RPGamers Network > Reviews > Game Music Reviews > Rudra's Hidden Treasure (Rudra no Hihou) OSV
Reviewed by: Elhaym van Houten
For my second review one of my most favourite SNES soundtracks... the game that is among the best RPGs for the SNES regarding soundtrack, graphics (imagine Final Fantasy VI with fully animated battles), gaming system (playing different parties, teaming them up, unique magic system)...and story as well, as far as I know. (ack, my Japanese again!)
The compositions are quite outstanding - tunes that hug your ear for hours after, very good percussion and guitar and, best of all: diversity. (Which makes this my favourite CDs when I'm ill - I can hit repeat on my stereo, and maybe shuffle, and afterwards I don't need to get up for hours) It simply doesn't get boring, and the different 'styles' used range from Final Fantasy to Rockman over Castlevania, Seiken Densetsu, and even a bit Tactics Ogre.......not as attempts to copy the style of music, but having the same feel.
The recording quality is not that great, but nonetheless good - a bit less background noise would have been nice. The greatest flaws, though, are that not all the music from the game made it onto the CD - even some character themes are missing...and that all the tracks are single-looped...this could (and should) have been a 2 Disc release. Another small flaw might be that the synthesizer is, well, not best of the best and a bit outdated now...but, this is the good ol' SNES, and it's typical sound - to those who don't like it too much, think twice of actually buying this CD - not without having listened to it first.
I won't do a track by track review - there are way too many. So, instead, I'll group the tracks a bit.
Some of the best tracks are the are the character's themes. In the game you get to play 3 parties of 4 characters, lead by three main character (Sion, Surlent, Riza). Each of them has their own overworld theme (which is fitting the character quite nicely), at least one variation of this theme as a sad / story theme (not contained in the OST, get the spcs) and their own boss battle theme... and those tracks simply ROCK. Distorted guitars, great drumming, strings and godly tunes - I seldom remember being so happy when finally meeting a boss...
The normal battle theme is also very good (track 25, upbeat and highly motivating, good drums, bass and SNES-"strings"
...thinking of how one usually spends approximately half of the time of a RPG fighting, this is a must. Then there's a whole assortment of town themes, and dungeon themes, and event themes...also very good, and fitting the game, giving it a very unique atmosphere...a few of those might be a bit strange or boring for those who don't know the game.
Also among my favourites are the themes from the beginning - title screen, intro, story, (track 1 - 3) that take you directly into the style the music - and the ending themes, especially track 57, a medley of the character themes with again, great guitars - bass as well as melodic.
My problem here is describing this soundtrack without referring to the game...for me many tracks are locked with images from the game - and as the game wasn't popular anywhere else but in Japan (I don't know why, though), I think not too many of you have played it....
Well, as a final comment - give it a try. There's a lot in this soundtrack that makes it very enjoyable...I'm sure those who like SNES RPGs will like it.
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| Album Information | Reviewer Rank |
|---|---|
|
Rudra's Hidden Treasure (Rudra no Hihou) OSV Published by: NTT Publishing Release Date: April 25th 1996 Composed by: Ryuji Sasai Arranged by: Ryuji Sasai 1 Disc, 58 Tracks Catalog: PSCN-5050 |
79 |
Reviewed by: Elhaym van Houten
For my second review one of my most favourite SNES soundtracks... the game that is among the best RPGs for the SNES regarding soundtrack, graphics (imagine Final Fantasy VI with fully animated battles), gaming system (playing different parties, teaming them up, unique magic system)...and story as well, as far as I know. (ack, my Japanese again!)
The compositions are quite outstanding - tunes that hug your ear for hours after, very good percussion and guitar and, best of all: diversity. (Which makes this my favourite CDs when I'm ill - I can hit repeat on my stereo, and maybe shuffle, and afterwards I don't need to get up for hours) It simply doesn't get boring, and the different 'styles' used range from Final Fantasy to Rockman over Castlevania, Seiken Densetsu, and even a bit Tactics Ogre.......not as attempts to copy the style of music, but having the same feel.
The recording quality is not that great, but nonetheless good - a bit less background noise would have been nice. The greatest flaws, though, are that not all the music from the game made it onto the CD - even some character themes are missing...and that all the tracks are single-looped...this could (and should) have been a 2 Disc release. Another small flaw might be that the synthesizer is, well, not best of the best and a bit outdated now...but, this is the good ol' SNES, and it's typical sound - to those who don't like it too much, think twice of actually buying this CD - not without having listened to it first.
I won't do a track by track review - there are way too many. So, instead, I'll group the tracks a bit.
Some of the best tracks are the are the character's themes. In the game you get to play 3 parties of 4 characters, lead by three main character (Sion, Surlent, Riza). Each of them has their own overworld theme (which is fitting the character quite nicely), at least one variation of this theme as a sad / story theme (not contained in the OST, get the spcs) and their own boss battle theme... and those tracks simply ROCK. Distorted guitars, great drumming, strings and godly tunes - I seldom remember being so happy when finally meeting a boss...
The normal battle theme is also very good (track 25, upbeat and highly motivating, good drums, bass and SNES-"strings"
...thinking of how one usually spends approximately half of the time of a RPG fighting, this is a must. Then there's a whole assortment of town themes, and dungeon themes, and event themes...also very good, and fitting the game, giving it a very unique atmosphere...a few of those might be a bit strange or boring for those who don't know the game.Also among my favourites are the themes from the beginning - title screen, intro, story, (track 1 - 3) that take you directly into the style the music - and the ending themes, especially track 57, a medley of the character themes with again, great guitars - bass as well as melodic.
My problem here is describing this soundtrack without referring to the game...for me many tracks are locked with images from the game - and as the game wasn't popular anywhere else but in Japan (I don't know why, though), I think not too many of you have played it....
Well, as a final comment - give it a try. There's a lot in this soundtrack that makes it very enjoyable...I'm sure those who like SNES RPGs will like it.
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