Ever listen to a soundtrack/album that you wanted to like, but somehow, it just fell flat with you, or you otherwise just couldn't stand it?

The Kingdom Hearts II OST is this way with me; I dig the Twilight Town themes, as well as those surrounding Hollow Bastion; the character themes surrounding Organization XIII, Roxas, Kairi, "Missing You," (alot of the sorrowful themes), Riku, the World that Never Was, the battle themes, and especially the vocal theme, "Passion," is pretty much what I bought the soundtrack for.

I like these themes. Alot. But when I actually listen to them, they just kind of fall flat with me; I end up almost ignoring them, they kind of fade into the background, and disappear. Or, sometimes I just get annoyed with them, and just end up skipping through a lot of them. And the rest of the soundtrack? FORGET IT.

I like this soundtrack. I want to like it, at least. I remember that it was pretty good. But when I try to listen to it, it just...doesn't catch on with me somehow. I just can't seem to attach to it.

I've quite a number of similar experiences with other albums. Say, the Valkyrie Profile 2 OST. Or the Tales of the Abyss OST.

Have you had a similar experience like this? It just really kind of bothers me...

Wild Arms 3.

Oh and Wild Arms 3.

Oh and this one time Wild Arms 3.

Seriously, I don't like Wild Arms Advanced 3rd outside like five songs.

The game is 60 hrs of pure boredom as well.

Yeah, Valkyrie Profile 2 was the first that came to mind for me. There are some great tracks, but overall it's gotta be the least engaging Sakuraba OST I've heard.

Although, while I'm on the subject, the Star Ocean 3 arrange album was pretty "meh" too.

I thought so too. I was all over Star Ocean 2 and its arrange album. Needless to say I expected great things from SO3. The original soundtrack was decent enough, but the arrange album never quite clicked with me. I come back to it every now and then to give it another try, but the result is always the same.

Another one for me is Saga Frontier. I'm a pretty big fan of Kenji Ito as well as the music from the SaGa series in general. The three disc Saga Frontier soundtrack seemed like the perfect purchase back when I ordered it. Aside from a handful of tracks though the soundtrack really let me down. I've listened to it dozens of times hoping that it would grow on me, but it never did.

I have to admit, if I hadn't played the game for a million hours, SaGa Frontier probably wouldn't have clicked for me either. Luckily (or unluckily) I did, so it's a staple soundtrack for me, but probably not for the right reasons.

Both Star Ocean 3 and VP2 IMMEDIATELY come to mind. I remember buying the orchestral soundtrack for SO3 and being shocked at how lifeless the whole thing was. The other one kinda made up for it, but once I gave up hope of ever liking the actual game, I ended up selling it and not missing the handful of tracks I liked. Oh yeah, did I mention I bought the horrible arranged album? Chalk the whole SO3 experience up to blind faith, based on my experience and love of SO2.

VP2 was no surprise unfortunately and was a complete letdown, compared to the energy of the first score. I think my view on the soundtrack somewhat deflated my whole experience with the game...I liked the battle system, but never really went back to it...or cared. That battle theme started to seriously grate, after sounding nice the first 2-3 times.

An odd one from me is Ys Oath in Felghana. I worship the whole lot of Ys III soundtracks and the score, but this one just shriveled quickly. I just got sick of the orchestral/techno portions of the soundtrack and the rock parts ended up feeling horribly diluted (see: The Strongest Foe). I listen to a lot of guitars, but I think this album has one of my least favorite guitar tones ever.

I really wanted the Rockman Rock Arrange to be good. I really did. It wasn't.

I really wanted the Rockman 9 Arrange to be good. I really did. It was worse than the rock arrange.

For some odd reason, I could never get into Musashiden II at all. I was actually fairly high on Hama/Naka from FFX and enjoying Saga II/Dewprism on a casual level, but I found most of this soundtrack extremely boring.

Last one: BlazBlue. For a melodic rock/metal-based soundtrack, this thing is a chore to listen to because the mixing neuters pretty much the whole low end. The guitars soar high above everything else and it's more tiring to listen to, as opposed to energetic. Even replaygained, the imbalance is nasty. I seriously cannot get into this, as much as I love a handful of the tracks on here.

While Star Ocean 3 was uneven, Star Ocean 4 was a complete train wreck, both game and score. Just one lifeless orchestral track after another. Disappointing after the very listenable Star Ocean 2.

Armodyne, because I was hoping for a Mitsuda masterpiece (after a string of disappointments). Didn't work out that way.

I'm a big Hamauzu fan but even I found Vielen Dank to be uninspired. Some of the arrangements were okay but the original tunes were too short and underdeveloped. Fortunately, he came back in a big way with Sigma Harmonics (and even more so with FFXIII).

I really wanted the Rockman Techno Arrange to be good. Good God was it horrid.

Combination of thoughts time!

I really wanted the Rockman Techno Arrange to be good. Good god was it horrid.  I really wanted the Rockman 9 Arrange to be good. I really did. It was worse than the techno arrange.

I liked the Rock Arrange

I echo the same feelings on Wild Arms 3, Star Ocean 3, Armodyne.... Armodyne has a great sound and atmosphere to it, which I'm sure creates a fitting audio backdrop to the game. Outside of the game it tends to drag on though; not enough variety.

Back when I first started buying game music I purchased  the "Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest - The Best" CD, after hearing how popular the series and its music were. I liked a number of the tracks but was pretty bored with it overall, and it left me thinking none too highly of Sugiyama's work. I was too used to Uematsu's catchy melodies at the time.
Later on, I checked out some SPC files of the original music from the early DQs, and immediately changed my mind. I loved this "classical" game music that sounded unique compared to the rest of the crowd. In recent years I've played Dragon Quest VIII and V, and absolutely loved the music in both. It adds so much to the world in the game.
So, to end the story, I really want to like that symphonic suite CD, but to this day it still makes me bored.

Here are a couple controversial ones..

The entire Ys series!  Yup I said it.  Don't get me wrong, I like a few tracks here and there, namely Koshiro's stuff from the first Ys, a few tracks here and there from 2-5, and a bunch of tracks from Ys VI.  I've really tried to love the series as much as you guys do but I just can't do it.  Am I banned from the forums now?

Another biggie is pretty much anything Motoi Sakuraba does.  The only soundtrack I can actually tolerate is the first Valkyrie Profile but even that doesn't really do much for me.  I have a pretty decent sized VGM collection (265 albums and counting) but I don't own anything with Sakuraba's name on it.  Am I banned twice?

The Rock Arrange, I don't even remember; the Techno Arrange, I remember was some REALLY glaringly bad synth. When people say "Techno," I think DJ Tiesto, Paul Oakenfold, whatever; club/rave-caliber stuff. Now if they'd done a club/rave style Rockman album, that'd kick ass.

Otherwise, those 2 arrange albums were just obligatory-in-nature, quick cash-ins.

Ouch! The game was tedious, sure, but out of all the PS2 entries in the series, it was the most Western-themed. But, yeah, I still could've stood to Gameshark the hell out of it.

The WA3 soundtrack, I always come back to the town, dungeon, and battle themes; I like listening to it on hot, dusty Summer days, either around town, or when I'm out in the countryside. I've also studied to it quite a bit...

To be fair, though, they REALLY stockpiled on some really boring cinematic music, too.

I've heard this a lot, and call me crazy, but I actually listen to the SO3 OST more than the SO2 OST. I just love how mellow it is (the orchestral stuff), and I actually find it very melodic and easy to follow. And I liked it before I even played the game; indeed, I got the albums, and the game didn't come out until 2 years after. Game was a disappointment, and I was surprised what context they used some of the pieces in, but the music still really stuck with me.

I REALLY loved the SO2 OST back when I first playing the game, but somehow, it just hasn't stuck with me like SO3 has. I guess all those opportunities in which I'd listen to SO2, I end up listening to SO3, instead. Honestly, it's just one of my most favorite albums to listen to in the Summer, when I want to read, relax, have lunch/dinner, or when I need something chill to listen to when running errands around town.

If Symphony Ys '95 and the Ys I&II PC Engine redbook hadn't won me over early on (along with Ys V Orchestra version later on), I'd be pretty disenchanted with the series as well.  There's good stuff in the other albums but often spread too thin.  Listening to Chronicles here lately reinforces the opinion.

Holy shit, really? I thought the Rock Arrange was substandard at best, save for a few tracks (Tomohawk Man, mostly), but I dug the techno remix a bit more. I thought the Rockman 9 Arrange album was sublime.

Huh. I discovered Ys first by listening to the "Falcom Classics" disc, followed by the Ys IV Perfect Collections, then Ys V Orchestra.

And frankly, I think the Ys VI and Felghana OSTs are fantastic.

I didn't want to like this music. I just did.

But to answer the thread. Hmmm...

I REALLY wanted to like the music for the Growlanser series. It had the same art as the Langrisser series. It was essentially Langrisser in a new gameplay style. So I thought I'd like the music. The first one has Iwadare, which helps, but then the series really wavered from there. Especially in the music department.

Ramza