Motoi Sakuraba

Originally Posted by Megavolt

He's actually one of my favorite VGM composers. I like the ethereal and mystical quality that many of his softer tracks have as well as the energy of his dungeon and battle themes. I guess he isn't for everyone, but I find that his music tends to work very well in context, and that suits me just fine. My top favorites of his would have to be Valkyrie Profile (don't much like the arrange album though and I haven't heard the voice mix album), Star Ocean 2 (arrange album is good too and the megamix is...different; I know he didn't arrange the latter), and Shining the Holy Ark (arrange album is fantastic), but I'm usually at least okay with whatever he does, even if it's your standard Tales soundtrack that doesn't stand out much.

Honestly I've never been to familiar with the technical aspects of music. So stuff like his use of "reverb" and "symphonic progressive rock" don't really make things clear for me (granted, they give me an *idea* but thats about as far as it goes). Megavolt nails it down to a "T" for me.

Star Ocean 2 goes down as one of my top 5 games of all time, and its because of playing through that game so many times that I developed an appreciation for his music (granted, I have only listened to his SO2 and VP soundtracks so far). It also might have to do with how his style is so different from that of the other RPG game composers, and seem to fit the mood of the environment perfectly.

Jam it back in, in the dark.