pietastesgood
10-10-2011, 12:29 AM
With the forthcoming release of Assault Horizon, Kobayashi and company have written another (hopefully) fantastic addition into the Ace Combat series' soundtracks.

Unlike the previous games, Assault Horizon has multiple editions of soundtracks.
-European Limited Edition Soundtrack - (unknown number of tracks)
-Best Buy Soundtrack - (18 tracks, ~75 mins)
-DX Pack - (38 tracks, 3CD)

As of now (10-9-11), the Best Buy soundtrack has leaked onto Youtube, originating from a lucky individual who got his/her hands on the soundtrack a couple of days early. Thus, there's already a bunch of Youtube-rips out on the internet, passing as fake 320kb/s rips. If anyone could provide legit MP3 320kb/s or, preferably, lossless FLAC rips of the Best Buy/Limited/DX Pack soundtracks, that would be utterly fantastic.

Note: If I'm correct, I believe the European Limited Edition has the same soundtrack as the Best Buy edition.

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Just because I feel like it, I've run over the Best Buy tracks uploaded on Youtube; here's a brief overview.

1. Rebirth - When the orchestra and the AC theme kick in, the track is impeccable, but the lengthy ethnic interludes in between are rather bad.
2. Inferno - In my opinion, anyways, a trash track. Has throwbacks to Ace Combat Zero, though, but I still prefer Kobayashi's version in Zero rather than Okubo's here.
3. Rush - The AC04 throwback is great, but the orchestra is soon overwhelmed by the heavy metal guitars, which aren't entirely bad, but aren't very Ace Combat-ish.
4. Beyond the Canal - Good song in itself, but sounds like something out of Nine Inch Nails rather than an Ace Combat song.
5. Infiltrator - YES! This is Ace Combat. Sounds like an evolution from the sound of Ace Combat 6; also sounds like live orchestra.
6. White Devil - Title maybe a reference to White Bird from AC5? Anyways, also very guitar-heavy, but the orchestra is more prominent here. Sounds more Ace Combat-ish.
7. Naval Warfare - Oh dear, what happened to you, Ace Combat? This sounds like something from some noise rock band, with a few pathetic strings strung around a few bits of the song.
8. Launch - Sounds like a more innocuous version of Hrelvesgr from AC0 for the first half, then uses the Ace Combat melody to great effect for the second half. Pretty good.
9. Keep Alive - Does not sound like Ace Combat, except for that string breakdown in the middle. For the majority of the track, heavy metal guitars dominate, there are very few orchestral elements, like Naval Warfare.
10. Shall Defend - Again, doesn't sound like Ace Combat. Sounds very similar to Keep Alive.
11. Deja Vu - That vocal song from the E3 trailer. I honestly like it, reminds me a bit of Chandelier from AC6.
12. Decisive Battle - A good song in itself, but it's hardly AC. Sounds a bit like Halo with guitars strewn all over the track.
13. Release - Part 2 from the E3 trailer, and it sounds a hell of a lot better here. Love this song, like Infiltrator, it sounds like an evolution of the AC6 sound. I think this is supposed to be the equivalent of the Liberation of Gracemeria, though it doesn't quite reach LoG's heights.
14. Horizon - Great track, a rehash of the theme introduced in Infiltrator. Sounds like live orchestra as well.
15. Gotta Stay Fly - Sue me, but I like it. The rap is catchy, and the Ace Combat theme is interwoven into it. The last minute is painful, though.
16. His Repose - Your standard Ace Combat ending song. That's a good thing.
17. Dogfight - From the debut trailer. I prefer the trailer edition, this one sounds like it got cut off halfway through...but the Ace Combat melody's still there to some extent, so I can't complain.
18. Refrain - Menu music, haha. Standard Ace Combat fare.

I'm just hoping that they crammed all the noisy action tracks onto the 1CD Best Buy soundtrack, but that there's still some decent orchestral stuff in the 3CD. Unfortunately, there is also a significant amount of ethnic stuff on the 3CD, judging from the soundtrack preview Namco released a while ago on Youtube. This OST is no Ace Combat 0, where orchestra could blend in with guitars and electronics (Glacial Skies, Diapason, etc); here it's either all guitar/a few pathetic strings here and there (not so good) or all orchestra (which is fine by me anyway). It's not just that there are so many guitars that I'm compaining about, it's the fact that most of the guitars aren't used for more than just wall of noise, unlike back in 4, 5, 0, hell, even 2. Let's just hope the 3CD will redeem it. From this, say goodbye to your melodic Ace Combat, and say hello to an abrasive trip through noise rock and limited use of orchestra. While the soundtrack won't really appeal to old fans of the series like me, it admittedly will be attractive to Ace Combat newcomers, and I think the same will probably apply to the game, to a certain extent...

Razgriz103
10-10-2011, 02:50 AM
Just a few more days...

Bioscope
10-10-2011, 04:38 AM
Didn't Inon Zur contribute to this score too?

pietastesgood
10-10-2011, 05:13 AM
No, Inon Zur was only involved with Joint Assault.

The main composers of Assault Horizon were Keiki Kobayashi, Rio Hamamoto, and Hiroshi Okubo. Considering that the only composers on the old Ace Combat sound team that are on Assault Horizon are Kobayashi and Okubo, and Okubo had a relatively small job on the old games, with him having a larger job this time around and Kobayashi having a smaller job this time around, it might explain the drastic change in sound. Hamamoto, I know for certain, used to be solely involved in Namco's Tekken series, where he contributed heavy metal/hard electronica, which explains the emphasis of rhythm over melody in ACAH in his tracks, which are quite plentiful. Okubo's always been better at percussion than really putting together melodies, at least from what he showed us from previous AC games, so that just contributes to the lack of melody. Honestly, the only tracks that sound like Kobayashi were featured in in ACAH are tracks 1, 5, 11, 13, 14, and 16. While that may sound plentiful, the majority of those tracks are very short...what happened to the good old days of 7 min+ Kobayashi anthems (Megalith, The Unsung War, Liberation of Gracemeria, Zero to a certain extent). While Release is pretty good, it still can't hold a candle to any of those tracks.

adoru_22
10-10-2011, 10:42 AM
I love about half of what I hear, but I need to see what this 3CD set is going to have. The orchestral bits are glorious in Assault Horizon and I would love to hear more. That main theme that pops up every once in a while is nearly at the same level as Zero and Unsung War. Shivers.

OrangeC
10-10-2011, 04:56 PM
My favorite parts are the mtal riffs. it just seems the dogfights are going to be hella intense!.

pietastesgood
10-10-2011, 11:36 PM
I love about half of what I hear, but I need to see what this 3CD set is going to have. The orchestral bits are glorious in Assault Horizon and I would love to hear more. That main theme that pops up every once in a while is nearly at the same level as Zero and Unsung War. Shivers.

My sentiments exactly. For ACAH, the orchestral bits are truly fantastic; if only there were more...

Razgriz103
10-11-2011, 05:06 AM
so close now!

Katsera
10-11-2011, 09:51 PM
i want this...GIVE!!!

OrangeC
10-11-2011, 10:09 PM
waiting with bated breath.

Executable
10-12-2011, 10:44 AM
I will get the European Limited Edition,
when i have it i will make a EAC rip.

Jessie
10-12-2011, 10:55 AM
My DX pack is being processed now. Awoooohoooo <^o^>

Zeratul13
10-12-2011, 01:21 PM
so does the dx one contain the best buy cd, or is it totally different?

Dustin
10-12-2011, 04:59 PM
Any idea when the DX Pack will be released?

@Zeratul The DX Pack will contain every single track from the game.

Jessie
10-12-2011, 05:17 PM
DX pack is out tomorrow.

Dustin
10-12-2011, 05:26 PM
Awesome, thanks. Looking forward to a download. I honestly can't purchase it myself.

Mach Five
10-13-2011, 12:04 AM
+1 to Jessie and Executable!!

pietastesgood
10-13-2011, 12:19 AM
Can't wait! Big thanks to Executable and Jessie! :)

legionnaireone
10-13-2011, 04:42 PM
Awesome, thanks. Looking forward to a download. I honestly can't purchase it myself.

I'm waiting for this too. The non-vocals version of "Gotta Stay Fly" is one of the big tracks I'm hoping for. The rap part ruins it for me (even as much as I love hip-hop and rap) since it seems so out of place. It'll either be in one of these, or it'll be in a gamerip.

That said, the music was as good as it always has been. If I were a game dev, I'd tap Keiki Kobayashi and team for anything I could.

OrangeC
10-13-2011, 06:12 PM
Im almost done with the game and there is an instrumental version. :)

legionnaireone
10-13-2011, 07:54 PM
Im almost done with the game and there is an instrumental version. :)

Yup, I'm hoping that's in one of the CD sets since it's not what's in the US-version's pack-in CD.

Gestriden
10-13-2011, 10:08 PM
It is, the song is called "Fighter"

Hantei
10-13-2011, 10:55 PM
For those anxious like I am, it seems the 3 disc release from the DX pack is on youtube already.

ef66010&#39;s Channel - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/ef66010)


It is, the song is called "Fighter"
Hmm, I think it works better than "Gotta Stay Fly", but I miss the vocals from Emi Evans.

Ace Combat Assault Horizon Original Soundtrack 3-05 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMJ_c22sKmQ)

Dustin
10-14-2011, 03:44 AM
Any progress with full downloads yet?

Mach Five
10-14-2011, 04:52 AM
I know this isn't a thread for video game discussions, but I just gotta ask:

You chaps that have played the full game, how are you liking it so far?

adoru_22
10-14-2011, 05:05 AM
Personally I love the game, and the music is (mostly) used to great effect. Presentation is amazing, story is if nothing else much better than AC6, and gameplay is fun. Dogfighting mode is not a "win" button - the demo is very misleading in that regard. Still takes plenty of skill.

Rogue_Ledr
10-14-2011, 05:05 AM
Any luck with this yet?

Razgriz103
10-15-2011, 11:54 AM
Come on, I need a download link.
I've been saving up Karma for a year for this!

Razgriz103
10-17-2011, 01:54 AM
Look what I found:
MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K9NGAYRY)
3 disk ost ahahahahahahahahahah...ha.
Password: sonixgvn

pietastesgood
10-17-2011, 04:50 AM
Thanks for the find, Razgriz103. :)

After listening, well, it does seem as though Namco crammed all the action tracks into the Best Buy edition, as the 3CD is significantly more orchestral. Unfortunately, it seems as though Kobayashi's lost his sense of melody... Most of the mostly orchestral tracks are terribly generic for an Ace Combat game; there are few memorable melodies. Also, the addition of the tracks by GEM Impact was a bad move by Namco; I mean, seriously, of all the tracks that they composed, I don't think a single one was good...the stuff they did in MGS was pretty decent, but without the electronic layering they employed in MGS4, these tracks sound hopelessly empty. Pipeline and Home Front are terribly boring, and Hurricane isn't particularly great until the end when a simplistic theme comes about.

And I don't get what's with so many more ambient or meandering tracks - Paint, for example. One of the strong parts of AC OST's have been that there's rarely been any filler, especially not 5 minute long filler tracks.

It's a shame that rock remix of "Release" from the ACAH launch trailer was never released, and neither was the "Close Range Assault" trailer music. Even though the tracks were noisy, they were at least more stylishly noisy than most of these tracks, IMO anyway.

OrangeC
10-17-2011, 10:40 PM
Yes most of the quieter tracks seem very generic, the only ones i like alot was horizon and hurricane. But the more louder stuff sold me. :) I really like Rio's Guitar work as well. His tracks he did on Ridge racer 3d are just awesome! I have also beat ace combat as well and the music really intensifies the dogfights and the action going on. So i give the score a 8.7 :D

-VGM-
10-24-2011, 01:21 PM
Just wondering if the 3 Disc release is the ultimate package (with all released tracks)?
Like mentioned above some of the music from the trailers wasn't released (which is a shame).

Maybe something in the game files or some Promo CD I could be missing?

Jessie
10-24-2011, 03:12 PM
Trailer music very rarely gets added to official releases.