My initial impression of these Chips albums are; they not bad and it's impressive how even the most cinematic tracks are rendered in 8 bit style, but for the most part I find myself bored before a track ends. It doesn't help that the first SQ Chips set a high standard to me, but it had a cheaper price tag, nice cover design, quantity, variety, creativity, and above all, quality. I have no idea why they had to release those Chip tune album in hurry.

Btw, according to the pamphlet, Nobuo Uematsu is going to release a full orchestral arranged album this winter, so what's going on are...

1) FF 25th tribute album
2) Uematsu orchestral album
3) Piano Opera VII/VIII/IX

Wondering if there is any more info on when these albums would be available on SQUIX eStore (NA & EU)?

Also, are there sound samples for any of these albums (like on youtube or elsewhere) so that we could get a taste of whats offered?

Anyone else have these and listened to them? Thoughts/opinions?

Thanks & Peace!

Whoa nelly - someone's eager - the FF25th Shibuya event was only last weekend!  I see only a couple albums up on YJA but probably most people won't get these until they hit the e-store in Japan later this month.

I'm sure Ramza would have mentioned dates by now if he had any for NA/EU availability.  But I wouldn't hold your breath.

edit: here's a sampler video on youtube for Final Fantasy XI Chips.  I enjoy it well enough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS8A3g4tNb4

Ah! I see now....I was not up to date/aware of the special event and subsequent release dates....just curious I guess!

Thank you James for the youtube clip....nice to hear samples to satiate curiosity.  Peace!

Great to hear that the SQEX U.S. store plans to stock these! Hopefully they'll put them up for pre-order soon.

preview for FF VII Chips - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqXc3aZ5 … e=youtu.be

preview for FF VIII Chips - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIE0DrUh … e=youtu.be

preview for FF IX Chips - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4syVM5kR … e=youtu.be

preview for FF X Chips - http://youtu.be/QvO8XXqozJ8

I checked out the FF VII samples (since I'm more familiar with that one), and found myself longing for more "lo-fi" arrangements. The polyphony is far too lush for what I expect from chiptunes

Those samples are pretty disappointing. XI Chips is sounding nice, but everything else seems rather underwhelming.

They sound more like straight covers, but I kind of liked what I heard...for the most part. To me, sounds more appropriate than a straight orchestral or piano cover of the material, anyway. Seymour's Theme has never sounded better. Consider me mildly satisfied with what these sound like.

FFXI Chips sounds great.  The others are just too cut and dry.  Part of the reason I loved SQ Chips 1 is that the melodies stayed faithful, but many of the tracks had extra beats and/or lots of various fun things happening.  That one FFXI Chips track maintains that quality. The others do not.

For the most part, those samples are very underwhelming and only support the idea that these albums were quickly thrown together for a quick cash-in (especially since a lot of people will buy them all to complete the set). For me, FFIX stood out and sounded more like an old NES soundtrack to me than the other albums and had some old school charm (tell me the beginning of "Prima Vista Orchestra" doesn't sound like something out of Zelda II). Regardless, I'll pass on all of these and will stick to the originals. Had there been more arranging or innovation I'd be more apt to check them out in their entirety.

Well, I'm looking forward to them... come on CD Japan special order... ship already! 

So I've listened to VII and VIII's... gotta say they're a bit on the simple side of things.  Not as polished as the main SQ Chips album series.  FF XI Chips is more robust.  Perhaps VII~X were rushed out to market to capitalize on the 25th anniversary.  in any case, still happy to see them put out stuff like this.

This is exactly my view, too.

I'd not be so much excited for an XI, XII or XIII chip tune album, even if the original material are better than VII, VIII, IX or X (even less for XIV, since the original music was already so bad, but IMO).

I can't comment on the rest, but the one song I just sampled makes me think I'll like these a lot: FFIX's "Beyond That Hill."  Fantastic.

IX and X are quite nice.  The one thing these Chips albums do tho is make me hungry to relisten to the full soundtracks again for each of these, as it's been quite some time since I've done so.

Just got my (non-special) order in today, so I'll be giving this a listen once my Tekken Tag 2 phase dies down a bit.

getttttttto

chippy

Just listened to FFVII chips. It was entertaining on a nostalgic level but I feel no need to return to it when not much arranging has been done and the originals are perfectly fine.