RPG Classics Mailbag

Previous Mailbags

Hmm, so now is my chance to shine.... Oh hello everyone !! My topic was : "Who is your favorite RPG music composer, what do you like about him/her, what don't you like about him/her, and what would you suggest so he/she could compose better music ? First off, I'd like to adress this rather embarassing problem, as you all know, yesterday(march 25), I was almost done with the mailbag, and now today it is complete(Yeah right!). Anywhoo, to those of you who wrote in and you don't see your reply, it's not because you were not chosen, it's cause my mail server went on a rampage(probably during last night), and as a result, some replies were lost, just so you all know, let's hope this incident won't repeat itself in the future. :( Onward with the mailbag.... Well, as soon as my Floating Island cast gets here, we'll start.... they should be arriving about..... NOW !

AHHHHHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!! *crashes into the wall* *CRACK*

*Appears floating down with a parachute* Heh heh, no crashes for me !!

Ok, but where's the Prehistoric LaL cast ???

*Runs into the scene, stops and takes his breath* Huff, huff, We... we're here, and in time, too !

Zaki, what's the big hurry, there's still a minute left, besides we gotta wait for Pogo, he's a bit slow...

Hmph ! He's sure taking his sweet time ! While we wait, let's get started... Zaki, please choose a letter out of random please...

Ummm ok..... *reaches in and takes out a letter* *Hands it to DG*

Alrighty ! Our first pick is from PS2Princess, let's see what she has to say...

HOLA me-amigos, Cid, Ozzie, Luna (:P nah!),Lucca,Eviel Cid,etc,etc,etc.... looks like im keeping up to date on the mailbag this time,which means you'll see me in (almost) EVERY mailbag! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Ok, now I'm scared ! Someone, hold me !

*Holds Tzenker*

Eek ! I'm being held by a caveman with a lizard for underwears ! O_o

*Sweatdrops* You may continue, PS2Princess...

Spekkio(who has now become my official sidekick, againest his will ^_^)~............o goody

N-E-WHO, whos my fab fav composer-dude? well a DUH! if i LOVE CT and CC,of course im gunna LOVE (not litteraly) Yatsunori Mitsuda (did i spell that right?). Not that Nobuo Uematsu isnt bad either (he rocks too!),but i love the more up-beat-fun loving-dance around in your shorts music that you can listen too and just feel good.

Indeed !! Mitsuda & Uematsu are among the very best ^_^

Spekkio~ugh,this is getting scary and sickening What? do you WANT me to be like my regular self?? Spekkio~AGH! NOOOOO! NOT THAT!!!!! hehehehe ^_^ what i would like more in his music,is more of a mysterious themes,not just all the suger-hyped stuff he produces,even though its kewl. ::makes fondue cheese and puts it in Luna-chan's hair to put him in a tizzy!:: he he he he he!

Excellent point ! The more variety, the better.

Peace out ya-all! Spekkio~.......heeelllppp meeeeeeee::gets pulled away by PS2 on a chain:: ^_^ (ps~did u ever notice that all 3 of the mystic knights are named after rock stars? Ozzie~Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath, Slash~Slash from Gun n' Roses, and Flea~ Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Yeah, I've heard about it, interesting fact. :)

*Slowly walks in* What did I miss ?

Not much, there's only been one reply so far...

Ok, I'm happy I didn't miss it all.

Are we going for a second one ?

Of course ! Zaki, if you please ?

Ok, here's another one !

Woot ! This one's from Megaman984, bring it on !! 8D

Congrats, DG. You finally get to be a Mailbag host. It’s only too bad that it happened the way it did rather than the way I finally got to host... Oh well. Such is life.

Hey, stuff happens, y'know...

Now, to me, music can sometimes make a game all that better and raise it up a notch in your mind, or just ruin the experience if the music is bad or something. Now, as you know, I’m not exactly a big music person what with the most recent style of music I like on a whole being Sinatra... But that’s not the point.

Alright, and what are your choices for composer ?

The point is, Yutaka Minobe & Takayuki Maeda r0x0r ur s0x0rz. That’s right. Yutaka Minobe & Takayuki Maeda. Don’t know who they are? Well, they’re that fabulous duo that composed the music to Eternal Arcadia, better known as Skies of Arcadia in America What with their driving rhythmic beats and yelling native in the music for Horteka or horn-filled Opening theme. All good. Hey, you know what they’re like, DG. You’ve heard some of their music (because of me naturally). Good, no?

Oh yes, I was listening to them (among other tracks) while writing this mailbag.

Now for runners up. As some people know, I like Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean, and a good portion of that is due to Naoki Kodaka. While the music isn’t quite as dynamic (I guess that’s the right word...) as SoA’s, it’s still calm and relaxing, and that’s what I like. I believe you heard one of his piece. Estarant if I’m not mistaken. I like some of Noriyuki Iwadare’s works too, pretty much all from Grandia II, but I don’t like all of his stuff. The two vocal songs (Cançao Do Povo and A Deus) are amazing, IMO, and the rest of the tracks are above average except for that stupid clock-ticking-in-the-background dungeon music which I think is just down right bad. Anyway, there’s my response. Yutaka Minobe & Takayuki Maeda r0x0r, Naoki Kodaka r0x0rz too, but just a little less, and Noriyuki Iwadare r0x0rz somewhat. Make of that what you will.

I really should give the Sega composers a chance, seriously.... oh well...

I'll take the initiative and get the next letter.... well well, it's from..... d_galloway !

I would whine about Cid leaving the mailbag, but I know that wouldn't help anything. So I thought I would be brief. I picked Yoko Shimomura. Why? I don't know-maybe it's because of the games he's composed for. You never know. Now, if you excuse me...*runs off into a corner and cries over Cid leaving the mailbag*

Awwww, don't feel bad, Cid will return, don't worry.... Anyways, brief but good response, although a bit is missing.

And Shimomura is a lady, not a man, oh well, not everyone knows these things.

Let's move on ! Zaki, you know the drill by now :P

*searches through the pile of mail* Ow !! Paper Cut !!! Wahhhhhh !!!!!

Want me to kiss your finger ?

*sniffs* Yes, please, make the pain stop !!!

*kisses Zaki's finger* There, feel better ?

I'll say ! It's completely healed ! Thanks !! *hands letter to DG*

Ok, this one is from..... Ezboarder !! 8D Hi Ez !! *waves*

First off, I'd like to give a hearty welcome to the first guest Mailbag Man, Dragon God. Heh, a new Mailbag Man and it's my first time writing in the Mailbag. Go figure. Now, on with the Mailbag topic. Grah! So many good composers to choose from...Well, I guess I'll have to narrow it down.

Stop it, you're embarassing me ^^; Oh well, what's your verdict, Ez ?

Masashi Hamauzu is an excellent composer, who's work on SaGa Frontier 2 and Final Fantasy X I am currently enjoying. Nobuo Uematsu and Junya Nakano are also excellent composers. Those three are probably the composers whose work I enjoy the most.

Woo !! Another one who likes Hamauzu, and yeah, Uematsu & Nakano had controbuted alot in FFX.

In terms of improving, I don't see many ways any of them could. Their tracks have a next mixture of soft, slow and even sad tracks like Zanarkand and Auron's Theme, to the catchier tracks, like Besaid, Blitz Off! and Feldschlacht I.

It's so hard NOT to agree with you, very good points you've brought up ^^;

Kudos to DG for bringing us this topic!

You're perfectly welcome ! :)

*snoozes*

*Throws his lizard at Tzenker*

Huh ? Hey !!! Get it off, get it off !!!!

Ok ok, come back here....

Pervert !

*sweatdrops* Oh well, the next letter is from..... *drumroll* heh.... Cidolfas !! 8D

What, you think since I'm not hosting it that I won't write in? Fat chance, buddy! 8p

Lessee... tough one, this. I can't think of a composer whose work I've consistently loved throughout. Nobuo Uematsu (FF series), in my opinion, reached his peak in FF6 (and what a peak it was!). However, he's been stretching himself out way too thin in the last few FFs... the majority of the themes have been extremely unmemorable.

Motoi Sakuraba (Star Ocean/Tales) is, IMO, the equivalent of video game Goo Goo Dolls: fun, kickin', fast-paced songs, but after you listen to them for a while a) they begin to all sound the same, and b) you kinda get sick of 'em. ^^; The only exception has been the uber-excellent Star Ocean: Second Story album, although b) still applies to most of those tunes as well.

The choice I'd have to go with is Yasunori Mitsuda, who penned Chrono Trigger. Need I say more? As for his more recent offerings that I've played (Xenogears, Chrono Cross) he's made it clear that he's quite adaptable to a variety of moods. I especially like his Celtic leanings (I'm a sucker for fiddles). He could use a bit faster-paced tunes (CC's battle theme got old REALLY quickly), but the medium-to-slow ones he's got bang on the buck.

And that, as they say, is that!

Heh heh, to be honest, I wasn't expecting this, and I love it !!! 8D Indeed, Motoi Sakuraba has done really well in SO and Golden Sun. And I'm not even gonna comment bout Mitsuda, cause we share similar opinions 8P

It's my turn to pick !! *picks a letter* Woopee !!! This one's from Xelopheris !

Ok, Xelo, show us what you know about composers !! :)

Hey DG, Wazzap. Xelo here Favorite composer eh? Mozart. Oh, favorite 'RPG' composer. That's a toughie. I would have to say good old Nobuo Uematsu. First of all, 95% of the games I've played are Nobuo composed, second, 100% of the OSTs I own are Nobuo composed, and third, I like Final Fantasy.

Hmmm, there are some points missing, you know what that means, right ?

Alrighty... Zaki.. next letter please ?

No !! No more !!! I'm afraid of paper cuts ! *cries*

Let me try.... *reaches in and takes out one letter*

Ok, this one is from Darkani, let's hear him out, folks.

I couldn't think of anything for last week's mailbag! I hope the ones to come won't be as tough. Now, on to the question.... Since I'm a big fan of the Final Fantasy music, I'd have to say Nobuo Uematsu. I loved the FF music, especially One-Winged Angel(the Safer-Sephiroth Battle Music) of FF7, and DancingMad 1-4 of FF6. I can't think of anything wrong with the music, and there is nothing I can suggest to make it better, 'cause I like it the way it is.

Another Uematsu fan, very nice. And yes, I'll agree, Nobuo rules with final boss themes, from the early "This is The Last Battle" from FF3j to his latest, being "Battle with Seymour" from FFX. Here's an interesting fact, Uematsu had composed a final boss theme for FF2j, but for unknown reasons, it wasn't released, you'll get it if you can find and afford the rare "All Sounds of Final Fantasy 1 & 2" soundtrack.

DG, I hate to ruin the mood, but we're out of replies....

Already ?! O_o Goodness, I'm sure to win the "Shortest Mailbag" Award, and that ain't a good thing. >_<

It's too bad your mail server went beserk, the best of the best was coming up...

It's a CONSPIRACY, I say !! *Sees a huge shadow forming above him* Uh-oh.. this is gonna hurt in the morning ! *gets flattened by a 10 ton anvil*

That's what you get for saying the C-word, you know....

Well, I guess this is it for this week. Next week's topic was thought out by myself, Kagon and Megaman984 during a chat session :

Since April Fool's is on the way, think up a parody of any rpg that comes to mind, how would you make it so it ends up hilarious all the way through... Just describe a few key scenes. For example : (FF6), Instead of Kefka being a maniac, what would have happened if he was simply an alcoholic, and was always drunk, and was providing comic releif during the entire game, how could you imagine that ?

That goes to Megaman984, show us your comedy talents, people !

I pity the foo who dun' like Kenji Ito, he roxored with SaGa musics. 'specially Romancing SaGa 3 ^^;