SaGa 3 -Shadow or Light- Original Soundtrack

	Album Title: SaGa 3 -Shadow or Light- Original Soundtrack
	Record Label: Square Enix
	Catalog No.: SQEX-10221
	Release Date: January 12, 2011
	Purchase: Buy at CDJapan

Overview

In 2011, a cult favourite made their return to the video game music world after eleven years away: Ryuji Sasai. He was specially requested by Square Enix to arrange and supplement his compositions from the Game Boy’s SaGa 3 for its recently released DS remake. However, he was not alone; while his original co-composer Chihiro Fujioka did not return — too busy designing Mario & Luigi RPGs at AlphaDream — series’ veteran Kenji Ito offered a bunch of new compositions and arrangements in the series’ style. The duo had lots of work to do in order to make the rather brief, inconsistent, and low fidelity original score into a fully-fleshed DS soundtrack. Did they succeed?

Body

Kenji Ito’s role on the soundtrack is dedicated to transforming the once deviant SaGa 3 score into something more befitting the rest of the series. Among his original compositions, the opening track “To a Shining Future” is a vibrant march that captures the heroism and innocence of the game’s protagonists. Exceeding even the material in SaGa 2‘s remake, the orchestration is relatively elaborate and the synthesis makes the most of the DS. He subsequently revitalises the once underdeveloped opening theme of the title into something worthy of the series’ name. He retains the upbeat feel of Sasai’s Game Boy arrangement — and even some of the rock touches with the bass guitar punctuation — though the treatment of the melody and countermelody with grandiose brass and cantabile strings is much closer to what one would expect from Ito’s work on the Romancing SaGa trilogy.

Ryuji Sasai’s contributions will be comforting for those worried that the old-school tone of the original music has been lost. The world map theme “Setting Off into the Future” features a more refined sound than the original, but still retains the old-school rock flavour and synth quality; resembling more the music of the Super Nintendo than the Game Boy, it actually wouldn’t sound out of place on Sasai’s most accomplished score, Rudra’s Hidden Treasure. Likewise the normal battle theme “Fight!” retains the old-school rock flavour of the original while increasing its impact with shredding rhythm guitars and exuberant synth punches. In contrast to Tsuyoshi Sekito’s Romancing SaGa arrangements, these tracks are upgrades rather than transformations of the original, and this fits the retro flavour of the remake. Further light rock sounds are featured in tracks such as the character-focused anthem “Stronghold”, the victory fanfare “Eat the Meat”, and, best of all, the special battle theme “Steslos”.

Unlike Sasai, Ito receives little chance to demonstrate his talents as a battle theme creator on this score. However, he does take the opportunity to transform the boss theme “Gods of Another Dimension” from a disordered synthfest into a high-octane blend of howling strings and rhythm guitars. The resultant composition is considerably more accessible and polished than the original. In addition, his other two original compositions, “Pile-Up Stack” and “Hold Out”, are actually action-packed tracks that seamlessly blend rock and orchestral stylings. The improvement in the synth quality from the earlier DS score is impressive, with the slapped bass persuasively punctuated and the various treble forces vibrantly blended. The latter is among the composer’s most memorable tracks in recent years and nicely complements Ryuji Sasai’s arrangements.

Ito’s most impressive feat is his transformations of even the most sparing material from the original soundtrack into substantial compositions. The original versions of “Dungeon” and “Deep” evoked very little with their repetitive chord progressions and generic stylings. Ito revitalises them with rich blends of synth — mysterious in the former, exotic in the latter — to wonderful effect in the game and, in the latter’s case, stand-alone listening too. In these examples, it’s a good thing that the tracks are barely recognisable from the originals. Likewise, the once bland “Hold Your Tears” benefits from a gushing chamber ensemble arrangement here and has a similar emotional effect to its equivalent on the DS remake. “Oasis” meanwhile offers a break from the serious orchestral sound with its pop beats and animal sound effects; the effect is definitely amusing in context, though some will find it irritating on a stand-alone level.

Sasai does attempt to make more mature contributions too. For example, “Village in a Strange Land” blends the calming melodies of the original with modest dashes of romantic orchestration, while “Dark Zone” sounds more dramatic than ever with its fusion of rock and orchestra passages. While the introduction of the score is focused on Ito, Sasai was given the sole responsibility for taking the soundtrack to its climax. “Laguna’s Palace”, following the precedent of his arrangements of “Dark Zone” and “Holy Ruins”, is an excellent rock-orchestral dungeon theme that simultaneously captures the determination of the heroes and the darkness of the location they journey through. The final battle themes, “Divine Battle” and “True Divine Battle”, are major rock-orchestral efforts inspired by Nobuo Uematsu’s epics. Dominated by brand-new melodic material, the latter is particularly substantial with its gothic organ introduction and blazing electric guitars.

Redeeming another underwhelming track on the Game Boy score, Sasai fleshes out the ending theme for the title into an emotional four minute orchestration at the end of the soundtrack. The album closes with three bonus tracks from the artist. “A Gap in Space-Time” and “Window of Opportunity” are two expansive rock-based action themes presumably used in the bonus quests featured in the remake. Melodic, powerful, and exuberant, these tracks perhaps reflect the type of music Sasai has been pioneering in his Queen tribute band in the last decade. He clearly enjoyed the freedom to experiment and go beyond RPG norms here. His bonus rock arrangement of the opening theme fits the melodic material and game scenario less well than Ito’s orchestral interpretation. However, it’s still a decent bonus that brings the album — and indeed, Sasai’s career at Square — round full circle.

Summary

Now that’s how to score a remake! Together Ryuji Sasai and Kenji Ito managed to transform a short, superficial, and technologically impaired score for the Game Boy into an 80 minute rollercoaster jam-packed with emotional highlights and excellent DS synth. The collaboration of the two artists enabled the score to blend the modern and retro influences, and orchestral and rock stylings, of the SaGa series in equal measure. The final result retains the image of the original score, while enhancing it greatly and bringing it in line with the rest of the series. Let’s hope that Sasai will continue to contribute to game music now he has finally returned.

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Chris Greening. Last modified on August 1, 2012.

About the Author

Chris Greening I've contributed to websites related to game audio since 2002. In this time, I've reviewed over a thousand albums and interviewed hundreds of musicians across the world. As the founder and webmaster of VGMO -Video Game Music Online-, I hope to create a cutting-edge, journalistic resource for all those soundtrack enthusiasts out there. In the process, I would love to further cultivate my passion for music, writing, and generally building things. Please enjoy the site and don't hesitate to say hello!

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