Just received this today and I have to say that presentation is brilliant! It comes in a slipcase and then it it has all 3 disks in a foldout card! Having been listening to all 3 disks due to lessons being cancelled today it's truly just like playing the game as it contains every track. Apologies for replying to an older topic but didn't want to clutter the forum.

• Sonic Unleashed Ost
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Planetary Pieces: Sonic World Adventure Original Soundtrack is a three-disc album that comprises.

Yeah, just got this yesterday myself, too. I don't know whether or not the elaborate, fold-out case is one reason the album's so expensive, but it IS rather elaborate, as opposed to a traditional 3-4 disc jewel case set.otherwise, I suspect that it's a rather limited print. This will probably end up being one of my most favorite soundtracks of 2009 (Seems like all my favorite releases for the year are always released around the beginning of the year, and maybe the end of the year); this's isn't something I bought just because it was coming out, this's something I bought specifically for the music because I've already heard it in-game, and it's all awesome. It's great how they're giving such sophisticated music to Sonic games these days. After the soundtrack to the 360 / PS3 game, I've come to expect a lot from them.even if the game itself, so I hear, is total garbage. Sonic Unleashed, the game itself, on the other hand, is actually more than playable, and I'm rather enjoying it. It's some amazing stuff.

Looking through the booklet, nearly every track has multiple session artists. Full orchestral tracks. I'm really impressed. Looks like they were chasing after Mario Galaxy in more ways than just that intro movie! It's nice to see good production values, but I wouldn't say this was exceptional even for a Japanese soundtrack.

It has a number of full orchestral tracks and most of the rest feature a few soloists. In terms of live performances, it's very similar to the likes of Lost Odyssey or Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song, to name a few. In the West, full orchestras like the FILMharmonic actually record full scores well and use orchestrators with a better background than Takahito Eguchi. But, yeah, it beats Super Mario Galaxy. That's not hard since the soundtrack was totally overpromoted as a full-orchestral score. Most of the 'orchestral' tracks feature just one instrument recording and the richer ones still tend to be small ensembles in disguise.

Unprecedented for Nintendo, but they have crappy budgets anyway. Excuse the rant, but I'm tired of the assumption that a soundtrack featuring orchestral instruments is unprecedented or, worse, automatically good. Spagonia is awesome.

Sonic Unleashed Ost

And all the night themes, they're so much better than the day versions! Look at the instrument breakdown here.

A blues harp, mute trumpets and saxophones! The music is dreamy, a little jazzy and more 'chill' than Mario Galaxy's bombastic orchestral score. Arid Sands - Night reminds me a little of Rogue's themes from Sonic Adventure 2 with the funky horns section and wicked sax solos.

I dig Shamar - Night too. Awesome soprano sax there really captures that middle eastern vibe. As far as music featuring orchestras and session musicians, I think it adds to the package so much more. I mean whenever I play a Nintendo game these days, I immediately think how much better the music production could be with a band instead of a flat MIDI keyboard player. Well, I wasn't targeting you directly so sorry if that seemed the case. In fact, I'm not even really talking about Sonic Unleashed since I haven't heard it yet! However, there seems to be some kind of assumption that, if an orchestra is featured, it's automatically great quality.

But often orchestration, performance, and recording quality let them down. Then there are yet more that are compositionally problematic too and orchestrators were called in to gloss over the flaws.

A common Western phenomenon where budgets are often smaller than people think. Industry sites like IGN and M4G praised albums like Video Games Live or Super Mario Galaxy as if they're some kind of super high quality landmarks. Making biased reviews based on press releases or interview rather than their own opinions that go on to become the standards. However, I think anyone with a background in orchestral music would realize they were quite flawed from a technical perspective. I like Super Mario Galaxy as a fun score, but this orchestral masterpiece they're touting? VGL has less obvious flaws to PLAY!' S CD, but the whole CD felt like a cover-up of a bad studio recording to me and it wasn't hard to see cracks below the surface.

I'm definitely more tolerant than most people who have worked with an orchestra before. I'm not someone who is that picky about what recording of a Dragon Quest suite or Shostakovich symphony is the one to go for. However, I do dislike unprofessional orchestrations, performances, and recordings that are totally rife in the Western and Eastern games industry. I find it pretty frustrating when few others don't see the flaws at all, probably just because the recordings are at least more advanced than chiptunes, and then call me a pretentious ass.

Or, worse, a biased one because I don't agree with what commercial sites say. I don't ask for much, but seem to be so often let down. Well having been listening to it non stop for 2 days it certainly brings back fond memories of playing the game. I been reading all the fantastic replies you guys typed and definetly agree on how varied this soundtrack is as a whole.

I really like the mellow Holoska tracks for night stage and night hub! But to be honest there isn't anything that doesn't stand out for me. I thought it would be very hard to top the soundtrack for Sonic xbox 360 but this so varied and feels very modern.

It's nice to listen to musics from different continents and see how the styles relate to the them of that country. Like for example there's a lot of Blues themed tracks in the Empire City section or the breezy mood in Holoska tracks. After reading the comments here I'm seriously considering picking this one up. The last Sega OST I got (Nights Journey of Dreams) didn't disappoint so hopefully they're on a role. I remember the next-gen Sonic the Hedgehog soundtrack having a disc's worth of quality stage themes (mostly by Otani or Namba but I can't remember which) and the rest being filler.

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Is the ratio any better in Unleashed? Yes, Sonic the Hedgehog PS3/360 was only about 1/3 stage themes, while Sonic Unleashed is roughly a good half gameplay themes, including the town themes, and both the day and night stages, so that's going to be about a good 1.5 hours of music; that's excluding the boss battle themes, which, in my opinion, have been lacking with the respects to the Sonic series, for awhile now.

Mind you, only the day-time stage themes are the fast-paced like Sonic the Hedgehog PS3/360, while the nighttime themes are more-so 'Werehog stalking a city at night' kind of shtick; a lot of the night themes incorporate serious jazz motifs, so it's definitely my style. Well, hey, no need to beat around the bush, if you want some samples, feel free to e-mail me! I will probably post a full review one of these days but just want to go on record as saying this soundtrack is WAY overrated. I truly hated it at first and though after several listens it's become more tolerable there's still no way in hindsight I'd spend my money on this thing.

Yes the soundtrack is virtually all live instrumentation (some full orchestral, some jazz, lots of ethnic music), but what good is live instrumentation if the compositions are generic and uninspired. I'll admit there are a few pretty decent chill-out tracks but you can probably pick from any dozens of proper world music albums and more than a few game soundtracks and get far better.

As usual you've also got the Sega OST syndrome of throwing every little meaningless diddy of a music track in there, completely oblivious to how it affects the flow of the soundtrack. As a two-disc soundtrack it'd be much more tolerable and as a single disc best-of collection (without all the reprises of each theme, which don't really vary all that much) it would perhaps be satisfactory, but I couldn't recommend the overpriced three-disc set to anyone except those willing to filter a lot of filler for a few decent, mostly chill-out world music tracks. No disrespect to those of you who are fans of the soundtrack (most of whom seem to have played the game, which I admittedly haven't) but anyone who has passed over Sega's far more imaginative but less hyped Nights Journey of Dreams for this is IMO making a huge mistake. For that matter Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles The Crystal Bearers, which I've just started listening to recently, follows much the same pattern of using varied musical styles, live instrumentation, and stage music mixed with cinematics, and does a far better job of it. Pages: 1. Related Albums.