Tales of Destiny was one of my personal favorite RPGs of the Playstation One era. It was a rollicking adventure with likeable characters, loads of charm, fun fast-paced gameplay, and a soundtrack with potential. When I heard the music in the game, I liked the often fast-paced compositions that matched the never-gets-boring pace of the game. However, the quality of the MIDI synth in the game was not the greatest. I wished that the game had used a more advanced sound format to really bring out the quality of the compositions.
Enter 2006 when a remake of Tales of Destiny was crafted for the Japanese Playstation 2 with a Director’s Cut slated for 2008 release. This remake features updated 3D graphics, an upgrade to the battle system, increased challenge, enhancements to the storyline, and most importantly, a much needed upgrade to the music. The quality of the sound here was just so much clearer with more audible variation in the instrumentation than in the original Playstation One game. Some pieces were upgrades of the original compositions while others received additions.
When I first turned on the soundtrack, I was struck by the omission of any introductory vocal songs. The original release of the game had a song by the J-Rock band DEEN. On the other hand, there are unexpected additions to the soundtrack, such as piano version of The Arrow Was Shot, the battle theme from Tales of the Abyss. I really like that battle theme, but I think it works better as a synth and guitar piece than a pure piano piece. There are also other new in-game pieces for the remake that I did not recognize from the original.
Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura are the composers on this soundtrack. The Motoi Sakuraba tracks are easily recognizable as they are in Sakuraba’s signature style and often sound like Sakuraba tracks found in other games he’s scored. I’m not the world’s biggest Sakuraba fan, so I am glad he shared compositional duties with someone else. I enjoyed this soundtrack far more than any Sakuraba’s composed on his own. The tracks that are clearly do not sound like Sakuraba’s style are the tracks by Shinji Tamura. Tales of Destiny is a fast paced game so the majority of tracks are fast paced. The soundtrack never gets boring to listen to. There are a few slower emotional pieces such as Cry for the Moon and the title theme, but the wide variety of dungeon and battle themes are fast paced. Some themes such as Lion- Irony of Fate sound like enhanced versions of the original, others like Bare its Fangs possess multiple versions and arrangements within the soundtrack. Location themes evoke the mood and feel of their locations, which is terrific since the towns (among other locations) are often large and great fun to explore in the game.
While I personally loved this new revamped Tales of Destiny soundtrack, some people preferred the sound of the PlayStation original. That one certainly has its charm and some of the songs sound fuller in their original form. In any case, the improved synth quality and added depth to the arrangements befit the amount of work, effort, changes, and upgrades made to this Tales of Destiny remake. The chances of the game reaching US shores may be slim but fans of the original Tales of Destiny may want to check out this soundtrack just to hear fresh arrangements of the music they love in the game.
