Hey whats up,

I've been out of the VGM soundtrack world for about 3-4 years now(i was heavy into it from say 1998-2002) so I was wondering if you guys could give me a step in the right direction and recommend some good OST or arranged albums that have come out recently....

Some of my fav composers are Uematsu(of course), Mitsuda, Kikuta(loved Soukaigi!), Shimomura, Iwadare(like his Lunar stuff...), Yuzo Koshiro, and some of Yamane's stuff.....have any of them come out with anything new recently??

Even when i stopped collecting a few yrs ago.....Kikuta, Koshiro, and Iwadare didn't really have anything new out, or left VGM alltogether i heard......

Kikuta seems to be going through something of a mini-revival...He's put out a couple of hentai game soundtracks and a solo album called Lost Files, which is basically a bunch of "lost files" of his. Kind of simple synth-rocking stuff, aside from a handful of tracks at the end which could pass for lost Soukaigi tracks (The Lost Island of Souls ones), but I really like it. Sakura Relaxation comes highly recommended if you can find a copy...It was included with the game only and never put out for sale. Very Mana-ish and enjoyable. Lost Files is available at cocoebiz.

Koshiro's main contribution recently was Wangan Midnight 2: Maximum Tune OST, a 2-disc techno/trance album. Not much to say, but if you like real heavy trance, you'll probably like it. Not as pleasantly melodic as his past works, which kind of kept me from getting into it too much.

Iwadare has put out soundtracks for both Grandia 3 and Radiata Stories. Right in that timeframe you described, he did Grandia Xtreme and a solo album, Ingmar. He seems to have slipped as a big name, so you don't hear too much about him recently.

Uematsu has been busy with the Black Mages (rock band doing Final Fantasy covers) and his Blue Dragon OST is set to come out soon. I'm personally looking forward to it a great deal, as he really sounds refreshed coming into it. Also, Black Mages 3 is set to be announced soon.

Shimomura has the OST's for Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 and will be doing the soundtrack for one of the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII games.

Mitsuda's been kinda busy with smaller releases...He had Hako no Niwa, Kirite and Moonlit Shadow all last year. Nothing major from him in awhile.

Don't forget Shimomura is also doing Heroes of Mana for the DS and Iwadare did the soundtrack for Gyakuten Saiban 3 and arrangements for the orchestra album.

Thanks guys for the info.....maybe I'll check out some of the Black Mages albums....I've always wondered what the FF battle tunes would be like done with real rock instruments as opposed to the PS synth.....

I guess I'm a sucker for nostalgia as I remember 5-10 years ago all of my favorite big name VGM composers at the time were very well known and doing classic game soundtracks(the FF's, Chrono Trigger and Cross, Soukaigi, Lunar games , Legend of Mana, Star Ocean and Valkyrie Profile, arguably Sakuraba's best works.....all of the great Ys Perfect Collections by Ryo Yonemitsu and the JDK Band....

Hmm.....just seems different now.....

Hey, why didn't you say that to begin with? Falcom's been on a hot streak recently...Ys VI and Ys Oath of Felghana (a kickass remake of Ys 3) both have OST's put out, with Ys Origins set to see a release near the end of the year. Ys lives!

And Yonemitsu is sorta back...He did four arrangements on the recent Wild Arms Rocking Heart album. He hasn't lost a thing (and the rest of the album is pretty good too).

Gotta second Ys: The Oath in Felghana. Listen to that now.

Hmmm where can I purchase Ys VI and the Ys Oath of Fehlgana albums? Gamemusic.com is not selling them and that is where I used to buy most of my game music....

As a matter of fact, all of the Ys albums listed on GameMusic are listed as out of stock or obsolete hahah.....

and what is Ys Origins? i havent heard of that.....

I used to be a big Falcom collector.....the Ys Perfect Collections and the JDK Band albums and the vocal collections were imo some of the best VGM and arrangements ever made......

VGM World (www.vgmworld.com).  Great service and integrity.

Here's some jazzy arrangement bias you must check out The Star Onions - Music from the Other Side of Vana'diel (Final Fantasy XI Arrange Album) and Genso Suikoden IV Another World (and if you haven't already) the Genso Suikoden III Music Collection. All solid albums there.

http://www.altpop.com/stc/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1425

I'm not entirely sure about Ys Origins, but we'll find out when it comes out hopefully. No Adol is kind of an interesting spin...

Also, if you're really into the old vocal collections, there's this:

http://www.vgmworld.com/catalog/index.p … em_num=301

It's not the greatest album in the world, but Falcom did have a teaser about a possible JDK Band return about it. Two of the songs were done by a group that did manage to get their Iron Maiden w/keyboards style down to the letter. The rest are closer to the lighter, cute Jpop present on the old Falcom collections.

And also this one, based on the two new Legend of Heroes VI games: http://www.vgmworld.com/catalog/index.p … m_num=1077

No JDK Band style stuff, but it was still very similar to the old Falcom vocal style.

And if you really want to wax Falcom nostalgia:

http://www.vgmworld.com/catalog/index.p … em_num=287

Legend of Xanadu 1 arranged to near perfection. One of my favorite VGM rock albums of all time. Cheap too.

And yes, cocoebiz gets the win. She's a lot easier to order from than Falcom themselves.