Motoi Sakuraba

Originally Posted by orion_mk3

While his rockin' field themes tend to work well enough, Sakuraba's battle themes are almost uniformly tedious. I often refer to "Sakuraba's Battle Theme," because the various tunes are so similar in construction and instrumentation.

That's not being entirely fair. In the Baten Kaitos I & II soundtracks alone are examples of the five different styles of battle themes he uses. While each song of a style tends to be pretty similar to others of its style, and a handful share similar melodies cross-style, not all of his battle themes are of the exact same construction and instrumentation. Examples:

-Rockin' (e.g. Vitriolic a Stroke, Violent Storm, Iconoclasm, Shogyo-Mujo)
-Rockin'/Orchestral Hybrid (while fairly similar to his rockin' style, I think they're different enough to be noted) (e.g. The True Mirror, The Valedictory Elegy)
-Orchestral (e.g. Dark Conviction, Rumbling of the Earth, Supreme Ruler of the Nine Heavens, Poacher, Bitter Enemies in the Same Boat)
-Jazz Organ (e.g. Glowing Cloud, Powerful Voice of an Old Soul)
-I don't know what the hell to call them/rap/techno? (e.g. Chaotic Dance, Chaotic Dance 2) (and while not particularly good on their own, at least they fit their in-game battles reasonably. That and I find them hilarious for some reason.)

If you haven't heard them, I want to know if you still automatic one-star-rate his orchestral battle themes (I'd suggest Bitter Enemies in the Same Boat of BKII out of them). Come on, they're at least 2-3 stars. BKII also has a pretty nifty orchestral version of The True Mirror, but then again, it still is the same song as The True Mirror.

Anyways, personally, while I'm not particularly fond of most of his work for the Star Ocean and Tales series, the Baten Kaitos and Golden Sun soundtracks are some of my all-time favorites.

Jam it back in, in the dark.