I’d posted earlier about how Square Enix was attempting to dominate the summer with good arrangements. This morning, I awoke to find this site, posted by James Oikawa over at the STC Forums. It’s got 4 audio samples and the full tracklist, as well as methods for ordering the CD (which is set for release August 8, 2012).
Based on the samples, I think it’s safe to say that Kikuta’s style of self-arrangement will essentially be like some sort of amazing HD remake of the Seiken Densetsu 2 (aka Secret of Mana) OSV from the Super Famicom days. Think of the high-quality synths Kikuta has used on projects like Shining Hearts, and use those to re-create the beauty of Kikuta’s best-known work. I think this album concept is going to work well.
(Thanks, James, for the heads-up!)
Preorder: CDJapan
Tags: Audio Samples, Hiroki Kikuta, Impressions, Secret of Mana, Secret of Mana Genesis, Teaser Site
Hah, for a moment I thought someone was arranging Secret of Mana music on the Sega Genesis. Not that this isn’t amazing news. I’d buy the album either way. I hope the iTunes release isn’t blocked in my country. =)
is there anything MORE annoying than iTunes regional restrictions?I remember the hell I went through trying to get the digital bonus encore track for Symphonic Fantasies. Eventually I gave up, which is fine since they then put it on the SF Tokyo double disc. But still… oy.
I give you my wallet, Square-Enix. Between this and the Steam sale, I’m going to go broke.
This is probably the worst idea ever. I mean why commemorate one of the best RPG scores from Square and make it sound slightly better than the SNES? Shouldn’t it be more updated like with live instruments instead? I had such high hopes for this to be good and I find myself disappointed before the album is released. You won’t get money for this synth nonesense, Square-Enix.
Josh — hmm. I can see the merits of your argument, but I wouldn’t direct your ire at Square Enix as a nebulous entity. I think this arranged album, the choice behind its direction and all, is the realm of Hiroki Kikuta himself. The “explanation” portion of the site would seem to suggest that anyway (that plus a rough “google translate” suggest this was Kikuta’s concept for the album). So … yeah.
Even more interesting to me, though, is that only very recently I came across a Kikuta fan who had just discovered the Soukaigi soundtrack and *hated* it because they thought Kikuta + live instruments = fail. Everyone’s got an opinion, right?