Ever heard of a “loaded question?” Well, this pick for SotM is a “loaded choice.”
Everyone that follows VGM knows that pretty much every main-series Dragon Quest title (up to VII) doesn’t have a proper OST release. Their primary releases were the “Symphonic Suite” orchestral arrange albums. Some of the early prints of these albums will also include an “Original Sound Story” that includes music and sound effects in an audio-only, synopsis-style playthrough of the game. It was a strange but valuable piece of audio for each game in the series.
Having studied the music as an avid fan, I thought to myself: “which DQ has my favorite music?” To be totally honest with you, I’m not 100% sure. But Dragon Quest IV is definitely a contender for the #1 spot. There are many reasons for that. We’ll get to them after the jump.
Before you proceed, you may be wondering: “so uh, which DQIV album are we talking about, specifically?” Answer: all of them. Every recording of the Symphonic Suite, including the Live Concerts. The PS1 audio, the NES/SNES audio, even lesser-known albums like “On Electone.” We’ll leave format aside and focus on Koichi Sugiyama’s compositions themselves in this SotM article. Get ready for it! (more…)
