Several music tracks featured in the game Shadow Hearts From the New World are missing on the actual OST, which I have. I'd try and rip the tracks from the game myself, but I lack the means/knowledge to do so... I was wondering if anyone has/could possibly rip the missing tracks from the game?

A few that come to mind are the tracks that play;
When doing Frank's Momonga sidequest
During the Sushi House/He-Man Festival sidequest (and certain parts of Mao's Cat Padoga sidequest. Some tracks from this quest are missing on the OST, too)
I'm pretty sure that after defeating Malice Unbral, the final battle music changes. Also, the actual final battle track on the OST is very different from the one that plays during the game. Something similar occured with the second game and it's OST, as well... but the music that plays after Malice Unbral's defeat is what I'm really after.

I'd really appreciate it if anyone could get these for me. =D Thanks in advance.

There's also the music in the Four Deuces Club in Chicago, the music during the good ending and the guitar only version of ICARO.


Also, the actual final battle track on the OST is very different from the one that plays during the game.

Huh? I've played the final boss battle and played the OST and I can't tell any difference between the in-game version and OST version of Lady Tears II.

Speaking of Shadow Hearts, did it seem like Covenant's in-game version of The 3 Karma was different than the OST version?

Rhubarb Ninja already pointed this out. Just to elaborate, the in-game version had poor piano synth rather than the superior bells/piano combo of the OST version and the creepy vocals from the third part of the track are entirely missing in-game. There was also a piano line in the intro of the in-game version that is not present in the OST version.

However, RhubarbNinja also says the in-game of Lady Tears II is very different from the OST version which I can't personally hear myself despite having played the final boss battle and played the OST multiple times.

Huh? I've played the final boss battle and played the OST and I can't tell any difference between the in-game version and OST version of Lady Tears II.

Maybe it's just me...
Either way, I'm satisfied with the version of Lady Tears II I have now. I just want the tracks missing from the OST.

Too bad I know absolutely nothing about ripping music from games.

yeah I would love to have the Momonga music so does anyone have it or the others

I was actually interested in ripping all of Ricardo's songs that are used to accounce his specials,even if they are just 5-second snippets. Good to know there's something else I should pay attention to.

hey guy there's a shdaow hearts special edition CD here on our own forums
Thread 44376

so there might b some songs that u want on it but unfortunately they don't have the momonga music

Hmm... The SH2 final boss music doesn't sound any different to me on the game than the OST, and I play that battle quite a lot. o.o I was just disappointed not to find my favourite song from Covenant on the OST (Ladder To Heaven, it plays when you fight Fujin and Raijin at the end), but I have it now. :)

There's a chance what you're looking for is on the "Shadow Hearts Special Sound CD" since the "Near Death Experience" album seems to only be remixes or unused song versions, not missing songs (but it does have some really nice songs, I think it was worth downloading). I haven't played far through From The New World, so I don't really recognise the songs that are from it.

None of these tracks are on the Special Sound CD--if they were, I wouldn't have posted this topic, since I have that CD. =P
Andyeah. Ladder to Heaven is win and good. It plays when you fight Amon both times, too.


I was actually interested in ripping all of Ricardo's songs that are used to accounce his specials,even if they are just 5-second snippets.

Actually, I'd be interested in getting those too, if you could.


Hahah, thanks for the help everyone, anyway. I'm still interested in getting any of these tracks, if there's anyone still out there...

I was actually interested in ripping all of Ricardo's songs that are used to accounce his specials,even if they are just 5-second snippets.
Here,as promised:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=40HOYAGZ

The rip is a little bit sloppy,but there's really not much I can do to improve it. And no,I can't get rid of the sounds,as they appear to be part of the actual tracks. Still,enjoy.
Damn,I'd kill for an album with the full versions of these tracks.

so has anyone got the mp3 of the momonga song yet

I'll try to rip it tomorrow. Been on a roll recently.

MOMONGA!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZI0LK937
While I'm at it,are there any other tracks to be ripped? I can't really go back to the Man Festival bullshit or Mao's Cat Pagoda from the save that I have,but I'll try to get them the next time around. Was there anything else that was not included in the OST? Maybe the Dollhouse or the Guiana Highlands tracks?

I think all the missing tracks were mentioned in the first two posts of this topic. Since you can't get back to the Sushi House, I suppose the Four Deuces Club and the version of Lady Tears after Malice Unbral is defeated are the only two.

I checked the game and I found that the Dollhouse and the Guiana Highlands use music already in the OST.

thanks raptor

I think all the missing tracks were mentioned in the first two posts of this topic. Since you can't get back to the Sushi House, I suppose the Four Deuces Club and the version of Lady Tears after Malice Unbral is defeated are the only two.

Four Deuces:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XZR9INAE

I'll try to rip Lady Tears next. As for the other tracks,I'd have to replay the game from the beginning to get those,and that probably won't be happening anytime soon.
I'll keep you guys updated,though.

Enjoy.

Thanks very much for this. Looking forward to Lady Tears. I have a save file where the Sushi House is still accessible, if only I knew how to send it to you. Perhaps I could do it myself if you teach me how you ripped your other tracks.

Basically,I connect my PS2 to the computer (I can do it because my Vaio has a built-in TV tuner with A/V jacks and whatnot,though you can buy an external TV tuner). Then,I record the actual video of me playing using Gigapocket. The result is an .mpg file. Then,I rip the audio from said file using TMPGEnc. The result is an .mp2 file. Finally,I edit the audio in Goldwave,apply filters to it to reduce hiss and crackle,optimize the volume,eliminate possible stutters and other imperfections and save the file to .mp3.
Voila.

As for the track,it's the one that starts playing after you kill the giant red blobular Malice thing that's floating behind Lady,right?

I don't have a TV Tuner so unfortunately I won't be able to do it myself. *sighs*

Yeah, that's the track. Although I'm not sure whether you'll be able to eliminate the battle sound effects of Malice Unbral exploding from the start of the track.

I found an alternate way of ripping the music. I got a 2 x RCA Phono Female to 3.5mm Male Jack Audio Cable, which allows me to directly connect the audio leads of the PS2 to my computer's Line-In.

I have managed to record the music for the He-Man Sushi House, good ending and ICARO -guitar arrangement-. There are unfortunately voices in the last two. I don't know anything about applying filters to the music so if you're not too busy NucleaRaptor, could you work your magic on my rips?

I also recorded Lady Tears III but I assume that NucleaRaptor is working on a rip that's better than mine. I didn't have any saves which allow me easily to access Mao's Pagoda. Also, I noticed that the version of Adios in the OST is missing an entire middle section and ending. I tried recording it but the quality came out terribly. I included in the rar in case NucleaRaptor could do something with it, if you can't, could you try recording it yourself?

While I was at it, I also recorded the in-game versions of ICARO AGAIN, The 3 Karma and ICARO -piano and orchestra arrangement-, which I believe were missing from Shadow Hearts II. If anyone is interested in those, I could upload those too.

Anyway, here's the link http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z2RAZMMT

Great job,man!

I gotta warn you,though,the filters can only do so much without damaging the track into utter unrecognizability. Besides,I'm still a total noob when it comes to this stuff,so there's only so much I can do. But I'll see what I can do.

And sorry about taking so long with Lady Tears III. It should literally take me 15 fucking minutes to rip,since I have a save right before the final boss. I've just been really busy with another rip of mine lately. But now that that's done,I'll get cracking on SH right away.

Well,this took me way more than 15 minutes. Jesus fucking christ.

The last time I've played the game was over a year ago,so I don't remember anything about Lady anymore. Though I didn't really recall her being particularly hard. With that mind,I rushed in expecting an easy fight.

Well,when Unbral reached its turn,it went SHOOP DA WHOOP with the Calamity Gaze,followed up all sorts of crazy shit Lady herself casts,and I got my shit ruined so fucking bad it wasn't even funny. It took me like five tries to even remember how to fight that beast properly (stocks lol),and the fight itself took me close to an hour. It doesn't help that I was kind of underleveled,so I knew as soon as I made a tiny mistake like failing the roll for vacuuming away Lady's stock gauge,she would go Hitoshura on my ass,and I would get raped into oblivion.

Best way to finish a summer. Nothing like a good adrenaline rush. Thanks for making me do this,man!

Anyway...

As far as Lady Tears III is concerned,it looks to me like a simple 20-25-second loop. The beginning of the track,like you said,is obscured by Unbral's explosion. But the problem isn't even that,it's the violin on the background that goes throughout the entire track,even when the piano shuts up for a second. Because of that,it's hard to pinpoint the start of the loop (that's if the track doesn't have an actual beginning that goes before the loops start). No matter where I cut,the violin line would just abruptly start there,preventing the beginning from sounding smooth. So do avoid that,I did a fade-in. So that's that.

I also took a look at your recordings. For your first time,I gotta say you did a damn good job! Just keep in mind that while tracks that are too quiet can get annoying,there is such a thing as WAY TOO FUCKING LOUD. =)

Since I actually beat the game,I went ahead and recorded my own version of the Good Ending track.

He-Man Sushi House and ICARO -Guitar Arrangement- - I applied a couple of filters to get rid of the hiss, lowered the volume and made the He-Man track loop twice. They sound fine to me,but it's the first time I'm even hearing the Sushi House track,and it's been ages since I heard ICARO. It's possible that the filters wiped some background sounds along with the hisses (it doesn't usually happen,but sometimes it does). Listen to the tracks to make sure everything sounds right; you should have an ear for it.

Finally,Adios. Again,I filtered the hisses and killed the volume,but the sound in the louder parts still makes my speakers rattle. I would like to re-rip this one,but the save I have is nowhere near the part where you meet Ricardo,so this will have to do for now.

Here,have a listen:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZCQ0VQVW


While I was at it, I also recorded the in-game versions of ICARO AGAIN, The 3 Karma and ICARO -piano and orchestra arrangement-, which I believe were missing from Shadow Hearts II. If anyone is interested in those, I could upload those too.
Are you kidding? Please do!

Well,this took me way more than 15 minutes. Jesus fucking christ.

The last time I've played the game was over a year ago,so I don't remember anything about Lady anymore. Though I didn't really recall her being particularly hard. With that mind,I rushed in expecting an easy fight.

Well,when Unbral reached its turn,it went SHOOP DA WHOOP with the Calamity Gaze,followed up all sorts of crazy shit Lady herself casts,and I got my shit ruined so fucking bad it wasn't even funny. It took me like five tries to even remember how to fight that beast properly (stocks lol),and the fight itself took me close to an hour. It doesn't help that I was kind of underleveled,so I knew as soon as I made a tiny mistake like failing the roll for vacuuming away Lady's stock gauge,she would go Hitoshura on my ass,and I would get raped into oblivion.

Best way to finish a summer. Nothing like a good adrenaline rush. Thanks for making me do this,man!

Yeah, Lady can be unbelievably hard especially if you don't spend time taking away stock. I have managed to actually defeat her in one double combo with all four characters although that time I was extremely lucky enough to get perfects on all my rings whilst using my characters' most powerful attacks. Ether Purge at the end of a four person double combo can do over 2000 damage!

Since you've mentioned Hitoshura, I assume you've played Digital Devil Saga. Have you made any rips of the unreleased music in those games?


As far as Lady Tears III is concerned,it looks to me like a simple 20-25-second loop. The beginning of the track,like you said,is obscured by Unbral's explosion. But the problem isn't even that,it's the violin on the background that goes throughout the entire track,even when the piano shuts up for a second. Because of that,it's hard to pinpoint the start of the loop (that's if the track doesn't have an actual beginning that goes before the loops start). No matter where I cut,the violin line would just abruptly start there,preventing the beginning from sounding smooth. So do avoid that,I did a fade-in. So that's that.

Hey, that was great! Although I think looping it for 2 minutes was a bit too much. But sound quality wise, it's great!


I also took a look at your recordings. For your first time,I gotta say you did a damn good job! Just keep in mind that while tracks that are too quiet can get annoying,there is such a thing as WAY TOO FUCKING LOUD. =)

Well, I wasn't doing it on purpose. I just pressed record and that was the volume that was recorded. Is there a way of adjusting the volume setting for the line-in port?


He-Man Sushi House and ICARO -Guitar Arrangement- - I applied a couple of filters to get rid of the hiss, lowered the volume and made the He-Man track loop twice. They sound fine to me,but it's the first time I'm even hearing the Sushi House track,and it's been ages since I heard ICARO. It's possible that the filters wiped some background sounds along with the hisses (it doesn't usually happen,but sometimes it does). Listen to the tracks to make sure everything sounds right; you should have an ear for it.

Everything sounds OK. Good job with looping the Sushi House track!


Finally,Adios. Again,I filtered the hisses and killed the volume,but the sound in the louder parts still makes my speakers rattle. I would like to re-rip this one,but the save I have is nowhere near the part where you meet Ricardo,so this will have to do for now.

You can go into the Theater mode and play the cutscene there. You don't have to replay the game.


Are you kidding? Please do!

I'll have them up in a moment. ICARO Again is fine but The 3 Karma and ICARO -piano and orchestra arrangement- have voices and sound effects in them. I just realised that I could get The 3 Karma without the voices and SE at the start if I let one of my characters go berserk then restore their SP.

Yeah, Lady can be unbelievably hard especially if you don't spend time taking away stock.
I wouldn't even say "hard". If you don't take away her stock and let her go for a combo,you just fucking DIE.

Since you've mentioned Hitoshura, I assume you've played Digital Devil Saga. Have you made any rips of the unreleased music in those games?
I've only started getting into the Shin Megaten series very recently (Nocturne lol),so it'll probably be a while before I'll familiarize myself with the soundtrack enough to be able to identify unreleased tracks.

Although I think looping it for 2 minutes was a bit too much.
Personally,even if a given track consists of short loops,I like to have a track that's at least 1:30 in length or so. I can cut it down for you if want me to,though.

Is there a way of adjusting the volume setting for the line-in port?
Download Goldwave. The trial version is free. It allows you to adjust volume,cut/paste/edit portions of the track,apply filters and do a million of other things I've found no use for thus far. It's very simple to use,so you'll be doing your own rips in no time. The biggest hurdle in ripping is actually getting the music from a game into a file. Editing that file afterwards is usually the easy part.

You can go into the Theater mode and play the cutscene there. You don't have to replay the game.
Durr hurr hurr,forgot about the Theater mode.

Holy. Crap.
I'd forgotten about this topic. Goddamn.

You are both my gods. I cannot thank you enough for these tracks! 8]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G9IXFTPF

Here's the Shadow Hearts II tracks. ICARO AGAIN is clean but the start of The 3 Karma has some unavoidable sound effects from Pure Seed using used to restore SP and the command menu coming up. Still takes place all in less than a second and there are far less SE than if I recorded from the pre-battle cutscene. ICARO -piano and orchestra arrangement- is only played in the post battle cutscene so I can't remove the voices and SE from it. I haven't had the chance with work with Goldwave yet so these are loud.


I've only started getting into the Shin Megaten series very recently (Nocturne lol),so it'll probably be a while before I'll familiarize myself with the soundtrack enough to be able to identify unreleased tracks.

I bought Nocturne just over a year ago and have been a Shoji Meguro fan ever since. I'd say I'm pretty familiar with his work.

In Nocturne, I've noticed that virtually all the dungeon music, the save terminal and level up themes are missing and there are actually six versions of the Normal Battle theme each of them having a different guitar solo but only one of these is on the OST.

In DDS1, I've noticed that several dungeon theme variations are missing such as Hideout of the Chickens -The First Movement-, Sweet Home -The First Movement- and Man's Tomb -The Third Movement-.

In DDS2, I've noticed that several cutscene music is missing such as Atonement (Piano version) and a track played when Serph, Argilla and Gale, and Seraph turn into their demon forms for the first time in this game. The battle theme played during battles with Jack Frost and Omoikane was also missing but an Atlus employee put it up on their blog. The blog is no longer up but I managed to get the track in time.

I don't know if you've played Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs The Soulless Army, Persona 3 or Persona 4 yet but Devil Summoner only has one missing track, a town theme variation, and the Persona games' use streamed music rather than sequenced music so the music can actually be directly ripped from the game disc using Cube Media Player or PSound.

If I have the time, I'll try to rip these myself but it'll take a while. I'm not sure whether it's even worth ripping the Nocturne Dungeon music since most of them are very ambient.


Personally,even if a given track consists of short loops,I like to have a track that's at least 1:30 in length or so. I can cut it down for you if want me to,though.

Yes, please. I would like it to loop two times, fading out on the start of the third loop.


Durr hurr hurr,forgot about the Theater mode.

So, does this mean you'll be making your own rip of Adios?


Holy. Crap.
I'd forgotten about this topic. Goddamn.

You are both my gods. I cannot thank you enough for these tracks! 8]

No problem! =) Seriously, all I needed to do was buy the adaptor allowing me to connect the PS2 Audio leads directly to my computer's line in port, which was �2.50, and just press record when the music I desire plays. Editing the track isn't even hard with a good program.

ICARO AGAIN is clean but the start of The 3 Karma has some unavoidable sound effects from Pure Seed using used to restore SP and the command menu coming up.
I hope I'm not being Captain Obvious here,but the game itself has sound options. It doesn't seem to work on action attack animation sounds at all (ex: no matter what you do in the options,Hilda's PA-PA-PA-PA-PUMPKINS~!! is not going to go away),and even when it does,you can't make sounds disappear completely (you just make them really really quiet),I'm pretty sure turning the sound volume dial to its minimum should kill the sound effect of the menu popping up. Not sure about the Pure Seed sound,as might be one of those permanent animation sounds,but try doing that.

I bought Nocturne just over a year ago and have been a Shoji Meguro fan ever since.
The only Shin Megaten game I personally got around to beating so far was Nocturne,but I've been around to watch my friends play DDS and P3 numerous times,and I have been downloading pretty much every SMT OST I come across. Meguro,Toshiko Tasaki and Kenichi Tsuchiya are gods.

In Nocturne, I've noticed that virtually all the dungeon music, the save terminal and level up themes are missing and there are actually six versions of the Normal Battle theme each of them having a different guitar solo but only one of these is on the OST.
Hmmm...
I'll admit I'm not as extensively familiar with the Nocturne to the point where I can recognize the track by the first couple of notes,but I'm pretty sure most of the dungeon tracks are present and accounted for. I mean,Ginza is there,Shibuya is there,Ikebukuro is there... The one notable exception that I found was the Shinjuku Hospital track after the Conception,but some fellow on here recently uploaded that and the Amala Shrine track,which was also unreleased. Here:
Thread 59281

As far as the battle themes are concerned... Unless my brain is playing tricks on me,I seem to recall having a rip or something of Nocturne with a bunch of the main Battle theme variations. Either I'm spazzing out,and it was another game altogether,or it was an actual rip,and I impulsively got rid of it for some reason (lolwut). Lemme check.

The battle theme played during battles with Jack Frost and Omoikane was also missing but an Atlus employee put it up on their blog. The blog is no longer up but I managed to get the track in time.
I haven't got a chance to play DDS2 yet,but upload plz.

Devil Summoner only has one missing track, a town theme variation.
Wouldn't be the Chikudo Town theme from Devil Summoner Sound Collection,would it?
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QO0EWJFG

Yes, please. I would like it to loop two times, fading out on the start of the third loop.
There:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XR427Z75

I'm not sure whether it's even worth ripping the Nocturne Dungeon music since most of them are very ambient.
Hell yes it is! For posterity and completion's sake.
The problem with ambient tracks is that they can be annoying to loop. If you're having trouble,let me know,I've had to deal with a lot of them lately,what with MKDeception and all.

So, does this mean you'll be making your own rip of Adios?
Yup.
I also try to make a rip of that other cutscene track you did. I'm not sure if I can achieve higher quality,but I'll try.

I hope I'm not being Captain Obvious here,but the game itself has sound options. It doesn't seem to work on action attack animation sounds at all (ex: no matter what you do in the options,Hilda's PA-PA-PA-PA-PUMPKINS~!! is not going to go away),and even when it does,you can't make sounds disappear completely (you just make them really really quiet),I'm pretty sure turning the sound volume dial to its minimum should kill the sound effect of the menu popping up. Not sure about the Pure Seed sound,as might be one of those permanent animation sounds,but try doing that.

I know that FTNW has a SE Level option but unfortunately SHII does not.


The only Shin Megaten game I personally got around to beating so far was Nocturne,but I've been around to watch my friends play DDS and P3 numerous times,and I have been downloading pretty much every SMT OST I come across. Meguro,Toshiko Tasaki and Kenichi Tsuchiya are gods.

I find most of Meguro's tracks fantastic but I can't say the same for Tasaki and Tsuchiya. Sure they have composed some excellent tracks but I found I couldn't get into most of their contributions. I admit though that I haven't heard much of their work outside of soundtracks where they collabarated with Meguro.


Hmmm...
I'll admit I'm not as extensively familiar with the Nocturne to the point where I can recognize the track by the first couple of notes,but I'm pretty sure most of the dungeon tracks are present and accounted for. I mean,Ginza is there,Shibuya is there,Ikebukuro is there... The one notable exception that I found was the Shinjuku Hospital track after the Conception,but some fellow on here recently uploaded that and the Amala Shrine track,which was also unreleased. Here:
Thread 59281

Actually, Shibuya, Ginza and Ikebukuro are town themes. The dungeons themes I am referring to are places such as Yoyogi Park, the Great Underpass of Ginza, the Obelisk, the Diet Building, the Assembly of Nihilo, the Amala Network (not to be confused with the Labyrinth of Amala), Asakusa, Mifunashino and Yurakucho Station. All of these are missing from the OST and there are more than one version of these. The dungeon music in Nocturne changes, the deeper you get into the dungeon and this applies to the dungeon music that already was released. Shinjuku Hospital After Conception, Amala Temple, Kabukicho and the Tower of Kagutsuchi all had several other variations.

I already got the Amala Temple and Shinjuku Hospital After Conception tracks but thanks for the link.


I haven't got a chance to play DDS2 yet,but upload plz.

I'll have it up in a moment.


Wouldn't be the Chikudo Town theme from Devil Summoner Sound Collection,would it?
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QO0EWJFG

As I said Town Theme variation, I already have that album (it's Tsukudo BTW, not Chikudo). That CD contained all the music missing from the OST except for the Tsukudo-cho variation which was played after a significant point in the game and is a more mellower and subdued version of the original.


There:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XR427Z75

Thanks for taking the time to do this.


Hell yes it is! For posterity and completion's sake.
The problem with ambient tracks is that they can be annoying to loop. If you're having trouble,let me know,I've had to deal with a lot of them lately,what with MKDeception and all.

It's not just the ambience that's the problem. Since almost all the dungeon music is missing, I'd have to go through the entire (painfully difficult) game to get all the dungeon music and all their variations especially since some dungeons are permenently closed after you complete them.

The DDS games are a much easier task since almost all the music was released and those that weren't are easily accessible.


Yup.
I also try to make a rip of that other cutscene track you did. I'm not sure if I can achieve higher quality,but I'll try.

Thanks for trying.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=A9XAPERE

Here's the DDS2 Unreleased Battle Track. It has no official name but I called it Battle with Rare Devils.

This topic is going off topic with the Megaten stuff, so should we make a separate topic?

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NBGC1K66
This includes 5 tracks.
Two of them are my versions of Adios (Full) and ICARO (Guitar Arrangement).
The others are your three unreleased tracks from SHII. I toned down the volume and filtered out the hisses.
Check it out.


I find most of Meguro's tracks fantastic but I can't say the same for Tasaki and Tsuchiya. Sure they have composed some excellent tracks but I found I couldn't get into most of their contributions. I admit though that I haven't heard much of their work outside of soundtracks where they collabarated with Meguro.
Well,Tsuchiya composed what's probably my all-time favorite track from the Nocturne OST - Demons,which plays when you are battling the fiends,so I felt compelled to mention him. Not to mention that the stuff he and Tasaki composed for the Persona games is pretty damn awesome.

All of these are missing from the OST and there are more than one version of these. The dungeon music in Nocturne changes, the deeper you get into the dungeon and this applies to the dungeon music that already was released.
Hmmmm...
Can you make a set of all the different version of one dungeon's themes? Do they differ as much as the P3 Tartarus themes? If they do,it might be worth ripping them after all.

As I said Town Theme variation, I already have that album (it's Tsukudo BTW, not Chikudo). That CD contained all the music missing from the OST except for the Tsukudo-cho variation which was played after a significant point in the game and is a more mellower and subdued version of the original.
Gotcha.
The last time I saw the game,it finally dropped in price to 9$,so I'll probably be picking it up if I come across it. Good to know there's something I have to pay attention to.

This topic is going off topic with the Megaten stuff, so should we make a separate topic?
Nah,it's alright. Unless we decide to really go for the dungeon themes,I don't think we have much to share.

Here's the DDS2 Unreleased Battle Track.


This includes 5 tracks.
Two of them are my versions of Adios (Full) and ICARO (Guitar Arrangement).
The others are your three unreleased tracks from SHII. I toned down the volume and filtered out the hisses.
Check it out.

So much love!

Thanks so much for alla these new tracks! SH and DDS music... it's like an audial orgasm. 8]

And I really need to get around to playing Nocturne. I've had it for a few months now but not touched it... been occupied with other stuff, harhar. On a more relevant note...

I feel lousey for not really contributing to this thread like you two and instead just leaching all of the music. I wish there was some way I could return the kindness.

I feel lousey for not really contributing to this thread like you two and instead just leaching all of the music. I wish there was some way I could return the kindness.
You started this thread. Without it,I wouldn't even realize that there are unreleased tracks.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NBGC1K66
This includes 5 tracks.
Two of them are my versions of Adios (Full) and ICARO (Guitar Arrangement).
The others are your three unreleased tracks from SHII. I toned down the volume and filtered out the hisses.
Check it out.

Great work here although I don't like the applause at the end of Adios.

Do you own SHII? If you do, could you try ripping those tracks too? I've tried to lower the volume with my rips but nothing I've tried seems to work. I assume it's a consequence of directing connecting the PS2 audio leads to the line-in port instead of using a TV tuner.


Well,Tsuchiya composed what's probably my all-time favorite track from the Nocturne OST - Demons,which plays when you are battling the fiends,so I felt compelled to mention him. Not to mention that the stuff he and Tasaki composed for the Persona games is pretty damn awesome.

Demons is one of my favourites from Nocturne too. You may be interested to know that it was based on Tsukasa Masuko's track "Memory Recovery" from Shin Megami Tensei II. In fact there were a couple of tracks in Nocturne based on tracks from SMT I and II. If you haven't already, I recommend checking those soundtracks out, the battle themes in particular. I was impressed that Masuko was able to compose such intense, hard-hitting music with the limited sound capabilities of the Super Famicom.

Do you have any particular recommendations of Tsuchiya and Tasaki's music from the Persona games? I had a brief listen to it but nothing stood out to me.


Hmmmm...
Can you make a set of all the different version of one dungeon's themes? Do they differ as much as the P3 Tartarus themes? If they do,it might be worth ripping them after all.

They do differ but the difference from the Tartarus themes is that Tartarus had a distinguishable melody. Most of Nocturne's dungeon themes are similar to Mantra Forces and Kabukicho on the OST.

I'll try to rip the Tower of Kagutsuchi's themes. That's probably the most melodic and least ambient of the dungeon themes so it'll be easier to tell the differences.


Gotcha.
The last time I saw the game,it finally dropped in price to 9$,so I'll probably be picking it up if I come across it. Good to know there's something I have to pay attention to.

Just be aware that it's a real step down from Nocturne and DDS. It's still enjoyable but don't go in with the high expectations from those games. Also, Meguro moved in a different direction for this soundtrack, incorporating jazz elements to better suit the 1930s Americanization era of Japan.

I have virtually every soundtrack that Meguro has composed for (unfortunately I do not have individual composer credits for Soul Hackers and Megami Ibunoroku Persona so I don't know which tracks Meguro composed) and he has totally amazed me. When I first played Nocturne and DDS1, I thought he was simply a rock composer, but as I hear more of his work, he shows his compositional diversity with electronica, jazz, hip-hop, pop, blues, orchestral and operatic music.


I feel lousey for not really contributing to this thread like you two and instead just leaching all of the music. I wish there was some way I could return the kindness.

This topic would probably have never come to fruition without you. Just creating this topic inspired me and NucleaRaptor and who knows where it will lead with this talk about ripping Nocturne's tracks?

Great work here although I don't like the applause at the end of Adios.
Well,it is somewhat appropriate given that it's a live performance within the context of the game.
Moreover,Ricardo still keeps playing for a bit even after the applause starts,so it would be worse to just cut it off.

Do you own SHII? If you do, could you try ripping those tracks too?
Sure,just tell me specifically where they play. Although the only saves I have are near the final boss,so I hope those events are still accessible. Don't recall there being being a Theatre Mode in that game as well,but it's been over a year since I last played it.
Actually,I've been getting this craving recently to replay the entirety of the Shadow Hearts series,but if I do get around to it,I'll start from game one,so it'll be a while before I get to the others.

I've tried to lower the volume with my rips but nothing I've tried seems to work.
As I mentioned before,that's one of those things you usually do manually,after the fact. Goldwave is a great little program,give it a shot.
On a sidenote,the consequence of me using the TV tuner is that my recordings originally come out way too quiet. =)

I was impressed that Masuko was able to compose such intense, hard-hitting music with the limited sound capabilities of the Super Famicom.
Personally,if we're talking 16-bit,I'm way more of a Genesis fan. Also,from what I seem to remember,a lot of the tracks from the SNES Megatens are merely updated versions of the original NES tracks,especially the battle themes. This in particular sounds way more kickass on the NES:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U3IG1VEQ

Do you have any particular recommendations of Tsuchiya and Tasaki's music from the Persona games? I had a brief listen to it but nothing stood out to me.
Sure! I haven't played the older games myself yet,so I definitely can't appreciate their OSTs fully without the benefit of having visual associations,but I ran across a couple of great ones.
Of course,the Battle and Boss themes fucking kick ass in all Persona games,so that goes without saying.
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment:
105 - Parabellum II. Sneaky little jazz number.
118 - Club Zodiac. Those vocal samples and echoes on the background remind of the Rage Racer soundtrack for some reason.
208 - BAOFU. FUCK YES YOU ARE THE BEST TRACK EVER
218 - Nekomata Rumor Office. Oh god,this track is fucking adorable. It's a demented remix of the classic Kuzunoha Detective Agency theme,except it's distorted,completely off-tune,and most instruments are replaced with samples of cat meows. It's hilarious.
Persona 2 Innocent Sin:
105 - Hero's Theme. This one reminds me of Kuwabara's theme from YYH in a sense that it intentionally tries so hard to sound badass,but it doesn't know what kind of badass it wants to be - a cowboy,a samurai or a rockstar,so it kinda mixes all of those. Very funny,in a way.
116 - Kuzunoha Detective Office. The classic theme I was talking about. You know,the one from Devil Summoner Sound Collection? Yeah,except this one is way more mellow and chillaxed. Very short,too (0:36 is nowhere near enough),but hey,it's all good.
Finally,Persona 1. I don't have the individual credits for it,but give them a shot:
104 - Dungeon ~ Police Station. Trancy little beat,something you really expect to hear in a Devil Summoner game while infiltrating some daemonic computer systems or some shit.
117 - Bar Attacked by Harlem Queen. Piano-heavy jazz track.
305 - Elly's Theme.
314 - Satomi Tadashi Drugstore Song. This is just LOL. Listen to it if only to be able to appreciate this remix in all of its glory:
http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00915/

Just be aware that it's a real step down from Nocturne and DDS. It's still enjoyable but don't go in with the high expectations from those games.
So I've heard. Doesn't seem too bad,though. I'm easy to please when it comes to my favorite franchises,anyway.

Also, Meguro moved in a different direction for this soundtrack, incorporating jazz elements to better suit the 1930s Americanization era of Japan.
I already picked a couple of favorites from the ones I've heard so far. Pretty good stuff. It helps that I heard the Devil Summoner Sound Collection before I it,and I did like the sound of that. And yeah,you can definitely tell it's Meguro all right. =)

They do differ but the difference from the Tartarus themes is that Tartarus had a distinguishable melody. Most of Nocturne's dungeon themes are similar to Mantra Forces and Kabukicho on the OST.

I'll try to rip the Tower of Kagutsuchi's themes. That's probably the most melodic and least ambient of the dungeon themes so it'll be easier to tell the differences.
Sweet! Looking forward to that.

When I first played Nocturne and DDS1, I thought he was simply a rock composer, but as I hear more of his work, he shows his compositional diversity with electronica, jazz, hip-hop, pop, blues, orchestral and operatic music.
That's even more evident when he was given sole custody over the P3 and P4 soundtacks. I mean,he really started experimenting with those.

First let me apologise for taking so long to reply, I've been busy with other things.


Sure,just tell me specifically where they play. Although the only saves I have are near the final boss,so I hope those events are still accessible. Don't recall there being being a Theatre Mode in that game as well,but it's been over a year since I last played it.
Actually,I've been getting this craving recently to replay the entirety of the Shadow Hearts series,but if I do get around to it,I'll start from game one,so it'll be a while before I get to the others.

Those 3 tracks are very easily accessible for you. ICARO Again plays during the pre start screen demo movie, The 3 Karma is the final boss tune and ICARO -piano and orchestra arrangement- plays in the cutscene immediately after the final boss battle. And there is actually a Theater Mode in SHII. The first game is only one that doesn't have a Theater mode but as I recall there were less than 10 FMVs in that game, the rest of the cutscenes were done via text boxes and the game real-time character models.


As I mentioned before,that's one of those things you usually do manually,after the fact. Goldwave is a great little program,give it a shot.
On a sidenote,the consequence of me using the TV tuner is that my recordings originally come out way too quiet. =)

I have been using Goldwave after you first recommended it and it has been very useful. Anyway, I found out that there are separate volume controls for the line-in playback and recording. All this time I was adjusting the playback volume wondering why the recording volume was staying the same.


Personally,if we're talking 16-bit,I'm way more of a Genesis fan. Also,from what I seem to remember,a lot of the tracks from the SNES Megatens are merely updated versions of the original NES tracks,especially the battle themes. This in particular sounds way more kickass on the NES:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=U3IG1VEQ

I'm not exactly sure which games you're talking about but the soundtracks for Megami Tensei I&II are different from Shin Megami Tensei I&II.


Sure! I haven't played the older games myself yet,so I definitely can't appreciate their OSTs fully without the benefit of having visual associations,but I ran across a couple of great ones.
Of course,the Battle and Boss themes fucking kick ass in all Persona games,so that goes without saying.
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment:
105 - Parabellum II. Sneaky little jazz number.
118 - Club Zodiac. Those vocal samples and echoes on the background remind of the Rage Racer soundtrack for some reason.
208 - BAOFU. FUCK YES YOU ARE THE BEST TRACK EVER
218 - Nekomata Rumor Office. Oh god,this track is fucking adorable. It's a demented remix of the classic Kuzunoha Detective Agency theme,except it's distorted,completely off-tune,and most instruments are replaced with samples of cat meows. It's hilarious.
Persona 2 Innocent Sin:
105 - Hero's Theme. This one reminds me of Kuwabara's theme from YYH in a sense that it intentionally tries so hard to sound badass,but it doesn't know what kind of badass it wants to be - a cowboy,a samurai or a rockstar,so it kinda mixes all of those. Very funny,in a way.
116 - Kuzunoha Detective Office. The classic theme I was talking about. You know,the one from Devil Summoner Sound Collection? Yeah,except this one is way more mellow and chillaxed. Very short,too (0:36 is nowhere near enough),but hey,it's all good.
Finally,Persona 1. I don't have the individual credits for it,but give them a shot:
104 - Dungeon ~ Police Station. Trancy little beat,something you really expect to hear in a Devil Summoner game while infiltrating some daemonic computer systems or some shit.
117 - Bar Attacked by Harlem Queen. Piano-heavy jazz track.
305 - Elly's Theme.
314 - Satomi Tadashi Drugstore Song. This is just LOL. Listen to it if only to be able to appreciate this remix in all of its glory:
http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR00915/

Those tracks you recommended are pretty good. I'll have to have a more in-depth listen to the soundtracks in future.

Also, I'm not sure if you know this already but Kuzunoha Detective Office was originally from the first Devil Summoner game. It's on Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Sound File and it's 1:13 (not sure if that's long enough for you)


So I've heard. Doesn't seem too bad,though. I'm easy to please when it comes to my favorite franchises,anyway.

That's good to hear. Like I said, the game is still enjoyable, it's nowhere as bad as some Nocturne fanboys claim it is.


I already picked a couple of favorites from the ones I've heard so far. Pretty good stuff. It helps that I heard the Devil Summoner Sound Collection before I it,and I did like the sound of that. And yeah,you can definitely tell it's Meguro all right. =)

If you'd like I could tell you where the tracks are played. Of course, I'll try to keep it spoiler-free.


Sweet! Looking forward to that.

Voila!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5Z2NLVWY

I made this recordings before I discovered the problem with my recording volume so these are still loud.

In the download are my rips for Tower of Kagutsuchi Floors 160-175F, 175-285F, 285-418F and 666F. The version on the OST is for 418-666F. If you're wondering why I don't have 1-160F, the Tower of Kagutsuchi begins at floor 160, 1-160F are part of the Obelisk.

Between floors 175 and 666, the different versions are quite similar and the differences are subtle, keep an ear out for the differences.


That's even more evident when he was given sole custody over the P3 and P4 soundtacks. I mean,he really started experimenting with those.

Actually I think he really started experimenting in DDS2. Before DDS2, Meguro had really only used electronica as complementary background instrumentation. It seems to me that Meguro used the DDS2 soundtrack as a sandbox to see what he could do with electronica.

Meguro wasn't actually the sole composer of the P3 and 4 soundtracks. For P3, Yosuke Uda composed one track - Adventured act:

For P4, Atsushi Kitajoh composed 4 tracks - muscle blues, It's SHOW TIME!, Hito no Mono and KERORIN MAGIC! and Ryota Kozuka composed - Junesu Theme as well as arranging Meguro's Power of the Heart and The Path is Open (from P3).

Those 3 tracks are very easily accessible for you. ICARO Again plays during the pre start screen demo movie, The 3 Karma is the final boss tune and ICARO -piano and orchestra arrangement- plays in the cutscene immediately after the final boss battle. And there is actually a Theater Mode in SHII. The first game is only one that doesn't have a Theater mode but as I recall there were less than 10 FMVs in that game, the rest of the cutscenes were done via text boxes and the game real-time character models.
Excellent,thanks for the heads-up.
I'll try to rip them in the next couple of days or so.

I'm not exactly sure which games you're talking about but the soundtracks for Megami Tensei I&II are different from Shin Megami Tensei I&II.
After rereading the HG101 article,I realized I was probably talking about the SNES remakes,Kyuuyaku Megami Tensei or something.

I'll have to have a more in-depth listen to the soundtracks in future.
If you happen to have the games,play/replay those instead. For me,visual associations to any given music enhance the experience greatly.

Also, I'm not sure if you know this already but Kuzunoha Detective Office was originally from the first Devil Summoner game. It's on Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner Sound File and it's 1:13 (not sure if that's long enough for you)
...You know what,that idea about starting a Shin Megaten music sharing thread sounds pretty good right about now. =) If you don't mind uploading tons of stuff,of course.

If you'd like I could tell you where the tracks are played. Of course, I'll try to keep it spoiler-free.
Sure! That'll definitely come in handy for when I actually buy the game and sit down to play it,because beating a game and then finding out there was an unreleased track playing somewhere in the middle of the storyline is source of RAEG.

Voila!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5Z2NLVWY

I made this recordings before I discovered the problem with my recording volume so these are still loud.

In the download are my rips for Tower of Kagutsuchi Floors 160-175F, 175-285F, 285-418F and 666F. The version on the OST is for 418-666F. If you're wondering why I don't have 1-160F, the Tower of Kagutsuchi begins at floor 160, 1-160F are part of the Obelisk.

Between floors 175 and 666, the different versions are quite similar and the differences are subtle, keep an ear out for the differences.
Thanks a lot! Let me give them a go.

EDIT: Ooooh! Those are definitely distinctive enough to try and rip. It's probably too much work for one person,so we can split the dungeons if you want. It'll be a while before I replay Nocturne,since I've set my mind on actually starting to play Okage,but I'll definitely rip them once I get to it.
BTW,is there a set amount of variations per dungeon? Like,you know,there's total of 6 Tartarus variations.

Oh,and remember the Normal Battle variation tracks I was talking about? I remembered which site I got them from. Here,the OST version + two variations:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4L6Z0GZK
Is that all,or is there more? As far as I can tell,the only difference is in the guitar solo which ends the loop.

Meguro wasn't actually the sole composer of the P3 and 4 soundtracks. For P3, Yosuke Uda composed one track - Adventured act:

For P4, Atsushi Kitajoh composed 4 tracks - muscle blues, It's SHOW TIME!, Hito no Mono and KERORIN MAGIC! and Ryota Kozuka composed - Junesu Theme as well as arranging Meguro's Power of the Heart and The Path is Open (from P3).
That's good to know,since my tracks have messed up tags.

Excellent,thanks for the heads-up.
I'll try to rip them in the next couple of days or so.

Looking forward to that.


If you happen to have the games,play/replay those instead. For me,visual associations to any given music enhance the experience greatly.

I totally agree with you on the point that playing the game enhances the experience of the music but I live in the UK where unfortunately Persona 1 & 2 were never released. I believe I have every Megaten game that was released in the UK: Maken X, Maken Shao, SMTIII Nocturne, DDS1, DDS2, Devil Summoner RKvsTSS and Persona 3. I'll be getting P3 fes when it comes out next month.


...You know what,that idea about starting a Shin Megaten music sharing thread sounds pretty good right about now. =) If you don't mind uploading tons of stuff,of course.

I'd be OK with uploading a few tracks but uploading an entire soundtrack takes me about an hour and I don't have as much free time as I'd like.


Sure! That'll definitely come in handy for when I actually buy the game and sit down to play it,because beating a game and then finding out there was an unreleased track playing somewhere in the middle of the storyline is source of RAEG.

Don't worry about that for this game. The only missing track is the Tsukudo-cho variation. Any other tracks not on the OST are on the Devil Summoner Sound Collection.

Would you just like me to give a full list of where the tracks play or are you just going to ask for certain tracks?


Thanks a lot! Let me give them a go.

EDIT: Ooooh! Those are definitely distinctive enough to try and rip. It's probably too much work for one person,so we can split the dungeons if you want. It'll be a while before I replay Nocturne,since I've set my mind on actually starting to play Okage,but I'll definitely rip them once I get to it.
BTW,is there a set amount of variations per dungeon? Like,you know,there's total of 6 Tartarus variations.

I don't really think there are a set number of variations, it depends on the dungeon design. I think some dungeons have no variations but some like the Tower of Kagutsuchi have 5.


Oh,and remember the Normal Battle variation tracks I was talking about? I remembered which site I got them from. Here,the OST version + two variations:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4L6Z0GZK
Is that all,or is there more? As far as I can tell,the only difference is in the guitar solo which ends the loop.

As I mentioned earlier I think there are about 6 variations. At least that's at least as many variations as I could find. The game, I think randomly plays them and there could be some that the game never played for me.

And yes, the only difference between them all is the guitar solo.


That's good to know,since my tracks have messed up tags.

Any other Megaten or Shadow Hearts game that have messed up tags for you? I'd be willing to give you the correct credits.

Maken Shao
lolwut?

I'll be getting P3 fes when it comes out next month.
Oh man. You guys are behind. ;_; Europe haet gamers,it seems.

I'd be OK with uploading a few tracks but uploading an entire soundtrack takes me about an hour and I don't have as much free time as I'd like.
For now,just upload the extended Kuzunoha theme,please.
If you do consider making an sharing thread,just upload the OSTs that were the hardest for you to find.

Would you just like me to give a full list of where the tracks play or are you just going to ask for certain tracks?
Well,since the rest of them all appear on the Sound Collection,I guess there's no need. I'm sure I'll recognize the Tsukudo-cho variation once I get to it.

I don't really think there are a set number of variations, it depends on the dungeon design. I think some dungeons have no variations but some like the Tower of Kagutsuchi have 5.
Five? There's another one besides the ones you uploaded? Or do you mean the one from the Obelisk floors?
Also,we already have the Shinjuku Hospital tracks both pre- and post-Conception,so that's a start.

As I mentioned earlier I think there are about 6 variations. At least that's at least as many variations as I could find. The game, I think randomly plays them and there could be some that the game never played for me.
If it's random,it's good. Means you can theoretically record them all the first time you set foot onto the world map.

And yes, the only difference between them all is the guitar solo.
Now this is going to be annoying. Having to listen to the song for 40+ seconds to even decide if it needs to be ripped will be a pain in the ass. I'll need to be able to instantly identify the variation,so I guess I'll just listen the shit out of three that I have for now until I get an ear for it.

Any other Megaten or Shadow Hearts game that have messed up tags for you? I'd be willing to give you the correct credits.
Nothing in particular I can think of at the moment. That's what Chudah's Corner is for,anyways. But if I ever need your help,I'll make sure to ask. Thank you.

lolwut?

Maken X is officially not a Megaten game but it was developed by the same team (Kaneko was the character designer, Meguro was the composer etc) and it has the same concepts of Law, Chaos and Neutral that are in most other Megaten games.

The game is like a first person shooter but with a sword. The main character is an AI contained in a sword called Maken who can "Brainjack" characters. The game follows Maken travelling across the globe brainjacking various characters each with different skills. You will often be unable to complete a stage until you brainjack a character with suitable skills.

In cutscenes, you get asked questions. How you answer them determines the ending you get varying from helping defeat a terrorist organisation, siding with the terrorist organisation or opposing both sides and ruling the Earth yourself. There is no real good or evil in the game either as you discover that the terrorist organisation has sympathetic motives behind their destructive actions.

Maken X was on the Dreamcast and Maken Shao was a PS2 remake where the first person view was shifted to a third person view. Meguro composed a new soundtrack that was arrangements of the original tracks from Maken X. Unlike Maken X, Maken Shao never had an official OST release released but the tracks can be extracted from the game disc using Cube Media Player.


Oh man. You guys are behind. ;_; Europe haet gamers,it seems.

It's really because they don't just have to convert to PAL systems but also have to translate the game into various European languages. I wish they would just release the English version as soon as possible and do the translations afterwards. I dread to think when P4 will be finally released here.


Well,since the rest of them all appear on the Sound Collection,I guess there's no need. I'm sure I'll recognize the Tsukudo-cho variation once I get to it.

Yeah, it's pretty noticable. There's only one town theme in the game so you should be pretty used to it by the time the plot calls for the mellower version to switch in.


Five? There's another one besides the ones you uploaded? Or do you mean the one from the Obelisk floors?

I was including the OST version when I said five. Sorry for any confusion.


Also,we already have the Shinjuku Hospital tracks both pre- and post-Conception,so that's a start.

Actually that post-conception track is a mix between the two post-conceptions variations. The first variation is the first 18 seconds of the track and the second variation is the remainder of the track. The first variation actually continues beyond where the second variation cuts in on that mixed track.


If it's random,it's good. Means you can theoretically record them all the first time you set foot onto the world map.

That is a plus but the problem with the randomization is that the game could keep playing the first 5 variations and not play the 6th one for a long time. Anyway, I did make a rip of all the variations that I could find (six including the OST version) but as I said the randomization means I could've missed a seventh or even eighth variation.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RR2X9EHD


For now,just upload the extended Kuzunoha theme,please.
If you do consider making an sharing thread,just upload the OSTs that were the hardest for you to find.

I put it in the same rar file as the Normal Battle variations.

Seeing as you hadn't heard of Maken X and Maken Shao, I assume there's a few Megaten and Atlus composed related games you're not aware of. Here's a list of all the Megaten soundtracks I have (along with composers/arrangers). Let me know which ones you don't have.

SMT Devil Children Perfect Sound Tracks (Tomoyuki Hamada)
SMT Devil Children Arrange Soundtracks (Tomoyuki Hamada & Motoi Sakuraba)
SMT Devil Summoner Sound File (Toshiko Tasaki & Tsukasa Masuko)
Devil Summoner Soul Hackers Original Soundtrack (Shoji Meguro, Toshiko Tasaki & Tsukasa Masuko)
Devil Summoner Soul Hackers Hyper Rearrange Album (Terukazu Hiroki & QUPE)
Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army Music Complete Works (Shoji Meguro)
Devil Summoner Sound Collection (Shoji Meguro)
Digital Devil Saga Avatar Tuner 1&2 Original Sound Track Integral (Shoji Meguro & Kenichi Tsuchiya)
Digital Devil Saga Avatar Tuner Sound Track CD (Shoji Meguro & Kenichi Tsuchiya)
Time Capsule (This is the DDS2 ending theme sung by "as", not composed by Atlus)
Maken X Original Soundtrack (Shoji Meguro & Takahiro Ogata)
Maken X Remix Soundtrack L'image (Kurtis Mantronik, Spasm, I.S.O., AKRM and Peak Boys)
Maken Shao Gamerip (Shoji Meguro)
Megami Tensei I&II (Tsukasa Masuko)
Megami Tensei Online Imagine (Kenichi Yoshikawa, Tsukasa Masuko & Shoji Meguro)
SMT III Nocturne Original Soundtrack (Shoji Meguro, Kenichi Tsuchiya & Toshiko Tasaki)
SMT III Nocturne Maniacs Original Soundtrack (Shoji Meguro, Kenichi Tsuchiya & Toshiko Tasaki)
SMT III Nocturne Deluxe Pack Incense Disc (Shoji Meguro, Kenichi Tsuchiya & Toshiko Tasaki)
Megami Ibunroku Persona (Hidehito Aoki, Kenichi Tsuchiya, Misaki Okibe & Shoji Meguro)
Megami Ibunroku Persona Be Your True Mind (Hidehito Aoki, Kenichi Tsuchiya, Misaki Okibe & Shoji Meguro)
Persona 2 Eternal Punishment OST (Toshiko Tasaki, Kenichi Tsuchiya & Masaki Kurokawa)
Persona 2 Innocent Sin OST (Toshiko Tasaki, Kenichi Tsuchiya & Masaki Kurokawa)
Persona 3 OST (Shoji Meguro & Yosuke Uda)
Persona 3 fes OST (Shoji Meguro & Kenichi Tsuchiya)
Persona 3: Burn My Dread -Reincarnation- (Shoji Meguro)
Persona 4 OST (Shoji Meguro, Atsushi Kitajoh & Ryota Kozuka)
Persona -trinity soul- OST (Anime; Taku Iwasaki)
Shin Megami Tensei (Tsukasa Masuko)
Shin Megami Tensei II Sound Relation (Tsukasa Masuko)
Shin Megami Tensei NINE OST (Masaki Kurokawa)
Shin Megami Tensei Tokyo Apocalyse OST (Anime; Yoshihiro Ike)
Trauma Center Under the Knife Gamerip (Shoji Meguro, Kenichi Tsuchiya & Kenichi Kikkava)
Trauma Center Second Opinion Gamerip (Shoji Meguro)
Trauma Center New Blood Gamerip (Atsushi Kitajoh)

Also, the Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs. Abaddon King OST will be coming out packaged with the game when it's released in Japan on October 23th. Apparently, it will ONLY be with the game and not to be released separately. I have taken it upon myself to import to import the game even though I don't have a Japanese PS2 just for the soundtrack. I'll upload once I've got it, ripped and tagged it.


Nothing in particular I can think of at the moment. That's what Chudah's Corner is for,anyways. But if I ever need your help,I'll make sure to ask. Thank you.

Chudah's Corner is OK but they miss some information sometimes. I find that http://vgmdb.net/db/main.php tend to be more comprehensive.

Maken X was on the Dreamcast and Maken Shao was a PS2 remake where the first person view was shifted to a third person view. Meguro composed a new soundtrack that was arrangements of the original tracks from Maken X. Unlike Maken X, Maken Shao never had an official OST release released but the tracks can be extracted from the game disc using Cube Media Player.
I have Maken X. Haven't gotten around to playing it,but I have it.
It's Maken Shao that caught my attention.
Thanks for the explanation,BTW.

That is a plus but the problem with the randomization is that the game could keep playing the first 5 variations and not play the 6th one for a long time. Anyway, I did make a rip of all the variations that I could find (six including the OST version) but as I said the randomization means I could've missed a seventh or even eighth variation.
Excellent! Thank you.

Seeing as you hadn't heard of Maken X and Maken Shao, I assume there's a few Megaten and Atlus composed related games you're not aware of. Here's a list of all the Megaten soundtracks I have (along with composers/arrangers). Let me know which ones you don't have.
Well,there's quite a lot of SMT OSTs right here on Galbadia that I haven't even touched yet,but for now let's see...

Digital Devil Saga Avatar Tuner Sound Track CD (Shoji Meguro & Kenichi Tsuchiya)Isn't that the one that came with the game? I went through it,and,I think,the only track I found there that was not on Integral was the extended version of Pray.

Time Capsule (This is the DDS2 ending theme sung by "as", not composed by Atlus)
Is this Pray again? If not,then this one'll definitely come in handy.

Megami Tensei I&II (Tsukasa Masuko)
The original NES ones? Yes please.

Maken Shao Gamerip (Shoji Meguro)
Definitely. Rips are high priority.

SMT III Nocturne Deluxe Pack Incense Disc (Shoji Meguro, Kenichi Tsuchiya & Toshiko Tasaki)
!
Oh yes.

Wait... Unless this is just the sampler that came with the preorder. Does it have any new tracks?

Megami Ibunroku Persona (Hidehito Aoki, Kenichi Tsuchiya, Misaki Okibe & Shoji Meguro)
Megami Ibunroku Persona Be Your True Mind (Hidehito Aoki, Kenichi Tsuchiya, Misaki Okibe & Shoji Meguro)
What's the difference between the two?
Also,there seems to be rip of Persona 1 floating around that's,surprisingly,of higher quality than the actual OST. I know because I've seen bits of it on HG101. Here's some tracks for comparison purposes:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZEML20CB
You wouldn't know anything about that,would you?

Persona 3: Burn My Dread -Reincarnation- (Shoji Meguro)
Isn't that just a single of Burn My Dread?

Also, the Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs. Abaddon King OST will be coming out packaged with the game when it's released in Japan on October 23th. Apparently, it will ONLY be with the game and not to be released separately. I have taken it upon myself to import to import the game even though I don't have a Japanese PS2 just for the soundtrack. I'll upload once I've got it, ripped and tagged it.
Wait,is the the one that comes with some sort of a third rehash of Nocturne as a bonus?
Goddamn elevens,getting the best stuff all the damn time.

On a sidenote,I seem to have two OSTs that you don't have:
Persona 2 Innocent Sin - The Errors of Their Youth
Persona 2 - Punitive Dance (Takehiro Kawabe,Ryuuichi Katsumata,Takeo Miratsu)

You need those?

Chudah's Corner is OK but they miss some information sometimes. I find that http://vgmdb.net/db/main.php tend to be more comprehensive.
I've known of vgmdb for a while,but I've never really used it. I'll give it a shot,thanks for the recommendation.

It's really because they don't just have to convert to PAL systems but also have to translate the game into various European languages. I wish they would just release the English version as soon as possible and do the translations afterwards. I dread to think when P4 will be finally released here.

Yeah, it sucks to live here. On the bright side (for me at least), I've only gotten into the SMT series very recently (well, I've only played the DDS games so far...), so the wait for Persona 3 FES hasn't been so painful for me. But hey, at least we're actually getting it.

I'd also love any more DDS tracks that aren't on Integral. If there are tracks in a game missing from the soundtrack (which I noticed there are some missing on my second playthrough of DDS), I just feel this awkward emptiness inside, har-dee-har.

I have the DDS2 soundtrack that came with the special/collector's edition of the game (PAL), but I'm not sure if any of the tracks on it are missing from Integeral--I suppose a better thing to say would be, are any of the tracks from DDS2 missing from Integral? I know some of the DDS ones are (which have been mentioned in this topic already), but I'm not sure about DDS2.

I have Maken X. Haven't gotten around to playing it,but I have it.
It's Maken Shao that caught my attention.
Thanks for the explanation,BTW.

Just something I forgot to mention about Maken Shao. The title makes more sense if you see it in the original Japanese. The kanji character shao looks like two Xs so the title is kinda like Maken XX.

Shao wasn't actually released in the US and was published by a small European company for PAL. As such the voices remain in Japanese and there is a bit of an amateur feel about the localization. It's still a million miles better than the butchering of Maken X though. As I can understand a bit of Japanese, I could determine that the translation was fairly accurate. If you want a genuine representation of the story, play Maken Shao seriously. So many things were changed for Maken X's English localization, it's not funny. Various character names, personalities and roles were changed as part of censorship against Maken X's more religiously and politically offensive subject matter.


Isn't that the one that came with the game? I went through it,and,I think,the only track I found there that was not on Integral was the extended version of Pray.

The DDS1 soundtrack came out in Japan twice, once on it's own in an incomplete 1 disc form and then later as part of the DDS1&2 Integral set. The 1 disc soundtrack was included with the US game. I have no idea why they didn't put the extended version of Pray on Integral especially since it had the extended version of ALIVE.


Is this Pray again? If not,then this one'll definitely come in handy.

I don't know how you could think that this is Pray. The names are different for one thing and I said that it wasn't composed by Atlus whereas Pray was composed by Meguro.

Time Capsule is seemingly some random J-Pop song that Atlus decided to slap onto the credits. It doesn't fit the ending and the credits theme that Meguro originally composed is much better.


The original NES ones? Yes please.

Definitely. Rips are high priority.

I'll have these up later since two entire soundtracks will take me a while to upload. If you can find Megami Tensei I&II on your own that would be great. I couldn't find a rip of Maken Shao's music anywhere and had to do it myself so I assume I may be the only one who has a rip of it. I'll certainly have it up soon.

Maken Shao's music is streamed so I was able to get it directly from the game disc and the music will sound exactly as it does it the game without any interference.


!
Oh yes.

Wait... Unless this is just the sampler that came with the preorder. Does it have any new tracks?

Yes, it is. It contains 5 tracks, two are identical to their OST counterparts but there are arrangements of Fountain of Life and Kabukicho and there is an extended version of the unreleased track "Ikebukuro's Disco" (the name is actually wrong since the disco hall is actually in Shibuya)


What's the difference between the two?
Also,there seems to be rip of Persona 1 floating around that's,surprisingly,of higher quality than the actual OST. I know because I've seen bits of it on HG101. Here's some tracks for comparison purposes:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ZEML20CB
You wouldn't know anything about that,would you?

Be Your True Mind is the complete 4 disc soundtrack where the music sounds exactly as it did in the game whereas Megami Ibunroku Persona is a 2 disc selection of tracks but the sound quality is enhanced and it has some arrangements on it.


Isn't that just a single of Burn My Dread?

No, it isn't. It's a 12 track arrange album featuring an extended version of Burn My Dread and arrangements of Changing Seasons, Want To Be Close, When the Moon's Reaching Out the Stars, Unavoidable Battle, The Poem for Everybody's Souls, Burn My Dread -Last Battle-, Deep Breath Deep Breath, The Battle For Everybody's Souls, Living with Determination, Mass Destruction and Kimi no Kioku. An extremely highly recommended listen.


Wait,is the the one that comes with some sort of a third rehash of Nocturne as a bonus?
Goddamn elevens,getting the best stuff all the damn time.

Actually there are two versions coming out. One with the Soundtrack and the other with Nocturne Maniacs Chronicles. You'd have to buy both to get both. Since I don't have a Japanese PS2 I only bothered with the soundtrack version.


On a sidenote,I seem to have two OSTs that you don't have:
Persona 2 Innocent Sin - The Errors of Their Youth
Persona 2 - Punitive Dance (Takehiro Kawabe,Ryuuichi Katsumata,Takeo Miratsu)

You need those?

Yeah, that would be nice.


I've known of vgmdb for a while,but I've never really used it. I'll give it a shot,thanks for the recommendation.

A few months ago they recently became the largest VGM database on the internet with over 10,000 albums.

Although they still don't have individual composer credits for Persona 1 and Soul Hackers. Damn it, I want to know which tracks Meguro composed! I've listened to the soundtracks and can identify some that sound like Meguro but I could be wrong.


Yeah, it sucks to live here. On the bright side (for me at least), I've only gotten into the SMT series very recently (well, I've only played the DDS games so far...), so the wait for Persona 3 FES hasn't been so painful for me. But hey, at least we're actually getting it.

I got into the Megaten games just over a year ago. Ghostlight had recently released Shadow Hearts FTNW after there had been no PAL conversion and several European fans had contacted several game publishers with requests. As thanks, I decided to buy any other Ghostlight published games and had found Nocturne (under the name that I refuse to call it by), DDS1&2 (and Th3 Plan).

Even though insanely difficult and driving me to extreme frustation, I was drawn in by the music, atmosphere and story of those Megaten games. I later got Devil Summoner RKvsTSS and Persona 3 when they were released by Koei. I did some further research about Atlus and found out by Maken X and Maken Shao. Luckily I still have a fully functioning Dreamcast. I also almost didn't bother getting Maken Shao until I found out it had an arranged soundtrack.


I'd also love any more DDS tracks that aren't on Integral. If there are tracks in a game missing from the soundtrack (which I noticed there are some missing on my second playthrough of DDS), I just feel this awkward emptiness inside, har-dee-har.

I've made some rips of some DDS1&2 missing tracks:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8K118MQ2

- Hideout of the Chickens -The First Movement (played before the first demon transformation scene)
- Man's Tomb -The Third Movement (played in that basement filled with gas that makes Serph dizzy, also where Hitoshura is later)
- Spider's String -The Third Movement (If you didn't notice, the final dungeon has different variation the higher up the tower similar to Nocturne's dungeons. Each minute of the OST's Second Movement is a different variation but they missed one between the second and third minute)
- Sweet Home -The First Movement (played in the Entrance hall of the Brutes' Base)
-Administrative District (A highly ambient, unmelodic theme played just outside some buildings in Karma City)
- Heroic Battle - Prelude (Plays twice in DDS2, first just before the first battle of the game and secondly then Seraph's first battle. Has unavoidable SE in both)
- The Atonement (Piano version) (Plays during the cutscene where Serph discovers the truth about 10 years ago. Has unavoidable SE and dialog.)

Also, the version of Hunting Field -The Second Movement is different in game so I've ripped that too. I could've sworn there was another Man's Tomb Movement too. If there's any other missing tracks let me know. I also recorded Sera's English voice actor Wendee Lee singing Pray just for the hell of it.


I have the DDS2 soundtrack that came with the special/collector's edition of the game (PAL), but I'm not sure if any of the tracks on it are missing from Integeral--I suppose a better thing to say would be, are any of the tracks from DDS2 missing from Integral? I know some of the DDS ones are (which have been mentioned in this topic already), but I'm not sure about DDS2.

I believe all the tracks on that soundtrack are on Integral. That soundtrack was horribly put together though. Some of the tracks have 2 seconds of silence before the music actually starts, they mixed up the names of Heroic and Epic Battle and some have completely wrong names.

Hello everybody,

Do you think there are some missing tracks from the first Shadow Hearts?

First and foremost,here's the two OSTs you're missing:
Errors of Their Youth:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9HN7H9PU
Punitive Dance:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BB2VEJTD


Shao wasn't actually released in the US and was published by a small European company for PAL. As such the voices remain in Japanese and there is a bit of an amateur feel about the localization. It's still a million miles better than the butchering of Maken X though. As I can understand a bit of Japanese, I could determine that the translation was fairly accurate. If you want a genuine representation of the story, play Maken Shao seriously. So many things were changed for Maken X's English localization, it's not funny. Various character names, personalities and roles were changed as part of censorship against Maken X's more religiously and politically offensive subject matter.
What a goddamn shame. ;_; Guess Persona wasn't the only SMT title to get butchered.

I don't know how you could think that this is Pray. The names are different for one thing and I said that it wasn't composed by Atlus whereas Pray was composed by Meguro.
Oh,so Time Capsule is the name of the actual song? I thought it was just some fancy name for the disc.
Another reason I thought this could be Pray is that it seemed to be like the main theme of DDS that's remixed many times throughout the game. Would make sense if it played during the credits,too.
Anyway,that's all a moot point.

Yes, it is. It contains 5 tracks, two are identical to their OST counterparts but there are arrangements of Fountain of Life and Kabukicho and there is an extended version of the unreleased track "Ikebukuro's Disco" (the name is actually wrong since the disco hall is actually in Shibuya).Do want.
And FUCK YEAH at the disco track. How could I forget that it was an unreleased one? I remember liking it. Alot.

Be Your True Mind is the complete 4 disc soundtrack where the music sounds exactly as it did in the game whereas Megami Ibunroku Persona is a 2 disc selection of tracks but the sound quality is enhanced and it has some arrangements on it.
I searched around,and it turns out there is Megami Ibunroku Persona right here on Galbadia,so you don't have to upload it.

No, it isn't. It's a 12 track arrange album featuring an extended version of Burn My Dread and arrangements of Changing Seasons, Want To Be Close, When the Moon's Reaching Out the Stars, Unavoidable Battle, The Poem for Everybody's Souls, Burn My Dread -Last Battle-, Deep Breath Deep Breath, The Battle For Everybody's Souls, Living with Determination, Mass Destruction and Kimi no Kioku. An extremely highly recommended listen.
Sounds great. Add it to the list. =)

Actually there are two versions coming out. One with the Soundtrack and the other with Nocturne Maniacs Chronicles. You'd have to buy both to get both. Since I don't have a Japanese PS2 I only bothered with the soundtrack version.
Goddamn,fucking elevens get all the best stuff.

Ghostlight had recently released Shadow Hearts FTNW after there had been no PAL conversion and several European fans had contacted several game publishers with requests.
You guys got SH:FtNW JUST NOW!?
That's just terrible.

I decided to buy any other Ghostlight published games and had found Nocturne (under the name that I refuse to call it by), DDS1&2 (and Th3 Plan).
What's wrong with Lucifer's Call? Badass subtitle is badass.

I've made some rips of some DDS1&2 missing tracks:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8K118MQ2

- Hideout of the Chickens -The First Movement (played before the first demon transformation scene)
- Man's Tomb -The Third Movement (played in that basement filled with gas that makes Serph dizzy, also where Hitoshura is later)
- Spider's String -The Third Movement (If you didn't notice, the final dungeon has different variation the higher up the tower similar to Nocturne's dungeons. Each minute of the OST's Second Movement is a different variation but they missed one between the second and third minute)
- Sweet Home -The First Movement (played in the Entrance hall of the Brutes' Base)
-Administrative District (A highly ambient, unmelodic theme played just outside some buildings in Karma City)
- Heroic Battle - Prelude (Plays twice in DDS2, first just before the first battle of the game and secondly then Seraph's first battle. Has unavoidable SE in both)
- The Atonement (Piano version) (Plays during the cutscene where Serph discovers the truth about 10 years ago. Has unavoidable SE and dialog.)

Also, the version of Hunting Field -The Second Movement is different in game so I've ripped that too. I could've sworn there was another Man's Tomb Movement too. If there's any other missing tracks let me know. I also recorded Sera's English voice actor Wendee Lee singing Pray just for the hell of it.


I believe all the tracks on that soundtrack are on Integral. That soundtrack was horribly put together though. Some of the tracks have 2 seconds of silence before the music actually starts, they mixed up the names of Heroic and Epic Battle and some have completely wrong names.
Can you give me a rundown on all of the mistakes you've spotted?


Hello everybody,

Do you think there are some missing tracks from the first Shadow Hearts?
I don't know,are there any? I've only played the game once so far. I'd be glad if there are,actually. =)

You guys got SH:FtNW JUST NOW!?
That's just terrible.

Well, we got it mid-'07, but that is still very slow considering we usually get games just a few months after the US. I was bordering on importing it (which I don't mind doing--I just prefer having a PAL version) when my bro told me it was finally being localised here.

Screw the Queen--long live Ghostlight, I say.


I also recorded Sera's English voice actor Wendee Lee singing Pray just for the hell of it.

Thanks so much for not only doing those other tracks, but this too. I love the song, but I don't love the Engrish, harhar.


I don't know,are there any? I've only played the game once so far. I'd be glad if there are,actually.

I've played the game a few times, and I don't think there are any missing tracks--some in-game tracks may sound a little different from the OST versions, though. One that comes to mind, because it really is quite different-sounding (or so from what I remember) is the Tanjou track.


Out of curiosity, and kinda going on a tangent from DDS/SH, but does anyone own Breath of Fire IV? There's just one track on there (though I guess you could call it ambience, or something) that's missing from both the regular BoFIV and eleven-disc BoF collection OST. It plays whenever you're in an area where one of the dragon god avatars is located, so if anyone has a save game beyond the point where you can start finding them, it should be pretty easy to get the track.

Here's Maken Shao
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AHZJXO7K

I recommend listening to Maken X's tracks first to get a feel for them so you can better appreciate how Meguro arranged them.

Just a little warning, since these are directly from the game disc, there's no few seconds of silence at the end and the tracks play all the way to the end.


First and foremost,here's the two OSTs you're missing:
Errors of Their Youth:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9HN7H9PU
Punitive Dance:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BB2VEJTD

Thanks very much for these.


What a goddamn shame. ;_; Guess Persona wasn't the only SMT title to get butchered.

I'm not sure what's worst, whether a game is not released at all or if it is, the localisation and censorship butchers the game beyond all recognition.


Oh,so Time Capsule is the name of the actual song? I thought it was just some fancy name for the disc.
Another reason I thought this could be Pray is that it seemed to be like the main theme of DDS that's remixed many times throughout the game. Would make sense if it played during the credits,too.
Anyway,that's all a moot point.

Actually, the Pray theme is only played once in DDS2 in the track Regret. For DDS2 has a new theme of its' own in Om Pani Padme Hm. There's kind of a sub-theme in ALIVE/The Atonement as well.


Do want.
And FUCK YEAH at the disco track. How could I forget that it was an unreleased one? I remember liking it. Alot.

I think I'll try ripping the original too so you can compare the two if you'd like.


Sounds great. Add it to the list. =)

If my upload speeds were much faster then I would happily upload any soundtrack you'd like but sadly that's not the case. Therefore I would prefer it if you could find stuff yourself on Galbaldia, these forums or Blue Laguna. I will upload soundtracks for you if they can't be found anywhere else.


Goddamn,fucking elevens get all the best stuff.

Excuse my ignorance but what is/are "elevens"?


You guys got SH:FtNW JUST NOW!?
That's just terrible.

It was May last year, which is a considerable while after both Japanese and US releases. We actually never would've gotten it if a group of European Shadow Hearts fans hadn't banded together to hound various European publishers.


What's wrong with Lucifer's Call? Badass subtitle is badass.

It seriously pisses me off when localizers change the original title of games for no good reason. I also hate how they've have slapped "Shin Megami Tensei" onto Megaten side-games as if fans are too stupid to do their own research into the series. It was totally unnecessary to put "Shin Megami Tensei" onto "Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha vs the Soulless Army", as if the title wasn't long enough. The DDS games were called Digital Devil Saga Avatar Tuner in Japan and the localizers cut off the "Avatar Tuner" part.




LOL


Can you give me a rundown on all of the mistakes you've spotted?

SMT DDS2 OST title, Integral title

Epic Battle, Heroic Battle
Occupied Sector, Manhunt
Heroic Battle, Epic Battle
Backtracking, Amaravati (WTF at the title, it's played in the first area of the game that you never go back to)
Internment Facility, Meeeeaaaaat! Processing Plant
Prisoner's Nightmare, Prison Break
Karma City, Urban Area
Karma Society Tower, Tower of Reunion
Heat's Theme, Heat
EGG Facility, Egg of the Universe
Infilitration, Power Plant Dome
Power Plant, Rest in Peace, my Friend
EGG Facility Revisited, Five Years Before
Hunting Betrayal, Hunting
The Bell Tolls, No Regret
Airport, One-Way Stairs
The Sun, Nirvana
Enemies Reborn, Big Battle
Divine Identity, Brahman


I don't know,are there any? I've only played the game once so far. I'd be glad if there are,actually. =)

As far as I remember there are no missing tracks. The only thing is that in China Ogre, the male china chanting isn't there in the game and in Middle of Nowhere, the drums are much quieter in game.

Well, we got it mid-'07, but that is still very slow considering we usually get games just a few months after the US. I was bordering on importing it (which I don't mind doing--I just prefer having a PAL version) when my bro told me it was finally being localised here.

Screw the Queen--long live Ghostlight, I say.

Indeed, DDS1, DDS2 and Shadow Hearts FTNW. Ghostlight totally rule for bringing these over.


Thanks so much for not only doing those other tracks, but this too. I love the song, but I don't love the Engrish, harhar.

Y'know, I was tempted to keep in Heat's comment of "What the hell was that?" at the end for comic effect but decided against it.


I've played the game a few times, and I don't think there are any missing tracks--some in-game tracks may sound a little different from the OST versions, though. One that comes to mind, because it really is quite different-sounding (or so from what I remember) is the Tanjou track.

Really? I don't really remember Tanjou sounding different. Can you elaborate at all?


Out of curiosity, and kinda going on a tangent from DDS/SH, but does anyone own Breath of Fire IV? There's just one track on there (though I guess you could call it ambience, or something) that's missing from both the regular BoFIV and eleven-disc BoF collection OST. It plays whenever you're in an area where one of the dragon god avatars is located, so if anyone has a save game beyond the point where you can start finding them, it should be pretty easy to get the track.

I'm sorry, I don't have this game. But feel free to request any unreleased tracks; if I have the game and a save file which allows me to easily get to where the music plays, I'll try ripping it.

That is a shame, I was hoping to discover some news tracks from Shadow Hearts. Is there anybody who got some "rare" tracks from Yoshitaka Hirota?
I know that he composed some music for a yoga game.

Hirota has also been involved quite a bit of stuff outside of Shadow Hearts. He's been composer/arranger for a lot of Japanese singers.

Yoruoto Hyouhon (Noriko Mitose album. Composed and arranged 1 track)
Cotton (Noriko Mitose album. Arranged 1 track.)
Tsuki no Uta (Saki Imosuki album. Arranged all 4 tracks which were composed by Saki Imosuki)
Kinema in the Hole (Rekka Katakiri album. Arranged all 13 tracks and composed 11 tracks. Rekka Katakiri composed the remaining two tracks.)
Hareyaka naru Sora no Yukue (Rekka Katakiri album. Composed and arranged 1 track)
Istoria ~Musa~ (Akiko Shikata album. Composed and arranged 1 track)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Akiko Shikata single. Arranged 1 track.)

And he's been involved with non-Shadow Hearts game music.

Angelic Vale Arrange tracks (Arranged 2 tracks)
Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange (Arranged 1 track)
Biohazard 2 Drama Album Ada (Co-composed and arranged with Yasunori Mitsuda)
Biohazard 2 Drama Album Sherry (Co-composed and arranged with Yasunori Mitsuda)
Street Fighter Zero 3 Drama Album (Co-composed and arranged with Yasunori Mitsuda)

Unfortunately, there's a load of stuff that Hirota composed/arranged that was never released on CD like:
Bomberman 64: The Second Attack
Sonic Shuffle
Faselei!
Dive Alert
Saint Seiya: The Hades
Fist Groove 2
Hana Saku DS Gardening Life
Donkey Kong Jungle Climber
Anata Dake no Private Lesson - DS de Hajimeru - Tipness no Yoga
Maji de Manabu: LEC de Ukaru - DS Hishou Boki 3-Kyuu
Hercules no Eikou: Tamashii no Shoumei

Also, Hirota is a bass guitarist and has performed with the Japanese band darumaya (The lead vocalist of which is Kyoko Kishikawa, the scat vocalist of Shadow Hearts I&II). Also, Kenji Ito performed the music for Culdcept live and asked Hirota and Kishikawa to participate.

Yes, I know all of that, it is me who wrote that on Wikipedia, and i got some very very rare tracks from Hirota, even when he was only a DJ. But i am looking from some other rare things like the rips of Faselei!, Dive Alert or others.... =)

Just a little warning, since these are directly from the game disc, there's no few seconds of silence at the end and the tracks play all the way to the end.
That's easily fixable with Goldwave. Thank you. =)

I'm not sure what's worst, whether a game is not released at all or if it is, the localisation and censorship butchers the game beyond all recognition.
;_;
That was actually the reason I don't have P2:Eternal Punsihment in my possession right now. Sure,now all of my friends keep telling me how rare it was,but back when Gamestop was still selling PSOne titles,I saw it like everywhere in the area I used to live. I actually remember holding a mint 17$ copy in my hands,wondering if I should get it (that was way before I became an Atlusfag). At the end,I decided not to,because I figured that Innocent Sin was never translated because of some stupid controversy bullshit,so what was the point of buying a sequel to a game I'll never play?

I'm still kicking myself over this.
I think I ended up buying the PSOne port of Samurai Shodown III instead.
What an idiot.

I think I'll try ripping the original too so you can compare the two if you'd like.
Actually,I'll get that one myself. I have a save right by a teleporter. Besides,I haven't been contributing to this thread enough lately. =)
Does Nocturne have sound options,BTW? I'm pretty sure I remember it having them.

If my upload speeds were much faster then I would happily upload any soundtrack you'd like but sadly that's not the case. Therefore I would prefer it if you could find stuff yourself on Galbaldia, these forums or Blue Laguna. I will upload soundtracks for you if they can't be found anywhere else.
Gotcha.
I'll search around for now. Thanks for letting me know what I have to search for,at least. =)

Excuse my ignorance but what is/are "elevens"?
You ever seen Code Geass?

Slang for the Japanese. The nation of Britannia (an alternate universe version of BritainAMERIKKKA) at one point in history evolved into a superpower and conquered the world. Part of its foreign policy is to promote social inequality, whereby annexed countries and their people are rebranded with numbers to distinguish them from their natural superiors: Japan is "Area 11" and its people "Elevens" and do "Eleven" things.
This became a pretty prominent meme on animu-related boards.

Y'know, I was tempted to keep in Heat's comment of "What the hell was that?" at the end for comic effect but decided against it.
XDD Do it,do it!
That's what I'd totally do!

That's easily fixable with Goldwave. Thank you. =)

I hope you enjoy Maken Shao's music and comparing it to Maken X's. I find it a shame though that Meguro didn't arrange any of Ogata's tracks; MIST and RISKY and Kei were some damn fantastic tracks.


;_;
That was actually the reason I don't have P2:Eternal Punsihment in my possession right now. Sure,now all of my friends keep telling me how rare it was,but back when Gamestop was still selling PSOne titles,I saw it like everywhere in the area I used to live. I actually remember holding a mint 17$ copy in my hands,wondering if I should get it (that was way before I became an Atlusfag). At the end,I decided not to,because I figured that Innocent Sin was never translated because of some stupid controversy bullshit,so what was the point of buying a sequel to a game I'll never play?

I'm still kicking myself over this.
I think I ended up buying the PSOne port of Samurai Shodown III instead.
What an idiot.

A couple of times I've decided against buying a game. I later hear a lot of great things about the game and/or its' music and then I can never find the game again. So you're not alone in this kind of stupidity.


Actually,I'll get that one myself. I have a save right by a teleporter. Besides,I haven't been contributing to this thread enough lately. =)
Does Nocturne have sound options,BTW? I'm pretty sure I remember it having them.

Alright, I already did one myself but OK.

Unfortunately, Nocturne does not have any sound options. Which is particularly annoying as some areas have ambient sound effects running in the background like running water, wind or some weird glowing thing in the dungeon which gives off a humming noise.


You ever seen Code Geass?

This became a pretty prominent meme on animu-related boards.

No, I haven't seen it. Is it any good?


XDD Do it,do it!
That's what I'd totally do!

I deleted my recording of it but I may play through the game again to get to it. I only have to replay the first dungeon and since I have all mantras including Null All in a New Game Plus, so it won't be that hard.


Yes, I know all of that, it is me who wrote that on Wikipedia, and i got some very very rare tracks from Hirota, even when he was only a DJ. But i am looking from some other rare things like the rips of Faselei!, Dive Alert or others.... =)

Could you upload the rare Hirota tracks you have?

I think Sonic Shuffle, Bomberman 64 The Second Attack, Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange and Angelic Vale Arrange tracks are on Galbaldia or these forums; I have no idea about the rest of his game music. I do have all those Japanese vocal albums.

Alright, I already did one myself but OK.
Yeah,I just recorded it too. Here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MZSUS6TG

I also included a rip of the Large Map track. The OST version has this high-pitched synth right in the foreground of the track. The game version also has the synth,but it's not as pronounced or shrilly.

I think the game version of Shibuya differs from the OST version in a similar way,too,but maybe I'm just hearing things.

While I was at it,I finally got around to recording my versions of the three unreleased SHII tracks that you ripped. Here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WBMAHLOO

No, I haven't seen it. Is it any good?
First season is quite enjoyable. Second season,in my opinion,is ridiculously bullshit. Watch it for lulz.

Unfortunately, Nocturne does not have any sound options. Which is particularly annoying as some areas have ambient sound effects running in the background like running water, wind or some weird glowing thing in the dungeon which gives off a humming noise.
Are those noises omnipresent throughout the whole thing? Maybe when you go deeper into the dungeon,they disappear.

I deleted my recording of it but I may play through the game again to get to it. I only have to replay the first dungeon and since I have all mantras including Null All in a New Game Plus, so it won't be that hard.
Don't bother,then. Too much work for something so minor.

Really? I don't really remember Tanjou sounding different. Can you elaborate at all?

I guess I can't, really... I only remember there being differences in the quality, such as how the final boss music in SH2 was different on the OST and in the game because of the varying sound qualities. So it's nothing too important. Plus I can't recall at what points Tanjou plays, so there's not much point in going through what could be a huge portion of the game just to get one track--one which isn't much different from another we already have.


I'm sorry, I don't have this game. But feel free to request any unreleased tracks; if I have the game and a save file which allows me to easily get to where the music plays, I'll try ripping it.

Thanks for the offer, but other than what has already been mentioned, I don't think there's any game music that I'm after. Which is a good thing, I suppose.

I also included a rip of the Large Map track. The OST version has this high-pitched synth right in the foreground of the track. The game version also has the synth,but it's not as pronounced or shrilly.

Thanks for this. I wouldn't have either noticed this really.

I made some rips of some of the smaller music. Here's the Demon Fusion, Terminal and Level Up music.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L3GQZU9I


I think the game version of Shibuya differs from the OST version in a similar way,too,but maybe I'm just hearing things.

Possibly, I've noticed that on quite a few soundtracks where the music is sequenced that the OST versions sound superior to their in-game counterparts. Final Fantasy XII is a big offender in this department. The in-game music in that game is often missing instruments or uses noticably inferior substituted instruments to the OST's version.


While I was at it,I finally got around to recording my versions of the three unreleased SHII tracks that you ripped. Here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WBMAHLOO

Oh thank you for this!

I hope the 3 Karma wasn't too much effort trying to make a character go berserk and then cure them.


First season is quite enjoyable. Second season,in my opinion,is ridiculously bullshit. Watch it for lulz.

In what way? Do you mean the quality of the plot degrades? Or the whole thing just goes completely OTT?

Oh and since you explained to me what elevens are, I can respond to your previous statement. Japan does tend to get all these awesome package deals with their games since gaming is a more widely accepted social past-time over there. Over here, game developers don't really see these extras as worth it.

Although it's much better nowadays, some of our games do come out with stuff like artbooks, DVDs and soundtracks. But they pale in comparison to those huge Japanese premium boxes, did you know that Shadow Hearts FTNW came out in Japan with a soundtrack CD, Special DVD, T-Shirt, Notebook, Keyrings, Phone Straps and artbook?


Are those noises omnipresent throughout the whole thing? Maybe when you go deeper into the dungeon,they disappear.

It depends on the dungeon really. Somewhere like a underground sewage area, there's a constant sound of running water than never goes away. A wide open area with buildings, obviously the wind effects go away if you go in the buildings. In some dungeons, there's some weird humming noise that is the entire dungeon except for one single room for no apparent reason.


I guess I can't, really... I only remember there being differences in the quality, such as how the final boss music in SH2 was different on the OST and in the game because of the varying sound qualities. So it's nothing too important. Plus I can't recall at what points Tanjou plays, so there's not much point in going through what could be a huge portion of the game just to get one track--one which isn't much different from another we already have.

Tanjou was played in scenes with Yuri's father. Mitsuda arranged it for Shadow Hearts II in the track The Past where again it played in scenes with Yuri's father.

I wouldn't have either noticed this really.
You can hear the difference now that I've pointed it out,right?
I just want to confirm that I'm not hearing things. =)

I made some rips of some of the smaller music. Here's the Demon Fusion, Terminal and Level Up music.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L3GQZU9I
Thank you,man!
Anything else we need to rip from Nocturne besides the dungeon tracks?

The in-game music in that game is often missing instruments or uses noticably inferior substituted instruments to the OST's version.
True,but in this case it seems like the in-game versions tend to be superior. Maybe it's just this one track,though.

I hope the 3 Karma wasn't too much effort trying to make a character go berserk and then cure them.
Not a problem.

Defend -> Resist

Your SP gets drained like wut.

In what way? Do you mean the quality of the plot degrades? Or the whole thing just goes completely OTT?
It gets so fucking riduculous (WHAT A TWIST every ten minutes) that it pretty much becomes a parody of itself.

Japan does tend to get all these awesome package deals with their games since gaming is a more widely accepted social past-time over there.
That and the fact that slapping "Limited Edition" on anything in Japan = sales going through the fucking roof.

Although it's much better nowadays, some of our games do come out with stuff like artbooks, DVDs and soundtracks. But they pale in comparison to those huge Japanese premium boxes, did you know that Shadow Hearts FTNW came out in Japan with a soundtrack CD, Special DVD, T-Shirt, Notebook, Keyrings, Phone Straps and artbook?
;_;

I think SHII shipped with Yuri's Harmonixer pendant,among other things. So awesome.

Take a look ^^.


It was last years, and now i have go a lot of other things ^^

You can hear the difference now that I've pointed it out,right?
I just want to confirm that I'm not hearing things. =)

Yeah, you're not hearing things. There's a clear difference.


Thank you,man!
Anything else we need to rip from Nocturne besides the dungeon tracks?

I don't think so but it is possible I'm forgetting some cutscene tracks. I last played the game properly over a year ago.


Not a problem.

Defend -> Resist

Your SP gets drained like wut.

Makes me wonder why a command like that exists. What possible gameplay benefit is there?


It gets so fucking riduculous (WHAT A TWIST every ten minutes) that it pretty much becomes a parody of itself.

Would you lose anything by only watching the 1st season?


That and the fact that slapping "Limited Edition" on anything in Japan = sales going through the fucking roof.

Tell me about it. There's been times when I've been considering whether to import a limited edition of a soundtrack or something and by the time I've decided, they're ALL SOLD OUT.


Take a look ^^.

It was last years, and now i have go a lot of other things ^^

Hey cool! I think I've got all that stuff too but I've also got the soundtracks, some artbooks and strategy guides as well.

I have some other interresting stuff :





But some things stay impossible to find, like the Getsurenka Music box, or the Alice figurine. I would pay a lot for that ^^

Makes me wonder why a command like that exists. What possible gameplay benefit is there?
I think in SHII you can link combos by placing your characters next to one another. In case someone decides to attack you,pushing you away from the character you were going to combo with,Resist allows you to stand your ground at the cost of some SP.

Would you lose anything by only watching the 1st season?
Nope.

Take a look ^^.
It was last years, and now i have go a lot of other things ^^
Oh wow,it even comes with the porno mag.

So jealous... ;_;

I have some other interresting stuff :





But some things stay impossible to find, like the Getsurenka Music box, or the Alice figurine. I would pay a lot for that ^^

WOW!!!! Damn, there's some stuff there I didn't even know existed! Could you explain what the stuff is in those photos?

Oh by the way, NucleaRaptor, is there any stuff you're waiting for me to upload? I forgot, sorry. ~_~

And a new trailer of Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjJy1KmaERw

Meguro's arrangements of the Main Theme and Battle -Raidou- are totally kick-ass!

Here's the first trailer with the awesome guitar track in case you missed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zSk2PUP0Rg&feature=related

WOW!!!! Damn, there's some stuff there I didn't even know existed! Could you explain what the stuff is in those photos?

So, in the first picture, you can see a little white book in the background. It was given at the TGS 2003. It contains story & character introductions, history, system explanation and maps for some areas.
In the same pictures, there is a very beautifull calendar, where you can switch the mounth with a diff�rent picture for each mounth. It cames with the box on the right. It was given in a very small quantity, with preorders from...I don't remember who exactly, sorry ^^ .

The second picture contain all the demo CD or DVD you can find. They have been given at the E3 and the TGS.




I just add this picture. It is a promotionnal DVD given in 2001 which contains 4 sections: Promotion Video, Game Introduction, Character Introduction, and Staff Interview

Oh by the way, NucleaRaptor, is there any stuff you're waiting for me to upload? I forgot, sorry. ~_~
SMT III Nocturne Deluxe Pack Incense Disc and Persona 3: Burn My Dread -Reincarnation-,please.

And if you have the time or desire,Megami Tensei I&II.

Take your time.

Thanks in advance,man. =)

Here's a photo of all my Shadow Hearts stuff!



EDIT: Oh damn, I forgot to put my Koudelka stuff in. I have the game and the soundtrack.


SMT III Nocturne Deluxe Pack Incense Disc and Persona 3: Burn My Dread -Reincarnation-,please.

And if you have the time or desire,Megami Tensei I&II.

Take your time.

Thanks in advance,man. =)

I'll get onto these when I can. =)

Oh, by the way, I was playing Nocturne and I noticed that Normal Battle ~Town~ appears to be a bit different in-game from the OST version. At first I panicked and thought it was going to be like Normal Battle and have 50 million random variations but after about 5 battles, I noticed they all sounded the same. The difference between the in-game version and OST version is the guitar melody after about 40 seconds and the cymbals are MUCH quieter.

Of course, a link.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=10CEP5HB

Impressive. It is cool to see another fan of Shadow Hearts ^^
I have all of that stuff excepting the CD on the right /down. I have already saw it, but i don't know exactly what is it. It is the game in another box no?

Impressive. It is cool to see another fan of Shadow Hearts ^^
I have all of that stuff excepting the CD on the right /down. I have already saw it, but i don't know exactly what is it. It is the game in another box no?

Yeah, it's apparently a copy of the game that they send out to game reviewers for magazines. It's not a short demo (as I thought it might be) but indeed the full game.

You may have missed me asking this before, shiriu, so I'll ask again. Could you upload the "very very rare tracks from Hirota, even when he was only a DJ" that you mentioned that you had?

Here's the Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne Deluxe Incense Disc.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=G3EBB5N0

NucleaRaptor, Burn My Dread -Reincarnation- and Megami Tensei I&II will take me ages to upload since they're both over 140MB. I'm sure somebody else here must've already uploaded Burn My Dread -Reincarnation- but I'm not so sure about Megami Tensei I&II.

Here's Megami Tensei I&II:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V88G0Q2Y

Good lord this took me an hour and a half to upload! And Burn My Dread -Reincarnation- is an even larger file! I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be uploading it.

Here's Megami Tensei I&II:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V88G0Q2Y

Good lord this took me an hour and a half to upload! And Burn My Dread -Reincarnation- is an even larger file! I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be uploading it.
Thank you so much!
In return,here's a little something called MEGATEN WORLD ~ Goddess World:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SYXILJJH

Apparently,it's a collection of rockin' guitar arrangements by some Hideyuki Tsunoda chap. Sounds pretty cool from what I've heard so far.

I was clicking around the random SMT soundtracks (in particular,the absolutely bitchin' Sega CD SMT soundtrack) when I started to stumble onto some tracks that were later remixed in Nocturne,which was one hell of a pleasant surprise. That's when I remembered you mentioning something to this extent:

Demons is one of my favourites from Nocturne too. You may be interested to know that it was based on Tsukasa Masuko's track "Memory Recovery" from Shin Megami Tensei II. In fact there were a couple of tracks in Nocturne based on tracks from SMT I and II. If you haven't already, I recommend checking those soundtracks out, the battle themes in particular. I was impressed that Masuko was able to compose such intense, hard-hitting music with the limited sound capabilities of the Super Famicom.
Can you please upload Memory Recovery and any other tracks you see fit?

Also,I haven't been absle to thoroughly check Megami Tensei I&II OST,but what caught my attention were the awesome arrangements by Ryo Yonemitsu. I was surprised to see him there of all people,but that's him all right.

Thank you so much!
In return,here's a little something called MEGATEN WORLD ~ Goddess World:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SYXILJJH

Apparently,it's a collection of rockin' guitar arrangements by some Hideyuki Tsunoda chap. Sounds pretty cool from what I've heard so far.

Thanks for this. I just remembered I haven't even listened to those Persona 2 soundtracks you uploaded! *self face-palm*


I was clicking around the random SMT soundtracks (in particular,the absolutely bitchin' Sega CD SMT soundtrack) when I started to stumble onto some tracks that were later remixed in Nocturne,which was one hell of a pleasant surprise. That's when I remembered you mentioning something to this extent:

Can you please upload Memory Recovery and any other tracks you see fit?

Alright, I'll try to get around to it when I can, I'm a bit busy right now so it might take a while.

Could you make a list of all the Megaten soundtracks you have? I mistakenly assumed you already had the soundtracks for SMT I&II. Plus I can check out ones which I don't have =)


Also,I haven't been absle to thoroughly check Megami Tensei I&II OST,but what caught my attention were the awesome arrangements by Ryo Yonemitsu. I was surprised to see him there of all people,but that's him all right.

Ah! Are you a Ys fan? I haven't thoroughly listened to the earlier games soundtracks but Ys VI, Oath of Felghana and Origin were pretty freaking awesome.

Could you make a list of all the Megaten soundtracks you have? I mistakenly assumed you already had the soundtracks for SMT I&II. Plus I can check out ones which I don't have.
MEGATEN WORLD ~ Goddess World
Megami Tensei I&II
Shin Megami Tensei Sound Collection
Shin Megami Tensei Sega Mega CD Sound
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne OST
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne Maniacs Soundtrack Extra Version
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne Deluxe Pack Incense Disc
Devil Summoner Sound Collection
Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers Original Soundtrack
Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers Hyper Rearrange
Devil Summoner Kuzunoha Raidou vs the Ary of Ultimate Power
DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~Avatar Tuner~ 1 & 2 Original Sound Track Integral
DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA AVATAR TUNER 2 - Special DVD
Maken X Original Soundtrack
Maken X Remix Soundtrack L'Image
Maken Shao Rip
Megami Ibunroku Persona
PERSONA 1 Be Your True Mind
Persona 2 - Innocent Sin Original Soundtrack
Persona 2 Innocent Sin - The Errors of Their Youth
PERSONA 2 Eternal Punishment Original Sound Tracks
Persona 2 Punitive Dance
PERSONA 3 Original Soundtrack
Persona 3 FES Original Soundtrack
Persona 4 Original Soundtrack

Plus a bunch of rips.

Ah! Are you a Ys fan? I haven't thoroughly listened to the earlier games soundtracks but Ys VI, Oath of Felghana and Origin were pretty freaking awesome.
I haven't played any of the games,but a friend of mine has been trying to get me into them by introducing me to Yonemitsu. I haven't heard much of him yet,but I liked what I did hear. =)

MEGATEN WORLD ~ Goddess World
Megami Tensei I&II
Shin Megami Tensei Sound Collection
Shin Megami Tensei Sega Mega CD Sound
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne OST
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne Maniacs Soundtrack Extra Version
Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne Deluxe Pack Incense Disc
Devil Summoner Sound Collection
Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers Original Soundtrack
Devil Summoner - Soul Hackers Hyper Rearrange
Devil Summoner Kuzunoha Raidou vs the Ary of Ultimate Power
DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA ~Avatar Tuner~ 1 & 2 Original Sound Track Integral
DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA AVATAR TUNER 2 - Special DVD
Maken X Original Soundtrack
Maken X Remix Soundtrack L'Image
Maken Shao Rip
Megami Ibunroku Persona
PERSONA 1 Be Your True Mind
Persona 2 - Innocent Sin Original Soundtrack
Persona 2 Innocent Sin - The Errors of Their Youth
PERSONA 2 Eternal Punishment Original Sound Tracks
Persona 2 Punitive Dance
PERSONA 3 Original Soundtrack
Persona 3 FES Original Soundtrack
Persona 4 Original Soundtrack

Shin Megami Tensei Sega Mega CD Sound? I did a search for that but I found very little information.

Since you only have the DDS1&2 Integral OST, I'm wondering whether you've heard the full version of Pray, which for some reason was included on the DDS1 OST but not the DDS1&2 Integral OST.

Since you don't have the following soundtracks, I'm wondering whether you'd be interested in hearing the opening themes for Megami Tensei Online and the Trauma Center games that Meguro composed.

Also, if you liked Lotus Juice and/or Yumi Kawamura in Persona 3, you may be interested to know they performed some songs for the Persona -trinity soul- anime. I particularly like Mellow Dream by Yumi Kawamura.

Oh, I forgot all about the Persona 3 Preorder Bonus CD I had. The first track is just a slightly longer Burn My Dread (not worth it if you have the full version from Burn My Dread -Reincarnation-) but the second track is P3_Heaven's Remix, a 13 minute medley/remix of Changing Seasons, Want To Be Close, When The Moon Reaching Out Stars and Kimi no Kioku.

I'll upload any of the above you'd like along with the SMTI&II tracks that were reused in Nocturne.


I haven't played any of the games,but a friend of mine has been trying to get me into them by introducing me to Yonemitsu. I haven't heard much of him yet,but I liked what I did hear. =)

I would recommend listening to the 3 Ys soundtracks I mentioned earlier. I especially recommend Ys VI: Ark of Napishtim but that's probably because I have more of a connection to the music of that game since I've played it whereas I haven't played the other two. Still though, I find that Ys VI is one of the very few soundtracks where every single track is an excellent one.

Shin Megami Tensei Sega Mega CD Sound? I did a search for that but I found very little information.
I'm not sure if it's an official OST or merely a Redbook rip,but it's pretty cool. Here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HDZ2K4PP
Got it from this thread:
Thread 53982

Since you only have the DDS1&2 Integral OST, I'm wondering whether you've heard the full version of Pray.
Yup.
Downloaded stand-alone DDS OSTs,cross-referenced all the tracks,confirmed that all of them except the full version of Prey are present on Integral,kept Pray,deleted the rest.

Since you don't have the following soundtracks, I'm wondering whether you'd be interested in hearing the opening themes for Megami Tensei Online and the Trauma Center games that Meguro composed.
I do have a couple of tracks from SMTNine (is that the one?),but not the intro.
As for Trauma Center,I have both the DS rip and the Wii rip of the first game. Was there an actual OST? Also,wasn't it Kenichi Tsuchiya who mostly composed for Trauma Center?

Also, if you liked Lotus Juice and/or Yumi Kawamura in Persona 3, you may be interested to know they performed some songs for the Persona -trinity soul- anime. I particularly like Mellow Dream by Yumi Kawamura.
Sweet,I'll check it out.
Is the anime any good,BTW? I heard it was pretty blah.

P3_Heaven's Remix, a 13 minute medley/remix of Changing Seasons, Want To Be Close, When The Moon Reaching Out Stars and Kimi no Kioku.
Yes plz. =)

Still though, I find that Ys VI is one of the very few soundtracks where every single track is an excellent one.
Nice! I know exactly what you mean.
For me,it's probably the Wild Arms 3 OST. I love every single track to bits. But that's probably just me,because the game gets a ton of hate for reasons beyond me.

Here's all the SMTI&II that I recognised were reused in Nocturne. I'm not thoroughly familar with the soundtracks so I could've missed one. I also included all the tracks you requested above.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=42Q4XKIH


I'm not sure if it's an official OST or merely a Redbook rip,but it's pretty cool. Here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HDZ2K4PP
Got it from this thread:
Thread 53982

This sounds like the SMT soundtrack but with enhanced synth. BTW, I seem to be missing track 1.


I do have a couple of tracks from SMTNine (is that the one?),but not the intro.

No, SMT NINE and MT Online Imagine are two different games with different composers. NINE was composed by Masaki Kurokawa and Online was mainly by Kenichi Yoshikawa and Tsukasa Masuko but the opening was by Meguro. I've included it in the rar file above.


As for Trauma Center,I have both the DS rip and the Wii rip of the first game. Was there an actual OST? Also,wasn't it Kenichi Tsuchiya who mostly composed for Trauma Center?

Meguro mainly composed Trauma Center: Under the Knife but there were a few contributions from Tsuchiya and Kenichi Kikkava. If you're familiar with Meguro's style it's easy to tell which tracks are his. Meguro entirely composed Trauma Center: Second Opinion. I'm not sure what you mean by the "Wii rip of the first game" so I've included the openings for both Under the Knife and Second Opinion in the rar.

Unfortunately, there never was an OST released for Under the Knife or Second Opinion. There was one for New Blood but Meguro had no involvement in that one.

BTW, the Under the Knife rip that is going around is incomplete but not quite in the way you may expect. Who ever recorded it only recorded one of the sound channels. I noticed it when I played the game and noticed extra instruments I didn't notice in the rip. I discovered that these instruments were only in one of the sound channels.


Sweet,I'll check it out.
Is the anime any good,BTW? I heard it was pretty blah.

I haven't seen it either but I've heard a lot of people complaining that it was boring and hardly went anywhere till the last few episodes. The soundtrack is mainly classically styled orchestra; although there are some pop, hip-hop, rock and techno elements, it is really different from Meguro's P3 and P4 soundtracks so just be aware of that.


Nice! I know exactly what you mean.
For me,it's probably the Wild Arms 3 OST. I love every single track to bits. But that's probably just me,because the game gets a ton of hate for reasons beyond me.

I've been meaning to check this series out, now you've given me extra incentive. How is the music for the rest of the series?

BTW, I have some free time now so I was wondering if you've gotten Burn My Dread -Reincarnation- yet? If not, I'll upload it for you.

And 21 days until the release of Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon. Can't wait to hear it especially after hearing the music from the trailers.

First of all,thank you very much for taking the time to find everything I asked.


This sounds like the SMT soundtrack but with enhanced synth.
Well,it is the Sega CD port of the first Shin Megaten game. =)

BTW, I seem to be missing track 1.
When you use the Sega CD to play Redbook audio off a disc,the first track is always nothing. So I guess this proves it is a rip after all.

I'm not sure what you mean by the "Wii rip of the first game".
Wasn't Under the Knife ported onto the Wii with enchanced graphics,CD-quality music and additional missions/character/difficulty? Isn't that what Second Opinion is? So that's it as far as the "first game" is concerned.

And the actual sequel (New Blood or whatever) to the original Trauma Center came out a couple of months ago,right?

Meguro mainly composed Trauma Center: Under the Knife but there were a few contributions from Tsuchiya and Kenichi Kikkava.
Gah,then my tags are all wrong.

BTW, the Under the Knife rip that is going around is incomplete but not quite in the way you may expect. Who ever recorded it only recorded one of the sound channels. I noticed it when I played the game and noticed extra instruments I didn't notice in the rip. I discovered that these instruments were only in one of the sound channels.
Now that you mention it,I definitely did notice that!
Good call.

I haven't seen it either but I've heard a lot of people complaining that it was boring and hardly went anywhere till the last few episodes. The soundtrack is mainly classically styled orchestra; although there are some pop, hip-hop, rock and techno elements, it is really different from Meguro's P3 and P4 soundtracks so just be aware of that.
I heard the first opening so far,and liked it lot,but I assume that the actual in-show music is nothing like that.

I've been meaning to check this series out, now you've given me extra incentive. How is the music for the rest of the series?
Michiko Naruke is one of my favorite composers of all time,so I say bloody amazing. I mean,maybe that's just me,because I love cheesy-to-the-point-where-it's-fucking-epic western music,but still. The OSTs for the first 3 games are composed entirely by her,but in later games they brought in a whole bunch of other composers,including Capcom's Masato Kouda,to emulate her style. She still writes an occasional track here and there,and you can always recognize her touch. I always lol'd at the fact that they seriously brought in 5+ different people to replace one woman.
Generally,people are most fond of the OST for the original Wild Arms game,but I say that her style and creativity reached an absolute apex in WA3. Goddamn,I love that game so much it makes me cry. The best 4 dollars I've ever spend.

BTW, I have some free time now so I was wondering if you've gotten Burn My Dread -Reincarnation- yet? If not, I'll upload it for you.Are you sure? You said it was Xbox hueg. If you don't mind,that would be great!

First of all,thank you very much for taking the time to find everything I asked.

Hey, no problem =) I'm grateful for the stuff you've uploaded for me too.


Well,it is the Sega CD port of the first Shin Megaten game. =)

The Super Famicom (SNES) and Sega CD were both 4th generation consoles so I'm surprised that they upgraded the sound for the Sega CD. Admittedly, I don't know anything about the sound processors of those systems though.


When you use the Sega CD to play Redbook audio off a disc,the first track is always nothing. So I guess this proves it is a rip after all.

Was it only Sega CD games that had Redbook Audio? I've only been a gamer since about 1997, my first consoles being the N64 and PS1, so I don't know much about earlier consoles.


Wasn't Under the Knife ported onto the Wii with enchanced graphics,CD-quality music and additional missions/character/difficulty? Isn't that what Second Opinion is? So that's it as far as the "first game" is concerned.

Ah, I see. I haven't actually played Second Opinion and I've only played a little bit of Under the Knife. I've listened to both their soundtracks and I guessed I should've realized the reason why the two games have alot of the same compositions. They both have different openings though as I'm sure you could tell from the tracks I put in the rar. Second Opinion also has some new tracks not in Under the Knife including Vulnerability which is an awesome arrangement of the opening.


And the actual sequel (New Blood or whatever) to the original Trauma Center came out a couple of months ago,right?

There were two Trauma Center games after Second Opinion, New Blood and Under the Knife 2. Under the Knife 2 was the one released a few months ago. I was terribly disappointed to hear once again Meguro wouldn't be composing but then was delighted to hear that Manabu Namiki would be the composer. I love the stuff I've heard from him in shooter games and arrange albums.


Gah,then my tags are all wrong.

Where did those wrong tags come from? Since there was no official soundtrack release, was it just somebody guessing wrongly? The rip I got had all the tracks with "Shoji Meguro, Kenichi Tsuchiya & Kenichi Kikkava" in the Artist tag.


Now that you mention it,I definitely did notice that!
Good call.

I'm going to try making a rip of the track Routine to demonstrate the missing instruments.


I heard the first opening so far,and liked it lot,but I assume that the actual in-show music is nothing like that.

Yeah, the openings and endings had nothing with the OST composer Taku Iwasaki apart from the final episode's Ending Song "Found Me" by Yumi Kawamura which he only composed (it was arranged by nishi-ken)

I forgot to mention earlier that the single of the first opening "Breakin' through" has as it's coupled track Shuuhei Kita's cover of Kimi no Kioku (also arranged by nishi-ken). As I said before, I haven't seen the anime but I heard that some tracks from Persona 3 were used in Trinity Soul but I don't know which and when.


Michiko Naruke is one of my favorite composers of all time,so I say bloody amazing. I mean,maybe that's just me,because I love cheesy-to-the-point-where-it's-fucking-epic western music,but still. The OSTs for the first 3 games are composed entirely by her,but in later games they brought in a whole bunch of other composers,including Capcom's Masato Kouda,to emulate her style. She still writes an occasional track here and there,and you can always recognize her touch. I always lol'd at the fact that they seriously brought in 5+ different people to replace one woman.
Generally,people are most fond of the OST for the original Wild Arms game,but I say that her style and creativity reached an absolute apex in WA3. Goddamn,I love that game so much it makes me cry. The best 4 dollars I've ever spend.

Good damn, you've made it sound absolutely awesome. I'll definitely be checking the series out now.


but in later games they brought in a whole bunch of other composers,including Capcom's Masato Kouda,to emulate her style. She still writes an occasional track here and there,and you can always recognize her touch. I always lol'd at the fact that they seriously brought in 5+ different people to replace one woman.

That kinda reminds me of the situation with the MGS series. Norihiko Hibino was responsible for the in-game music and additional cutscene music for MGS2 and MGS3 (whereas Harry Gregson-Williams did the majority of the cutscene music). Hibino only co-composed one cutscene track for MGS4 and he was replaced by Nobuko Toda, Shuichi Kobori, Kazuma Jinnouchi, Akihiro Honda, Sota Fujimori for the in-game music and Yoshitaka Suzuki and Takahiro Izutani for the additional cutscene music. I was pretty damn amused that it took seven people to replace Hibino.


Are you sure? You said it was Xbox hueg. If you don't mind,that would be great!

Yeah, the only object preventing me from doing so is the damn time it takes to upload. Since I have some free time I can spend it uploading it. *looks at estimated upload time* Holy crap, 2 hours?! As soon as it's finished I'll post it here.

The Super Famicom (SNES) and Sega CD were both 4th generation consoles so I'm surprised that they upgraded the sound for the Sega CD. Admittedly, I don't know anything about the sound processors of those systems though.
The way I understand it,the fact that it is a CD-based console allowed the composers to pretty much do anything they wanted. Live instruments,high quality sound - anything. Space wasn't an issue.

Was it only Sega CD games that had Redbook Audio? I've only been a gamer since about 1997, my first consoles being the N64 and PS1, so I don't know much about earlier consoles.
I'm not much of an expert on Redbook,but I think Saturn games also had it.

There were two Trauma Center games after Second Opinion, New Blood and Under the Knife 2. Under the Knife 2 was the one released a few months ago.
Wait,then what the hell is New Blood?

Where did those wrong tags come from? Since there was no official soundtrack release, was it just somebody guessing wrongly?
Yup.

The rip I got had all the tracks with "Shoji Meguro, Kenichi Tsuchiya & Kenichi Kikkava" in the Artist tag.
Mine just says "Kenichi Tsuchiya, Kenichi Kikkava",lol.

I'm going to try making a rip of the track Routine to demonstrate the missing instruments.
From an actual live DS? O_o Or are you emulating it? Either way,I want to know how are you going to do it. I have a bunch of DS games that need proper ripping.


Good damn, you've made it sound absolutely awesome. I'll definitely be checking the series out now.
I'm warning you,though,WA3 completely ruined me for pretty much every other JPRG out there (including the original WA game) because its Migrant System allows you to skip random encounters. After motherfucking Final Fantasy's bullshit encounter rates,here's no greater bliss than being warned about one three seconds in advance and,if your level is high enough,going "eh,fuck it,I don't feel like it." Especially when you're returning to explore low-level dungeons.

Hibino only co-composed one cutscene track for MGS4.
Noooooooooooooo~
I loev Hibino. ;_;

Oh well,at least there's AKASHI.


Yeah, the only object preventing me from doing so is the damn time it takes to upload. Since I have some free time I can spend it uploading it. *looks at estimated upload time* Holy crap, 2 hours?! As soon as it's finished I'll post it here.
Awesome!

Here's Burn My Dread -Reincarnation-!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JNXJAZ0U

I found it totally amazing that Meguro already managed to master so many arrangement styles; additional melodies to the track, extension of the original track, transformation of the original track into a different genre, enhanced instrumentation, etc, etc, etc.

I sure hope he will release an arrange album for P4!


The way I understand it,the fact that it is a CD-based console allowed the composers to pretty much do anything they wanted. Live instruments,high quality sound - anything. Space wasn't an issue.

Ah, I see so the Sega CD streamed music rather than sequenced it.


Wait,then what the hell is New Blood?

From what I understand from Wiki, New Blood is a stand-alone game with brand new characters


From an actual live DS? O_o Or are you emulating it? Either way,I want to know how are you going to do it. I have a bunch of DS games that need proper ripping.

I was emulating it. Heh, I only got the emulator for Trauma Center since I wanted to check it out but I didn't have the money for a DS. I do plan to get one though one day as I want to play FFIII, Ring of Fates, a bunch of other RPGs and of course Trauma Center.

My attempt to rip the music was unsuccessful. The emulator requires my full system resources to run even barely smoothly. When I try to run Goldwave at the same time, that uses system resources too and makes the music all choppy.

Anyway, you should be able to rip the music from a DS if you get a 3.5mm male jack to 3.5mm male jack cable (basically a cable with a headphone/microphone connector on both ends, dirt cheap from Amazon), connect one end to the headphone jack of the DS and the other end to the line-in/microphone jack of your computer then record in Goldwave. I've successfully managed this with my Game Boy Color and don't see any reason why it wouldn't work with the DS.


I'm warning you,though,WA3 completely ruined me for pretty much every other JPRG out there (including the original WA game) because its Migrant System allows you to skip random encounters. After motherfucking Final Fantasy's bullshit encounter rates,here's no greater bliss than being warned about one three seconds in advance and,if your level is high enough,going "eh,fuck it,I don't feel like it." Especially when you're returning to explore low-level dungeons.

Oh, don't worry about that with me. My first RPG, I foolishly constantly ran away from/evaded enemies and paid the consequences later in the late game bosses when I was 30 levels below. Now, I'm so paranoid about being low levelled that I fight every single enemy I come across in all my RPGs unless they give neglible EXP.


Noooooooooooooo~
I loev Hibino. ;_;

Oh well,at least there's AKASHI.

Wait a minute, have you not heard MGS4's OST yet? Where have you been?

As you love Hibino, I feel obliged to tell you about his other work (or at least the ones I have). He made an awesome arrangement on the Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange album, he composed the Elvandia Story soundtrack, did some work on the Zone of the Enders and Rumble Roses soundtracks. Also, he performed on Saxophone in the Hyper Game Music Event EXTRA concert alongside Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka.

Here's Burn My Dread -Reincarnation-!
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JNXJAZ0U

I found it totally amazing that Meguro already managed to master so many arrangement styles; additional melodies to the track, extension of the original track, transformation of the original track into a different genre, enhanced instrumentation, etc, etc, etc.

I sure hope he will release an arrange album for P4!
Thank you so much!

Ah, I see so the Sega CD streamed music rather than sequenced it.
Couldn't have said it better myself.

From what I understand from Wiki, New Blood is a stand-alone game with brand new characters.
So basically,a spin-off?

Anyway, you should be able to rip the music from a DS if you get a 3.5mm male jack to 3.5mm male jack cable (basically a cable with a headphone/microphone connector on both ends, dirt cheap from Amazon), connect one end to the headphone jack of the DS and the other end to the line-in/microphone jack of your computer then record in Goldwave.
Wait,you're RECORDING in Goldwave?

Huh.
I only use it for editing. Sounds like something I gotta try out for myself.
Thanks for the info on the cable I need.

Oh, don't worry about that with me. My first RPG, I foolishly constantly ran away from/evaded enemies and paid the consequences later in the late game bosses when I was 30 levels below. Now, I'm so paranoid about being low levelled that I fight every single enemy I come across in all my RPGs unless they give neglible EXP.
Pretty much,but sometimes,I don't feel like grindan,I just feel like finding a way out of the fucking maze,which I can't do if I'm getting jumped every two steps (fucking Vector Factory in FF6 is one of the worst offenders and makes me RAEG to this day). It's doubly annoying in a low-level area. WA3 gives you the option of avoiding all this bullshit,which I'm immensely thankful for.

Wait a minute, have you not heard MGS4's OST yet? Where have you been?
Well,it looks like I won't be able to get my hands on a PS3 for a long,long time,so I didn't really bother. I mean,I downloaded the OST,but didn't really give it a listen yet. Any good?

Zone of the Enders
This.
Love the series,love the music.

So basically,a spin-off?

From what I could tell from Wiki, yes. Apparently, some Under the Knife characters do make cameos.


Wait,you're RECORDING in Goldwave?

Huh.
I only use it for editing. Sounds like something I gotta try out for myself.
Thanks for the info on the cable I need.

Didn't I already said that I was in previous post?


Pretty much,but sometimes,I don't feel like grindan,I just feel like finding a way out of the fucking maze,which I can't do if I'm getting jumped every two steps (fucking Vector Factory in FF6 is one of the worst offenders and makes me RAEG to this day). It's doubly annoying in a low-level area. WA3 gives you the option of avoiding all this bullshit,which I'm immensely thankful for.

It's funny how you mention all this crap about insanely high encounter rates and maze like dungeons without mentioning Nocturne and DDS1&2. I swear in those games, I could not walk 5 steps without a random encounter and in Nocturne, you even get random encounters in towns! I think one time, I only walked literally one step then another random encounter. Particularly annoying as I had forgot to heal after the previous battle.


Well,it looks like I won't be able to get my hands on a PS3 for a long,long time,so I didn't really bother. I mean,I downloaded the OST,but didn't really give it a listen yet. Any good?

Ah, yes of course. I myself didn't get a PS3 until last Christmas because of the cost because of the damn cost.

Nobuko Toda, etc. made some good music that fits well in the game but I couldn't stop thinking "How would Hibino have done this?" I did feel that their compositions were less creative than Hibino and relied too much on repeated riffs. The music is still good though, Nobuko Toda's "Love Theme" is one of my favourites of the entire series especially due to the scene it plays in the final chapter of the game.

Yoshitaka Suzuki & Takahiro Izutani attempted to emulate HGW's style and I think they didn't do too bad a job. A couple of times when I heard a track played in the game I thought it was HGW's work but when checked the OST, it found it to be one of their works.

HGW was fantastic as always. For this game, he didn't just get brief descriptions of scenes as the only thing he had to work with (as with MGS2&3) but he got to see the actual scenes. The music better synchronises with the action on-screen as a result.

One thing that you have to be aware of though. Prior to the release of MGS4, somebody played to Hideo Kojima, an old Russian Composition that sounds shockingly similar to the MGS theme tune. Fearing being sued for plagiarism, Kojima then had the MGS tune removed from MGS4.

Also, there is a lot of unreleased music not on the OST but two people on these boards have been hard at work on ripping them (I think the topics are called MGS4 Game Recordings and MSG4 Expanded Score). Some of the music is reused/arranged from tracks in Metal Gear, Metal Gear 2, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops.


This.
Love the series,love the music.

I want to play the sequel but I can't find it in any stores and the ebay prices are ridiculous. =(

It's funny how you mention all this crap about insanely high encounter rates and maze like dungeons without mentioning Nocturne and DDS1&2. I swear in those games, I could not walk 5 steps without a random encounter and in Nocturne, you even get random encounters in towns! I think one time, I only walked literally one step then another random encounter. Particularly annoying as I had forgot to heal after the previous battle.
Ehhh...

First,there have been only a few occasions in Nocturne when I get out of one battle only to immediately walk right into the next one. That's usually a sign that you're in a bad neighborhood (entrance to the Ginza Underpass,lol) and need to GTFO immediately.

Second,Nocturne and DDS generally give you at least 5 seconds of breathing space between battles. Admittedly,not as gracious as the Shadow Hearts games,but that's at least something.

Third,unlike the FF games,SMT games tend to at least have some sort of encounter warning device.

Fourth,even before I bought my own copy,I kept hearing about how bullshit hard Nocturne was,so whatever cheap crap it was throwing at me,I was ready for it and just accepted it as a given.

Fifth,no matter how convoluted the dungeons were,Nocturne at least had the goddamn courtesy to give you a fucking map that was genuinely useful.

Sixth,there's items in Nocturne that temporarily decrease or increase encounter rates (pipes and shit). Thank god for those.

Finally,I haet the ATB system,because I like having the time to think during my battles,so I enjoyed Nocturne's battles a hell of a lot more.

So yeah. Call me biased.

As for random encounters in towns,the town monsters usually never give you any trouble. Besides,some towns have safe areas,so it's not too bad.

One thing that you have to be aware of though. Prior to the release of MGS4, somebody played to Hideo Kojima, an old Russian Composition that sounds shockingly similar to the MGS theme tune. Fearing being sued for plagiarism, Kojima then had the MGS tune removed from MGS4.
Oh yeah,I heard of this crap. I think Tappy actually admitted that he was inspired by Sviridov's work. It's still silly,though. Isn't there a statute of limitations on this shit?

I want to play the sequel but I can't find it in any stores and the ebay prices are ridiculous. =(
Heh,I picked up mine for 9$,because the store that had it had no idea what the fuck they were selling. Then a month later,I see them everywhere for 25$ and up. The game's still pretty common,though,just expensive.

And by god,find it. I'd say its in the top 10 of the best PS2 action games ever. It improves upon the original in so many ways,it's not even funny.

Ehhh...

First,there have been only a few occasions in Nocturne when I get out of one battle only to immediately walk right into the next one. That's usually a sign that you're in a bad neighborhood (entrance to the Ginza Underpass,lol) and need to GTFO immediately.

Second,Nocturne and DDS generally give you at least 5 seconds of breathing space between battles. Admittedly,not as gracious as the Shadow Hearts games,but that's at least something.

Third,unlike the FF games,SMT games tend to at least have some sort of encounter warning device.

Fourth,even before I bought my own copy,I kept hearing about how bullshit hard Nocturne was,so whatever cheap crap it was throwing at me,I was ready for it and just accepted it as a given.

Fifth,no matter how convoluted the dungeons were,Nocturne at least had the goddamn courtesy to give you a fucking map that was genuinely useful.

Sixth,there's items in Nocturne that temporarily decrease or increase encounter rates (pipes and shit). Thank god for those.

Finally,I haet the ATB system,because I like having the time to think during my battles,so I enjoyed Nocturne's battles a hell of a lot more.

So yeah. Call me biased.

As for random encounters in towns,the town monsters usually never give you any trouble. Besides,some towns have safe areas,so it's not too bad.

Well, either you were very lucky or I was very unlucky but I found the encounter rates to be insanely high. Never has a game made me so nervous, I was constantly on edge as enemies were constantly able to really take it out of my party, I didn't have many healing items and save points were few and far apart in long dungeons. Enemies give a pathetic amount of money, healing items and even the healing points cost lots of money so I couldn't rely on them too much. If anyone died, it cost an insane amount of money to revive them so I was forced to reset if anyone did, which happened often. Not to mention that the confuse status causes you to occasionally LOSE MONEY. When you level up you only got ONE status point to add. I was often going around with my party at less than 25% HP with very few healing items left so even in towns a relatively simple enemy was a threat. The encounter warning thing was helpful but I found that it wasn't entirely reliable, sometimes you would get an encounter on yellow, sometimes it would jump straight from blue to red. Although did give you a map, it only covered areas that you have already walked upon, I have a knack for drumming a mental map into my head so this was pretty much useless to me. And the items that decrease encounter rate DON'T WORK IF YOU'RE A LOWER LEVEL THAN THE ENEMIES (which is often in dungeons, at least for me).

Nocturne's difficulty curve was insanely steep. Thankfully, DDS1&2 were more balanced. Enemies gave a decent amount of money, you could sell Solar Cells and Plants for even more money (especially during Full Solar Phases), healing items and healing points cost reasonable amounts of money too, you didn't forget skills permanently if you swapped them for another, if you raised your party's mantras properly you would always have a party capable of handling any enemy immediately rather than having to screw around with fusion for hours just to get one demon with a particular skill that it was resistant to inheriting, DDS1&2's encounter rate was slightly lower, if only the main character was killed it wasn't an instant game over too. The game was still very challenging but I never almost lost the motivation to play as did several times during Nocturne.

As for the rest of the Megaten games I played, Devil Summoner RKvsTSS had the money and encounter rate issues but the enemies were so easy (aside from two bosses) it wasn't really a problem. P3 had enemies visible on the screen so you could choose when and if to battle and Tartarus had tons of sellable items in it so money wasn't an issue. AND you were fully healed after returning to the entrance so you didn't have to worry about costly healing points.

I'm not really bothered one way or another about the ATB system. I usually always make my battle command decisions within 5 seconds anyway. Even in games like FFX, Shadow Hearts II & FTNW and the Xenosaga series where the next 5 or so turns are shown, I usually take a brief assessment of my next few actions, I don't hang around making full scale military operation battle plans.


Oh yeah,I heard of this crap. I think Tappy actually admitted that he was inspired by Sviridov's work. It's still silly,though. Isn't there a statute of limitations on this shit?

I don't think it's silly at all and despite how much I love the MGS theme, Kojima was 100% right to pull the theme from the game. Yes, it is already a well established theme in the series and nobody actually sued Konami, but plagiarism is plagiarism. Besides, if the theme were never pulled, we wouldn't have heard the awesome Old Snake and Metal Gear Saga themes.


Heh,I picked up mine for 9$,because the store that had it had no idea what the fuck they were selling. Then a month later,I see them everywhere for 25$ and up. The game's still pretty common,though,just expensive.

It's certainly not common over here. In town, there's an insane number of video game stores all over but not one of them sell it.


And by god,find it. I'd say its in the top 10 of the best PS2 action games ever. It improves upon the original in so many ways,it's not even funny.

I have played a demo of ZOE2 and I did think it was awesome. Without revealing any spoilers, does the plot leave any room for a sequel?

The official Devil Summoner RKvsKA website has some new videos up, they show a new jazzy blues number during demon negotiation and the Tsukudo-cho theme has been totally jazzed up. After hearing this and the second trailer, it sounds like Meguro is using the same compositions but kicking the arrangements into overdrive. Since the two games take place in the same town (screenshots and trailers show areas that are completely unchanged from the first game), I suppose this makes sense.

Well, either you were very lucky or I was very unlucky but I found the encounter rates to be insanely high.
_ _
\(O_o)/

Personally,I though they were pretty high,but nowhere near as fucking ridiculous as in the FF games. Maybe Lucifer's Call is different from Nocturne in that regard. Are you sure you weren't playing on Hard,lol?

Enemies give a pathetic amount of money, healing items and even the healing points cost lots of money so I couldn't rely on them too much.
Well,I have to admit that I was doing a lot of grindan because I made it a point to have my demons fully-leveled before I fuse them. That's why money wasn't really an issue,except when it came to high-level fusions.
And were the resurrections and the healings really that expensive? After a certain point in the game that ceases to be an issue,I think. Plus,thank god for not having to waste money on equipment.

Not to mention that the confuse status causes you to occasionally LOSE MONEY.
Eh,you don't lose that much. 600 macca,I think,was the most I ever did.
Besides,that's why you cast Confuse status on enemies to make them drop money. Yes,stats ailment spells and buffs can and will save your fucking life numerous times in this game,unlike in every single RPG out there. Conversely,not immediately treating them when they are cast on you is a one-way ticket to Death Central. That was the number one lesson I learned.

I was often going around with my party at less than 25% HP with very few healing items left so even in towns a relatively simple enemy was a threat.
I prefer abusing the shit out the characters that have healing spells before resorting to actual items.

The encounter warning thing was helpful but I found that it wasn't entirely reliable, sometimes you would get an encounter on yellow, sometimes it would jump straight from blue to red.
Again,that's a sign that you've wandered into the Danger Zone. And still,at least it gives you an approximate idea if you're about to get jumped. Other games don't even do that.

Although did give you a map, it only covered areas that you have already walked upon, I have a knack for drumming a mental map into my head so this was pretty much useless to me.
No human being alive can keep all of that shit in their head once the maps start to get even a bit complicated. Trying to get through the subway tunnel dungeons without using the map is fucking impossible.
And again,FF games don't even give you that (VECTOR FACTORY FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF).

Nocturne's difficulty curve was insanely steep.
Well,it was definitely tougher than most JRPGs out there. But I honestly didn't find it all that impossibly hard. Here's why.

1) GRIND. You have to do it,otherwise you won't survive.

2) Again,this is an SMT game,which are renowned for their ridiculous difficulty.

3) What I already said about status ailments.

4) GRIND.

5) Don't get cocky. The second you get overconfident and start dicking around is the second you fucking die horribly. This is the number two lesson one learns from playing SMT games.

6) Pick your team well. The right team can be an extra crucial spell that is the difference between walking into a fiend and having him immediately rape you and kicking his ass without taking pretty much any damage at all. The first fiend in the game taught me that.

7) Play it safe. When there's a choice between launching an offensive and healing yourself,FUCKING HEAL.

8) Have I mentioned grind?

So yeah,other than the times when I get fucking instakilled out of nowhere,it wasn't too bad.

You didn't forget skills permanently if you swapped them for another.
I agree,that was fucking dumb.

If you raised your party's mantras properly you would always have a party capable of handling any enemy immediately rather than having to screw around with fusion for hours just to get one demon with a particular skill that it was resistant to inheriting.
I wish I could say the same about Nocturne's Magatamas,but there's a set of optimal skills that your future Hitoshura should have by the end of the game,so once you acquire those,that doesn't leave a lot of spells you can experiment with.
Also,the mantras are so fucking ridiculously expensive,it's almost like a joke.

I usually take a brief assessment of my next few actions, I don't hang around making full scale military operation battle plans.
I kind of tend to. XD Besides,Nocturne pretty much forces you to. One mistake - and you're brown bread.

Without revealing any spoilers, does the plot leave any room for a sequel?
Eeeehhh,I guess..? They pretty much tie all the loose ends of that particular story together,but the ZOE universe is still ripe for other stories. See ZOE:Fist of Mars.

The official Devil Summoner RKvsKA website has some new videos up, they show a new jazzy blues number during demon negotiation and the Tsukudo-cho theme has been totally jazzed up. After hearing this and the second trailer, it sounds like Meguro is using the same compositions but kicking the arrangements into overdrive. Since the two games take place in the same town (screenshots and trailers show areas that are completely unchanged from the first game), I suppose this makes sense.
Are they planning to release it overseas? They damn well better.

_ _
\(O_o)/

Personally,I though they were pretty high,but nowhere near as fucking ridiculous as in the FF games.

The encounter rate was fairly high in the early games but in the later ones, I could run over several screens before the next encounter hit. Particularly annoying when I was grinding and there was no encounter rate increase ability/item. This meant I was often runnning around in circles for about 30 seconds.


Maybe Lucifer's Call is different from Nocturne in that regard. Are you sure you weren't playing on Hard,lol?

I'm absolutely certain. I had read several reviews of the game before playing, all expressing stating the difficulty so I kept in mind not to play on hard.

Also, Ghostlight is only a small company. They only convert the games to PAL and don't alter anything in the gameplay.


Well,I have to admit that I was doing a lot of grindan because I made it a point to have my demons fully-leveled before I fuse them. That's why money wasn't really an issue,except when it came to high-level fusions.

I suppose this is where my problems may have stemmed from. I have a habit of tending to just level up everyone with the natural progression of the game and rarely stopping to level up except before the final dungeon.


And were the resurrections and the healings really that expensive? After a certain point in the game that ceases to be an issue,I think.

I remember several times I was virtually bankrupted by having to revive a demon. But yeah, as you get deeper into the game, enemies give more money and there are the item cubes start giving a fair bit of money too.


Plus,thank god for not having to waste money on equipment.

LOL, considering how the developers probably thought, equipment in the game would have either caused them to increase the game's difficulty or the equipment would be virtually no help at all.


Eh,you don't lose that much. 600 macca,I think,was the most I ever did.

Wow, again I say either you must have been very lucky or I was very unlucky. I remember losing 23,000 Macca once.


Besides,that's why you cast Confuse status on enemies to make them drop money.

!!!!!!! Damn, I really could have done with that tip when I was playing the game. It wasn't in any of the FAQs or message boards that I read.


Yes,stats ailment spells and buffs can and will save your fucking life numerous times in this game,unlike in every single RPG out there. Conversely,not immediately treating them when they are cast on you is a one-way ticket to Death Central. That was the number one lesson I learned.

Although, it is true that they're unnecessary in a lot of RPGS, I wouldn't say that Nocturne was the only game where you NEED to cast buffs and debuffs. I remember in Skies of Arcadia and .hack game series, boss battles where the boss' special attack would certainly kill you unless you had buffed your defence (or were at least 30 levels above the level you were supposed to be) and there were some bosses with recovery abilities that would make them impossible to beat unless you buffed your attack.


I prefer abusing the shit out the characters that have healing spells before resorting to actual items.

I did do that myself but I found that they would quickly run out of MP, even those I didn't use in battle. MP items were too rare so you have to then heal with items or recover HP and MP at a recovery point which would usually be miles away from the place where your recovery characters typically ran out of MP.


Again,that's a sign that you've wandered into the Danger Zone. And still,at least it gives you an approximate idea if you're about to get jumped. Other games don't even do that.

You shouldn't just assume other games don't do it. Off the top of my head, I remember the Atelier and Ar tonelico games doing it too and Unlimited Saga warned you about how relatively dangerous a step in any direction was. And of course, there's all the games where the enemies appear on the field screen.


No human being alive can keep all of that shit in their head once the maps start to get even a bit complicated. Trying to get through the subway tunnel dungeons without using the map is fucking impossible.
And again,FF games don't even give you that (VECTOR FACTORY FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF).

Just because you couldn't do it, doesn't mean it's impossible. The key is to remember and familiarise yourself with landmarks, the curves of corridors, the locations of doors. Remember what the start and ends of each passage look like so you'll know immediately if you've been there before. Believe it or not, no two corridors look the same (except in games with randomly generated dungeons of course). With 3/4 view games like FFVI, remember the shapes of the passages too. I know what I'm about to say sounds stupid but seriously I once remembered a particular arrangement of passages and rooms because they were shaped like a penis. The more ridiculous it is, the easier it is to remember. Once you're used to it, you don't even do it consciously anymore.


Well,it was definitely tougher than most JRPGs out there. But I honestly didn't find it all that impossibly hard. Here's why.

1) GRIND. You have to do it,otherwise you won't survive.

2) Again,this is an SMT game,which are renowned for their ridiculous difficulty.

3) What I already said about status ailments.

4) GRIND.

5) Don't get cocky. The second you get overconfident and start dicking around is the second you fucking die horribly. This is the number two lesson one learns from playing SMT games.

6) Pick your team well. The right team can be an extra crucial spell that is the difference between walking into a fiend and having him immediately rape you and kicking his ass without taking pretty much any damage at all. The first fiend in the game taught me that.

7) Play it safe. When there's a choice between launching an offensive and healing yourself,FUCKING HEAL.

8) Have I mentioned grind?

Well, thank you for the tips but they were quite unnecessary. I've been through seven Megaten games now and even by the end of Nocturne I was coping much better, as I progressed through the game I adapted to the game's quirks and did learn some of the things you pointed out plus a few of my own. It was a complete nightmare at the start though as they threw you straight into the deep end. The difficulty curve was virtually a vertical line. I think now with my experience of Megaten games, I would do much better.


So yeah,other than the times when I get fucking instakilled out of nowhere,it wasn't too bad.

Well, I'm happy for you. I'm glad you were able to cope much better with the game than I did. (In case it sounds like I'm being sarcastic, I'm not. I'm being geunine.)


I wish I could say the same about Nocturne's Magatamas,but there's a set of optimal skills that your future Hitoshura should have by the end of the game,so once you acquire those,that doesn't leave a lot of spells you can experiment with.

Actually, I've heard there's more than one set of optimal skills depending upon what type of build you want for the main character. You can just give him the best of a particular set of skills and any weaknesses in the build can be covered by his demons. I've heard about one guy who gave the main character nothing but buffs, debuffs and healing whilst his demons did all the offense.


Also,the mantras are so fucking ridiculously expensive,it's almost like a joke.

The very advanced ones are, sure, but most of them aren't really if you stick to the implied mantra path of each character and don't jump to advanced ones too soon. Money isn't really a problem, the game's enemies and item cubes give you a reasonable amount of cash and if you properly sell the solar cells and plants at the correct solar phase, you can get an insane amount of cash.


I kind of tend to. XD Besides,Nocturne pretty much forces you to. One mistake - and you're brown bread.

Brown bread isn't really the correct analogy to use here since it's good for your health. I assume you meant toast? But I digress, yes, one mistake does tend to often mean game over in Nocturne.


Eeeehhh,I guess..? They pretty much tie all the loose ends of that particular story together,but the ZOE universe is still ripe for other stories. See ZOE:Fist of Mars.

That's a GBA game isn't it? I don't have a GBA so I won't immediately get to it. It is a rich addition to the series' storyline in the same way that MGS Portable Ops was to the MGS series?

I just remembered in an interview Kojima was asked if ZOE3 was in the works but only said it was "quite near the priority list".


Are they planning to release it overseas? They damn well better.

No official announcement has been made by Atlus USA (They're still busy with P4 at the moment, this is the fastest they've ever localised a Megaten game). Considering how large the Western Megaten fanbase has become in recent years though, it's extremely likely that they will. I recommend that you finish RKvsTSS before then though, it's seems to be a direct sequel: same world, same town, same main character, same supporting characters. It's very likely that the events of the first game will be referenced.

Not everything is the same though. The gameplay mechanics giving the main character more varied attacks and evasive manoeuvres, the ability to now summon two demons in battle, demon negotiation replacing the button hammering system and the ability to change into different characters. The new masked villains look interesting but I'm doubtful they could surpass the surprise of the first game's final boss.

I certainly hope that they keep or improve the demon personalities of the first game. The demons in RKvsTSS, were quite chatty with the main character, calling him "dear", "bro", "sonny" or "boss" and always commenting during battles, some making sarcastic/mocking snipes at his mistakes, some praising him for exploiting weaknesses and being audibly upset upon their death or the main character's. They had quite quirky personalities too, the older demons would complain about their bad back, the sexy female demons would offer the main character massages, some of them would offer the main characters items like a grandmother giving her grandson sweets, the cute, smaller demons would act and talk like human children, the humanoid warrior demons would have a friendly rivalry with the main character, trying to outdo him in combat skills. That was one of the things I particularly loved about the game, although the majority of the demons had no plot relevance, they had fleshed out personalities and relationships with the main character. The localisation team did a stellar job retaining all of this in the English version.

I suppose this is where my problems may have stemmed from. I have a habit of tending to just level up everyone with the natural progression of the game and rarely stopping to level up except before the final dungeon.
lolno
You HAVE to grind in Nocturne. Not as much an in the Nippon Ichi games,but it's very much advised.

Wow, again I say either you must have been very lucky or I was very unlucky. I remember losing 23,000 Macca once.
Jesus christ almighty. O_O

See,this is why you have to treat status ailments as soon as possible.

I remember in the Abyss in WA3 there's a monster that can steal your money.
Like,half of it. If it does,you have one turn to kill his ass and get that money back,or he'll run away like a little bitch. I lost like 1200000 Gella like that once. ;_; That's a fuckton of cash.

Then,I've theorized that the trick is actually to let him steal it,then toss an item on him that doubles the money collected from a monster and THEN kill him. Thay way,you get the million or whatever he stole from you X 2. Theoretically. =)

!!!!!!! Damn, I really could have done with that tip when I was playing the game. It wasn't in any of the FAQs or message boards that I read.
It's not much; the most I've seen a monster drop was maybe a bit over 1000 Macca,but still.

Although, it is true that they're unnecessary in a lot of RPGS, I wouldn't say that Nocturne was the only game where you NEED to cast buffs and debuffs. I remember in Skies of Arcadia and .hack game series, boss battles where the boss' special attack would certainly kill you unless you had buffed your defence (or were at least 30 levels above the level you were supposed to be) and there were some bosses with recovery abilities that would make them impossible to beat unless you buffed your attack.
If you want to beat the myriad of secret bosses in the WA games,you pretty much have to use every buff in the book. Shadow Hearts games also occasionally forced you to get pretty creative with support spells,especially FtNW and its stock management.

This is exactly what makes Nocturne so awesome,though. There practically are no useless spells. Sure,some of them become obsolete later in the game,but it's not like the typical RPGs where you have 9000+ spells,but you only ever actually use "SmallTacticalNuke" or "EverybodyDies +3".

I did do that myself but I found that they would quickly run out of MP, even those I didn't use in battle. MP items were too rare so you have to then heal with items or recover HP and MP at a recovery point which would usually be miles away from the place where your recovery characters typically ran out of MP.
Sometimes I hire a random,I dunno,Queen Mab or something and just keep her in the stock. She doesn't participate in battles,and the only thing I actually do with her is whore out her MP to heal all of the chums in my actual party. =)

Unlimited Saga
!
I kept hearing so much about how terrible it was that I just knew I had to see it for myself. It's sitting on my shelf right now,untouched.

Any good at all?

The key is to remember and familiarise yourself with landmarks, the curves of corridors, the locations of doors.
There are no landmarks because EVERYTHING LOOKS THE SAME.

Once you're used to it, you don't even do it consciously anymore.
That's a pretty cool skill to have,actually.

Usually,when things start getting ridiculous,I just resort to whipping out pen and paper and actually drawing this shit up myself,just like in the good old days without GameFAQs.

But of course,when there's an in-game map,I'm thankful for it. It should seriously be common courtesy by now.

The difficulty curve was virtually a vertical line.
lol

Actually, I've heard there's more than one set of optimal skills depending upon what type of build you want for the main character. You can just give him the best of a particular set of skills and any weaknesses in the build can be covered by his demons. I've heard about one guy who gave the main character nothing but buffs, debuffs and healing whilst his demons did all the offense.
I mean,just by pure logic,any Hitoshura is pretty much required by law to have Pierce,Gaea Rage and Freikugel by the end of the game. Not having them is like shooting yourself in the kneecaps. Next up,he's pretty much required to have a healing spell,unless you're completely suicidal. And finally,he really should have some sort of elemental spell so that he can occasionally attack without sacrificing hideous amounts of his own HP. That leaves what,three spots? Personally,I <3 Nulls,so I go for those plus some other random shit.

Props to the buffs and debuffs guy. Seriously. Because that's pretty...wow.

Brown bread isn't really the correct analogy to use here since it's good for your health. I assume you meant toast? But I digress, yes, one mistake does tend to often mean game over in Nocturne.
That was a botched attempt at an AVGN reference. =)

It is a rich addition to the series' storyline in the same way that MGS Portable Ops was to the MGS series?
Actually,from what I heard,the Portable Ops storyline was kinda... not so good.

Anyway,ZOE:Fist of Mars has quite possibly the best dialogues,the most lovable and the same time realistic characters and the best characterization I've ever seen in a JRPG so far. The music is also great.

On the flipside,literally 80% of the game is spent READING. The battle system looks cool and is indeed quite original,if only a certain feature (which can be turned off,but is on by default) wasn't fucking abusable to the point where with a little bit of practice you can avoid every single attack thrown at you.

If you don't mind all that,definitely give it a shot. It's dirt-cheap here. I see them here all the time,often still in the original packaging,and it makes me want to cry. Nobody wants it. ;_;

Now,as far as the "addition" part is concerned... All in all,it's pretty much completely unrelated to ZOE1-2,though,of course,it does take place in the same universe. BAHRAM's mentioned once or twice,though. Oh,and wait until the credits roll for a very MGS-like "MISTAH PREZIDENT WHAT A TWEEST",which includes another reference to the original dilogy.

I just remembered in an interview Kojima was asked if ZOE3 was in the works but only said it was "quite near the priority list".


I recommend that you finish RKvsTSS before then though, it's seems to be a direct sequel: same world, same town, same main character, same supporting characters. It's very likely that the events of the first game will be referenced.
Yeah,I better get onto that.

I certainly hope that they keep or improve the demon personalities of the first game. The demons in RKvsTSS, were quite chatty with the main character, calling him "dear", "bro", "sonny" or "boss" and always commenting during battles, some making sarcastic/mocking snipes at his mistakes, some praising him for exploiting weaknesses and being audibly upset upon their death or the main character's. They had quite quirky personalities too, the older demons would complain about their bad back, the sexy female demons would offer the main character massages, some of them would offer the main characters items like a grandmother giving her grandson sweets, the cute, smaller demons would act and talk like human children, the humanoid warrior demons would have a friendly rivalry with the main character, trying to outdo him in combat skills. That was one of the things I particularly loved about the game, although the majority of the demons had no plot relevance, they had fleshed out personalities and relationships with the main character. The localisation team did a stellar job retaining all of this in the English version.
Oh god,you made the game sound absolutely adorable.

That was one of those small things I loved in Nocturne,too. Sexy female demons flirting with you,huge onis acting all gangsta up in your face,fiercely loyal demons acting knight-like and speaking in ye olde English and,of course,"Hee-ho!"

I'll definitely be picking it up now.

Shadow Hearts games also occasionally forced you to get pretty creative with support spells,especially FtNW and its stock management.

You sure about that? I don't remember ever using a single buff in the Shadow Hearts games apart from Koudelka where I had to increase attack otherwise the battles would be ridiculously long. The rest of the games I managed just fine without them. The only bosses which I may have needed them for were the bosses who instantly removed all your buffs as soon as you cast them.


Sometimes I hire a random,I dunno,Queen Mab or something and just keep her in the stock. She doesn't participate in battles,and the only thing I actually do with her is whore out her MP to heal all of the chums in my actual party. =)

That is what I did but my party was losing so much HP, that her MP soon ran dry.


!
I kept hearing so much about how terrible it was that I just knew I had to see it for myself. It's sitting on my shelf right now,untouched.

Any good at all?

Unlimited Saga is the most horribly misunderstood game ever. People look down on the 2D graphics, board-game style dungeon navigation and "complex" gameplay mechanics when they don't understand what the developers were trying to achieve. The storytelling method of character portraits against static painted backgrounds was intended to help create to feel of a novel, where your imagination filled in the gaps, every player would come up with their own personal interpretations rather than have everything put on a plate for you or having the developers interpretation forced upon you. The developers felt that nowadays that RPGs have deviated too far from their "role playing" roots and just become interactive movies with increasingly less control of your character's personality and actions.

The battle, synthesis and skills system are looked as ridiculous, overly complex but if these people would just spend a few minutes studying how it all works, it's really quite intuitive and you'll marvel at how well the developers put it together. A lot of people who hate this game are the time of RPG players who are satisfied by just repeatedly hitting attack or spamming the most powerful attacks.

The reel system is looked as pointless and random, which it is actually isn't, if you let it spin a few times, you see the same pattern repeats and by remembering it, it's becomes easier to get your desired result. Some people are just too lazy to wait a few seconds.

The board game style navigation is looked as laziness by the developers. The developers wanted to create an experience similar to the old board game RPGs, again wanting the players to use their imaginations. The reel system helped with the old school board game feel of the game too. You have evaluate every action you take, strategize, think. You have to check for traps along the way, check how dangerous each path is, even treasure chests take effort to open. You need to check what type of trap is set, defuse them and unlock them. And you could be attacked by an enemy in the meanwhile, leaving you to evaluate how much the treasure is worth it.

If you give it a chance, to study how things work and to appreciate the storytelling and atmosphere of the game, it is one of the most refreshingly different games out there. This most definitely not a game for lazy gamers.


There are no landmarks because EVERYTHING LOOKS THE SAME.

FALSE. As I said before, although they may look similar no two corridors are the same. There are things like pipes, guardrails, waterways, windows, NPC locations. It doesn't even have to be objects, the shape and arrangement of corridors, the length of a particular stairway, size of a door, wall and floor patterns, the sounds made can indicate if you're getting closer or further from your objective .


That's a pretty cool skill to have,actually.

It really is a great benefit to me not just in video games but in real life. I never get lost in new places since I familiarise myself with my surroundings.


I mean,just by pure logic,any Hitoshura is pretty much required by law to have Pierce,Gaea Rage and Freikugel by the end of the game. Not having them is like shooting yourself in the kneecaps. Next up,he's pretty much required to have a healing spell,unless you're completely suicidal. And finally,he really should have some sort of elemental spell so that he can occasionally attack without sacrificing hideous amounts of his own HP. That leaves what,three spots? Personally,I <3 Nulls,so I go for those plus some other random shit.

Props to the buffs and debuffs guy. Seriously. Because that's pretty...wow.

The way you talk, it sounds like you consider demons to be useless. Do you think the game is actually impossible if you just make your main character a white mage and just have your demons focus on the offense? You can have a pure offensive character too whilst your demons focus on healing and buffing. There are plenty of skills that demons learn that the main character never learns too. It's not necessary and in some cases detrimental to load up your characters with every type of spell. It can be better to just assign roles to everyone rather than just making them all jack-of-all-trades, master of none.


Actually,from what I heard,the Portable Ops storyline was kinda... not so good.

You heard wrong. The Portable Ops storyline is a vital part of the storyline and is referenced in MGS4. The game further develops the formation of the Patriots and Big Boss' relation with Zero, Ocelot, EVA, Gray Fox and Roy Campbell as well as explaining where he got the idea for Outer Heaven.


Anyway,ZOE:Fist of Mars has quite possibly the best dialogues,the most lovable and the same time realistic characters and the best characterization I've ever seen in a JRPG so far. The music is also great.

Sounds fantastic. The soundtrack was never released though, is it reused from the PS2 games? If it isn't, have you done any work on the rip?


On the flipside,literally 80% of the game is spent READING. The battle system looks cool and is indeed quite original,if only a certain feature (which can be turned off,but is on by default) wasn't fucking abusable to the point where with a little bit of practice you can avoid every single attack thrown at you.

If you don't mind all that,definitely give it a shot. It's dirt-cheap here. I see them here all the time,often still in the original packaging,and it makes me want to cry. Nobody wants it. ;_;

I don't mind reading at all. I've played and thoroughly enjoyed games which are virtually 100% reading. The most important aspects of a game to me are the plot and the music.


Now,as far as the "addition" part is concerned... All in all,it's pretty much completely unrelated to ZOE1-2,though,of course,it does take place in the same universe. BAHRAM's mentioned once or twice,though. Oh,and wait until the credits roll for a very MGS-like "MISTAH PREZIDENT WHAT A TWEEST",which includes another reference to the original dilogy.

By addition, I don't necessarily just mean relation to ZOE1&2 but filling in the detail of the ZOE universe.


Oh god,you made the game sound absolutely adorable.

That was one of those small things I loved in Nocturne,too. Sexy female demons flirting with you,huge onis acting all gangsta up in your face,fiercely loyal demons acting knight-like and speaking in ye olde English and,of course,"Hee-ho!"

I'll definitely be picking it up now.

It's done much better in RKvsTSS. In Nocturne, demons rarely talked to you after you recruited them and demon conversations were limited to NPCs and enemies. RKvsTSS had all your recruited demons engaging in conversations I mentioned in my previous post. The more you battle with them, heal them, perform unison attacks with them, etc. the more their affection meter goes up. This actually serves a gameplay purpose too as only full affection demons will allow you to fuse them with other demons or to your sword.

I don't remember ever using a single buff in the Shadow Hearts games apart from Koudelka where I had to increase attack otherwise the battles would be ridiculously long. The rest of the games I managed just fine without them. The only bosses which I may have needed them for were the bosses who instantly removed all your buffs as soon as you cast them.
Well,you don't necessarily have to,they just help you a lot. Especially in FtNW goddamn. o_o The Jounin at the end of Frank's Momonga sidequest? I beat him by the skin of my teeth,and I would've never done that without the buffs,especially Haste or whatever. That old bastard was ridiculous. And I already mentioned how much trouble Malice Unbral turned out to be. Without support spells,it's practically unbeatable.

Unlimited Saga is the most horribly misunderstood game ever. People look down on the 2D graphics, board-game style dungeon navigation and "complex" gameplay mechanics when they don't understand what the developers were trying to achieve. The storytelling method of character portraits against static painted backgrounds was intended to help create to feel of a novel, where your imagination filled in the gaps, every player would come up with their own personal interpretations rather than have everything put on a plate for you or having the developers interpretation forced upon you. The developers felt that nowadays that RPGs have deviated too far from their "role playing" roots and just become interactive movies with increasingly less control of your character's personality and actions.

The battle, synthesis and skills system are looked as ridiculous, overly complex but if these people would just spend a few minutes studying how it all works, it's really quite intuitive and you'll marvel at how well the developers put it together. A lot of people who hate this game are the time of RPG players who are satisfied by just repeatedly hitting attack or spamming the most powerful attacks.

The reel system is looked as pointless and random, which it is actually isn't, if you let it spin a few times, you see the same pattern repeats and by remembering it, it's becomes easier to get your desired result. Some people are just too lazy to wait a few seconds.

The board game style navigation is looked as laziness by the developers. The developers wanted to create an experience similar to the old board game RPGs, again wanting the players to use their imaginations. The reel system helped with the old school board game feel of the game too. You have evaluate every action you take, strategize, think. You have to check for traps along the way, check how dangerous each path is, even treasure chests take effort to open. You need to check what type of trap is set, defuse them and unlock them. And you could be attacked by an enemy in the meanwhile, leaving you to evaluate how much the treasure is worth it.

If you give it a chance, to study how things work and to appreciate the storytelling and atmosphere of the game, it is one of the most refreshingly different games out there. This most definitely not a game for lazy gamers.
THANK YOU.

It's probably gonna sound stupid,but I'm a huge sucker for misunderstood. In most franchises I've played,my most favorite is often one of the most shunned entries in the series. Favorite Resident Evil? RE3:Nemesis,no doubt. Favorite Golden Axe? GAIII,which for some utterly inexplicable reason gets a terrible reputation for... being in pretty much every way superior to GA and GAII? o_o Fuck,I don't know. Favorite Road Rash? RR3,and nobody EVER seems to remember it in favor of RR2.

Three is the magical number for some reason,lol.

So yeah,thanks to you I'll definitely be giving it a shot.

It really is a great benefit to me not just in video games but in real life. I never get lost in new places since I familiarise myself with my surroundings.
Ah.
See,I'm geographically retarded on a local scale. =) In a new place,it takes me quite a while to learn my way around.

The way you talk, it sounds like you consider demons to be useless.
Far from it,demons provide absolutely essential support. You can't solo Nocturne,it's unpossible. =)

Do you think the game is actually impossible if you just make your main character a white mage and just have your demons focus on the offense?
In Nocturne? Yeah,it sounds a bit implausible.

Hitoshura has the potential to access three of the most ripshit ridicilous Attack skills in the entire game,and not using them is,again,like shooting yourself in the kneecaps. He's supposed to be a fucking universe-killing demon lord,for god's sakes,so I feel that crippling him like that is almost disrespectful and insulting,in a way. =) I mean,I guess you can try,for lulz,I just kinda don't see the point.

You can have a pure offensive character too whilst your demons focus on healing and buffing. There are plenty of skills that demons learn that the main character never learns too. It's not necessary and in some cases detrimental to load up your characters with every type of spell. It can be better to just assign roles to everyone rather than just making them all jack-of-all-trades, master of none.
Precisely.
In my case,Nulls just make him untouchable to ailment bullshits,which further cements his status as an unstoppable crotch-stomping murder machine. A healing spell is just basic precaution. Otherwise,my Hitoshura is pure offense,the main hitting power of the party lies with him. That's the role he was pretty much born to play,anyway. Feels weird resigning him to anything else.

That's just my personal take on it,though.

The soundtrack was never released though, is it reused from the PS2 games? If it isn't, have you done any work on the rip?
Nope,all brand new.

Here's the rip,check it out:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KJS9U7TH

The most important aspects of a game to me are the plot and the music.
I think I love you.

I also tend to add "art style" to the list,though. Bland and overly generic art can be a big turn off.

Well,you don't necessarily have to,they just help you a lot. Especially in FtNW goddamn. o_o The Jounin at the end of Frank's Momonga sidequest? I beat him by the skin of my teeth,and I would've never done that without the buffs,especially Haste or whatever. That old bastard was ridiculous. And I already mentioned how much trouble Malice Unbral turned out to be. Without support spells,it's practically unbeatable.

O_o I managed to beat him on the first go. He wasn't easy, sure but nowhere as impossible as you made it out to be. Maybe you were underprepared? And you can't use support skills against Malice Unbral since Lady immediately uses Lost Progress to remove them. If it's unbeatable without them as you claim, then no-one must've beaten the game!


THANK YOU.

It's probably gonna sound stupid,but I'm a huge sucker for misunderstood. In most franchises I've played,my most favorite is often one of the most shunned entries in the series. Favorite Resident Evil? RE3:Nemesis,no doubt. Favorite Golden Axe? GAIII,which for some utterly inexplicable reason gets a terrible reputation for... being in pretty much every way superior to GA and GAII? o_o Fuck,I don't know. Favorite Road Rash? RR3,and nobody EVER seems to remember it in favor of RR2.

Three is the magical number for some reason,lol.

So yeah,thanks to you I'll definitely be giving it a shot.

Glad to hear it, too many people are just so unwillingly to try out the game or give up on it in half an hour. It's a real underappreciated classic.


Far from it,demons provide absolutely essential support. You can't solo Nocturne,it's unpossible. =)

It's not impossible, actually, even on hard mode! Check out this guy's videos on Youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/user/megaten84


In Nocturne? Yeah,it sounds a bit implausible.

Hitoshura has the potential to access three of the most ripshit ridicilous Attack skills in the entire game,and not using them is,again,like shooting yourself in the kneecaps. He's supposed to be a fucking universe-killing demon lord,for god's sakes,so I feel that crippling him like that is almost disrespectful and insulting,in a way. =) I mean,I guess you can try,for lulz,I just kinda don't see the point.

Nulls just make him untouchable to ailment bullshits,which further cements his status as an unstoppable crotch-stomping murder machine. A healing spell is just basic precaution. Otherwise,my Hitoshura is pure offense,the main hitting power of the party lies with him. That's the role he was pretty much born to play,anyway. Feels weird resigning him to anything else.


I don't really see it as crippling him or shooting yourself in the kneecaps, really since there are demons with some very powerful skills some of which that the main character can never learn. Sure not as powerful as Gaia Rage and Freikrugel, but powerful and more than enough to help you greatly during virtually all boss battles. The only problem is that such skills require demons that require a lot of work and time to fuse.

And you know, I think you missed the entire idea of the main character. He's mute, you can choose his decisions, his stats and skills so he has no pre-defined character and he is what you make him, totally free form. He doesn't have to be a "universe-killing demon lord" if you don't want him to be and in some of the endings he isn't.


Nope,all brand new.

Here's the rip,check it out:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=KJS9U7TH

Thanks, do you know who is/are the composer(s)? And did you make this rip?


I think I love you.

I also tend to add "art style" to the list,though. Bland and overly generic art can be a big turn off.

Er... thanks, I guess. Too many gamers are just "kill kill kill!" action junkies and don't appreciate things like the plot and music enough. I certainly do and I think that is best demonstrated by the fact I've played and enjoyed novel games.

I've recently began to appreciate the artwork in games more and I've got artbooks for Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts II, Shadow Hearts FTNW, Persona 3, Atelier Iris and Ar tonelico.

And you can't use support skills against Malice Unbral since Lady immediately uses Lost Progress to remove them. If it's unbeatable without them as you claim, then no-one must've beaten the game!
Johnny's Vacuum Cleaner is technically a support spell. =P I never really ever used it before,but Unbral pretty much forces you to.

It's not impossible, actually, even on hard mode! Check out this guy's videos on Youtube!
http://www.youtube.com/user/megaten84
Oh wow,he's not Japanese! The ones who usually do all this crazy shit are elevens.

I don't really see it as crippling him or shooting yourself in the kneecaps, really since there are demons with some very powerful skills some of which that the main character can never learn. Sure not as powerful as Gaia Rage and Freikrugel, but powerful and more than enough to help you greatly during virtually all boss battles. The only problem is that such skills require demons that require a lot of work and time to fuse.

And you know, I think you missed the entire idea of the main character. He's mute, you can choose his decisions, his stats and skills so he has no pre-defined character and he is what you make him, totally free form. He doesn't have to be a "universe-killing demon lord" if you don't want him to be and in some of the endings he isn't.
To tell you the truth,I'm not too heavy on customization. Never was. That's why I'm not a fan of PCRPG-style games where you can customize your characters up the ass (Jagged Alliance being the notable exception). Once I assign a role to a character,my mind is pretty much made up. I'm sure that if I replayed the game,my Hitoshura would turn out exactly the same. =)

What influenced my decision the most was the main character's actual balls-out Hitoshura form in DDS,so I just tried to copy it the best I could. Again,it just feels like the appropriate thing to do. =) Gaea Rage,Pierce and Freikugel are pretty much his signature abilties and some of the most powerful skills in the game. I don't see the point of not learning them when you have an opportunity to,especially considering that you only get that opportunity once.

Thanks, do you know who is/are the composer(s)?
Says it's Tatsuya Fujiwara and Susumu Nakamura. I don't think I ever heard anything else written by them.

And did you make this rip?
Nope. As far as GBA rips are concerned,this one is actually pretty damn good,but one day I want to give it a shot myself to see if I can achieve higher quality sound.

Johnny's Vacuum Cleaner is technically a support spell. =P I never really ever used it before,but Unbral pretty much forces you to.

Ah, I see. By support skills I assumed you meant buffs and debuffs. And yeah, you really do need to keep removing Unbral's stock since a Double Combo WILL wipe out your party.

If you're powerful enough though, have the best equipment and have the luck to get your characters in the correct order, you can defeat Unbral in one 4 person Double Combo at the very start of the battle with Melt Crest, Shining Zepyhr, Sun Flare, Dual React, Ether Purge and the best skills of your other most powerful characters. Johnny NEEDS to go last though, Ether Purge is the most powerful skill in the entire series (even For the Child) and the damage bonus you'll get from it will be insane.


Oh wow,he's not Japanese! The ones who usually do all this crazy shit are elevens.

I quite often see English gamers post up topics about speed runs, solo runs, low level runs, initial equipment runs etc. I don't think it's mainly the Japanese.


To tell you the truth,I'm not too heavy on customization. Never was. That's why I'm not a fan of PCRPG-style games where you can customize your characters up the ass (Jagged Alliance being the notable exception). Once I assign a role to a character,my mind is pretty much made up. I'm sure that if I replayed the game,my Hitoshura would turn out exactly the same. =)

I like customisation and anything else that allows the player to form their own decisions and path in the game. I think it's better if a game doesn't force its own main character and story upon you. In some games like that, I was really against the main character's actions and their feelings were seriously flawed but I couldn't do anything about it. And there are times where I really like a certain character but their skill set makes them almost useless in battle and there is no customisation to allow you to improve them.

Also, games where you shape the main characters actions, feelings and abilities leading to multiple outcomes and so on offer so much more replay value.


Says it's Tatsuya Fujiwara and Susumu Nakamura. I don't think I ever heard anything else written by them.

I'm surprised to see none of the ZOE or ZOE2 composers there. I particularly wanted to see Hibino and Kirioka.

I did a little research on them. Fujiwara mainly composes for TV dramas and movies and I couldn't find anything on Nakamura. Neither on them are on VGMDB. Seeing how comprehensive VGMDB is, I suppose this means neither of them have done any other VGM work.


Nope. As far as GBA rips are concerned,this one is actually pretty damn good,but one day I want to give it a shot myself to see if I can achieve higher quality sound.

Let me know if you get around to it. =)

Whoa. Have't been here for a while. Nice to see you both got a lot out of this topic. Me? I just grabbed the music and retreated back to the rock beneath which I live, har-dee-har. Anyways.

I'd forgotten to ask this before, but does the music that plays when you fight the Demi-Fiend in Digital Devil Saga appear on any SMT soundtrack? Or any soundtrack at all? I know it's not on Integral but haven't really checked out many of the tracks from Nocturne. I tend to listen as I play, and I'm not that far into the game yet, so I only know a few of the tracks.

Also, out of curiosity, have you heard either of the Baroque soundtracks? I absolutely love the game (part of the reason why I haven't progressed much in Nocturne, heheh), but it's garnered a lot of hate. Either way, I the music is some of the best I've heard, particularly the original soundtrack.

That is, the game was first released on PS and Sega Saturn with a soundtrack composed mainly by Masaharu Iwata. When the game was re-released for the PS2 and Wii, it had a completely new soundtrack, this one by Shiegki Hayashi. Just incase you weren't aware.

Though I love both of the soundtracks, I think the original PS-SS version has an undeniable charm--it's very ambient and haunting and, thusly, really stands out with a unique sound. This isn't really the point of the topic, but whatever. 8] I just want to share this awesome soundtrack with as many people as possible.

Here's a few of my favourites (from the original-release soundtrack, not the newer one):
Great Heat 20320514 (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=c-t52hBOMYc)
Little (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=idyZn8J_LL4&feature=related)
Hold Baroque Inside (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iGTORUsD32E&feature=related)
One (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2-R97Bvm4qA&feature=PlayList&p=962D56DCA0BB6EA0&playnext=1&index=10)

The rest of the tracks are there, too, but I could easily upload them for download. And the main reason why I thought this up is because part of the Great Heat track reminded me somewhat of Meguro's style. Maybe that's just me, though.


cprpost, rawhaw

Whoa. Have't been here for a while. Nice to see you both got a lot out of this topic. Me? I just grabbed the music and retreated back to the rock beneath which I live, har-dee-har. Anyways.

It's great to post in this topic again, I don't know why NucleaRaptor suddenly stopped posting, I hope he wasn't in an accident or something.


I'd forgotten to ask this before, but does the music that plays when you fight the Demi-Fiend in Digital Devil Saga appear on any SMT soundtrack? Or any soundtrack at all? I know it's not on Integral but haven't really checked out many of the tracks from Nocturne. I tend to listen as I play, and I'm not that far into the game yet, so I only know a few of the tracks.

That track would be the Normal Battle theme of Nocturne. Or least the OST version, the game itself has six different versions with a different guitar solo.


Also, out of curiosity, have you heard either of the Baroque soundtracks? I absolutely love the game (part of the reason why I haven't progressed much in Nocturne, heheh), but it's garnered a lot of hate. Either way, I the music is some of the best I've heard, particularly the original soundtrack.

That is, the game was first released on PS and Sega Saturn with a soundtrack composed mainly by Masaharu Iwata. When the game was re-released for the PS2 and Wii, it had a completely new soundtrack, this one by Shiegki Hayashi. Just incase you weren't aware.

Though I love both of the soundtracks, I think the original PS-SS version has an undeniable charm--it's very ambient and haunting and, thusly, really stands out with a unique sound. This isn't really the point of the topic, but whatever. 8] I just want to share this awesome soundtrack with as many people as possible.

Here's a few of my favourites (from the original-release soundtrack, not the newer one):
Great Heat 20320514 (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=c-t52hBOMYc)
Little (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=idyZn8J_LL4&feature=related)
Hold Baroque Inside (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iGTORUsD32E&feature=related)
One (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2-R97Bvm4qA&feature=PlayList&p=962D56DCA0BB6EA0&playnext=1&index=10)

The rest of the tracks are there, too, but I could easily upload them for download. And the main reason why I thought this up is because part of the Great Heat track reminded me somewhat of Meguro's style. Maybe that's just me, though.


cprpost, rawhaw

I have not heard this soundtrack before but I will be certainly checking it out on your recommendation! Especially since Iwata is involved, I felt he did the best tracks on the FFXII soundtrack.

It's great to post in this topic again, I don't know why NucleaRaptor suddenly stopped posting, I hope he wasn't in an accident or something.
Hey,don't bury me just yet! =)

Well,we kinda ran out of things to talk about. Christmas is approaching,though,so as soon as I finally get around to finishing Wild Arms 2,I plan on treating myself to Raidou Kuzunoha. Then I'll be able to share my impressions with you guys.

It's great to see this thread get revived,though. Keep it up.

Hey,don't bury me just yet! =)

Well,we kinda ran out of things to talk about. Christmas is approaching,though,so as soon as I finally get around to finishing Wild Arms 2,I plan on treating myself to Raidou Kuzunoha. Then I'll be able to share my impressions with you guys.

It's great to see this thread get revived,though. Keep it up.

You really think so? I thought I had left some conversation threads in my last post and wondered why you weren't continuing them. And you never checked into this topic to see if I got round to recording the Nocturne dungeon themes and when Raidou Kuzunoha 2 came out.

And you never checked into this topic to see if I got round to recording the Nocturne dungeon themes.
Oh yeah,how is that going?

Sorry I can't assist you with this right now,shit happened at home,so I'm kinda bumming at my friend's place. Typing this on his computer nao.

Raidou Kuzunoha 2
Wait,it's out?

Or do you mean in Japan? Have you gotten a chance to play it yet?

Besides,I can't really afford it at the mo. Being the resident MKfag,I blew my paycheck on the MkvsDC Kollector's Edition,so I'm kinda broke. =) The original Raidou Kuzunoha is next on my priority list,though.

That track would be the Normal Battle theme of Nocturne. Or least the OST version, the game itself has six different versions with a different guitar solo.

...so it is. Geez, how did I not notice that?

I swear my intelligence and observational skills are declining by the minute.


Christmas is approaching,though,so as soon as I finally get around to finishing Wild Arms 2,I plan on treating myself to Raidou Kuzunoha. Then I'll be able to share my impressions with you guys.

I blew my paycheck on the MkvsDC Kollector's Edition,so I'm kinda broke. The original Raidou Kuzunoha is next on my priority list,though.

Sounds good.
At least you've got a job though. I really need to get off my lazy butt and find somewhere to work. It's not like it'd be too much of a problem either, since I'm only at college three days a week.

Alas, my list of games-I-want continues to expand rather regularly whereas my bank account remains quite empty. Still, at least I have enough to play in the meantime.

hey everyone

just getting back to the actual topic at hand with the special sound CD track list
could someone tell me which game each of the songs are from, mainly Whisper of a Tree (though listening to it I'll guess SH2)

wow I remember when this topic was still on the first page, where does time fly

Oh yeah,how is that going?

I've done them all except the limited time open dungeons that I don't have a save to get back to like the Amala Network (not the Labyrinth of Amala). Also, the ambient non-melodic nature of the "music" made it kinda hard to identify loop points in them, I have under or over recorded some tracks


Sorry I can't assist you with this right now,shit happened at home,so I'm kinda bumming at my friend's place. Typing this on his computer nao.

That's a DAMN shame. Was this a recent thing?


Wait,it's out?

Or do you mean in Japan? Have you gotten a chance to play it yet?

Did you completely forget? I said that the OST for Raidou Kuzunoha 2 was only coming with the Japanese game and that's what particularly relevant to this topic.


just getting back to the actual topic at hand with the special sound CD track list
could someone tell me which game each of the songs are from, mainly Whisper of a Tree (though listening to it I'll guess SH2)

Most of the tracks are from the Director's Cut of SHII which was never released in the West, well that's not entirely true. The English version of SHII was released in between the original Japanese and Director's cut versions so some things like Ladder to Heaven which weren't in the original Japanese game are in the English version.

1. ICARO -acoustic arrangement- (Exactly the same as the one from the FTNW OST, not technically in the game, a guitar only version, which we recorded earlier in the topic was used instead)
2. Lady Theme -piano arrangement- (Not in the game but hints of Lady's theme are interspersed throughout the entire FTNW OST most obviously in the Lady Tears tracks)
3. Ladder to Heaven (Battle against various special bosses in SHII like Veronica, Saki, Hien and Raiden)
4. Fatal Convulsion (Berserk version of the above track)
5. Trap of a Flying Cushion (BGM of the Otherworld track where "Baby head" sends you to, not in the English version)
6. Whisper of a Tree (BGM of Southhampton, not in the English version)
7. Hermitage Palace (Self explanatory, not in the English version)
8. The Last Alternatives (BGM SHII's Final Dungeon, The Vessel, not in the English version, Deep in Coma was used in the original)
9. n.d.e. / near death experience -Prototype- (Prototype version of Europe battle theme from SHI, not in the game)

5. Trap of a Flying Cushion (BGM of the Otherworld track where "Baby head" sends you to, not in the English version)

I'm pretty certain that this one is in the English version of the game; I remember it being there during my most recent playthrough and thinking, "Hey, this isn't on the soundtrack. Gawddamnit...". Then again, that must be about two years ago now. I wouldn't be surprised if my memory failed me--yet again. Not that it really matters or anything.


could someone tell me which game each of the songs are from, mainly Whisper of a Tree (though listening to it I'll guess SH2)

To add onto what Yatta said, I believe the rest of the tracks are the victory lines for each of the characters from both Covenant and FTNW. Personally I don't think they're nearly as interesting as the music tracks, however. That may have something to do with the fact that I know sod-all about Japanese, though, heheh.

Some translations would be nice, but I haven't found any so far.

I'm pretty certain that this one is in the English version of the game; I remember it being there during my most recent playthrough and thinking, "Hey, this isn't on the soundtrack. Gawddamnit...". Then again, that must be about two years ago now. I wouldn't be surprised if my memory failed me--yet again. Not that it really matters or anything.

I'm afraid your memory has failed you. I am absolutely certain that In The Darkness Of a Labyrinth was used for both times Baby Face sent you into the Otherworld and to confirm it, I found two YouTube videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsumA1UO6b8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2A4h8NABkA

These are both the English version of the game and as you can clearly hear, In The Darkness Of a Labyrinth is played during both.


To add onto what Yatta said, I believe the rest of the tracks are the victory lines for each of the characters from both Covenant and FTNW. Personally I don't think they're nearly as interesting as the music tracks, however. That may have something to do with the fact that I know sod-all about Japanese, though, heheh.

Some translations would be nice, but I haven't found any so far.

Oh yes, I forgot about those, since I didn't bother ripping those. Even if you do understand Japanese, they're not really worth the disc space.

And I believe that, the English versions of SH II and FNTW were both pretty accurately translated, so these Japanese victory lines should be pretty close to the English. It was only the first Shadow Hearts game that was translated by the same group who translated the Pokemon anime that suffered from a bit of dodgy translation.

I've done them all except the limited time open dungeons that I don't have a save to get back to like the Amala Network (not the Labyrinth of Amala).
What else is there besides the Amala Network? I can only really think of anything except maybe the pre-Conception Shinjuku Hospital and the pre-Kagutsuchi Obelisk. Maybe the fucked-up upside-down Kabukicho Prison.

Also, the ambient non-melodic nature of the "music" made it kinda hard to identify loop points in them, I have under or over recorded some tracks.
Awesome!
If you upload what you have,I can try to help you sort these out. That's the least I can do.

That's a DAMN shame. Was this a recent thing?
Eh,it's not that big of a deal. This was bound to happen sooner or later; just being at home has been getting more and more troublesome. I've been staying here for like a month now,and it's been great.
Thanks for the concern,though.

Did you completely forget? I said that the OST for Raidou Kuzunoha 2 was only coming with the Japanese game and that's what particularly relevant to this topic.
Yeah,I remember you mentioning something like that.

So,Raidou Kuzunoha 2 is the Abaddon King? And it comes with the OST?
Chances are,though,that it's just a sampler,like the one that came with Nocturne and DDS. I guess it'll do for now,until the complete OST is out.

At least you've got a job though. I really need to get off my lazy butt and find somewhere to work. It's not like it'd be too much of a problem either, since I'm only at college three days a week.
LOL,that was more of a freelance gig. Now I'll need to find some job for the duration of the winter break,otherwise I'm screwed.

To add onto what Yatta said, I believe the rest of the tracks are the victory lines for each of the characters from both Covenant and FTNW. Personally I don't think they're nearly as interesting as the music tracks, however. That may have something to do with the fact that I know sod-all about Japanese, though, heheh.
Oh,that's what the fuck they were?
I was wondering about that,because for some reason Winamp refuses to play them.

What else is there besides the Amala Network? I can only really think of anything except maybe the pre-Conception Shinjuku Hospital and the pre-Kagutsuchi Obelisk. Maybe the fucked-up upside-down Kabukicho Prison.

Several dungeons had blocked off areas that I could no longer access (like Kabukicho that you mentioned) so I couldn't tell if those areas had variations. I don't remember which dungeons they were exactly and I really have no motivation to go through them all again.


Awesome!
If you upload what you have,I can try to help you sort these out. That's the least I can do.

Sure thing, I'll upload them as soon as I can but there's quite a few of them and I have a bit of personal stuff on ATM, so it may be a few days.


Eh,it's not that big of a deal. This was bound to happen sooner or later; just being at home has been getting more and more troublesome. I've been staying here for like a month now,and it's been great.
Thanks for the concern,though.

Well, to be honest, I was actually saying that for rather selfish reasons, as you said that your current situation prevented you from assisting me.


Yeah,I remember you mentioning something like that.

So,Raidou Kuzunoha 2 is the Abaddon King? And it comes with the OST?
Chances are,though,that it's just a sampler,like the one that came with Nocturne and DDS. I guess it'll do for now,until the complete OST is out.

Yes, I am just calling it Raidou Kuzunoha 2 instead of the stupidly long title that I won't bother to type out here.

It's not a sampler actually. Here's the situation, Raidou Kuzunoha 2 reuses a HELL of a lot of music from Raidou Kuzunoha 1 and the CD that came with the game, actually does contain all of the newly composed music for the game as confirmed on an Atlus blog. They also confirmed that there were no plans for a separate soundtrack release.

Several dungeons had blocked off areas that I could no longer access (like Kabukicho that you mentioned) so I couldn't tell if those areas had variations. I don't remember which dungeons they were exactly and I really have no motivation to go through them all again.
Well,since I do intend to eventually replay Nocturne,I'll be on the lookout for those. I just need your rips for reference as to what we already have.

Well, to be honest, I was actually saying that for rather selfish reasons, as you said that your current situation prevented you from assisting me.
I should be able to get back in the ripping game by the winter break,so don't worry. =)

It's not a sampler actually. Here's the situation, Raidou Kuzunoha 2 reuses a HELL of a lot of music from Raidou Kuzunoha 1 and the CD that came with the game, actually does contain all of the newly composed music for the game as confirmed on an Atlus blog. They also confirmed that there were no plans for a separate soundtrack release.
Gotcha.
Rehashing the music is kind of a shame,but at the same time we get what's pretty much the OST earlier.
Anyways,has anybody uploaded it yet?

Well,since I do intend to eventually replay Nocturne,I'll be on the lookout for those. I just need your rips for reference as to what we already have.

Would you mind telling me which ones I already uploaded, I think I already uploaded the Tower of Kagutsuchi tracks, I can't remember if I uploaded others.


I should be able to get back in the ripping game by the winter break,so don't worry. =)

GREAT TO HEAR!


Gotcha.
Rehashing the music is kind of a shame,but at the same time we get what's pretty much the OST earlier.
Anyways,has anybody uploaded it yet?

Uploaded by LOKFantic on GameFAQs.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K0W78E3X

Let me know what your opinions of it are, especially as compared to the original Raidou Kuzunoha.

I'm afraid your memory has failed you.

Haha, I'm not surprised.
I've not played SH2 in at least two years--I think it may be three or something, actually. I dunno. I think I actually like it the least out of the three games. Or four, if you include Koudelka. The original (and Koudelka) are pure brilliance, and the third is all nice and colourful and goofy, which I personally don't see often enough in games. The second... eh, while I still like it, I think I may have actually enjoyed it more if Nicholai was the main character, as was originally intended. The concept would have been more interesting, I think.

Or maybe, since I haven't played it in so long, I'm just forgetting how much I actually do like it. Butyeah. I'm just rambling now.


LOL,that was more of a freelance gig. Now I'll need to find some job for the duration of the winter break,otherwise I'm screwed.

Well, better some money than no money, I guess.
...my, I'm certainly being optimistic for some reason.


Let me know what your opinions of it are, especially as compared to the original Raidou Kuzunoha.

Will do, once I get some time for a good listen.
I don't normally get music for games I don't have, but since I figure I'll eventually get all the SMT games (the ones that are easily available to me, anyway), I'll get this whilst I still can.

Would you mind telling me which ones I already uploaded, I think I already uploaded the Tower of Kagutsuchi tracks, I can't remember if I uploaded others.
As far as actual dungeons are concerned,I only have the Tower of Kagutsuchi tracks so far.

Uploaded by LOKFantic on GameFAQs.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K0W78E3X

Let me know what your opinions of it are, especially as compared to the original Raidou Kuzunoha.
Awesome! Thanks a ton.
I'll try to grab it tomorrow.

The original (and Koudelka) are pure brilliance.
How is Koudelka anyway? I have my own copy,haven't touched it yet,but it seems like the general consensus is "not so good".

I don't normally get music for games I don't have.
Same here,but lately I've been making a lot of exceptions for that rule,mostly for the composers/series I already know and love.

How is Koudelka anyway? I have my own copy,haven't touched it yet,but it seems like the general consensus is "not so good".

Me, I think it's one of the best games I've ever played. The atmosphere is phenomenal and often had me on the edge of my seat, despite the fact that I knew I wasn't going to be mauled by some horrific monster around the corner, and instead I'd get a random battle. That may just be me though.

It's a lot darker than Shadow Hearts, I'd say. Whereas you get some pretty grim parts in SH, it also has regular areas and some light-hearted moments, whereas Koudelka is pretty gritty all the way through. Personally, I think I enjoyed Koudelka more the first time because I'd played SH beforehand, but similarly I think I'd have enjoyed SH more if I had played Koudelka first.

It's quite a short game and doesn't really have much in the way of replayability, and though there are three (I think) different endings, you could most likely get all three of them if you knew what to do and when with a single save file. Still, what it does have is solid gold. All of the characters are believable and the story is very interesting--it's about a few select people as opposed to the entire world, like most other RPGs.

The battle system, I thought, was really good too. Each character has customisable attributes and you can give any one of them any weapon--but weapons do break if you use them too much, and a ranged weapons do require ammunition. That sort of thing puts a lot of people off. Combined with the grid-based movement, I think Koudelka pulled off the whole survival theme well, even in a battle. It's refreshing and feels a lot more personal and thus emotional than your generic plots.

Out if battle plays like a generic survivial horror, with 3D characters on pre-rendered backgrounds (am I the only one who misses these?).

One other thing I will mention--this game has loads of boss battles (since each save point is guarded by a boss, so a lot of them aren't even relevent to the story). They aren't particularly more difficult or longer than those in other games, but it just amused me a little the first time I played through.

I suppose the only real way to know is play the game yourself. Just in case it doesn't tkae your fancy, though, I wouldn't bother playing it until you're finished up with anything else that needs doing (whether it's games or whatever).

Here are the Nocturne dungeon themes: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LPBUV8HO


The second... eh, while I still like it, I think I may have actually enjoyed it more if Nicholai was the main character, as was originally intended. The concept would have been more interesting, I think.

Actually that was never the original plan, those trailers featuring Nicholai as the main character were designed to fool us into thinking that Shadow Hearts II wouldn't be a direct continuation and Yuri wouldn't be the main character again. Then they had someone who could be Yuri make a brief appearance at the very end to totally screw with our minds.


How is Koudelka anyway? I have my own copy,haven't touched it yet,but it seems like the general consensus is "not so good".

I totally agree with everything RhubarbNinja said. Don't listen to the "general consensus", those were made by people who misunderstood what the developers were trying to do and didn't give the game a chance.

Actually that was never the original plan, those trailers featuring Nicholai as the main character were designed to fool us into thinking that Shadow Hearts II wouldn't be a direct continuation and Yuri wouldn't be the main character again. Then they had someone who could be Yuri make a brief appearance at the very end to totally screw with our minds.
Oh,so they went all MGS2 Raiden on us,huh? Not that Yuri is in any way similar to Raiden.
Awesome. =)

I totally agree with everything RhubarbNinja said. Don't listen to the "general consensus", those were made by people who misunderstood what the developers were trying to do and didn't give the game a chance.
I already got the game out of pure curiosity (not to mention its relevance as a part of the SH series),so yeah. Thanks,guys,I'll definitely be giving it a shot.

Just in case it doesn't tkae your fancy, though, I wouldn't bother playing it until you're finished up with anything else that needs doing (whether it's games or whatever).
I usually try not to play more than one game at a time.

Here are the Nocturne dungeon themes: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LPBUV8HO
DOWNLOADING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT JESUS CHRIST

Actually that was never the original plan, those trailers featuring Nicholai as the main character were designed to fool us into thinking that Shadow Hearts II wouldn't be a direct continuation and Yuri wouldn't be the main character again. Then they had someone who could be Yuri make a brief appearance at the very end to totally screw with our minds.

Well, now I'm even more disappointed. =C
Heheh. Kiddin'.

I guess I'm gonna replay it again sometime anyway, after I finish all the other stuff that needs playing. Which is quite a lot, really. I always bite off way more than I can chew.


I usually try not to play more than one game at a time.

Same here. At the moment this is really hard for me, though, since I have Baroque, Nocturne and now Evil Twin, which I just bought yesterday, all waiting to be played. And since I'll probably be getting Viewitful Joe 2 from my brother for Christmas, I'll need to finally finish the first one of that, too.
I'm gonna focus on Nocturne, though, since I've technically finished Baroque, as painful as its alluring taunts are.

I usually try not to play more than one game at a time.

Normally I would agree with this but Koudelka is such a short game you could probably get away with it there. However, if you feel that you really can't pay sufficient attention to both, then of course stop.


DOWNLOADING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT JESUS CHRIST

Such enthusiasm for tracks that really aren't that great.


I'm gonna focus on Nocturne, though, since I've technically finished Baroque, as painful as its alluring taunts are.

Since you're currently playing Nocturne could you check if there are any dungeon themes that don't appear in that rar I uploaded (aside from ones on the OST and Tower of Kagutsuchi ones)?

Since you're currently playing Nocturne could you check if there are any dungeon themes that don't appear in that rar I uploaded (aside from ones on the OST and Tower of Kagutsuchi ones)?

Sure, I'll keep my ears open.

Since you're currently playing Nocturne could you check if there are any dungeon themes that don't appear in that rar I uploaded (aside from ones on the OST and Tower of Kagutsuchi ones)?


Sure, I'll keep my ears open.

Well, though I've not actually finished Nocturne yet, I'm pretty sure you've gotten all of the missing tracks. Which is great, since I've been enjoying listening to the game's music properly. Still not listened to the Raidou Kuzunoha 2 OST yet, though.

Nocturne is so dern fun, now that I've actually gotten into it properly (having racked up about forty hours since my last post, at which time I only had about eight). Now I'm looking forward to other SMT games all the more.

EDIT:
Okay. So I finished Nocturne (quite a while ago actually) and I'm now 99% sure you've gotten all of the tracks.

Sorry for triple posting--and I most likely could request this elsewhere on this site--but would it be possible for either one of you to upload the Nocturne Maniacs OST? I keep getting some of the tracks not on the regular OST stuck in my head but keet forgetting I don't actually have it. Play-Asia has it pretty cheap, though, so I may just get it from there eventually (as I want to do with most of the soundtracks I have).

I'm also posting here mainly because I want this topic to stay alive. Not for any real reason. I just like to affirm my existence in this way, hoo-harhar.

I also mentioned the Baroque OSTs earlier. I may upload them if anyone's interested in return for all of the other wonderful tracks thsi thread's garnered me.

Oh I'm so sorry, I never noticed your penultimate post.

Thanks very much for confirming we now have every single track from Nocturne.

Have you given the Raidou 2 OST a listen yet? I was really hoping to know what you thought too.

Sure, I'll upload it but it takes me quite a few hours just to upload one OST so are there any tracks that you don't care about?

And sure I'm interested in the Baroque OSTs.

RhubarbNinja,here's the Maniacs OST:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PMHUAKHT

As for the Raidou 2 OST,I haven't listened to all the tracks so far,but I really like what I hear. The remixes of Tsukudo-cho and the Kuzunoha Agency are great. My favorite so far is probably The Summoner of Tsukigata,especially those first few ominous accords before the horn kicks in.

Can I ask why you haven't listened to the entire soundtrack yet? It's been more than a month and it isn't even 50 minutes long far shorter than most other VGM OSTs out there.

Sorry,just getting distracted all the time. =)

Pff.... and you call yourself a Meguro fan.....

j/k I know how it is having a ton of distractions in your life.

Thanks very much for confirming we now have every single track from Nocturne.

No problem.


Have you given the Raidou 2 OST a listen yet? I was really hoping to know what you thought too.

Not good enough to know any of the tracks off-by-heart, but enough to form an opinion, I suppose. And since I've not yet listened to the original (outside of the intro), I won't be able to compare it to that.

I absolutely love the first track. When I tested out my copy of the first game (since I bought it second-hand) to see if it worked, I only bothered watching the intro but totally loved it. Nice to know that the theme has been used again in the sequel.

I think it’s amazing how well Meguro can compose in such different styles yet still retain a signature sound. These tracks are also quite different, in general, from most other RPG OSTs—most of them actually sound rather 20s-ish to me.

One thing I will say is that, personally, I don’t find the battle tracks as interesting as those in DDS or Nocturne. That doesn’t make them bad; however, I imagine they’re much more fitting if you’re actually playing the game rather than just sitting there, like I am.

I suppose to get a more coherent opinion, I’ll have to do myself some more listening.


RhubarbNinja,here's the Maniacs OST:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PMHUAKHT

Many thanks. =]

And here http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XVH0VKUJ are both Baroque soundtracks. Neither of them are overly big so I threw them together, but if you'd prefer them separately, I don't mind uploading them again.

I'm such a moron.

Long story short, I lost all the Shadow Hearts tracks. I know this topic has been dead for ages now, but would it be possible for anyone to reupload them for me?

I figure asking here would be better than starting a new topic over, since the specific tracks I wanted/had DID exist in this topic.

Sure thing,bro. =)

Which ones do you need,exactly?

I think the Momonga track, the "Lady Tears III" track (the one that plays after you destroy Malice Unbral), the He-Man Festival/Sushi House track and the Four Deuces one.

I remember you also ripped Ricardo's guitar tracks, but I never really listened to them, so no worries about re-uploading those. =]

Thanks a lot, once again.

Edit: Oh, and don't worry about any of the Shadow Hearts 2 ones either.

I think the Momonga track, the "Lady Tears III" track (the one that plays after you destroy Malice Unbral), the He-Man Festival/Sushi House track and the Four Deuces one.
Here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PK6NOL3I

I also threw in the full version of Adios,the Good Ending track and ICARO (guitar arrangement). =)


Edit: Oh, and don't worry about any of the Shadow Hearts 2 ones either.
You sure?

Ah! Thank you very, very much!

And nah, don't worry about it. This'll do just lovely. C=

THANK YOU VERY MUCH RAPTOR!!! :D I WAS SEARCHING FLOOR 666 THEME FOR 2 YEARS!!! :$
You really helped me.

Glad you like it. :3

I understand that this topic is dead and buried for more than a year now, but I've good reason to bring it back from the depths!

:D the links point to a now-dead Megaupload. NucleaRaptor, do you mind being so kind as to reuploading the ripped tracks to another filehost? You have no idea how long it took for me to locate someone that uploaded the missing tracks; the irony of the links also being just out of reach now ��

Thank you very much in advance!

I understand that this topic is dead and buried for more than a year now, but I've good reason to bring it back from the depths!

:D the links point to a now-dead Megaupload. NucleaRaptor, do you mind being so kind as to reuploading the ripped tracks to another filehost? You have no idea how long it took for me to locate someone that uploaded the missing tracks; the irony of the links also being just out of reach now ��

Thank you very much in advance!

Same here!

Bumping this in hopes that someone will notice and re-upload Nocturne's dungeon tracks to a working site.

In case anyone still cares, here's the Shadow Hearts From the New World Unreleased Tracks:
Shadow Hearts From the New World - Missing Tracks (http://www.mediafire.com/?8qv093xa7vnk3l2)

Thank you for the reupload! At long last I get to hear the song playing while the Sushi-men swing them behinds! :D

In case anyone still cares, here's the Shadow Hearts From the New World Unreleased Tracks:
Shadow Hearts From the New World - Missing Tracks (http://www.mediafire.com/?8qv093xa7vnk3l2)

Are you kidding me friend, there are people who still care because the shadow hearts series have great soundtracks, thank you!