OCR00951 - Panzer Dragoon Orta "More Than a Weapon"

[arborninja]

Oh my dear, sweet, heavenly God... this is one of my favorite remixes to date... Fantastic job on this entire piece. In my opinion, it's better than the original. You could easily substitute their remix into the game and it would be exponentially better because of it. Anyway, to the review. One of my favorite aspects of this remix is the use of sound bits from the game. Wing flapping, dragon cries, even speech from different characters in the game. Fantastic use of gating with the dragon calls. Headphones are must when listening to it because you get the best stereo effect. It's slightly long for my taste and it takes its time building to the good stuff in the middle of the track. All in all an excellent job of taking the original, making it into something completely unique, but still keeping the same overall feel. Congrats!

[Zenth Relin]

Wow. Maybe it's because I have zero musical knowledge, but I can't believe you people are finding something to pick at in this.

This is is instant-transfer to MP3 player quality! Excuse me while I do just that!

[Paranoyia]

Not bad in mine opinion. I remember the original song very clearly, and can't say it's identical as some may say, not at all - it's a very decent mix.

[FinalGamer]

Being a dragon lover, this is such a touching song. Everything works so beautifully together. The soft intro, the pacing climax of the middle which rises and lowers in a synthetic battle-like aura, and the saddening ending with the dragon screeching. . .10/10. The game was good, but this piece is Purely Brilliant!

[IcePak]

This remix still sends shivers down my spine, which for me is an indication of how brilliantly done this remix is. In some ways I prefer it over the original tune. It expresses a lot of emotion and atmosphere from the game that are already incredible, and this mix ups it some more. Awesome work guys.

[Saurian]

Sorry I'm not a regular member of the boards but I had to just sign up and post my appreciation of this remix. I have no idea how long I've had it on my MP3 player and my PC at work, it's the most incredible remix of a game's soundtrack I have ever heard and it captures the emotion and atmosphere of the game perfectly.

Panzer Dragoon always blows me away with it's dreamlike atmosphere, this remix perfectly captures the feeling of flying off to an epic battle while still maintaining the vibe of the beautiful and tragic relationship between Orta and the Dragon.

Can't thank you enough for this work - maximum respect!

[metalsnakejuice]

Seriously this is a pleasure to listen to, the piano is fantastic.

Great job.

[OceansAndrew]

I definitely recognize this track as being a long-time inhabitant of my playlist, but I don't think if it came up on shuffle, I could name it. The voices lend a bit of arrange-album authenticity to it, and everything about this mix says "intensity". Great frantic percussion, string stabs, and woodwinds. Very classy stuff indeed.

[avaris]

Had this track burned on a couple of CD's. It's very basic but very effective in everything it attempts and succeeds in doing. I really enjoy the concentration on melody and then using the other elements to drive the forward to give it some ebb n flow.

[Otaku_Symphonia]

Such a breathtaking piece of harmonious music!

The melody that plays throughout is both relaxing, exciting and enticing.

Especially when the tone became more darker.

I agree, Panzer Dragoon ORTA was a worthy sucessor and that person who composed Skies of Arcadia is definately on my, "must listen list".

[Melbu Frahma]

A very beautiful, delicate piece of music, with extremely good interplay between the instruments. The timing issues mentioned in the write-up are definitely there, and definitely distracting, but not to the point where the piece is rendered unenjoyable. I'm also not entirely sure I like the percussive element that comes in right after the dragon cry; it works, I suppose, and it does fill up some of the space, but I feel like the mix might have actually been better without it. I would definitely be interested to hear what it sounded like without it, at least.

Regardless, these are minor things that don't come anywhere near ruining it; definitely worth giving a listen or two to.

[swansdown]

Gentle yet tense. Beautiful Each 'lull' feels less like relaxing and more like brief respites in the middle of a battle. I keep listening again and again. I definitely get a flying vibe here, especially around 3:00. c:

[Crulex]

The voices lend a bit of arrange-album authenticity to it

Want to go ahead and quote that because I get the same feeling from it, especially from listening to MMZ arrangement albums that have had similar stuff in more dramatic pieces. The piano is gorgeous and it has a nice beat that goes against what I normally expect (skips a bit faster ahead of the melody, making it a tad grander and tense, like a battle where the hero just got a second wind). All in all, this ReMix holds up extremely well for being over ten years old and I definitely would recommend this one.

[chrispysaid]

I just can't disagree with peoples' issues of the timing of the piano playing more. To me, it feels disjointed absolutely. It doesn't line up, and it's disorienting and out of sync, much as is the case in the tide of battle. My interpretation is that it's a representation of precisely that emotion, of anxiety and desynchronicity. To me, that part wrapping up the way it does and all coming back into focus only serves to further solidify the tremendous job this track does multiple times of building and then releasing tension in an extraordinary fashion. I don't hear a timing issue, I hear an artistic choice and it pays off in dividends in the way the bridge of the song comes back together again. I keep coming back to this remix year after year, and I hope I'm not the only one.