Glad to see this site is still active. eBay user child_of_mana
One of my favorite soundtracks. Been searching for this forever.

the liquid in the case turned to something resembling dried toothpaste years ago

This is a nice little soundtrack... I think I'll have a listen again right now

They are out there. Unfortunately the liquid case wasn't designed to last and the blue gel has solidified over the years, so you might need to settle for an imperfect copy.

We could do a whole thread on first press design flaws... *grumbles something about the melting meteor logo on the FFVII OST*

Yeah I think the cover of mine is sitting in a drawer right next to a bunch of over-sized OBI....been like a rock for probably six or more years now.

Album design flaws... the following comes to mind:

Final Fantasy VII OST (Limited Edition): The big box one. The yellow material used on the front of the white "booklet" can stick to the inside of the external case. Also yellowing on anything white in general.

FInal Fantasy VIII OST (Limited Edition): The book-style one. Basically 90% of the albums being sold at any given moment will have at least one of the disc trays be loose or partially loose due to the glue holding it to the case drying out. Even if the glue is intact, you'll probably unintentionally make it loose eventually just by handling the item.

Final Fantasy XI OST (Limited Edition): The foldout book-style one. Same story as above for the DVD disc-sleeve.

Any of the NTT Publishing book-style Square game soundtracks: The booklet is attached to the front cover and when closed, the last page of the booklet will always be visually flawed because it makes long-term contact with the disc/disc-tray. The obi (if applicable) is also hard to remove from the album (accidentally ripped one before trying).

Any of the 8" mini-CD albums (like the Super Famicom Final Fantasy ones): Probably not a design flaw in and of itself but the plastic can be pretty fragile, once it snaps in half, there's no going back (you can't replace it, just buy another one).

Any album that has an obi that is slightly too large to fit inside the album's case. Can be solved by wrapping it around the album (as normal) and then putting it in a plastic sleeve, but that's too much trouble.

Not really a design flaw but whenever a brand new and sealed item has a loose disc rattling inside. And I can't fix this for obvious reasons. It's why I like (most) Nintendo products. This phenomenon is also known as "Schrödinger's disc" - the disc is simultaneously both in mint condition and having 9000 scratches.

Not really a design flaw but whatever it is that causes plastic in Japan to go yellow, whether it's an actual plastic manufacturing design flaw, a smoking Japanese household, polluted air coming in from China, cat urine etc... There's much to complain about things sold in Western marketplaces - ripped labels, pen marks, physical damage like cracks and chips, scratched to hell discs, sellers with bad condition evaluation skills at best (one man's "very good condition" is another man's "it's as if my dog chewed it") or plain dishonesty at worst. But somehow, yellowing plastic is not one of them or near the bottom of the list. From my experiences anyway.

Currently using the FFXI limited edition as a desktop shoji- my favorite Amano artwork in a very crowded field. I dismantled the interior of that ST because it was aggravating me.

Thanks for the responses on the dried toothpaste limited edition. I think I'd still like it but it may no longer be at the top of my list. FFCC is a special album for me because I'm also a lover of early music.

i could never get into the FFCC ost (never played the game),, i'll sell mine but i tossed the case over a decade ago.

Thanks Mike. I've already got the regular edition.

The game is great, but one that many people didn't like. I have a soft spot for the lighter side of FF and the atmosphere of that whole game. I actually played it the way it was intended: 2 players with one player on the GBA. For a while there Nintendo was obsessed with GBA linking up with GameCube and the obsession came to its final insanity with the Wii U.  They had to scrap the idea for GC because the GBA SP did not work well the game link cable.

I remember years ago when this came out and I thought to myself "So, I guess longevity was not part of their plans! The liquid will evaporate and what will you have left?"

Dude this album is so freakin' ace. Kumi Tanioka is a dream on this album. I always loved how she used like proto Celtic instruments for this entire soundtrack.

I also thought it was pretty cool that intro song Sound of the Wind was awesome in both Japanese and English. I can't pick a favorite version. The whole thing reeks of a lovely Old English country-side feel like putting hot muffins on  a windowsill to cool.

One of my ultimate faves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLL-zEZ … 0&index=11

It is super interesting to hear that the gel hardened on this release. What a bummer. Does anyone have a pic of this unfortunate happening?

The crumhorn especially threw folks for a loop on this album, I think. You can see a representative performance here.   

https://m.youtube.com/watch?list=PLAgC_ … KxdCSbAtOE

Tanioka did a masterful job bringing early Renaissance music into an RPG universe. Reminds me of the technical/compositional achievement of bringing Celtic music into the Suikoden series, especially the arrange album Orrizonte (another favorite).