Before I start speaking about the CD, let me make this clear: I’m a Shining Force III nut. I love the music, I love the graphics, I love the character designs, I love the story, and my current “quest in life” is to collect every item that says Shining Force III on it. The Shining Force III OST was the first item I “collected”, you can say. To put it in a weird way, the CD is both incredible, and a major letdown.
The reason why I loved the CD, was because it contained arranged versions of the music I loved. The reason why I found it to be a major letdown, is because some of the coolest themes in the game were left out, and a couple of arrangements stunk. I can basically summarize what I think of all the tracks: the Shining Force Medley, and the three scenario openings are absolute masterpieces, A Light To Lead The Way, Tides of History, and Force On The Move are excellent, Force: To Arms, Traveler’s Respite, and The Lever To Move The World are not bad, but tracks 4 and 5 are just plain noise, to put it bluntly.
This is going to sound weird, but I don’t really recommend this soundtrack, unless you are a big Sakuraba/Shining Force III fan, or you just happen to like the music, because the arrangements may sound odd to those that haven’t played the game. I’m not trying to say that I don’t like the CD, on the contrary, I do, but I guess I’m trying to say that there is better stuff out there, and Shining Force III fans will be better off with the game’s soundtest, because a lot of great themes are just not present.
