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The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC |OT| More Olivier Than Ever

Dio

Banned
What the fuck did SC Evolution do to Silver Will?

Same goes for Fateful Confrontation.

I'm listening to the tracks on iTunes right now.
 
Having a really hard time getting rolling on this, even though I just beat FC and loved every second. I think the downer ending took the wind out of my sails a bit more than I thought.

Might also be because Anelace annoys me to no end. She was alright in her limited interactions in FC, but having her be the primary supporting character is grating.

Kurt's cool with me, though.
 
What the fuck did SC Evolution do to Silver Will?

Same goes for Fateful Confrontation.

I'm listening to the tracks on iTunes right now.
OTOH, Hamel is good but yeah, they really over-arranged these two and completely maimed them.
Mind you, the original version of the soundtrack is available in the games as DLC.
 

Dio

Banned
OTOH, Hamel is good but yeah, they really over-arranged these two and completely maimed them.
Mind you, the original version of the soundtrack is available in the games as DLC.

Jesus Christ at 'Looking up at the Sky' aka Sora wo Miagete.

This is NOTHING like the old one that played when exploring the world. Completely different tone.
 
If anyone is interested, the soundtrack for TitS SC Evolution is up on Apple Music.
The Evolution versions are Vita ports/remasters that feature arranged versions of the OSTs. This one released today in Japan.

Finally. Can't wait to bitch about how my favorite songs got ruined. :D

Having a really hard time getting rolling on this, even though I just beat FC and loved every second. I think the downer ending took the wind out of my sails a bit more than I thought.

Might also be because Anelace annoys me to no end. She was alright in her limited interactions in FC, but having her be the primary supporting character is grating.

Kurt's cool with me, though.

For what it's worth, Anelace isn't in your party for long, so if she bugs you then you can look forward to her departure.

OTOH, Hamel is good but yeah, they really over-arranged these two and completely maimed them.
Mind you, the original version of the soundtrack is available in the games as DLC.

I never knew that. Too bad the old portraits aren't also DLC. If I got EVO, I'd give up the mouth flapping for those.
 

Dio

Banned
Okay so...

DISC 1.

First track.

We have 'Silver Will, Golden Wings' sung by Megumi Sasaka, of Falcom's newly formed Real SPiKA idol group. I don't like this one as much as the original, because I much preferred the more 'epic' feeling with the lower voice and the introduction to the old OP. Now it kind of sounds more like a generic pop song.

Third track. Wow, Strepitoso Fight sounds COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. I kind of like it, but it has only a passing resemblance to the original song.

Track 4. Fight with Assailant is actually improved IMO. I always thought this sounded kind of weird originally. However, in the later parts of the song the guitar kind of gets a bit too loose and improv.

Track 6. Edit: After further listening, I still think this is fine, but it's wearing on me fast. I can see how hearing this would get annoying.

Track 8. Looking up at the Sky. WHAT THE FUCK DID THEY DO TO ONE OF THE BEST SONGS IN THE GAME. This is no longer subdued and wistful. It's EPIC and has a bunch of random shit in it, which completely runs counter to the original.

Track 16. Heartless Surprise Attack. I actually like this a lot. Maybe even more than the original. The extra bits of chanting add some nice atmosphere.

Track 20. Hamel. Basically the same song but better. I like it.

Track 22. The Fate of the Fairies. What the fuck? They could have really improved this like the Zanmai version did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYSIFYMbqI8
Instead they made it really fucking weird and even more MIDI-y than the original. It sounds goofier than the original in a bad way thanks to this.

DISC 2:

Track 3: Fateful Confrontation. This is a weak 'restructuring' of one of the best songs in SC. It's unnecessarily messed with to the point that it kind of ruins the song. I really hate the fact that the guitar now has these weird areas where they kind of do a wah and stray a bit off the note, like they're trying to be all freestyle with it.

Track 6: Silver Will. What the fuck? Why are bongo drums taking the center stage of the intro to Silver Will? The leadin doesn't even pay off either - it just sort of 'eases' into the rest of the song without any payoff for the introductory build up. It's chill now. This song shouldn't be chill.

Track 14: Outskirts of Evolution. I feel like the composition of this version of song trying to make it epic made it feel less impactful than the original. Somehow loses that feeling in the process.

Track 18: Where the Bonds Are: WHAT THE...

Who decided to get rid of the iconic piano of this song? Now there's this weird bleep boop-ish back-track instead of the piano. It doesn't even have the harmonica-ish tones anymore. This isn't Where the Bonds Are anymore.

Anyway, this was a mixed bag. Christ. It might grow on me but a lot of these tracks are just weird.
 
Saw a few pics of Evolution and man, I don't know if I could get used to Estelle's portrait. The original portraits are perfect and a big part of why I love both the character and the game so much.
 

omgfloofy

Banned
(Disclaimer! I am a classical music and (especially!) opera nerd- this is going to definitely impact my favorite tracks!)

On the topic of SC Evolution's tracks, I'm jumping onto Dio's bandwagon and want to point out the ones that I was surprised with and especially the ones that I really, really like.

I'm removing track names because of potential spoilers in them.

Disc 1:
Track 14 - I'm already a sucker for the SAV of this song, and there are little tweaks here and there with this version that I really like. Most of them very subtle little touches. A slow cymbal roll here, or a slightly different harmonization from the other performers. And oh god a piano in the background?? yesplease. The ending is a LOT different from the SAV, and I love it.

Track 18 & 19 - I think it feels worth pointing out that it sounds like they actually recorded a proper performance on an organ (or have a DAMN good voice for one for this!) and I think it's a fantastic improvement on these tracks. Track 19, specifically, is pulling some proper classical mix of symphony and organ in it and I think it works very well. (it reminds me of the composition style of one of my classical composers, so I'm pleased there!)

Disc 2
Track 1 - The original is one of my favorite songs from SC's original soundtrack. I am actually torn on whether or not I like this new version and I do a like a lot of the choices in the rearrangement... but it DOES stand out because it took such a drastically different style from the original. (It also sounds like something you'd hear from Osamu Tezuka. Not THAT Tezuka, the one who composed the Slayers soundtracks.)

Track 2 - WOAH huge change in the intro here. It's not really a bad one, though, in my opinion. It was just jarring. And that intro, to me, sounds like something you'd hear out of 999 or VLR. lol - the rest of it, though, is keeping pretty true to the original, with some rework to the instrumentation, I think. The vocal work in this, though, is a pretty neat touch (a cool 'texture' as my band director would say. xD) with the harsher electric guitar instruments.

Track 4 - OH MY GOD. This track REALLY turned me around. When I first heard the sample on iTunes, I was not impressed. Hearing the full version, though, holy crap. I love it! All of the best stuff happens towards the last half of the track. Whereas this does a 'similar to original' in its style, they did a LOT more with the chorus. A WHOLE LOT MORE. Taking vocal ranges into account and harmonizing them more, a solo, and the awesome chord structures at the end. At 3 minutes, the use of the female voices to create a dissonance to the solo was awesomeawesomeawesome.

Track 9 - I was listening to the samples with Yotaka, and he made a comment on this particular track... which I agree with a lot! That it sounds like something you'd hear from one of the Mana games with its rearrangement. And I think it's pretty great. Now, I don't know which I think is the best, but I can see myself listening to this a lot without complaint.

Track 12 - Another rearrangement I love! I'll admit that I love this as much as I do because I saw it in one of the recent jdk Band theta concerts, and I fell in love with the arrangement in their performance. All in all, this is a much more 'performable' version that I hope we'll see in concert again. History note: apparently this song (I doubt it's the same arrangement) was performed at a jdk Band concert just after they remade the band, and posted about it on the Fal-Column. The band members didn't like performing it, and thus it was tossed out to never be looked at again.

Okay, with all that said and done, I'm tackling the 'elephant in the room' of the soundtrack, track #15, Merciless Savior...

I actually don't like the early parts of it as much as the original... but (i'm about to say something horrible here, I'm sorry)... I never thought the original track was as godlike as many other people have! (don't hurt me!)

But when we get to the next section at around 2:50 in the track, THIS is what I love. The stuff I pointed out about earlier tracks are now coming into play, with some really subtle accompaniment in the music is really well done. I saw someone compare the vocal work for this to E.O.V. from the Cold Steel II soundtrack, and I'm willing to agree. (I'm also pretty sure that the soloist in this is the same one that's from the Sen SAV 'Holy Saint, Holy Spirit.)

I'm in love with this point on of the Evolution version, and I think it's actually a better instrumentation of what you hear in the original SC soundtrack, along with the better choral recording in with it is pretty good!

As a whole, I love enough of the tracks (more than I just listed here, because I don't want to spam everyone any more than I already have!) to have found this worth buying.

The whole album had some rework in terms of the chorus. And I actually loved it. It put more depth in the choral parts of the soundtrack, and added it into some other tracks, and it was a great touch, I think. What they had done with the choral parts gave those sections a lot more depth, I think.

I'll also want to point out that none of the "usual suspects" were involved with SC Evolution's soundtrack, which was a surprise to me, because Okaji was even the lead sound editor for FC Evolution's soundtrack.

I have a theory that the soundtracks were also worked on near simultaneously (they've said that all of the voice work was done in one shot) - and that the ones who worked on FC Evolution's music have been working on 3rd Evolution. Thus the really different take on some of these tracks.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
I went through some of the previews on Amazon and didn't really like anything I heard. Which is a step below FC Evo where I at least liked Silver Will and one or two others.
 

Baliis

Member
What the fuck did SC Evolution do to Silver Will?

Same goes for Fateful Confrontation.

I'm listening to the tracks on iTunes right now.

Yea, some of those are a bit rough. The arranged version of Silver Will is probably my favorite song in the whole series, so hearing that is pretty wtf.
 

Einhander

Member
I beat SC. Great journey. Much better than FC. I can't believe my total play time is 84 hours. I can't remember the last time I've sunk that many hours into a JRPG. Please bring over The 3rd, XSEED. Legend of Heroes series is my addictive drug now.

Final boss spoilers

The Weissman the Anguis boss battle music was cool. Fairly easy fight. Now, Angel Weissman was a fucking bitch to put down. Not because it was hard or anything, but that it took so long to chip away at his HP. His first form was a lot less annoying than his second form. His second form was irritating as fuck. When I realized that he had a second form, and an additional 100000 HP, I was like, fuck that noise. Second form battle had awesome music as well.

The ending was nice. The scene with Kevin, Weissman, and Campanella was interesting. Kevin turned him to stone with ease, and he mentioned that he could only do that when Weissman wasn't powered by the Aureole. I want to know more about the organization Kevin is part of, and I'm sure The 3rd will get into that in detail.

Question for those who have played Zero and Ao:

Do the other Enforcers and Anguis who haven't made appearances yet show up in Zero and Ao? Or how about the Grandmaster?
 

omgfloofy

Banned
Do the other Enforcers and Anguis who haven't made appearances yet show up in Zero and Ao? Or how about the Grandmaster?

Question 1: Yes. Some.

Question 2: No.

Additional info for question #2:

We actually still have no clue who the Grandmaster is, 7 games later. However, Kondo has promised that we're supposed to start getting the clues as of the next game, that will allow us to start piecing together her identity.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI7lWx27AnQ&list=PLVntRweYZyuDuxhcRe9VGdSBdt0kZuN8l

Soundtrack's on Youtube now for anyone who wants to give the SC Evolution soundtrack a listen.

You weren't kidding about how bad they ruined Looking up at the Sky. Who thought that was a good idea? They completely destroyed the entire spirit of the song. It makes the X Remastered version of Besaid Island look like a masterpiece by comparison.

No clue what they were thinking with Silver Will, either.

Merciless Savior is interesting. Not as good as the original, but not a bad version, either. It's definitely a distinct version with its own ups and downs.
 

Eusis

Member
Finally beat the game. I guess it'd be hard to say if it lived up to the wait, but it definitely WORTH waiting for, if that makes sense.

And anyone worrying about how bad it would be if they didn't localize the third: I think the ending works like, Golden Sun 2's or Xenosaga 3's in that there are hooks and unanswered questions to work with, but it's not that a sequel is strictly needed. And given that we will have the Cold Steel games and possibly all future titles it's in a better position than some games are.
Question 1: Yes. Some.

Question 2: No.

Additional info for question #2:

We actually still have no clue who the Grandmaster is, 7 games later. However, Kondo has promised that we're supposed to start getting the clues as of the next game, that will allow us to start piecing together her identity.
(In regards to the one crack theory floating around)
Anton's a girl!?
 
Question 1: Yes. Some.

Question 2: No.

Additional info for question #2:

We actually still have no clue who the Grandmaster is, 7 games later. However, Kondo has promised that we're supposed to start getting the clues as of the next game, that will allow us to start piecing together her identity.

Wait,
"her identity"? Did I miss something in SC again or is the Grandmaster's gender implied elsewhere?
 

omgfloofy

Banned
Wait,
"her identity"? Did I miss something in SC again or is the Grandmaster's gender implied elsewhere?

It's apparently from a drama CD, where the grandmaster is voiced by a woman.

Yep.

It comes from the Ouroboros Report drama CD. Campanella has a meeting with her in it. So we have a voice for the Grandmaster as a result. Beyond that... no other hints.

Which is VERY Falcom. They've done THAT for pretty much the entire series. There's a bunch of hints and clues in things OUTSIDE of the games. So. Yeah.

(In regards to the one crack theory floating around)
Anton's a girl!?

The other popular crack theory I've seen:
Dorothy's the grandmaster!

....BUT. You want my serious speculation/theory? Here:
The Grandmaster is Aidios. (Though we have little evidence towards this. It's just one of those things that 'feels right.') ....but Kondo has said that we'll have more evidence to figure out who the Grandmaster is in Sen III, apparently.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Going to be awkward to have all that supplemental material left unlocalized, by official means, if the series continues in English.

I guess it would give XSEED options for LE contents though.
 
Aiming For the Future: Did anyone order a Dance Party?

I notice that Great Awe and
Flying Battleship Glorious
, two of the grandest and most orchestra style songs in the soundtrack, are also two of the songs that seemed to get the least changes in Evolution. I guess a live recording was mostly enough to call them a day, especially the latter song.
 
Finally replaced my old broken laptop, and this was my first steam purchase.

I enjoyed, but didn't love, FC. Really liked Estelle and her father, found the core journey charming, but something about the battle system and some of the supporting characters wore on me.

However, in starting this up I felt a real nostalgia none-the-less. The thing that really triggered it is the victory fanfare after battle. It's such a simple little tune, but something about it really works for me, calls back my glory days of SNES jRPGs.
 
So I've only been listening to it for awhile, but I think I prefer the SC Evolution soundtrack to the FC Evolution soundtrack. I do think at least part of it is because I prefer SC's music to the FC songs but I also think the overall direction that SC Evo's took is more enjoyable too. I can see myself listening to many of these Evo songs on their own.

EDIT: I just realized that we've been banished to community hell.

EDIT:
When I beat Walter, I got a special scene with him and Zane. Would I have gotten a similar scene if I brought Kloe with Bleublanc? I brought Olivier instead, and his rival didn't bring out much special text.
 
That dopey organ and random high-pitched guitar slide in Fate of the Fairies SC Evo makes the arrangement feel disingenuous. Seriously, I understand they're trying not to change the composition drastically, but why muck up what was fine instrumentation to begin with, just for the sake of being different? This Evo project seems to bring out more of the JDK Band arrangers' worst qualities than we bargained for. And they need to get their harmonica performer a stable windpipe, because that vibrato is way over the top and frustrating. It's annoying because there's quite a few songs here that have been improved (Enormous Fight/Great Awe only gets better the more you listen!), but for every Heartless Surprise Attack you get a mediocre remix like the one for Feeling Danger Nearby.
 

Varion

Member
EDIT:
When I beat Walter, I got a special scene with him and Zane. Would I have gotten a similar scene if I brought Kloe with Bleublanc? I brought Olivier instead, and his rival didn't bring out much special text.
Just a few different lines of text. It's not really worth it, to be honest.
 
History note: apparently this song (I doubt it's the same arrangement) was performed at a jdk Band concert just after they remade the band, and posted about it on the Fal-Column. The band members didn't like performing it, and thus it was tossed out to never be looked at again.
I'm glad they made a choice that fits the band's strengths. Still, this kind of arrangement belongs on a live album or separate JDK Band Trails in the Sky project, as I'm really missing the organ overload and features Takeshita brought to Gravestone Struck By Lightning. The original is a prog-rock highlight of SC's OST that feels mitigated in SC Evo, though it sounds a lot more practical for JDK Band to perform (or maybe they're good enough now to do something more like the original).
 

Jolkien

Member
Probably been asked before but I just reached chapter 2. Should I try to upgrade everyone slots first before making quartz ? Really enjoying it so far, the music that plays when you meet (late chapter 1)
Enforcer X
is excellent
 

omgfloofy

Banned
Still, this kind of arrangement belongs on a live album or separate JDK Band Trails in the Sky project,

...which are also rearrangement albums, too. Like they advertised this version of the soundtrack would be. That's why I'm looking at it like a rearrangement album, since it was advertised as such.

I'm really missing the organ overload and features Takeshita brought to Gravestone Struck By Lightning.

The arranger in this case wasn't Takeshita, so it's not going to take his same stylings. I wouldn't have expected it to.
 
Probably been asked before but I just reached chapter 2. Should I try to upgrade everyone slots first before making quartz ? Really enjoying it so far, the music that plays when you meet (late chapter 1)
Enforcer X
is excellent
I balanced upgrades with purchases. It'd take forever to just upgrade everyone, and besides the max ep, you don't get as much from an upgrade vs in FC where opening slots gives you more space. You can save sepith by saving physical fighters like Agate for later with upgrades.
 

Jolkien

Member
I balanced upgrades with purchases. It'd take forever to just upgrade everyone, and besides the max ep, you don't get as much from an upgrade vs in FC where opening slots gives you more space. You can save sepith by saving physical fighters like Agate for later with upgrades.

Good to know thanks. Yeah I was looking at how much sepith it'd cost to upgrade all slots and I was like... hmm I'll ask.
 

MSMrRound

Member
Need some help. At the optional part where I can decide to fish for the
master of the lake
, but I don't have trout or salmon with me for bait. Where's the best fishing/monster spots that I can get myself some salmon/trout?

I currently decided to head over to Rolent sewers to catch myself some Dace(?) since I heard I can use it to reel in some Salmon as well, but I am not too sure of the best bait/rod/spot combination to get the stuff required...fishing at Kingfisher inn trying for salmon or trout only kept on netting me rainbow trout or rockeater=/
 

Erheller

Member
Need some help. At the optional part where I can decide to fish for the
master of the lake
, but I don't have trout or salmon with me for bait. Where's the best fishing/monster spots that I can get myself some salmon/trout?

I currently decided to head over to Rolent sewers to catch myself some Dace(?) since I heard I can use it to reel in some Salmon as well, but I am not too sure of the best bait/rod/spot combination to get the stuff required...fishing at Kingfisher inn trying for salmon or trout only kept on netting me rainbow trout or rockeater=/

Yeah, I couldn't find any salmon or trout at the lake. I think I was able to find a few at the Ravenue Village (I think I just butchered that name). Don't quote me on that, though.
 

Psxphile

Member
I caught it using trout. You can catch trout w/ earthworm, roe, red flies and shrimplet bait in any body of water connected to Valeria Lake... so the fishing spots at Lakeshore Inn, Ravennue Village Pond, West Bose Highway River, Elize River, Verte Bridge should work (these are all places I've caught trout in, according to my fishing notebook).
 

Erheller

Member
I caught it using trout. You can catch trout w/ earthworm, roe, red flies and shrimplet bait in any body of water connected to Valeria Lake... so the fishing spots at Lakeshore Inn, Ravennue Village Pond, West Bose Highway River, Elize River, Verte Bridge should work (these are all places I've caught trout in, according to my fishing notebook).

I remember trying to catch trout and/or salmon at Valeria Lakeside, but I couldn't get either in the final chapter. During the final chapter, [mild, almost a not-spoiler]
someone mentions that certain types of fish aren't biting anymore at that location, so I think that trout and salmon don't show up there at that time.
 

Young Magus

Junior Member
It was worth the wait
mjcry1.png
. 51 Hours here and 41 in FC

Glad I made the decision to wait and play FC and SC back-to-back. Will admit that I only stuck with the main quest this time and plan to do a full run down the line.

The ending with
Kevin murking Weissmann tho and the personality switch
banderas.png


Yo my interest in the 3rd just sky rocketed.

Shouts out to GAF-Folk Wyrdwad, H.Protagonist, SpaceDrake, Sara and other folks at XSEED and Carpe Fulgur. You the real MVPs and I hope you continue to make great translations. Much love
 
It was worth the wait
mjcry1.png
. 51 Hours here and 41 in FC

Glad I made the decision to wait and play FC and SC back-to-back. Will admit that I only stuck with the main quest this time and plan to do a full run down the line.

The ending with
Kevin murking Weissmann tho and the personality switch
banderas.png


Yo my interest in the 3rd just sky rocketed.

Shouts out to GAF-Folk Wyrdwad, H.Protagonist, SpaceDrake, Sara and other folks at XSEED and Carpe Fulgur. You the real MVPs and I hope you continue to make great translations. Much love

Yeah know those feels man, jump into cold steel it'll give similar feels towards the finale
 
Just progressed the main quest of Chapter 5 after completing the side quests. Seems like it might end up being the shortest chapter yet. Is that accurate?
 
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