Etrian Odyssey Untold 2 -The Knight of Fafnir- Original Soundtrack

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4/5)

	Album Title: Etrian Odyssey Untold 2 -The Knight of Fafnir- Original Soundtrack
	Record Label: 5pb. Records
	Catalog No.: FVCG-1334
	Release Date: January 28, 2015
	Purchase: Buy at CDJapan

Overview

The Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: The Knight of Fafnir Original Soundtrack accompanies the 3DS remake of the second game in the series. It features arranged music from the original soundtrack, as well as new music—both in FM synth and in the style of the more recent games—that accompanies the game’s story mode, offering a fresh take on the iconic tunes. How does the overall music turn out, and does the new music live up to the original soundtrack?

Body

As with its predecessor, the three major parts of the soundtrack are the newly arranged labyrinth, town/event, and battle themes. For Etrian Odyssey Untold 2, the labyrinth themes are initially based on seasons, starting with “Labyrinth I – Woodland Ruins,” representing summer, and ending in “Labyrinth IV – Cherry Tree Bridge,” representing spring. These labyrinth themes translate quite nicely to live instrumentation and are one of the highlights of the album, ranging from the upbeat “Labyrinth I – Woodland Ruins,” which is based on the Norihiko Hibino arranged-album interpretation though with a bit more complexity, to the beautiful and ethereal “Labyrinth IV – Cherry Tree Bridge” with its soft electro-acoustic tones. Of note is “Labyrinth III – Woodlands of Frozen Flowers,” representing winter. Its wintry, crystalline soundscape, mixed with woodwinds, piano, and saxophone, lends itself to a very tranquil atmosphere. As for the town themes, they are a vast improvement over the first remake’s corresponding town themes. They fit well into the soundscape created by the rest of the soundtrack, and the town themes are especially bright with their woodwind focus and jazz/ensemble tones. Most of these themes were done by Ancient’s Takeshi Yanagawa; his contributions make the town themes much stronger.

As for the remade battle themes, this is where some improvement could have been made. The normal battle themes translate quite nicely from their FM counterparts, with their jazzy orchestral rock tones. Yanagawa contributes to the normal battle theme arrangements with his take on “Battlefield – Shiver.” His approach, which focuses more on an electronic/rock hybrid, is generally successful, although the melody itself is a bit muddied by the style. It’s also not as punchy as the original, but still enjoyable on the whole. The boss themes, however, aren’t as strong when written for live instruments, with a few exceptions. The FOE theme, “Battlefield – A Sudden Gust of Wind that Calls for Death,” is, in my opinion, much better than its remake on the first game’s soundtrack, thanks in large part to the great bass guitar. The other boss theme, the event boss theme that happens in the third labyrinth, “Battlefield – Guardians of the Sorrowful Ice,” is arranged by Yanagawa, and I feel it really captures the tone of the original quite nicely. Bleak and sorrowful, it exudes atmosphere and really accentuates the gravity of that battle. As for the other boss themes, they feel a bit lacking, mainly because the percussion isn’t as prominently mixed. Consequently, the tunes sound more subdued than their FM counterparts, especially “Battlefield – Scarlet Rain.” The final boss themes, which are based on Koshiro’s Sekaiju no MeiQ 2 Super Arrange Version, also suffer from weak percussion. The melodies of all of these themes translate fairly well, and the main instruments work for the purpose of battle.

The second disc on the album features the new music composed for the game. “Reaching out for the future,” a vocal theme that accompanies the opening animation, has a very anime-like sound, with its pop flavor. It’s an enjoyable song, but I find it a bit weaker than the first remake’s opening music. There is also an instrumental version of this tune featured on the album. The new town theme, “Town – Peaceful Dining Table,” has a jazzy lounge sound with a breezy feel and a great melody. The two event themes, “Sorrow – End of Thinking” and “Sorrow – With the Wind,” feature a mysterious, slightly unsettling woodwind-and-piano piece for the former, and a poignant piano melody with a hint of sadness for the latter. The labyrinth theme comes in two varieties, “Labyrinth – Ginnunga” and “Labyrinth – Ginnunga – Depths.” The former is quite mysterious and ominous and definitely doesn’t focus on beauty like the regular labyrinth themes, but since the environment is totally different (ancient ruins vs. forest), it fits wonderfully within the setting. The “Depths” version adds more ambient background noise to accentuate the original piece. Compared to the first game’s final-floor counterpart for the new dungeon, I feel this one is more successful, despite the minimal additions to the existing track.

There are plenty of new battle themes as well. The normal battle theme and the boss theme for the new dungeon opt for a rock approach, more akin to Etrian Odyssey III. Since the Princess class from that game is used in the story mode for this game, it makes sense to adopt this style of music. The battle theme, “Battlefield – Swords Swung,” has a lot of power. It’s more progressive in nature and doesn’t focus on melody as much at times. It’s still quite enjoyable, though. The boss theme, “War – Shadows of Death Over There,” features some electronic aspects in the melody alongside the rock. In addition, the bass guitar adds to the power of the piece and the guitar solos featured are awesome. The next two themes share a common motif. Throughout the game, when the main character transforms in battle, the music changes to “Bloody Fight – Betting It All.” It’s fast-paced, stylistically similar to “Battlefield’s Awakening” from Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl, but with more rock punch. The melody is fantastic and full of energy. The story mode dungeon’s final boss music, titled “War – At the End of the Labyrinth, Resounds of Swords,” is an epic orchestral tune and easily the best orchestral-focused boss theme on the entire soundtrack. In addition to the original portions of the theme, it incorporates the aforementioned “Bloody Fight – Betting It All” into the composition. It’s dramatic, heroic, and makes for a fantastic listen. Of course, each of these new themes also has a complementary FM synth version, which complements the live-instrument version very nicely. The FM tune of “Labyrinth – Ginnunga – Depths” isn’t as strong as the instrumental counterpart, since it’s hard to simulate the various atmospheric elements with limited channels, making it sound a bit flatter overall. In both the instrumental and FM counterparts, the new music for Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: The Knight of Fafnir is, on the whole, better than the new music from the first game’s remake.

Summary

In the end, the Etrian Odyssey Untold 2: The Knight of Fafnir Original Soundtrack is worth a listen for fans of the original game and for those who appreciate the direction the music has taken starting with the fourth entry in the series. The new music is an excellent addition to the soundtrack and gives a glimpse as to what may be in store for a potential remake of the third game’s original soundtrack or even Etrian Odyssey V. Although some of the battle themes from the original soundtrack suffer a bit upon their move from FM to instruments, the entire soundtrack is still quite cohesive—more so than the first game’s remake. Fans of that style of music will most likely enjoy Koshiro’s offerings here, both original music and arrangements.