia title screen mp3 anywhere on the album Damn. It was just a short 30 second segment, maybe, but it was beautiful.

I like Momotaru Densetsu (Legend of Peachboy) and Elfaria Suite along with the ones mentioned above.

Racking my brains through my archives Valis III has some nice orchestrated tracks holds true to the game.

It was the London Symphony, not the Philharmonic which did the music to Neo Classics as well as other game soundtracks such as Dragon Quest and Gradius.  Also, a real classic I forgot to mention (also performed by the London Symphony I might add!) is

Arc the Lad

The first album,

http://chudahs-corner.com/soundtracks/i … og=ARCJ-12

is wonderful!  It's mostly NOT symphonic, however all the arrangements are great and there are some absolutely gorgeous pieces performed (as mentioned) by the London Symphony.  Of course Arc the Lad is a great game series localized by one of my all time favorite game folks, Working Designs (wonder if there's any chance they will ever resurrect?)

-avatar!

If you care about Vic Ireland, he started "gaijinworks" some time ago...

I don't recall for Gradius, but I'm very sure the original DQ Symphonic Suites were done by the London Philharmonic, not the London Symphony.

Does anybody have the DQ albums to verify?

All I know is that the London Philharmonic performed on SRCL-2733 & SRCL-2734. These were the symphonic suite/original soundtracks for the SNES releases of DQ 1 & 2. But I'm pretty sure that it was actually the London Philharmonic that performed on the second cd releases of Symphonic Suites 3-5 as well (6 and 7 were performed by the London Philharmonic, and 8 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, originally). The first recordings having been made by the NHK Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Strings Ensamble.

avatar! is right about Falcom Neo Classic though, that was made by the London Symphony Orchestra.

I sit corrected.  The Dragon Quest series were indeed performed by the London Philharmonic.  The Gradius in Classic were also the Philharmonic.  Hey, live and learn I always say!  I was right on the Falcom Neo Classic, that is London Symphony.  Philharmonic or Symphony, it's great stuff all around...

By the way, does anyone know if Skies of Arcadia was performed by a symphony?  Either way, that's one of the best soundtracks to come out in a long time (in my opinion)! 

cheers,

-avatar!

I *think* there are only four tracks in Skies of Arcadia actually performed by live musicians (two opening and two ending themes) and the rest is synth, but I could be completely mistaken on that.  There's some good sound quality in that soundtrack overall, but nothing that ever made me think it wasn't synthesized (except for those four tracks).