Album: Unsung Heroes

The "Secret of Evermore" track is absolutely out of this world. It is my favorite track to come out of OCReMix in as long as I can remember. You didn't mess with the melody much, the parts are all excellently recorded, the arrangement is faithful, yet original, and the execution is flawless. Super amazing fantastic work.

Wow, thank you. Mustin. I'm flattered to hear that from you with how long you've been a part of the community.

If you would like to ever collab on another project like HvsV, please let me know.

the silent traveller took me back. Its been so long sense i've played lufia and yet i remember this song so well it brought tears to my eyes listening to it. thank Avaris and level 99 you my good sirs have made my day enjoyable.

Thank you!

the silent traveller took me back. Its been so long sense i've played lufia and yet i remember this song so well it brought tears to my eyes listening to it. thank Avaris and level 99 you my good sirs have made my day enjoyable.

Faxandu. A game that brings back many memories from my childhood. Seeing one song from it "UNDER JUDGEMENT" for months on end was agony.

Do Do Do Do, Do Do Do DO, Do Do Do Do Do Do DO. That tune often rang in my head over the past 20 years

I just wanted to say how fantastic and beautiful this album is. It all sounds so natural and organic. The time, care and passion comes across on every track. I'm not even familiar with any of the original soundtracks and I just LOVE this album. As was said before, each track works well on its on but there is a lot of cohesion that make this album flow and carry a listener from start to finish. I need to give this one a few more listens but the opening track Heroes Unsung is fantastic in so many ways. The other track that I've fallen for has to be Hero of Celcta.

Overall, its just a fantastic album. There isn't one track I haven't enjoyed or wanted to skip. I'll be listening to this one for quite a while to come.

The "Secret of Evermore" track is absolutely out of this world.

Highly agree. The production, performance, and musicianship are off the charts. (Can't speak for the arrangement, don't know the original.) Audio Fidelity and Jenny Davis should feel proud to have made a track that would feel right at home on any professionally arranged album. Sounds like the lovechild of Kentaro Haneda's Hiroyuki Namba's Suikoden arrange albums, to be honest!

Also gotta hand out love for OA's cheery SaGa Frontier 2 track. Despite hearing too much of the melody lately (my media player seems to like the Piano Pieces and SQ Cafe versions), "Shimmering" still managed to hold my interest. I enjoy the electronic-ballad style that OA has down... now with even more delicious crunchy drum patterns!™

Vampire Hunter Dan seems to work well under restraint, as I dare say his string-only arrangement turned out quite beautifully. Hope he tries more pieces that are less than full orchestra! Piano trio plz? *pleading puppy eyes*

And gotta love the energy behind Scaredsim OA's rockin' Ys arrangement. This kind of electro-sympho-acousto-metal steals my heart.

The "Secret of Evermore" track is absolutely out of this world. It is my favorite track to come out of OCReMix in as long as I can remember. You didn't mess with the melody much, the parts are all excellently recorded, the arrangement is faithful, yet original, and the execution is flawless. Super amazing fantastic work.

There are some genuine surprises on this album.

The only game I'm familiar with is Saga Frontier II. Really underrated indeed. Very good job with that, OA.

My personal favorites of my first listen are:

The Village of Decay for String Quartet (Ghouls'n Ghosts): absolutely beautiful violin playing.

Hymn of the Eternal Empire [suikoden]: the vocals are excellent! Organ is really good, too.

I just received an e-mail about this album and got very excited to see Breath of Fire II on it. Breath of Fire II remains my favorite game and RPG of all time, it's very near and dear to me, so I'm happy to see it given attention.

With that said, the music is said to be remixed from "Crooked Ladder" which is the Dologany/Dragonier music, but for the life of me I couldn't hear any similarities between the song and the source material. I don't mean any disrespect because it's still a beautiful song regardless, but I just don't hear the resemblance to the source material. Am I missing the point?

I won't lie, the remix is a pretty liberal take on the source tune, but I will put my comments on where I personally looked and used the source in here. I will also point out that the lyrics are very strongly inspired by the story of the game. The first thing to note is the chord structure definitely follows the source, which you can really hear in the breakdown.

The second verse (0:46 in arrangement, "All that I am...") follows a similar pattern, but lower, applying to the source melody doing the same at 0:07 in the youtube video. Similarly, the third verse (1:08 in arrangement, "The path that I took...") pretty much follows the breakdown of verse 1. This is structurally different from the source, which goes to a new section rather than repeat the opening.

The next...section (chorus?) (1:30 in arrangement, "Now I know my path...") is based on 0:13 of the source, with the descending line that repeats.

After that is the bridge (1:52 in arrangement, "Now's the time to stand up to your fears...") that is uses some lines of 0:26 and some lines that are similarly inspired, having the two voices weave in and out from each other similar to how that section works in the source.

After that is the breakdown (2:14 in arrangement), where Stevo used the descending lines source (0:13) in the bells.

The last verse (3:21 in arrangement, "Now I must go...") is following the basic structure I laid out for verse 1.

So, as I said, it's definitely a very liberal take on the source. I was using this song as a learning experience for taking a melody line and really working it outside of the source for vocals. It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but hopefully with the insight I provided above you can appreciate it a bit more.

I caught this at the sneak-preview listening party on IRC on Sunday. It's really gorgeous -- I mean the only 'complaint' is that the 15 tracks there leave you wanting more.

All the tracks are great. I'm a sucker for good vocal tracks (of which there are several). But two of the instrumental ones that are -really- spectacular are Somber Memory (#2 from SoE, by audio fidelity Jenny Fae Davis) and Village of Decay for String Quartet (#11 from Ghouls'n'Ghosts, by Vampire Hunter Dan).

Great album {^^}. KF

There are plenty of great ones in here i loved. That you keep including these as flac, im happy that ocremix does. But anyway, each song, is very well crafted, worked at with a passion for the game. Not all were my cup of tea, but its me, not the song that finds them just not my song.

Somber Memory, ah, how you take me back. This is a good choice for an introductory song, first of all. When it shifts and plays on, that it never loses that original part of the melody, is a very nice touch. This holds a kind of serenity, that makes you look, especially with the change-up again and again.

Shimmering, A dozen sounds it just quite catches a tune to, that without even trying, brings you right into the song. It never lets you go, right before you might catch it worrying to repeat, there it goes again off on its own tangent.

Weeping willow, sadly, this one just wasn't for me. A great song, very upbeat, and im not sure how to classify it, but many other folks here nail it well.

This Winding Road. Much like weeping willow, it wasn't clicking right, but it has a hymnal, solemn beauty to it, historically powerfull, of a memory held dear.

Family Legacy, Talk about out of left field, starts up, and you have to hold onto the ride. I really don't need to say much, this one speaks for itself very clearly, and I wouldn't have expected this sound for the game, Well done!

Silent Traveller, The click of tuning, and the echo you carry here. You carry inspiration of where you've been with a quiet grace, very much living to the songs title, a weary one bearing the weight of the world down on him.

Autumn Painter, I only wish I could have heard the original before this. To see where the inspiration for this came from. The lyrics surprise you, but they bring a perfect accompaniment to the music.

The one ring. The tales begin, and tales end, but you waltz right in, order the beer, be merry, and enjoy the looks spinning about you. The good fellow whom made this needs a round on the house. You capture the spirit of the game, and middle earth perfectly for what really matters.

Stockholm, I'm really not sure how to call you. So many things you do, and do well, yet each is apart and together in a means that I can't put a finger on, so my ears just sit back and enjoy.

The Village of Decay for String Quartet, You floored me, after kicking me down. I had to stop, listen again, and just wipe the tears away, and thank it for doing so. Its a work of art. I really don't know where to begin there, but just wow. Its a song you wont see, wont know until its about halfway through just what kind of hold it has on you, and replaying, you listen deeply, and find the beauty of this song in the depths of one knights crusade against the darkness.

Hope falls to water, really aims for a duality, you almost picture the nina/ryu angle in the two voices, it carries well for it. The base driving narrative, fits to the travels that both carry in their trek the world over.

Hero of Celceta, it introduces itself with such an innocent beginning, and you know, when it teases you a short bit, what you have in store for yourself, and you smile, you do, and what it does deliver. A good choice, and one that shifts into each passage very well, with a lift and drop of the part before.

Having never played the shin megami tensei, this one was very unexpected. The staccato and the stuttering here, has a kind of requiem feel to it, of an end that you feel wash over you, from what I hear, this is darn true of the digital devil saga's level of curbstomping.

Hymn of the Eternal Empire... I don't have much to say, but dang, the range that you achieve brings goosebumps. Well done! Glad to see suikoden in this line-up.

The 7th saga, Is a gem of a keeper, it has a quiet rustic feel to it, a bards tale kind of approach, of someone sitting down, after a long session, playing a tune of another time, and the quiet joy of a room to welcome it. Having played it, and getting my hiney kicked to heck and back by it, its nice to see that game get such a welcome remix, especially of the quality it did.

To everyone that worked heart, mind and soul into this, you bring a series that deserve some time in the sun a well earned round of praise for this! Bravo!

Oh, man, I love that Bahamut Lagoon song, such an underappreciated classic. Great work, Avaris. Still have to listen to the rest of the album, though.

And I reeeeeally have to spend more time in this forum.

Thanks dude

Usually I end up listening to songs on OCR of games i've played.

Even if its not a game I remember that well, hearing something that I associate with a moment in a game gives the song an extra frission you otherwise don't get. There are great, amazing songs on OCR from games i've never touched, but I often find I end up returning to 'average' songs from games I know, simply for the nostalgia... It means something to me, and this amazing yet unknown composition doesn't have. The end result, songs I end up coming back to again and again tend to be from games i've played...

So, hands on deck first, i've never played a single one of these games.

Yet, for all the songs in this album, i've enjoyed every single one. Got a great emotive feel to it that drew me right in. Only listened on a long train journey but it was a good one, thanks for the experience.