Xenosaga Episode III Original Sound Best Tracks [Audio CD]

 | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• ASIN: B000HQGIK8
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,629 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overrated, but you won't go wrong with it., October 24, 2006

By 

Kunoichi - See all my reviews

This review is from: Xenosaga Episode III Original Sound Best Tracks [Audio CD] (Audio CD)

The music in the final chapter of the series is highly praised among those who have played the game, heck, some people would even go as far as ranking it above Mitsuda's work on the first game.

While the sountrack indeed features a number of breathtaking tracks (Godsibb, Promised Pain, Testament and Hepatica ~KOS-MOS come to mind), only up to ten of the fourty tracks are memorable and a joy to listen to -though some of them are actually recycled from Kajiura's past works- and the rest are ranging from generic and forgetable to so-so. I also can't fathom why Kajiura would leave out some of really decent tracks, like the one that plays when everyone heads to save Shion and the one in the Abel's Ark dungeon for some really bad ones like T-elos#2 to include in this 2 CD set.

Argubaly better than Ep II's sountrack and a recommended addition to your collection, but it still doesn't hold a candle to Ep I's sountrack.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kajiura vs. Mitsuda, October 15, 2006

By 

citan-uzuki "citan-uzuki" (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Xenosaga Episode III Original Sound Best Tracks [Audio CD] (Audio CD)

I suspect that the people who will read this review have already played the game. So I won't take up too much space in describing the music. The sound quality is superb. Also, the packaging is very attractive.

As most Xenosaga fans are aware, Mr. Mitsuda created the soundtrack for Episode I, using the great Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. And that soundtrack received a lot of well-deserved praise and recognition. When it was announced that Ms. Kajiura would compose the music for Episode II, some of the fans where doubtful. After the release of Episode II, it became clear that although the soundtrack was very good, fans did not like it as much as they did the first game's music. During the short wait for Episode III, there were endless discussions on the many forums dedicated to Xenosaga as to who the fans would like to compose the music for the third episode. Let me just say that I am glad Ms. Kajiura had decided to stay with the project and compose the music for Xenosaga Episode III: Also Sprach Zarathustra. Her composition, in my humble opinion, is even better than the one that Mr. Mitsuda created for the first game. With this soundtrack, Ms. Kajiura has firmly established herself as the equal of Mr. Mitsuda. I highly recommend this CD set to fans of the game. Listening to these tracks will bring back the thrill and exhilaration that you experienced while playing the game.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Above average but not great, September 5, 2006

By 

Shelley Godwin (Dayton, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Xenosaga Episode III Original Sound Best Tracks [Audio CD] (Audio CD)

Listening to the Xenosaga Episode III soundtrack makes me realize that I perhaps judged the previous soundtrack too harshly. While this installment has a more refined feel and sound to it than its predecessor, I can't help but to feel that Xenosaga II actually has the more memorable tracks. Ms. Kajiura obviously feels the same way as she reuses a number of tunes from her previous contribution to the series. Hepatica, especially #2 sounds like a reworked Sweet Song, Promised Pain is what Communication Breakdown would have been had the song continued, A New World sounds very similar to I am Free, She's Coming Back is Here she Comes, and Fate is Fatal Fight. She even borrows from Madlax with Godsibb sounding like If I Die from the OST 2. Although not very creative or imaginative it doesn't necessarily make for a bad soundtrack. While there were some tracks that are well done there are just as many others that are completely forgettable. In fact most of the tracks blended into the next one making me completely forget what the one before it sounded like. The average tracks such as Dark omen, Creeping into, Zarathustra Dungeon, and Shifting Territories, the last two in spite of the different names and separate track listings actually being the same song, weigh down those that were actually well done with both Febronias, Hepatica (Kos-Mos), and Promised Pain being among the latter. Rolling down the UMN is also noteworthy, it's a nice jazz arrangement which is a welcome change from Yuki's typical fare, yet it's completely out of place here. We've Got to Believe in Something is also enjoyable although during the duration of the song I'm constantly trying to remember what other song it reminds me of.

The average and the exceptional are so intertwined however, that it gives the soundtrack an uneven inconsistent feel to it, and nowhere is that inconsistency more obvious than in the vocal track. Maybe Tomorrow is by far one of the most uninspired, generic, ill arranged vocal tracks that I've had the misfortune of hearing. It's disheartening and disappointing to know that Maybe Tomorrow is the song that that the Xenosaga series will end on. I had hoped for something memorable and lasting, yet instead I am left with something that sounds like a hidden track on a Kidz Bop CD.

Disappointing ending theme aside, as a whole the soundtrack isn't bad. While not offering anything of substance it is best described as aural bubblegum, enjoyable for the time and yet completely forgettable once the song is over. Fans of Ms. Kajiura's work will love it, people who are only vaguely familiar with her work will like it, and those who have heard anything by her before and weren't overwhelmed with it will be hit with a sense of deja vu that may border on rehash. While I hesitate to call it great, it's still above average and is worth giving a listen to.