Millennial Fair – Grandia Soundtracks Page

Gamearts did us all a favor by contracting Noriyuki Iwadare to do the soundtrack for this wonderful game. The music truly captures the thoughts and ideas behind the characters and story. The game is filled with fast paced, often cheery music that totally fits the enviroment. Presenting both orchestral and synthesizer excellence, the Grandia soundtracks have something for everyone.

Grandia Original Soundtrack I

Composed by Noriyuki Iwadare

Disc One: “Orchestra Side” 46 Minutes 25 Seconds
Tracks:
1. The Theme of Grandia
2. Gambo’s Sandy Beach
3. Delightful Adventure
4. The Parting From Sue
5. Ancient Illusionary Castle
6. Mullen
7. The Beautiful Woman of Alent
8. The Ghost Ship
9. The End of the World
10. Approaching Crisis
11. Leen~Love Theme

Disc Two: “Synthesizer Side” 51 Minutes 15 Seconds
Tracks:
1. Prelude
2. The Streets of Parm
3. Seagull Restaurant Lily
4. Saruto Ruins
5. New Parm~Frontier of Our Hearts~
6. Dom Ruins
7. Duel with Gadwin
8. Dight Village
9. Gambo’s Festival
10. Twin Tower
11. Village of Kafu
12. Zilpadon
13. The Snow Village Laine
14. Stand and Rise! Justin

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Review by

Instead of listing all the game tracks on one OST, Gamearts decided to have 2 OSTs, which each two discs. The first OST has one disc for the orchestral music, and one disc for the synthesizer music. The first disc is without a doubt the most impressive. It starts of with the Grandia theme song, which is an exciting, incredibly varied song which is a great introduction to a great CD. Gambo’s Sandy Beaches, also known as “For the Love of You”, is the main love theme of Grandia. A very soothing, sweet song with a very emotional violin sound. Delightful Adventure, the third track is very different. It’s very fast paced, enjoyable, exciting and joyous song that will really get you into the game when you’re playing. The piano song, Farewell to Sue, is a very deep, peaceful song with great arrangement. Ancient Illusionary Castle, has a sort of, naughty tune with a nice sense of mystery. Very much like Watch Your Step from the Breath of Fire IV OST. The funny thing is how the song changes to some kind of romantic dancing song in the middle. Quite odd, but very Grandia–esque, if I do say so myself. The sixth track, Mullen, disappointed me somewhat, because it somehow does not give credit to the great character of Mullen. A very heroic yet stoic song with battle drums and trumpets. The Beautiful Women of Alent is a very beautiful, soothing vocal song. I do feel it misses out on excellence, simply because there is little to no variation in the song. Ghost Ship, on the other hand, is such a varied song that it just baffled me. The tune of the song changes three times in four minutes, and really keeps the attention of the listener at a maximum. The Edge of the World, a somewhat different version of the main Grandia theme, is a good mix of different feelings of the game characters. A very solid tune, with a nice feeling of accomplishment (which you will understand better if you play the game too). Approaching Crisis is a very nice boss theme, and the best boss theme in my opinion. It is, however, a bit repetative compared to the other orchestrated songs on this disc. The last song is truely beautiful, as it combines so many elements from this game, and puts them in one solid track. Leen’s love theme is a great ending to this disc.
Disc two, as I said before, is the synthesizer disc and features most of the general in game songs. Starting off with the heavily Anglo–Saxon influenced Intro theme and Parm city song. Nothing too exciting there. Seagull Restaurant Lily is a much better, funnier track that you will find even funnier after you have seen the parts where Lilly bangs Justin over the head with a frying pan a couple of times. Saruto Ruins is a nice theme, but also nothing too impressive. New Parm~Frontier of Our Hearts~ somehow gives me the feeling that I’m at a circus rather than a great town, but oh well. Dom ruins is a rather bland dungeon theme with little to no excitement, another bad choice in my opinion. Duel with Gadwin is a very good cowboy–ish battle theme that would remind one of those old John Wayne movies. Dight Village song annoys me greatly, mainly because I hated this part of the game, but also because I am not into this kind of native tunes. Not too shabby, but not really good either. Gambo’s Festival, or Prayers of Gambo is a really funny song. It’s the kind of song you would not expect, and even if it was a serious attempt to mimic the songs of ancient African tribes, it just remains to be a funny song that you can tap your feet to. Twin Towers is a rather dull dungeon theme, whith a rather odd high pitched melody in it. The Village of Kafu song is pretty good, as I enjoy the songs of native australian origin, and this one is kinda jazzy, which I can appreciate. The Zilpadon song is very nice, but a little too busy to be really good. Very heavily influenced by arabic instruments and culture. The Snow Village Laine is a very nice, Norwegian–sounding town song. And finally, Stand and Rise Justin. The best track on this disc without a doubt; this is the only song on the whole Grandia OST that has specific Japanese influences and instruments. And come on, who cannot love the “YOSH!” yell in the beginning? Very good track in my opinion.
Summarising, the orchestral disc is awesome, very noteworthy and a great accomplishment by the composer. The second disc is a disappointment, simply because it is only a collection of town and dungeon themes that really don’s match up to what you hear on disc one. I also think it sucks that it does not have the awesome battle themes from the second disc in the game (which are featured on the other OST). I would recommend buying this CD if you love game music or orchestral music in general, even if only for the fist cd, it’s worth the money.

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Grandia Original Soundtrack II

Composed by Noriyuki Iwadare

Disc One: 49 Minutes 58 Seconds
Tracks:
1. Off Runs Sue
2. Justin Hits the Scene
3. Angel Culture
4. Deck Swabbing
5. Inside Sart Ruins
6. Battle 1
7. Victory
8. A Misty Sea of Forests
9. Gaia Egg
10. The Airship Launches
11. [Gaia fuka]
12. Zilpadon’s Destruction
13. Leen vs. Gaia
14. Growing Gaia
15. At Dinner
16. Inside Domu Ruins
17. Four Volley Rounds of Tension
18. Dungeon 1
19. New Palm Church
20. Complete Victory
21. Village of Ruku

Disc One: 64 Minutes 19 Seconds
Tracks:
1. Perserverance Cheer
2. Fight Cheer
3. The Three Young Women
4. Dungeon 2
5. New Palm Sake Bar
6. Palm Harbor
7. Inside Twin Tower 1
8. Battle 2
9. Unkown Sky Dimension
10. Galaiel
11. Farewell
12. Underground Ruins
13. Short loop 1
14. Short loop 2
15. Inside Twin Tower 2
16. Battle 3
17. The Cursed Tower
18. Assault
19. Aim For A New World
20. Adventurer’s Society

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Review by

As I mentioned in my review of the first Grandia OST, this is the continuation of the first, with all the ingame tracks that were missing. The first CD has a lot of short tracks that aren’t too appealing to really listen to. The first seven tracks is incredibly short, and pretty meaningless to the OST. Justin Hits the Scene, the main theme for Justin, is a good song, and very well done to fit his character of being an over–zealous tomboy adventurer. Angel Culture is a very long track, oh which the context I cannot remember. Not a bad track, but a little too long to be interesting. I find myself pushing the next button on my CD player after about two minutes of this song, hence it should have been shorter to keep the listener interested. Deck Swabbing is a real mini–game theme in the spirit of the real Capcom sound. A funny track, but nothing to put on repeat. Within Sult Ruins is just a plain dungeon track, with no real variation other than some chances of pace. The first battle theme, though a good theme in the game, has little appeal on the OST. The victory theme however, is very nicely done and less annoying than some other victory themes, especially those in Final Fantasy games. A Misty Sea of Forests is not really a song, it’s more like a single melody that repeats itself, and is occasionally joined with a lone instrument, too annoying to listen to twice. Gaia Egg, the ninth track, is way too short, and so is The Airship Launches, Gaia Fuka, and Zilpadon’s destruction. The next two songs, Leen v.s. Gaia and Growing Gaia, are good tracks, but again they are too small to really be of the same calliver of the first OST tracks. At Dinner is a nice, sweet theme that is a relaxing chance for this disc. Inside Dom Ruins, just like Within Sult Ruins, is a track that I would not listen to a lot. Simply because you hear it a lot in the game itself, and because it offers little to no variation. Four Volley Rounds of Tension is a track that I like, because it’s so different to the rest. It is actually a mix of four songs, which kinda makes it like Ghost Ship on the first OST. Dungeon 1 (I cannot remember hearing this in the game), is a nice track, with a techno sound and a nice dark character. Unfortunately, I could not stand to listen to it for the full six minutes and fourty–one seconds. New Parm Church is a funny alternative to the regular church songs of most RPGs, and has a funny jazzy tune in it. Flawless victory is a good variation to the victory fanfare, but the place on the CD strikes me as odd. The last track for disc one, Luc Village, is a nice town song, but nothing too exciting I’m afraid.
Disc two starts off with two very small battle cheers from Sue. They are funny, but are they really something that we need on an OST? Not in my opinion. Three Young Women, is a nice theme that fits the description and the women in question very well. Dungeon 2 is much better than Dungeon 1, and if I am correct, it is also sort of a battle theme (I could be mistaken though). New Parm Sake Bar is just...odd... I doesn’t seem to fit in on this Disc, but who am I to judge that? Parm Seaport annoys me, because it is the same song that just repeats itself like, 30 times in 3 minutes. Inside Twin Tower 1, much like the other dungeon themes, is something enjoyable in the game, but not on the OST, I’m afraid. Battle 2 is an awesome, awesome battle theme. One of the reasons why I loved playing Grandia was because the battle music just really riled me up when playing. Unkown Sky Dimension is pretty vague track, but it somehow interest me. I do think however, that 4 minutes is just too long for this track. Galaiel is a nice, evil theme that would accompany marching soldiers. But again, 4 minutes is too long for tracks like this. Farewell, not to be confused with Farewell to Sue, is a very nice song, and very different to the other emotional tracks, because it gives out a very different emotion. Underground Ruins gets better later on in the track as it changes to a more interesting song with bells. Short Loop 1 and 2 are songs I cannot remember in the game, or where they are played. They are okay songs, and not as repetative as the dungeon songs. Inside Twin Tower 3 is another dungeon theme that we could have missed without being upset about it. Battle 3 just owns this whole disc. Seriously one of the best battle themes of all the RPGs that I know. It is like an orchestrated battle theme, which I love, while still retaining the synthesizer sound. The Cursed Tower is a theme with a heavy bass that could shatter a window if need be. Unfortunately, it is not something I could listening to for more than one minute, because it gives me a headache. Assualt is another track that has heavy bass sounds, but is less annoying than the previous track. Still, I don’t like these tracks on OSTs, because I tend to skip them for the really interesting tracks. Aim for the New World is a nice track, very fast paced and not too long. The last track, Adventurer’s Society, is more like Clown’s Society (you would appreciate the humor of that if you know who leads the society...). Not too shabby, but oddly misplaced on this disc/.
All in all, I would not get this OST if I were not a hardcore Grandia fan (which I am). I simply adore this OST because it has the battle themes. It is worth the money, if you like Grandia a lot, but for collectors or general music lovers, I would suggest getting the first OST, rather than this one, because this is more like a “lost tracks𔄭 CD, instead of a real OST. The misplacement of tracks, and the abcense of real variety is what stains this album, making it less desirable than the other albums.

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Grandia Arranged Soundtrack

Composed and Arranged by Noriyuki Iwadare

Tracks:
1. Palm
2. For the Love of You
3. Lilly
4. Farewell to Sue
5. Palm Sake Bar
6. Gadwin Pathos
7. Ruku
8. Shadow Man
9. Alent Requiem
10. Remembrance
11. Theme of Grandia
12. Theme of Grandia – Piano Version

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Review by

First of all, I don’t see why Grandia needs an arranged album. The first Disc of the first OST is full of great orchestral music. I wonder why Noriyuki Iwadare had to venture this way, but I guess there is no way of telling. The CD kicks off with Palm, the arranged version of the Parm city theme. Nothing too exciting, the theme has totally lost its adventurous spirit, and has now become something like a restaurant theme. For the Love of You, starts off with a beautiful harp (I love harps) and then switches to the trumpet as the main instrument. This arrangement really does not differ too much from the original, but it doesn’t make it any worse. A very nice track when you are sitting on the couch with your girlfriend and you’re hoping to get lucky. The third track, Lilly, totally ruined the awesome track from the OST. The original was funny and dynamic, this one is slow and totally misses the point of the song. I doubt Lilly the Skull would have this in her collection of “pirated” music. It is a nice song, if you like polka, or if you are too old to notice how slow this song is. Farewell to Sue, the amazingly good track from the orchestral OST, is not changed too much. Which is good, because the main emotion is retained by the supurb use of the violin and harp. Palm Sake Bar, well, I don’t know. If you like arcordeons, and silly melodies, then you would like this, I guess. Gadwin Pathos, the arrangement of the Gadwin Fight song, is very well done, but could have used a little more strength in the trumpets. The first three minutes leave too much power, but the end makes up for it. Ruku, the arrangement of Luc Village, is very nice, and reminds me of a Suikoden Song more than anything. The addition of the trumpet really helps this song, and makes it much better than the original version. Shadow Man, the arranged version of the boss theme, need more drums and less violin to make it interesting. There is no power in it this way. Alent Requiem is a nice piano track with the unsuspected addition of a female voice! This song really rocks! Even though I can’t understand of what she sings, it does really swing! The song just gets better after the first two minutes, and ends nicely. Remembrance, although it is a nice harp song, does not really impress. The theme of Grandia, though nicely arranged and accompanied by some really good piano work, misses out on the vigor of the original track. The last track in simply a piano version of a part of the main theme, it would have been better if it were longer, but with one minute and fourty–two seconds, you simply don’t have enough time to make a good piano solo.
In the end, was this album necessary? No. However, if you really love Grandia, or arranged music, you should get it if you can ever find it anywhere. It won’t be one of my favourite albums, but that does not mean I don’t appreciate it. The arrangement of tracks like those of Grandia seems to be rather redundant when you have something as good as the first OST. Still, I can see why Noriyuki Iwadare would want to do, because of the challenge. Still, he does not match up to the arrangement of master composer Yasunori Mitsuda. But hey, he needs to start somewhere eh?

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