So has anyone given the "Senjou no Valkyria 2 Gallian Royal Military Academy Original Soundtrack" a listen?  Putting aside the fact that there's quite a few recycled tracks from the first game, this is another solid effort by Sakimoto.  The new material feels more upbeat and perkier in tone - a reflection, perhaps, of the younger cast of cadets in the game.  The likes of Are We A Spoiled Class? and Summer In Lanseal may catch folks off-guard, and even the new Valkyria Chronicles 2 Main Theme possesses a proud, almost Irish-inspired vibe.  (The jaunty reprisal found in Championship is particularly rousing.)

The bulk of the recycled tracks appear to made be up of battle themes from the first.  I would need to re-listen to the first score, but it seems most of them have gone through a cleaner remastering, as well as featuring slightly altered cues.  (I can at least confirm that the new Ship Battle, who's template is taken from VC1's "Final Decisive Battle", saw a substantial extension.)  The new VC2 stuff fits right in, steeped in hard-hitting militaristic orchestrals such as with The Rebels' Assault and Return Battle.  Liberation Battle shoulders both heroic and frenetic, while Snowfield Battle currently stands as my personal favorite, singularly the one track that suddenly makes me want to play the game.

No vocal pieces this time, but we are treated to specialized arrangements of four selected tracks from fellow Basiscape members.   They're all good fun, with Noriyuki Kamikura's enthusiastically jazzy Exciting Battle being the best of the bunch.

Whoa, the OST is out already?  Damn.  Looks like I'll have to pass on this one for now.  Maybe I'll get it for Father's Day or something.

I dunno.  Maybe it's just me, but I'm definitely not as excited for VC 2 as I was for the first one.  The first one was special.  A textbook example of everything coming together to make the perfect game.  Music, art style, gameplay, and story all complimented one another.  Now that the formula is established (cel-shaded graphics, Hitoshi Sakimoto at the keyboard, same gameplay), it's not special anymore.  Sega wanted a franchise and that's exactly what they got.  Usually I'd say that's a good thing, but Sega has a bad habit of driving everything into the damned ground with over-saturation.  So please, Sega, restrain yourself for once.

Sorry, thread derailed, back on topic now.

This soundtrack is incredible! The original VC soundtrack is already one of Sakimoto's best ever, so this retreading of the same material is not in any way unwelcome. But I would so much like to have the tracks be a little longer and be sequenced closer together like the Shin Contra OST, so that I could just become completely lost in the thrilling drive and flow of the music without jarring track gaps or the hard climaxes of tracks like Street Battle and the following Defense Battle, which would otherwise flow into each other so perfectly. I would just love, love, love for there to be orchestral or other medleys of this music!

Yeah, I'm surprised that the Sakimoto diehards here haven't even given this a listen yet - or least ways talking about it.  I've grown to love the spirited new VC2 Main Theme.  The aforementioned "Championship" is incredible, but Farewell, My Academy is lyrically Sakimoto in the most beautiful sense.

I went ahead and updated my first post with new Youtube music links, by the way.

I prefer Sakimoto in his "darker" mode (ala Vagrant Story) and as such, I was a little disappointed by his work here. I was ESPECIALLY disappointed by all the rehash. Did all of it really need to be on the soundtrack?

Some of the battle themes are fun (I especially like the synth choir licks in "Final Battle"). Unfortunately, the new main theme here doesn't hold a candle to the brooding main theme in the first game. And I was really surprised to read that it was performed by an orchestra. It doesn't sound like it.

I'm listening to it and I must say I'm surprised. I didn't think highly of the first soundtrack, and am unimpressed by majority of Sakimoto's Basiscape contributions, but this one sounds rather good. Yes, I have a strong distaste for Sakimoto's "impending doom-bombast" variety (usually, although there are exceptions), but simple and sweet tracks like "Winter in Lanseal", "Spring in Lanseal", and even the main theme are what caught my interest.

There are awful lot of battle themes, and I haven't listened to the second disc yet, but I'm hopeful.