Soundtracks Update: Boatloads of Boxes
06.15.07 - 11:45 PM

We at RPGFan, particularly in the soundtracks section, are known for our large, extravagant "theme" updates.

Today's the biggest one to date.

Nine soundtrack reviews, spanning 52 discs of music.

The theme? "Box sets." There are some old ones, but in the last few months we've seen two extraordinary releases. One is the Premium Box for Final Fantasy XI (7 discs, includes a new Piano Collections disc), the other is the Complete OST for Kingdom Hearts (9 discs, includes lots of previously-unreleased material). The former is reviewed by me, the latter by reader Vincent.

Another box released around this same time, though under the radar for many a fan, was the "FF Finest Box." This soundtrack contained the GBA OSTs for Final Fantasy IV, V, and VI Advance. The box was a promotional release, and is already worth well over $200 in Japan. Mark P. Tjan, a senior editor here at the 'Fan, wrote the review on this one.

Working our way backwards in time, there's the Sakura Taisen Complete Song Box 2002~2006. It's the second box of its type, containing 8 discs of vocals from the well-loved series. I myself wrote this review.

To help commemorate the life and work of Kentaro Haneda (which we did in a separate update last week), we have a review for the Wizardry "Apollon" box set (6 discs). This box includes music mostly from Haneda, though it also includes one album from Ikuro Fujiwara and a drama CD as well.

Finally, four Dragon Quest box sets, all reviewed by Damian Thomas. Three are the "Game Music Super Collection" boxes (each one 3 discs), containing OST versions of music for seven of the (currently) eight games in the main series. Nintendo, Super Nintendo, PlayStation, Game Boy, and even Cell Phone audio are represented across these sets.

The last box is the coveted, 7 disc, "Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest Complete CD-Box." The name explains itself. The wisest and greatest of VGM fans are sure to own this box, unless they already have all this music in one form or another (among five separate prints of each album, it's not hard to do).

So there you have it. A ridiculous update for our ridiculous readers. I hope you love it.

Next week, expect more "new" content. We know we're behind.


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Patrick Gann