It's been a long time since I played this game, but I remember just how great the battle themes were. Watching my brother play the DS version makes those fun nostalgic memories come back. That being said, I did not like the treatments to the battle themes.
Of Fiend and Man
Standard battle theme that you hear throughout the game. The original theme was faster than this version. I thought the guitar effects were fun, but the song started to sound a bit like Kashmere, and that's bit slower than what I wanted.
Virtually the same beginning measures are repeated and elaborated, but you don't progress to the rest of the battle theme. OR, if you do, it wasn't in a noticeable way, and that was disappointing, since that is one of the more memorable moments in the song.
Survival Instinct
The song starts out very Britney Spears 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' ish. The electronic sounds are interesting, but I was disappointed at the sound effect used for the main theme. It made me think of some strange electro-circus. Listening to early Depeche Mode albums would help understand to this.
The countermelody that ran the same time as the main was overpowering for me, and took me away from the main melody. This would've been fine had the countermelody been interesting to me. It, however, wasn't, so it proved annoying.
The quiet breakdown around 2:40 is neat, but then the instrumentation that I didn't like from before comes back in, so I am disappointed once more.
The beginning measures of the theme seem to play a lot, and there is not enough of the second half of the melody present. Much like Battle Theme 1, I think this wasn't expressed enough.
Overall, I agree with a sentiment that was expressed earlier. These songs are well done and demonstrate a thorough understanding of music composition and generation. However, I believe it did not convey enough of the original songs to make me happy. I didn't get any goosebumps listening to these.
