[Album] Burai Prototype (H30X-10008)

Highly interesting review. I've been meaning to discover more about the Burai series since I learnt that Chihiro Fujioka was involved in All Sounds of Burai. Are you familiar with that album, Goldfish?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Some more info on Chihiro Fujioka if you're interested, which will be added to SquareSound pretty soon:

Quote:

Born on October 24, 1959, in Osaka, Japan, Chihiro Fujioka is a rare talent in the gaming industry; once a composer of several popular scores and the bass guitarist in the Japanese symphonic rock band Mr. Sirius, he is now a successful director, storyline writer, and game designer, having seemingly left his musical roots behind. His first roles in the video game industry were composing for several low-key games on behalf of Crystal Software. Perhaps his most notable early score was 1989's All Sounds of Burai, the score for IGS Japan-only PC Engine RPG Burai (aka Burai: Hachigyoku no Yuushi Densetsu), later ported to the Super Nintendo and Sega CD.

Fujioka's first work for Square was for the Game Boy's Final Fantasy Legend III (aka SaGa 3: Jikuu no Hasha in Japan), where he not only composed the score with Ryuji Sasai, but also directed. The score, his only composing work for Square, was released in the form of the album All Sounds of SaGa in 1991 alongside the works of Kenji Ito and Nobuo Uematsu for the earlier instalments to the first SaGa trilogy. He only produced four tracks — two serene themes, a frenetic panic track, and a proud ending theme — but, despite their simplicity, generally added to the character, catchiness, and diversity of the score. His roots are very traditional, indeed.

Also at Square, Fujioka was responsible for the storyline of the game Final Fantasy Mystic Quest in 1992, which was first released in North America. Here, he worked alongside Sasai once more, though not directly, as Fujioka didn't co-compose. Since it received some acclaim internationally, Fujioka became a much bigger name. His next project, directing Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars in 1996, saw Nintendo and Square directly collaborate. This is his most recognised work, and is highly representative of the general light-heartedness of all his projects.

After the game's success, Fujioka joined many of the game's workers to work on games on behalf of 'Heads and Shell' and 'Alpha Star', two of Nintendo's game developers. On behalf of them, he has worked on hit games such as Paper Mario, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Hamtaro: Rainbow Rescue, and, most recently, Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time. Though unlikely to compose in future, Fujioka will continue to make his mark known by helping to develop more games in the future.

Given what I've heard about Burai Prototype and the score to Burai Fighter, I'd be interested if All Sounds of Burai reflected Fujioka's progressive rock roots. I haven't heard any sophistication in his music as yet.

There's nowhere I can't reach.