Square Enix’s Tokyo Game Show music sampler

By Jeriaska . October 11, 2008 . 3:19pm

Each year Square Enix prepares a Tokyo Game Show sampler CD with tracks from unreleased albums. The sampler is offered to visitors who make a purchase at the Square Enix Music booth, and this year marks volume number three. While the preview website implied that the disc would be rounded out by songs from The World Ends With You and Final Fantasy XI Piano Collections, most of the selections are in fact from upcoming original soundtrack albums, two of which do not yet have release dates. The introductory track from Sigma Harmonics features poppy synth and violin samples performed by Hijiri Kuwano. The violinist has contributed to previous scores by composer Masashi Hamuzu including Unlimited SaGa and Musashi Samurai Legend. An excerpt of “Hope Given ‘Dance of the Dog’s Howl’” can be heard on the album webpage.

 

This song on the sampler is followed by a selection from Infinite Undiscovery, whose three-CD soundtrack by Motoi Sakuraba was on sale a day early at the Square Enix Music booth. The longest track on the disc, it clocks in at four minutes. Also by Sakuraba, a combination of two tunes from the Nintendo DS title Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume starts off with a piano arrangement from Silmeria, which can be heard in the background of the trailer, followed by an intense hard rock passage with electric guitar accompaniment in the vein of the original game title. Continuing the heavy metal theme, “Reversal!,” a power ballad by Tsuyoshi Sekito from The Last Remnant follows, echoing the composer’s role as guitarist in The Black Mages band.

 

The last two songs Square Enix has chosen to include in the item are arrangements of Nobuo Uematsu’s Final Fantasy themes. A track from Chocobo and the Magic Picture Book: The Witch, the Girl, and the Five Heroes is a remix of Ronfaure from Final Fantasy XI. The arranger is Yuzo Takahashi of Joe Down Studio, based in Sapporo. The soundtrack to the Chocobo Tales sequel, as with previous Final Fantasy Fables titles, mainly features remixes of classic Square themes. Finally, the sampler concludes with an original song from Dissidia Final Fantasy that begins with an arrangement of the Prelude theme found in the extended trailer. The orchestral style song is by Takeharu Ishimoto of Crisis Core. These last two selections have yet to be announced for an official release, but both will likely be arriving this winter.

 

 

Images courtesy of Square Enix.

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