This isn't meant to be a review, but a comment.  The remake of Trials of Mana has just hit stores, and the soundtrack has hit digitally.  (Hopefully it won't take too long for the physical version to be issued, too.)  Apparently gamers weren't thrilled with the treatment predecessor Secret of Mana received, but luckily the soundtrack for this one turned out amazingly IMO.  The reorchestrated versions of "Where Angels Fear To Tread", "Meridian Child", and "Return to Forever" are magnificent, arguably rivaling their SNES counterparts.  While it would have been ideal for the rest of the soundtrack to receive a similar treatment, the rest of the compositions are treated very respectfully and are faithful to the originals, just with powered up instruments.  The best arrangement, to me, is "Sacrifices - Part Three."  The wicked electric guitar accompaniment gives just the right amount of aggressive edge that this piece requires.  If you're a fan of Hiroki Kikuta's music and you love this particular soundtrack, there's no way you'd want to miss this one.

Thank god after the large abomination that was SD2 Remake. Reimagining original tracks is fine if you want to do that but not for an official OST imo.

I haven't played or listened to Trials yet but I am really excited to hear how they reworked the soundtrack. I am fiercely awaiting the release date of the OST.

The digital version is out now. I've sampled my favorites so far and I would say temper your expectations overall. It's pretty much a straight synth upgrade overall and it's hit or miss from track to track. I would say a fair number of tracks at least match their originals, but I can count on one hand the ones that I prefer over them (so far). Might be fun to do a shootout on these. The two that immediate jump to mind as improvements are Little Sweet Cafe and Left-Handed Wolf (which is actually pretty badass sounding now).

I was wondering when this would finally be released, the game and the OST.

I was stoked when I first heard about it, and saw the game trailer.

Hopefully this game gives the series the rekindling in interest that it needs to be commercially successful.

The best and easiest place to buy the OST digitally is AMZN MP3:
https://www.amazon.com/Trials-Mana-Rema … B086GYFV3D

It's only $18! DRM-Free!

Secret of Mana Genesis is also on AMZN MP3, too:
https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Mana-Gene … B07VTMZ1RM

Square-Enix has quite a few of their other soundtracks on AMZN MP3, including Final Fantasy XV and Nier Automata.

SEGA and Falcom also have quite a few of their soundtracks on AMZN MP3, as well.

Cheers!
-The Daver

Odd about that OST remix was that a lot of the pieces lost their original "Oomph."

The remixes weren't as strong as the originals.

Dark Lich's battle theme and "Morning Is Here" were too notable huge disappointments that the remixers really played downwards for whatever reason.

A place that sells Mp3 only is NEVER 'the best'.

Mmm.

You have a point.

MP3. I meant it's probably the best (or at least easiest) if you want to buy the soundtrack as mp3s, because at least it's DRM-Free, and you know your portable audio device is going to be compatible with it.

The vast majority of people I know are perfectly comfortable with MP3, or Apple's audio format, for that matter.

If you want different (and/or lossless) audio formats, yeah, you're going to have to look elsewhere.

All said, the Nier Automata mp3 soundtrack I bought off of AMZN MP3 still sounds solid as-is. Maybe I just have a really good sound system and really good headphones?

I'm sure it would sound even better if I bought the hard copy, and ripped lossless audio.

When I first heard the soundtrack, I just wanted to get it then and there (Just like with Kingdom Hearts 3).

Getting back on topic, I'm definitely going to be picking up Trials of Mana, both the game and its soundtrack. Digitally. Because that's how I roll.
-The Daver

The digital version's out now, but the physical version has been delayed (understandably so) on account of this outbreak.  It'll be a miracle if it gets out.  In the meantime, though, I really am digging this remake's soundtrack.  The arrangers did IMO a really good job of doing justice to this classic.  What a shame its predecessor didn't get this kind of treatment.  The orchestral rearrangements in particular are so great.

If you're talking about "Mp3s sound good enough", you don't understand why Mp3s are bad.
(And in fact I'd agree that 95% of the time, they sound good enough)

If there's a better file format that's as easily accessible as mp3s, by all means, I'd like to know about it.

My player has empty hard disk space upon hard disk that I could probably stand to use up with a better file format, besides just 320kbps mp3s.

My player can't read metadata that's assigned to WAV files. I don't think metadata can even be assigned to WAV files.
-The Daver

Yeah, this and the new Street Fighter V OST got hit with the delay mixup. I would say all bets on release dates are off for the rest of the year. I've also heard stories of bad shipping delays out of Japan (again, totally understandable).

Ya'll are making me nostalgic here. Haven't seen mp3's since my first iPod bit the dust.

I believe you are correct, WAV files cannot have metadata. I manage them on my portable devices using folder view and it works fine. As long as I can assign ratings and alter the track names, I'm good.

In terms of other file types that have some compression and a wrapper for metadata the 2 most popular formats are FLAC [to a lesser extent ALAC for you Apple people out there] and Ogg Vorbis.

I personally encode everything as 320kbps aac files but one day I will definitely have a HDD full of lossless tracks. That's the goal anywho.

In terms of soundtracks, do you guys really think OST releases are canned for the rest of the year? I ordered the Chrono Orchestral Boxset and preordered the Trials of Mana OST on the same order. I wonder if I should cancel and just reorder the Chrono Orchestral Set.

That worries me about the FF7R release too since that one has been stuck on Waiting List for a while. I was aware EMS for USA has been suspended but not any other shipping.

Still, you guys are right, it is understandable.

I agree that MP3s are far from ideal.
I also agree that FLAC is the best alternative (but not as widely available for purchase as MP3 unfortunately).
I'd also prefer if we have that conversation again to have it in another thread.

The physical release is set for June 3, 2020.

I had the version with the special bonus in my amazon.co.jp cart, but now it seems that version isn't available.  That said, I think the bonus might've just been a weird Amazon-branded cardboard sleeve like I got with... some other album recently I ordered?

Getting SD3 in English after 24 years with last year's Collection of Mana release was my white whale. I loved playing the original in English for the first time, and I love this year's remake even more since you get to experience all of the nostalgia without the pain of the frustrating difficulty level and slow combat of the original. I'm a big fan of what they did with the soundtrack this time around. I wasn't as bothered as some of you with the Secret of Mana remake's new soundtrack, but this one is much more faithful to the source material while improving the sound quality.

As many have mentioned, the release of the CD version was delayed, but it released on June 3, 2020. Also, since I saw it mentioned above, the Street Fighter V Champion Edition OST is now rescheduled for September 30, 2020.