I got my box in yesterday along with KH box... I really think it's good.  Great artwork, and the piano book too.  I'm a sucker for these sorts of things.  heh

I got my Premium Box today. The packaging is great (who needs liners when all the info is printed on the inside of each CD's book... in English), there's a ton of music, and the chicks playing the piano in the picture on the inside of the Piano Collection are hot. Good enough for me. Time to actually listen to the tunes, though...

Edit: Cedille, is the glass half empty? Or half full?

The whole box actually sounds really great until you get to that part and I realize just how much Mizuta is on the CD's...

I think these boxes are more of a testing ground to see how they sell before Square starts releasing them for their other franchises. Somehow, I don't think GBA FF's, Kingdom Hearts and FFXI boxes will attract the same attention Chrono, Mana or the other FF boxes would...

Watch your mouth. Star Onions was a fun little album (albeit leaving wanting more). At least it explored something beyond Square's usual sounds. If you must call something dreadful, at least unleash the fury on those flat Piano albums which are at this point a supplemental given to each FF game. Geesh.

You know, I know FFXI should probably be considered Mizuta's now that he's done all three expansions, but I am REALLY disappointed that the piano collection is entirely lacking in Tanioka and that the only Uematsu tracks are Mizuta arrangements of his themes. 

This may not make a lot of sense to people, but I really enjoy Mizuta. He's not mindblowing by any means, but there's just something really enjoyable about putting on tunes like "Kazham" or "Sarutabaruta" and relaxing. I also enjoyed his PE II OST, and it seems like hardly anyone else did.

I dug into the box for a while last night, and although I haven't heard much of the unreleased or any of the piano tracks yet, I do think that what's there is good enough for me. I will say that from what I heard of the unreleased stuff, "One Last Time" should have been released on one of the expansion OSTs. The melody really sticks with you.

I'd call myself a pessimist.

I personally prefer a bland album arranged in a predictable way to an awful album arranged in a unique way. Furthermore, IMO, Star Onions was far more disappointing, considering it ruined the tracks that had been quite listenable on the original soundtracks. As for FFXI PC, on the other hand, I didn't look forward to it in the least as soon as the tracklist was revealed.

After all, I might be too harsh, but although I do like the original and Rise of the Zilart discs quite a bit, I'm not sure if I can recommend this box.

Star Onions has more character and life than almost all of the other FF arrange albums put together.

I'm not sure what Piano Collections CD was included with your Premium Box, but the one I got is pretty boring and straightforward. If it's far better than you anticipated, what were you expecting? A kick in the shins?

The worst arrange album ever.

My PC copy is pretty much bland too, yet I find a few tracks to be bearable (Windurst, Battle#2, Tu'Lia) and Promyvion doesn't sound as bad as it was on the original soundtrack. As for Star Onions, I'd rather prefer thier faithful arrangements that they performed at the special event in 2004, despite thier miserable performance.

Is that where the live "Gustaburg" came from at the end of the FFXI COP CD? I listened to that last night and it just seemed... off. Like they were rehearsing or something instead of performing.