The end of an era: Takahiro Unisuga is rumored to have quit working for Falcom. For ratio of absolute bangers, Ryo Takeshita was my favorite composer at the studio, but for longevity nobody beats Unisuga (and the output between the two is at least comparable). For 15 years, Unisuga's been responsible for the
majority of tracks loved most by Falcom's fans (
some fans on reddit list out a bunch here). He's also responsible for some of the longest-running musical motifs in their music. Most memorable for me is the ones from "The Final Choice" being reused in "Heimdallr, the Vermillion Capital", "Phantasmal Blaze", and another prominent track in the to-be released Trails into Reverie (which I'm not risking spoilers on by googling).
Hayato Sonoda is still on staff, and he's put out allot of good songs over the years, but popular consensus is that he's not quite as good as Unisuga. Falcom also recently hired Shuntaro Koguchi, who some people have reported to have output good music. There's allot of concern among fans about the direction of Falcom jdk though. Some of their work is being outsourced to mainstays like Yukihiro Jindo, who's more known for his fantastic arrangements (I remember him most for rearranging the entire Oath in Felghana OST into the something really fantastic), but most of it is believed to be produced by Mitsuo Singa, to the extent that a significant portion of Ys IX's soundtrack may have come from him.
Fans are generally negative towards Singa, claiming that he doesn't have the touch or expertise to consistently put out great music. I haven't played the latest titles yet so don't have an opinion. Some of his tracks I have heard are pretty good. I plan on getting to Ys 9 before the end of the year.
