Hiroki Kikuta Solo Album!!

To quote Square Music News:

Quote:

Some big news today for fans of Hiroki Kikuta: his biggest work in seven years and only solo album to date is being released. Called "Lost Files", with 18 tracks in total, this will only be available through his web site, but should reflect him back on top form. As fans of the Seiken Densetsu and Soukaigi composer may know, the composer struggled after masterminding the financial flop Koudelka, resulting in a long period of nothing being heard from him until his eventual involvement in a series of hentai games. One of his few chances to receive global attention again, composing for a Square Enix MMORPG, was unsuccessful, as the game was abandoned, and many fans of his Square works likely do not even know the composer is still around. Let's hope that this solo album will change that, despite its limited availability.

Thanks to KujaFFman of Squaremusic for revealing this wonderful news.

I thought all the Kikuta fans here would love to here this.

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Available in his website? does that mean we could download it for free? I never heard his composition but I'm looking forward for it.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by eriol

Available in his website? does that mean we could download it for free?

I expect this means that it'll only be available for purchase through his site. There's also a tracklisting up there.

Originally Posted by eriol

I never heard his composition but I'm looking for it.

You can pick up SPC sets for his soundtracks to Seiken Densetsu 2 and 3 at http://www.snesmusic.org/v2/profile....r&selected=385. Both games also have OSTs, in addition to Soukaigi and Koudelka.

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

Kikuta's back! Awesome! Though I know he did some h-games, I never heard any titles in specific, so I couldn't really check anything out. I wonder if cocoebiz could work with him to help distribute to foreigners.

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

Originally Posted by eriol

Available in his website? does that mean we could download it for free? I never heard his composition but I'm looking forward for it.

Like that would happen. Yeah, available for purchase at his web site. When we receive more info (or a Japanese translator appears) we'll know more. If you want to check out Kikuta's work, I'd suggest the Soukaigi Original Soundtrack above all others, as it's his most accessible.

Quote:

Kikuta's back! Awesome! Though I know he did some h-games, I never heard any titles in specific, so I couldn't really check anything out. I wonder if cocoebiz could work with him to help distribute to foreigners.

If Kahori manages to stock the solo album, that'd be absolutely awesome. I wonder if she knows about it? *considers sending email*

I managed to download both of the promotional soundtracks released on behalf of his hentai works. Information about them is available here and here. Kikuta also worked on Ni~dzuma wa Sailor Fuku, though, as far as I know, there was no soundtrack release.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Hot damn, this is some great news for sure. The only reason Kikuta isn't my favorate composer is because he never seemed to put anything new out after Soukaigi. This new album should be awesome. =D

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

As I hope my post made clear, he's done a fair amount since Soukaigi, though mostly outside Square. Koudelka, the largely unsuccessful predecessor to the Shadow Hearts series, was both scored, storylined, directed, and inspired by him, and he has worked on three hentai scores and an abandoned SE MMORPG since. I'd recommend Koudelka's soundtrack and Sakura Relaxation's promotional album if you haven't heard them.

I'm a bit tentative about recommending my biography, since it was the first one I written, in great need of updating (I might do that today, actually), and rather amateurish but it gives a decent overview of his works. It can be found here.

FELIPE NO

There is a soundtrack for Ni~duma wa Sailor Fuku. Seeing as Sakura Relaxation and Niiduma were both Puzzlebox games, there's a good chance he will work on their newest title "Oba no Shinshitsu" (Aunt's Bedroom), too. However, no composer was announced yet. Since Sora no Iro, Mizu no Iro was by Ciel, his last three works were in fact all game music for SP-Janis brands.

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to his solo album.

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

Here is the link to Kikuta's website, where there are details about this album:

http://www.zephyr.dti.ne.jp/~deadtech/

Perhaps someone can translate?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Woot! Never know what to expect from a solo album, but I'm half expecting something akin to Secret of Mana+ (the 50 minute 1-track arranged album for Seiken 2 and 3). I am looking forward to this.

Too bad Sakura Relaxation saw such a patheticly limited release...It was one of my favorite soundtracks from last year.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Given that it's split into 18 tracks, it certainly won't be continuous like SoM+, though could be similar stylistically. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing more of Kikuta's progressive side that SoM+ provided, though most would probably disagree with me. Either way, I'm excited.

Oh, thanks to Teioh, some information about the other hentai soundtrack release is available here if anyone is interested. If anyone has a scan of the CD, it'd be awesome to have, but the information is otherwise complete.

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

Wow, I'm really excited. I'm one of the ardent SoM+ supporters and would certainly hope to see something in that direction. I particularly like what he did with the "Ancient Dolphin" and ringing telephone sections. It was very unfortunate that Kikuta had to struggle with recouping from Koudelka. While the gameplay was rather flawed, it wasn't a bad game; other aspects of the game like the music (debatable :P) and characterization were well done.

One fanboy wish: bouncy Secret of Mana-ish tunes, please?

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

Good news. My one question: are there going to be vocals? Is this a song album? If so, I can immidiately discontinue all caring. If not, hooray!

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O_o
What an enlightening post this was. First of all: he's releasing a solo album! Wohoo! This is actually something I might consider *gasp* buying.

Secondly, I really didn't know Kikuta had released any new music since Koudelka! Wohoo! I'll have to start looking for that now unless, of course, someone could point me in the right direction right away . But how does the music of, say, Sakura Relaxation fare compared to earlier brilliance like SD2/3 or Soukaigi?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I feel his Hentai works are superior to his Seiken Densetsu soundtracks.

FELIPE NO

While I'm glad to hear about this solo album and the fact that Kikuta is still composing music, what I really hope is that this will serve as a springboard to get him back into composing games. I was hoping that he'd be working on one of the Mana games that will be coming out but that wasn't the case. But again, it's great to see that he's stil alive and kicking. This album should be intriguing.

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Originally Posted by Nuh

Secondly, I really didn't know Kikuta had released any new music since Koudelka! Wohoo! I'll have to start looking for that now unless, of course, someone could point me in the right direction right away

Feel free to pick these up from my server here, or on VGM Central if you use DC (and are able to catch me online there). I should have all of the h-game soundtracks mentioned.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by seanne

Feel free to pick these up from my server here, or on VGM Central if you use DC (and are able to catch me online there). I should have all of the h-game soundtracks mentioned.

I went ahead and did just that, I'm downloading right now. Thanks a lot!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Wow, I wasn't even aware that Kikuta did all this stuff after SD3.. rofl :1zhelp:
Cool news, though. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this..

Originally Posted by Elorin

One fanboy wish: bouncy Secret of Mana-ish tunes, please?

Wish seconded.

And a question! Which of the non-Seiken Densetsu albums did you guys enjoy more though? I guess it comes down to musical preference, but I want to get an idea of what people seem to like more. I'll probably go for downloadin' the preferred stuff first.

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

Of his non-Seiken Densetsu works, and there are very few, I really like Soukaigi the best. Even though I hear the game itself is horrible, musically it was pretty revolutionary, as it was among the first few games to incorporate live instruments. Also, I'd check out Sakura Relaxation too, because it also splendid and has a Secret of Mana type vibe to it.

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

Yeah, Soukaigi is still my favourite game-OST-album ever. Not a single weak song on there. But back to the topic: is there anyone who can translate what it says on the link Zanasea posted ( http://www.zephyr.dti.ne.jp/~deadtech/ )? Any mention of a release date or something?

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Too bad that there aren't any sound samples. Nevertheless, I'm sure this is worth checking out.

How ya doing, buddy?

This is excellent news! Hiroki Kikuta is one of my favorite VGM artists and I am very sad nothing else by him has been released in awhile.

Also, anyone have the hentai game soundtracks? I made a formal request here.

FELIPE NO

I'm not sure if this has been reported here already, but CocoeBiz / VGM World will be stocking the album:

Quote:

Mr Hiroki Kikuta has released his original album -Lost Field-, and this album will be available at vgmworld.com very soon. We are planning to have an short interview with him and run a promotional event. (Signed item) We will update the information as soon as possible!

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

Yes, just as I had hoped, VGM World has it! =D

http://www.vgmworld.com/catalog/inde...c&item_num=880

Jam it back in, in the dark.