Who might ever have expected that Naoki Kodaka - the man behind Blaster Master, Journey to Silius, and Batman on the NES - might one day turn his hand to the JRPG soundtrack? And not only once, but three times - and this is the first of them.
Alas, their scan of Albert Odyssey II's box art was too small to be usable.
I have decided to put both Albert Odyssey and Albert Odyssey II in the same review because the two share a lot of material and truth be told the quality of tracks varies wildly - there are dull, generic tracks alongside ones of surprising power and emotion.
Anyways... both were developed and published by Sunsoft and both were scored by Naoki Kodaka.
Naoki Kodaka is a man who made his name with soundtracks on the NES/Famicom platform, particularly with games such as Blaster Master, Batman, and Journey to Silius, which all played host to a variety of driving, highly-melodic rock-influenced tunes ( with some of the best percussion you can find on the NES - on Batman this was achieved by the usage of the DPCM channel, whereas Journey to Silius cleverly utilized both the triangle and noise channels, while the DPCM channel was used for the somewhat-famous Sunsoft bass.
Going from the 8-bit to the 16-bit era, it is immediately observable that Kodaka did far less: two Batman games on the Genesis, a handful of SNES games, and moving from there to the 32-bit generation he has only Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean and a PSX game to his name. Afterwards he disappears entirely. He is presently a full-time teacher at the Nagoya College of Music.
It is somewhat surprising to see him working on orchestral music, but then, Kodaka majored in modern and classical music in college. Even if his NES music was not generally classical in style, he clearly brought that knowledge with him to Sunsoft: his music is some of the most vibrant and dynamic on the system. From the liner notes linked earlier in this paragraph:
As a composer at Sunsoft, I always worked together with a team. I’d write my songs on sheet music at home and hand them over to the sound team at work, and depending on the circumstances I might attach a demo tape too. Once the technology got to a point where we could do a little more with the music, I’d also listen to the sounds they had selected, and give feedback: “this should feel looser” or “this part needs to sing out more”, steadily working each song into a finished state.
Another example of this teamwork was my relationship with the sound programmers–it was often as if I was teaching them music lessons or something. So I didn’t refer to the sound programmers as engineers, but rather “performers” whose musical instrument was the computer.
And you can hear this: inasmuch as the Famicom's soundchip was able to, Kodaka's music, especially in Batman, sounds 'performed'. On a soundchip with five channels of various limitations, that's impressive.
While Kodaka's strengths in the NES era appeared quite clear with his swiftly-paced rock tunes, here in the SNES era his strengths seem to invert upon themselves: the swift tunes are the weakest of the bunch.
The first handful of tracks are decent openers, nothing particularly memorable. With "An Offering to the Holy King Gort" we a rather lovely, solemn melody, half of which would return in Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean.
"Hometown Tibelis" really brings out Kodaka's classical training: it reminds me, quite frankly, of a Dragon Quest town theme. It matches right up: the pastoral opening followed by a fuller and more energetic second half, and a third half somewhere in-between. (It, like "The Road Walked by Heroes," was also adapted for Orchestral Game Concert 3.) With "On Holy Ground" we get a simple, choral piece, I assume meant for churches. "Fine Goods" provides our shop theme. It's magnificently fitting: you can hear the sleaze and grease.
With "The Road Walked by Heroes" we get a melody and track of such excellence that, during the Orchestral Game Concerts of the first half of the 90s that were held in Japan, this was one of the pieces programmed. More specifically, this piece was adapted for orchestra for the Orchestral Game Concert 3, under the name "Theme of Albert Odyssey". And though this is a slight misnomer - there is no one melody that serves as a series' main theme - it could certainly have been worthy being the series main theme.
"Roar of the Beast" is a dull, rather generic 'tense' track, its effect slightly ruined by the unfortunate choice to use orchestra hits. "Fire Raid," which I can only assume is the battle track, is thoroughly decent and functional, though it lacks any main melody and it, too, uses orchestra hits. It is wholly unmemorable and unusually short besides, looping at only :38. "At the Base of Gort's Flag," however, is one of the stronger tracks, with a martial beat and a strong melody which will return later on in both of the games to follow.
The beautiful "Clouds Riding the Wind" retains the solemn nature of "An Offering to the Holy King Gort," bringing in some more instruments, though it isn't particularly memorable. "We're Cheerful Workers" is something of a 'silly' piece of music, and again, not particularly memorable, though its unexpectedly serious second half elevates above almost every track heard thus far.
Skipping the next track, we find ourselves at "Lovers' Dirge," which is absolutely gorgeous, perhaps the best piece so far on the soundtrack. It seems to reprise the melody from "Clouds Riding the Wind," though I can not attest fully to the accuracy of that statement as I have not - and, further, am unwilling to take the time to - transcribed it.
Most of the tracks fit into the paradigm established by "An Offering to the Holy King Gort" and "Clouds Riding the Wind" - a somewhat solemn nature, a melancholic atmosphere, an overall simplicity and lack of fullness. There are exceptions here and there, "Mysterious Garden" brings in some 'Middle Eastern flair', "Lost in the Darkness" is unusually good, thanks to its hi-hats and its rising-and-falling strings.
"Temple of the Demon God" throws in the 'Middle Eastern flair' into an oppressive, militaristic track, while "Messenger at the Lunatic Banquet" is in the same vein as "Fire Raid", except with even more orchestra hits.
"Until My Life Comes to an End" seems to mix "Roar of the Beast" and "Fire Raid," unfortunately retaining orchestra hits here and there but otherwise, thankfully, keeping itself to the standard orchestra. It's swift, in-your-face, and powerful.
"Anthem of a New Hero," I can only assume, is the ending theme. It is wholly decent.
And we arrive at Albert Odyssey II, which, for reasons unknown to me, reprises and/or remixes a fair few tracks from the first game. Here's the full list, as I have no intention to similarly reprise parts of my review:
- "Beyond the Empty Space" reprised as "Going through the Void"
- part of "At the Base of Gort's Flag" is reprised in "Goth Kingdom Anthem"
- "An Offering to the Holy King Gort" reprised as "Hometown of a Hero"
- "Fine Goods" reprised as "Good Bargainer"
- "Lovers' Dirge" reprised as "Land of Stillness"
- "Lost in the Darkness" remixed into "Straying off in the Depth"
- "We're Cheerful Workers" remixed into "Searching for Treasures"
- "Fire Raid" reprised as "Blaze of Assault"
- "Goodnight, Sophia" reprised under the same name
- "Fire Raid" remixed into "Way of Chivalry" and "Rabid Prince of Hades"
(I will say, though, that I quite liked "Straying off in the Depth".)
We open with a track split into two parts - "Ode to a New Hero." I wonder if this game takes place a generation after the first game? The title screen says 'The lost tale will start again...', so it makes sense. It would explain the quantity of reprised and remixed tracks.
Anyways, "Ode to a New Hero" opens with a minor-key melancholic atmosphere before moving to something brighter and more hopeful with 'Part 2', which seems - to my ears - to blend many bits of previous Albert Odyssey tracks, though it may just be the way the strings accompaniment at 0:58 behaves.
"Soaring" is a surprisingly dark piece, unfortunately bringing in once more those damned orchestra hits - they that instantly date a piece of music and kill (or at least weaken) dramatic tension.
One of my favorite pieces here is "Goth Kingdom Anthem," which is impressively long and in parts even sounds like a genuine anthem. It reprises the melody of "At the Base of Gort's Flag," but it's much more than that, thanks to the addition of some calm flute sections at the beginning which, though somewhat awkward at first listen, enhance the piece greatly. Further, after the melody reprise, we get a new melody on the flute, accompanied by the full strings and percussion that had come in for the reprise.
The next two tracks are darker in nature, though "Quickening of Evil God" is weakened by the orchestra hits, a instrument whose usage remains a befuddling choice.
"Wondering for Mates," though bizarrely titled, is a fantastic piece - the overworld theme, I hope, as it sounds like it. But it wouldn't be nearly as nearly wearing to the ears as the march of the first game ("The Road Walked by Heroes") and not only that but it's a more complex piece of music, in some ways, not as straightforwardly heroic. There are darker emotions here: the last 30 seconds are surprisingly dark.
Skipping a couple tracks, "Pricess' Intension" sounds like it came straight out of the first game: harp, strings, and a sad flute melody. "Sorceress of Glacier" is a fun, bouncy track that may faintly bring to mind Kirby.
"City of Dusk" also contributes to "At the End of the Deep World" - the snares of the opening match those in the latter. One must applaud Kodaka's creativity in his mixing-and-matching of previous Albert Odyssey tracks!
"Straying Off in the Depth" is another quick favorite of mine, a remix of "Lost in the Darkness" from the first game. Also a fine listen is "New Sunlight," one of the cheeriest tracks Kodaka's yet written, and again bringing vibes of Dragon Quest. Even given that both Kodaka and Koichi Sugiyama were classically trained, I can't help but think Kodaka deliberately modeled and/or structured this (along with "Hometown Tibelis") on Sugiyama.
"Melody of Hero" is a harp solo, hilariously lacking any such melody. "With the Hero" plays on the mood and model of "The Road Walked by Heroes" but again darkens in with the occasional chromatic. It creates a more interesting composition.
"City of Luxuriance" brings in a Celtic flair with the appearance of bagpipes! They aren't there for much more than the introduction and some texture, but it's a welcome bit of color.
This time around, the ending theme is split into two parts. The first of these is "Over the Sadness," a reprise of "Dirge of Grief" from earlier in the game. The second is "New Hope," which like a couple previous tracks in the game, has a slight Celtic/Middle Eastern flair to it. Both are good tracks, though not particularly memorable.
Despite a number of strong tracks and quality melodies, this just isn't on the level of the SNES JRPG greats. This doesn't even really come close to the level of Breath of Fire, by any measure part of the B-tier of 16-bit JRPG scores. Kodaka, though a talented composer, doesn't quite yet have the grasp of truly memorable melodies. His battle themes are especially weak.
Taken individually I'd give AO a 5 out of 10 and AO2 a 6 out of 10. Taking both together, 5.6 out of 10. They're just not that great. They're good. They're above mediocre. But they're not truly great.
I must apologize to my readers for the sheer length of time since my last post. Hopefully, such a long break won't occur again. I'll be back, hopefully soon, with a review of the soundtrack of Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean.