Shoji Meguro

Most are familiar with this name, the composer of Maken X (along side Takahiro Ogata), Shin Megami Tensei III nocturne (along side Kenichi Tsuchiro and Toshiro Tasaki), and Digital Devil Saga 1 (along side Kenichi Tsuchiro who composed a few tracks) + 2, among other soundtracks.

These scores blew me away; the perfectly atmospheric event scene music and dungeon themes were greatly composed, but the climax of these soundtracks had to be their battle themes - Meguro's style being rock, these were themes that made you head explode listening to them!

However - after listening to the latest gamemp3s podcast (www.gamemp3s.net) Meguro was brought up in conversation and the hopeful composer to Persona 3.

A comment under the podcast topic named Meguro as overrated...and it seems true, and the recent Devil Summoner Soundtrack (Kuzunoha Raidou etc) that was released earlier this year, had nothing new in it's soundtrack, and was nothing compared to DDS. It was okay, but not stunning :/

I like Meguro work a heck of a lot, however, are going to expect something new from this composer? Are we going to get an epic soundtrack for Persona 3, or does Meguro need backup from other Atlus composers? Are there better Atlus composers than Meguro?

Tell us what you think of Meguro

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Out of curiosity - was he the composer of Persona's 1 & 2? because I absolutely adore those two soundtracks and have been meaning to get DL some more Megaten material because of it. I have SMT3 Nocturne and have not listened to a lot of it but i liked what little bits I have heard.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

As I recall he did a few tracks on the original Persona OST & some on the two Persona 2 OSTs, but his influence was not nearly as great as the games Ryu listed.

For Persona 3...
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Personally, I love his music... the Digital Devil Saga 2 OST was one of the greatest soundtracks I've ever heard. Still, I'd like to hear some more things from other Atlus composers such as Hidehito Aoki & Kenichi Tsuchiya. Hidehito Aoki has been involved in things such as Persona & Majin Tensei 1 & 2... Kenichi Tsuchiya has also been involved in the Persona series as well as SMT3 & DDS1. I found his tracks from SMT3 to be particularly awesome though, especially the Amala network battle theme.

Really, I'm happy with any of them composing more music as they're all awesome, but it's always nice to get some variety. =o

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Nehmi

I'd like to hear some more things from other Atlus composers such as Hidehito Aoki & Kenichi Tsuchiya. Hidehito Aoki has been involved in things such as Persona & Majin Tensei 1 & 2... Kenichi Tsuchiya has also been involved in the Persona series as well as SMT3 & DDS1. I found his tracks from SMT3 to be particularly awesome though, especially the Amala network battle theme.

Definitely.

They worked on Rebus/Kartia too. That must've been the only time those guys have tried for a more classical/traditional sound and I thought it worked pretty well. Both Persona 2 games have good soundtracks too.

I definitely want to hear more from Kenichi Tsuchiya in particular, as I actually liked his tracks in Nocturne more than those of Shoji Meguro. His battle tracks (Demons, Beelzebub, and Metatron in addition to Amala) were really good and the Mansion of Heresy stuff was as well.

To stay on topic, I like Meguro, though I'm not a big fan like some folks are. However, I've only heard his stuff from SMT Nocturne as I have yet to try DDS.

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Megavolt, The DDS soundtracks are his best work in my opinion. If you are interested in hearing it, send me a PM and ill get it to you somehow. (i have the 4 disk complete DDS1 and 2 collection)

I absolutly love Meguro's battle themes. I havent heard any other techno/rock battle themes that would even compare. I cant wait to hear more from him.

I was speaking idiomatically.

My iPod lists Masaki Kurokawa as the composer for Persona 2. Not sure about P1.

As for Meguro, if I were gay, I would be in love. This man has created two masterpieces with SMT:N and DDS, and I hope to hear much more from him.

As for his style, I can see how there would be fear of him being confined to a particular stylistic subset of chords/instruments/melodies that may grow stale, since the work I've heard from him is very stylistically intense. I hope he branches out and tries more new things before this current modus operandi gets old, but I can't see it getting old for at least a few more soundtracks.

That said, I do like his current style very much, and I hope his future work, while differing in melody, complexity, or instrumentation, retains its dark, hostile, oppressive sound that worked so well for the Megaten games. Between recent Final Fantasy "music" being almost non-music (confess, haven't listened to 11 or 12 OST thoroughly yet), many games using licensed pop crap, and others turning to uninspired techno or bland heavy-metal, I like that Meguro's stuff had some real personality. On top of that, while the other really good stuff of the era was more upbeat (Tales of Symphonia), cheerful (Katamari), and fast-paced (Star Ocean 3), I like that he wasn't afraid to go all-out in making his work sound like living death.

Argh, okay, I'm done fellating Meguro now. But seriously, Meguro-composed Persona 3 FTW.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Awhile ago, I got the DDS 4 disc set from gamemp3s, but I have yet to listen to it. As far as SMT3, I fell in love with that soundtrack about right when I started to play the game. I really like the modern capabilities of VGM, the integration of guitars with great sounding synth. I like the genres he plays in, mixing electronica with rock. I'm a big fan of his battle themes and area (town, map) themes. Did he do any notable Atlus games for PSX that had a North American release?

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by DarkRavenX

Megavolt, The DDS soundtracks are his best work in my opinion. If you are interested in hearing it, send me a PM and ill get it to you somehow. (i have the 4 disk complete DDS1 and 2 collection)

Thanks for the offer. Maybe you could upload it to VGM Central. Truth is, I own Digital Devil Saga the game, but I haven't gotten around to playing it yet. I think I'll try DDS once I finish Suikoden V.

Originally Posted by CelticWhisper

My iPod lists Masaki Kurokawa as the composer for Persona 2. Not sure about P1.

Along with Hidehito Aoki and Kenichi Tsuchiya. I believe Aoki is listed as sound director/composer while the other two are listed as composers in my Eternal Punishment (not sure about Innocent Sin, which I don't own) liner notes. There's a composer's notes section however that was written only by Kurokawa. It doesn't get more specific than that, unfortunately. Rebus does actually list which tracks were composed by Tsuchiya and which by Kurokawa though (about a 50/50 split there, if I remember correctly). It seems that Aoki only played a sound director role in that one.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

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Thanks for the offer. Maybe you could upload it to VGM Central. Truth is, I own Digital Devil Saga the game, but I haven't gotten around to playing it yet. I think I'll try DDS once I finish Suikoden V.

As soon as I find a good DC++ compatible client for Mac OS X (ShakesPeer is looking good once they work out a few bugs. Oh, and FUCK YOU ops for disallowing NMDC when there were no other good Mac clients) I'll pop it in my share. I can share it for a while on my laptop, but my Mac would be better as it's the difference between 60GB of download/share space and 620GB. On top of that, I can do a lossless rip for the GFF tracker, though I thought there already was one.

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Along with Hidehito Aoki and Kenichi Tsuchiya. I believe Aoki is listed as sound director/composer while the other two are listed as composers in my Eternal Punishment (not sure about Innocent Sin, which I don't own) liner notes. There's a composer's notes section however that was written only by Kurokawa. It doesn't get more specific than that, unfortunately. Rebus does actually list which tracks were composed by Tsuchiya and which by Kurokawa though (about a 50/50 split there, if I remember correctly). It seems that Aoki only played a sound director role in that one.

Okay, if Aoki is the composer I might retag my songs to credit him. I can put the other names in the notes, but I try to keep from having ten million different musicians in my "Artists" list on my Pod as it becomes quite a pain to sift through a million musicians with only one or two songs under their heading. Plus I like having full soundtracks all grouped together.

I posted on the GFF tracker, and I'll mention here, that I ordered the Persona 2 IS and EP soundtracks, Devil Summoner Kuzunoha Raidou, and preordered the Persona 3 OST, so I can rip and seed those on the tracker as well. I think there was already a torrent for DS:KR but the others are as of yet unrepresented.

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Originally Posted by CelticWhisper

As soon as I find a good DC++ compatible client for Mac OS X (ShakesPeer is looking good once they work out a few bugs. Oh, and FUCK YOU ops for disallowing NMDC when there were no other good Mac clients) I'll pop it in my share. I can share it for a while on my laptop, but my Mac would be better as it's the difference between 60GB of download/share space and 620GB. On top of that, I can do a lossless rip for the GFF tracker, though I thought there already was one.

That'd be great. I suppose you could just let me know via PM or something when you've got it. I'm in no rush since I'd prefer to play the game(s) first anyhow.

I don't have much else to add to the topic, so, err...rock on.

How ya doing, buddy?

I played Nocturne and DDS 1 pretty much back-to-back, and I was so in love with the music that their accompanying soundtracks were basically all I listened to for about three months. I thought I'd gotten over it, finally... then after I finished DDS 2, I bought the four-disc soundtrack and had a complete relapse. I was really surprised when I found out he'd done work on the Persona games too (Hidehiko Aoki was the only name I remembered).

So yeah, I am a big Shoji Meguro fan. I haven't heard the Kuzunoha Raidou stuff yet, though.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Thank you for reminding me that my soundtracks have not yet arrived in the mail.

HEARTLESS COCKSUCKER.



Seriously, though, I ordered the 4-disc OST as soon as I found out it existed. Such good stuff, and so much of it. It really amazed me to hear that there was so much ambient/background/cutscene music that I didn't even notice while playing the game.

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Still, I'd like to hear some more things from other Atlus composers such as Hidehito Aoki & Kenichi Tsuchiya

Seconded. Toshiko Tasaki had some excellent songs in Nocturne as well (Healing Spring in particular).

I personally think Meguro lost a bit of his touch after DDS1. Nocturne and DDS were incredible, but the DDS2 OST wasn't quite as good and Devil Summoner: Kuzunoha Raidou was garbage. Maybe another series change'll be good for him. I still like him a lot.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Umm, am I the only one who thinks that his newest OST DevSum is fantastic?
I mean, i don't think he has done Rock/Jazz before, atleast not to my knowledge. I find both DevSum, Nocturne and DDS OST's to be equally awesome. In my opininon, he is one of the best out there.

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Toshiko Tasaki had some excellent songs in Nocturne as well (Healing Spring in particular).

My honest opinion, that's one of the worst tracks on the album.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by YoMan

Umm, am I the only one who thinks that his newest OST DevSum is fantastic?
I mean, i don't think he has done Rock/Jazz before, atleast not to my knowledge. I find both DevSum, Nocturne and DDS OST's to be equally awesome. In my opininon, he is one of the best out there.

No, you aren't the only one. I actually enjoy the music for the lastest Devil Summoner game as well. Now, I don't think it's on the same level as Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne or either of the Digital Devil Saga albums, but it does have really good content. Like you mentioned, I like the fusion of rock and jazz too. Also, his battle themes in it are as rockin' as they have ever been.

I hope he's doing, or at least contributing to, Persona 3. It would be shame if he wasn't.

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Originally Posted by YoMan

My honest opinion, that's one of the worst tracks on the album.

I don't really like the way it sounds on disc... it's like they took out that bit of reverb that you hear in the game, and without it the track is really flat. I don't mind it in-game, but then again I never linger at the fountains in Nocturne. Busy Demi-fiend, y'know, places to go, towers to climb.

Toshiko Tasaki did the Rag's Jewelry music too, didn't she? THAT track I love. I'll sit at the menu and just listen to it for a minute whenever I go in there.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

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I don't really like the way it sounds on disc... it's like they took out that bit of reverb that you hear in the game, and without it the track is really flat.

Agreed. Have you heard the arranged version of Healing Spring from the Incense Deluxe CD? It's very good, better than the original, too.

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Toshiko Tasaki did the Rag's Jewelry music too, didn't she? THAT track I love. I'll sit at the menu and just listen to it for a minute whenever I go in there.

And damn, I forgot about RAG's Jewelry. That song had stellar chords.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Onyx

Agreed. Have you heard the arranged version of Healing Spring from the Incense Deluxe CD? It's very good, better than the original, too.

I haven't, no. Do you happen to have a copy? I found a sample on RPGFan but it doesn't like me and won't play for some reason.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Toshiko Tasaki really shines on the Nocturne Maniacs OST. All of the tracks on there are pretty good, especially Dante Battle, Joint Struggle and Parting.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I like the Hari-Hara music myself, and I really like the "Berserker mode" music

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

i love all the metal/techno tracks that meguro composed in both dds1&2 and netorne 3 so much that i cant wait to hear other similar work...i waz wondering if there is actually other work for him outside the atlus corp games or if theres other similar artists thanx in advance

I was speaking idiomatically.