Boy, was I surprised when I heard the music at Mistwalker's site for their second XBox 360 game, Lost Odyssey. At first, the music reminded me of Chrono Trigger and Yasunori Mitsuda, and I practically forgot that the game's music is composed by Nobuo Uematsu, although the end has a sequence that is more in his style. What's more, the story reminds me of Final Fantasy VI -

"It was an age that harnessed the power of Magic, and a World that went through amazing advancement. This is the story of Magic Power Industrial Revolution. Although people were prosperous, with the abundance of development came conflict of Magic Powers."

One can't but think that Hironobu Sakaguchi might be making a game that closely mimics the War of the Magi from Final Fantasy VI. Whatever is the case, at least there should be a great soundtrack coming out of it.

Mistwalker also has a site for Blue Dragon.

thanks for the post Sami.  i certainly wasn't aware of the site.  neither new mistwalker games are looking impressive unfortunately.  albeit, not too much in way of screenshots/videos have been revealed.

Oooo.  That's actually a rather pretty piece of music playing on the Lost Odyssey page...

i found it serviceable, but hardly impressive, albeit instantly hummable.  least it's live.  the tune on the Blue Dragon link was very forgettable--and MIDI.  it's next gen for goodness sake.

Wow, I think the tunes on both the Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey pages are absolutely wonderful.

What type of game mechanics is Lost Odyssey supposed to have?  I'm terrified of it being another Dynasty Warriors clone... seeing a screenshot with a huge army isn't really any consolation. :\

Also... LoveyDovey, what is the big deal about a game using synthesized audio?  Do "real instruments" make all music better, regardless of the composition?  I've always considered "hummable" to be a huge plus, overshadowing any compositional nitpicks, heh.

Many games that employ streamed audio did not use a live orchestra.  Keep that in mind. :P

real instruments vs midi is a debate well worn ad infinitum.  although video game music is, and will remain, a very small niche genre with very limited aesthetic reach and a proudly nerd demographic, that should not detract from it's legitimacy and credibility.  at the same time however, exemplary compositions fully realized with real instruments and appropriately fitting arrangements, few would argue (especially those not inclined towards gaming music), will do nothing but improve all aspects of the composition--textural makeup, harmononic interplay, rhythmic core and complexity, melodic thrust.  those are the facts, meanwhile opinions thereafter will differ.  given two equal compositions--one midi, one live--i would nearly always side with the latter.  needless to say--but i'll say it nonetheless--given a competent live piece and great midi piece, the live qualities of the former shouldn't make up for its compositional faults.  and so my stance on this always touchy and ubiquitous issue.

"hummable" isn't always a good thing Amber.  i imagine most tunes on mtv, american idol, and commercial radio are probably hummable, yet there's hardly a good thing on any of those media outlets.  i jest; just giving you rise