Vagrant Story OST remastered for the reprint?!

Theoretically, a remaster simply means a different mastering, as opposed to using the exactly same "master" when printing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remaster

-Joshua

Well, gamingforce does NOT approve of this remastering.  They have a Wyvern sample, and I agree the original is much smother, balanced and hides the sampling flaws without really being
muddy.

It's not so terrible though, that I've given up hope for the rest.

EDIT: This IS terrible.  I really didn't want to admit it, given I put down thirty bucks on it, but everyone find the originals right now before THIS replaces them!

What's so bad?  While it's nice that when each instrument is featured, it is perfectly clear, the re-demolisher decided it would be good to go to the exact opposite extreme and use almost NO. REVERB. AT. ALL.  Making this sound like Final Fantasy VII.

The Opening and Staff Roll are the only tracks spared, for obvious reasons.

Last edited by HamandSushi (Jun 11, 2006)

I apologize to everyone who bought the re-print because of this topic. There are good things about it, but the bad outweighs the good for me.

Last edited by HamandSushi (Jun 11, 2006)

See gamingforce, like I said.  Unless someone really wants samples here, because you do have to register (which takes five seconds).  And yes, that's true, but it is a very needed crutch here.  The samples just aren't that good by themselves.  Weaved together, they worked.

This is really frustrating, because I keep flip-flopping.  Some of the originals really needed re-mastering (Ifrit sounded like it was being played by an orchestra in the next town), but the re-mastering just goes too far.

Last edited by HamandSushi (Jun 11, 2006)

Alcahest wrote:

wow gamingforce doesn't approve ;_________;
Guess i'm gonna cancel my order then!
Hehe seriously though; I dunno what's wrong with you guys over at gamingforce, the sound is much clearer, details are enhanced, I really don't see what's wrong with that. On the contrary, you should all be happy the available version is the one that sounds better O_o
Later,

Alcahest

Seconded.

To everyone, just because Gamingforce doesn't approve, doesn't mean it's 'pandora's box'. Just put it in your CD player, and enjoy the music. That's all the composer's ask for.

Last edited by Harry (Jun 11, 2006)

HamandSushi wrote:

"That's all the composers ask for"

But we have no evidence Sakimoto wanted his soundtrack to sound like this.  Sure, we have no evidence he didn't, besides the strange non-disclosure agreement with the retailers, but it is more likely he approved the original's sound than the reprint's.

I'm pretty sure that he meant that all the composers want you to do is enjoy the music.

"I mean, you don't see Falcom fans pulling a huge hissy fit at some of the poor instrumental qualities on some of their earlier albums. They just enjoy the catchy tunes."

This argument makes no sense to me.  I had no complaints with the original, though I thought
it could be better in a few areas.  I had no complaints with the idea of a remastering.  I HAVE a complaint with a dramatically different, and mostly worse remastering, that is now the only option.

Last edited by HamandSushi (Jun 11, 2006)

Not to derail the thread (think of it more as a detour) but someone in the Gamingforce thread mentioned that the Valkyrie Profile re-releases have been remastered as well. Is this confirmed?

"You are judging by, from what it seems, 3 samples of music, and declaring it 'a horrible remastering.'"

I listened to at least a third of the soundtrack with the link there, several times, since I already paid for it anyway.  And would I care if this was the original release?  Not as much, because I don't expect PSX synth to be good unless Ryo whats-his-name is behind the counter.  But since I knew better, it's hard to settle.

I guess we just don't agree here (not that I'm trying to get the last word).  And I'm genuinely glad people like this, because felt I misled everyone by making this topic.

I've listened to and loved the original Digicube release time and time again and upon listening to the vast majority of this new print, comparing it to the original, I can honestly agree with what those individuals here and at Gamingforce have said as being absolutely true:  It's a far inferior release to the Digicube print.  Reverb is an absolutely essential element to the atmosphere this music creates and a side-by-side listening to tracks such as 'Climax of the Greylands Incident' (the big boss cue at the end is no longer dramatic or powerful), 'Wyvern' (Yikes!), 'Limestone Quarry', 'Rosencrantz', 'Sanctum' (Double yikes!  That warbling effect with the choir is annoyingly noticable and the fade-outs aren't clean in the least), and 'Ifrit' is absolutely staggering.  The lack of reverb throughout the soundtrack does help add to the clarity of the overall orchestration of the work, but anyone with a solid ear could hear everything that was going on regardless. 

The last thing this score needed was a crisper, warmer (a style diametrically opposed to the feel of the game's story and style in the first place) mastering job.  It manages to suck away the excitement out of the battle tracks, all foreboding out of the ambient tracks, the sense of mystery and anticipation out of the interlude tracks.  On the whole, it causes the entire score to simply sound whimpy and dry (not to mention the high amounts of audio clipping, not present in the original master), preferring to expose the instrumentation of the work just a little more at the harm of the samples by snatching the life out of them.  It all takes away any conception of real instruments, which the reverb of the original print added to immensely.  Not that I'm criticizing the sampling, but this type of expository mastering sucks the "real-orchestral" feel that Sakimoto generally strives for in his recordings.

The mastering certainly did open up my ears to a few details in the background (here-and-there... not everywhere, by any means) that I hadn't noticed as strikingly before, but they're still plenty audible in the original master and in certain cases the effect of being able to hear some of those inner-lines degrades to the quality of the cue rather than supporting it the way it does so nicely in the background... the way Sakimoto himself originally wrote and mastered it.

So, no... not a good remastering at ALL.  To all those looking to buy it:  Find a Digicube copy, at all costs.

~Jockolantern~

Last edited by Jockolantern (Jun 20, 2006)