Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the above comments are those of Leon's and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions held by SquareEnixMusic.com.

I don't think it's "requisite effort" at all to familiarize yourself with a composer's whole discography or with the context of the music, anymore than someone should be required to play every game in a series (or every game created by the producer/designer/whatever) just to review a single game. That's all a matter of target audience, not one of being poorly researched or lazy or what have you. If someone want to review a soundtrack as a completely independent work, without taking into consideration how it compares to the artist's prior work or how it does or doesn't compliment the game, that's a perfectly acceptable decision. If, on the other hand, someone wants to target the diehard fans who have heard everything by said artist, that's fine too. The latter approach isn't inherently better, but it is inherently more limited in terms of target audience. Going into how the music works in context can offer interesting perspective into why the composer made his or her choices, but if your reader only cares about listening to the music on its own, it's not essential information.

Cool story bro.

(This is the meanest thing I've done in weeks; I'm sure Karma will catch up to me soon. Maybe my internet will go out for a day, or I'll die in some freak accident. Srsly tho, I do await Leon's critical analysis of Pokémon music -- see if his thorough, detailed reviews bring something worthwhile to the table.)

Hey: I want to clarify on what I posted. It's inconsiderate, that's true enough.

I like the work that Patrick, Chris and others do, as a hobby of theirs and a definite passion. And I think that they've done great articles on game music albums in the past and continuously—I wouldn't have gotten into this if it weren't for the many game music articles I've read on SEMO for such a long time. I want them to keep writing the stuff they want to write, and I don't think I've truly expressed my gratitude to Chris for putting up with this episode.

When I was writing that post, I never meant anything personal, and I never outright targeted anyone for writing "shitty articles". From my perspective, though, I'm just not seeing a specific kind of game music analysis that's sorely-lacking, and I got a little out of control with the euphoria granted from finally coming across a moderately-active game music forum where I could be more vocal about my opinions. There are multiple ways to write about game music, and I strongly believe in providing a new perspective both through a different opinion and through a different methodology. As far as I know, Chris' efforts haven't been wasted, nor have the works of others; I'm a little too enthused over mine, which happens from time to time.

At the end of the day, though, I know what it feels like to think I'm being personally-targeted by generalizations, especially when I know that generalizations always have exceptions and, ultimately, I'm not going to name either the exceptions or any other game music writer in the "non-preferred" category. So: I'm sorry for looking so out-of-place and, according to some, "pompous".

No need to talk about having a bad week or anything like that, either. This is just my candid reaction and warming-down. That's all. And if you want to bash me over the head over it, please know that I'm human too, and that I'm here to apologize, not argue.

If that's the meanest thing you've done in weeks, karma will probably just drop a rain on you on a summer day.

But thankfully I don't believe in karma otherwise I will be royally fucked soon.

Also, game music reviews are kinda meh, unless they're about some really obscure stuff that even getting a rip is somewhat difficult.

Leon,

No harm no foul. Just make good on those Pokémon reviews. I am serious about wanting to read them! I'll be the first to admit I don't know the context for a lot of the Pokémon music, as I haven't beaten most of them.

Well: I can't tell when people are being serious or sarcastic on the Internet anymore, so you had me worried there Patrick.

I think you'll like the reviews. But I'm also working on filling out more Technosoft articles and reviving the editorials section on our website, too, so I've got a lot to do. Thank you for taking interest.

Very cool stuff. Can't wait to see what comes of it.

Speaking of Technosoft -- have you ever heard / found volumes 13 and 14 in their sound series? They were for some visual novel / dating sim, *I think* ... and are apparently quite obscure.

Yeah: me and Chris were pondering on how to handle those albums, knowing full-and-well that they'd take a while to purchase from the Technosoft store, or perhaps through Yahoo! Japan. IDK if Chris has them at this point, and he's got plenty of things to spend his hard-earned cash on.