Who will replace Sugiyama?

You guys automatically dismissed Nobuo Uematsu, but there's absolutely no reason why Uematsu couldn't handle the Dragon Quest series. Uematsu, short of Sugiyama himself, is the most melodic game composer out there. He's explicitly said that when composing he always develops the melody first and then builds the song around that. Uematsu is also the only composer I know of to not even really *have* a distinctive style of his own. He's completely versatile, having demonstrated mastery over orchestras and operas as well as synthesizers, and can compose in basically any style of music effectively. I have no doubt he could take over the Dragon Quest series.

That said, as a militant Hamauzu fanboy, I also think Hamauzu could handle it. But I would pick Uematsu first and foremost.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Mr. Maul

Difference is that Nobuo Uematsu really hasn't demonstrated mastery over orchestras. Practically all FF orchestrations (in-game or arranged album) were done by another arranger, most often Shiro Hamaguchi. Hamaguchi produced the orchestrations in the FFVII Reunion Tracks, FFVIII FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC, Tour de Japon, Dear Friends, and 20020220, and was principally responsible for a wide number of in-game gems -- including "FFXI Opening Theme," "Liberi Fatali," "Suteki Da Ne" (orchestral and original), FFVIII's ending theme, "Eyes on Me," "Melodies of Life," and "One Winged Angel."

That was definitely an education, and I respect what you mean when you say Sugiyama can't be at all traded in for Uematsu.

However, Uematsu was the composer for all the albums you mentioned above, and there's no reason he couldn't take over as composer for DQ. He could have Hamaguchi continue to help him with the arrangements for orchestra. I'm not convinced that there would be a "huge regression in technical quality" if Uematsu were to take over. Uematsu has learned how to compose and produce fantastic orchestral music, even if he had someone help him fill in the gaps in his training.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Sugiyama's work is far more simplistic and melody-focused than Uematsu's. Uematsu *begins* by making the melody, but Sugiyama basically stops after that. The orchestrations come out very well, but his original compositions for the Dragon Quest games, as beautiful as they are, are nothing in sophistication compared to the work Uematsu did for 7, 8, or 9.

Uematsu's greatest strength may not be his melodies, but that he builds songs of wildly different styles and takes a lot of risks in composing. The Final Fantasy VIII soundtrack alone shows probably about a million (a million!) very different sounding pieces. The FF8 boss theme was an amazing electronic organ piece, the battle theme was a wonderful 5/4 time orchestral song, and the Laguna battle music wouldn't have sounded out of place in a rave. And yet all three of these songs are best of breed for an RPG soundtrack.

You're selling Uematsu short here, and to call Sugiyama's work "textured" and to say that all Uematsu does is make good melodies is seriously mistaken. I'll freely admit Sugiyama's orchestrations are some of the most beautiful music in all RPGs, and I wish he did more than just DQ. But Sugiyama has really carved himself a very specific niche into my heart, while Uematsu continued to reinvent himself with every game he did. Uematsu is the man.

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

I don't know, it was pretty damn tough to replace Uematsu; they needed to use two entire Final Fantasy soundtracks as transition time alone with Uematsu working alongside other people, and he's still going to be working on the main themes for 12 and 13. If something as intensive as that was done with DQ it would probably work out.

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