We’ve been writing a lot about Hiroto Saitoh’s jazz and bossa nova roots in our reviews of the POWER DoLLS 1 Soundtrack Resonance and Melodia albums, but now it’s time to take a look at how he tackles traditional RPG music. But this isn’t an RPG! Patrick has informed me that it’s actually a simulation life (SLG) title with real-time battles. One might think of it as a cousin to an RPG, but the gameplay doesn’t quite fit the definition. The game’s tagline is “Pure Fantasy Realtime Strategy,” so, I guess the developers wanted to make up their own genre…? Regardless of the title’s genre though, you’ll mostly be surprised to learn that it’s not all that jazzy, and it’s rarely relaxing.
You’ll find your standard town, battle, and dungeon themes here, but each with their own ethnic flair courtesy of Saitoh. For oldschool fans, you’ll also probably dig the fact that this sounds a lot like 16-bit era music. For those who aren’t into that so much, the second disc includes arrangements of some of the game’s most memorable themes. While I don’t know anything about the story (no Wikipedia entry, argh!), the game was released in the early 2000s and apparently features lots of chicks. I guess Saitoh has a thing for games featuring predominantly ladies. Sounds like a cool guy to me!
Hit the jump for our review of Saitoh’s Cross Hermit soundtrack. (more…)
