The Quintet Quintet | Soundtrack Review: The Granstream Saga

The last and final installment of my series of reviews of the soundtracks of five games developed by the company Quintet. This time, the very last game, The Granstream Saga.

The Granstream Saga was developed not by Quintet but by a team of former staff members from that company operating under the name Shade. (For all intents and purposes, from what I can gather, it was basically Quintet by another name.) In Japan, it was published November '97 by Sony Computer Entertainment, in America, by THQ in June '98, and finally it came also to Europe, in February 1999.

The team for The Granstream Saga was the largest of any Quintet Quintet game, and also the only one (as I have excluded ActRaiser 2) for which composers returned after working on a previous title. For The Granstream Saga there were four composers attached to the project.

The first of these is the extraordinarily talented - in the language of today's youth, "legit" - Kohei Tanaka, who, much like Koichi Sugiyama before him, started out scoring anime and film before finding videogame work. There are some distinctions to note. Tanaka is twenty years younger and remains primarily a film composer. (Sugiyama, for comparison, has not done any non-videogame work - indeed, has not done any non-Dragon Quest work - in over a decade.) Tanaka contributed six pieces to this game, all for cutscenes, and unlike the rest of the soundtrack, these pieces are performed by a full symphonic orchestra, lending them a much richer and more real sound.

The three other composers handled the in-game music and in that respect it seems to have been fairly evenly divided between Masanori Hikichi, who presently would likely be best known for his work on Terranigma and for the Bullet Girls games, which marked his return to videogame scoring after a break of well over a decade, Miyoko Takaoka, again under her alias Miyoko Kobayashi, and unfortunately information about here is scarce, but it appears that she may have left the industry sometime in the early 2000s, and Takako Ochiai, of who even less information is known, and my best guess is that he(?) ceased composing sometime around the early 2000s, though he has recently found himself working in some aspect or another on the Senran Kagura games.

As for the score itself, the composers went for a style of instrumentation vaguely reminiscent of Chrono Trigger. Which is to say that the score often has a very percussive texture, thanks to its usage of a great diversity of percussion instruments. Alongside this it uses a fairly standard orchestral palette, distinctive in its focus on mallets, strings, and winds. Besides that it also uses a handful of synth tones. Brasses are rare and infrequent.

Kohei Tanaka as mentioned earlier only contributed six pieces for the game, but each one is played by a full symphonic orchestra, which ensures that each of them has an impact, if only for the power behind them. And, sure enough, three of the pieces are thirty-second cutscene pieces.

The other three, however, are not. The first of these is "Land of the Skies ~ World of the Setting Sun (Opening)", a powerful tour-de-force opening brightly and showcasing just how well Tanaka wields the multitude of timbres and sounds the orchestra provides. It doesn't take long to move into a swifter section, a string melody against trombones and trumpets trading staccato. This whole track shifts from moment to moment pretty swiftly, reflecting that it is, indeed, a cutscene track - reflecting that, it's very cinematic.

The second is "To Those Who Challenge Fate (Ending A)" which includes a dark motif introduced in the opening track. Clocking in at two minutes, rather than the three of the opening, it is, nevertheless, again a powerful and cinematic piece of music. This time, however, the power is less in the orchestral bombast but the emotion an orchestra's playing can produce.

The third is "An Angel Embracing Time (Ending B)", just 1:19, which is again stirring and emotional, if less distinctive.

A quick look at The Granstream Saga's page on VGMdb reveals that the orchestra playing those pieces was an ensemble of session musicians conducted by Tanaka himself. To which I say, well done to Tanaka for pulling such emotion and power from the ensemble, and well done to the ensemble, too, for playing so powerfully.

Writing the most tracks for the game is Takako Ochiai, at fifteen tracks, one more than Hikichi and five more than Takaoka - arguably by technicality: he collaborated with Hikichi for two of them and with Takaoka on one of them. His first track in the game is "Airlim (Airlim Removal)", a hazy piece with a slightly oppressive atmosphere and only a touch of warmth.

"Shrine" is a dungeon theme, distinctive for its crashing and echoing snare, as well as the ethnic instruments, but otherwise unmemorable. No, the first truly unique track is "Town of Wind (Arona Town - After Resolution)", which introduces us to the only true recurring leitmotif in the game. Its meaning is unclear just from listening (and I lack the game to play) but it seems to represent peace. "Town of Wind" shows very well Ochiai's talent at layering instruments to create a full whole. It's undoubtedly a stand-out.

"Gude" is - I can only assume - another dungeon theme, and one of my personal favorites from the score. It's relaxing to listen to, its texture very percussive with the tambourine and shaker, as well as the marimba and bass.

Ochiai is also the man behind "Pixim (Pixim Town - Before Resolution)", showing a mixture of the styles of his preceding tracks: a percussive texture, ethnic instruments, marimba accompaniment, and, yes, strings. The gentle recorder often present adds to the peaceful air, and as with "Town of Wind", his layering of instruments adds a lot to it.

"Town of Ice (Pixim Town - After Resolution)", which he wrote with Takaoka, features a variation on the earlier peace motif. It's impossible to tell how much of it is Ochiai and how much is Takaoka, especially since it's so short.

"Pulu Town - Bimu Town" once again features a variation on the peace motif, this time for a balalaika-like (say that five times fast) instrument. It's beautiful, transforming from guitar against piano into something even better, with the addition of low strings, percussion, and a higher string melody. It's another fantastic track.

"Lava Cave" is another dungeon track, this one much tenser than his previous dungeon tracks. The hi-hat rhythm creates a great deal of tension, acting almost like a ticking clock but for the occasional adding of a note which breaks that feeling for even more tension. An organ is featured as well, and the melody, regardless of whether it's a synth or a choir, always descends more than it ascends.

"Geltania (Geltania Town - Before Resolution)" is unusually ominous for a "before resolution" track thus far, the oppressive choir initially a background detail as it moves through sometimes depressing chord changes, even as a flute pretends all is well. The choir eventually takes center stage and all pretense is dropped for a time.

(In an interesting contrast, Hikichi's "Visions (Geltania Town - After Resolution)" is, in some ways, more tense than Ochiai's track, with a swifter, one might say jumpier, more nervous rhythm.)

Ochiai handled one battle theme on the track, the intense "Boss Battle", which for much of its running time has a recurring timpani+tuba beat underneath it. Orchestra hits provide rhythmic interest and intensity later one, while the horns add a heroic quality to it. It's intense, but I think it could do with more fullness.

"Laramee" is the theme for what I can only assume to be the romantic interest of the game. Its somewhat folksy opening quickly drops as the guitar stops strumming in favor of arpeggiated chords. The second half is much prettier, acting as a flute and guitar duet before strings come in. If only Ochiai had kept that for the entirety of the track!

"Floating Continent" is a pretty but indistinct track, a collaboration with Hikichi. Of greater note is his other collaboration with Hikichi, "End Roll Part 2". Or is it a collaboration? In truth, I suspect that this is wholly Ochiai's work, but Hikichi is co-credited for the reprise of "Circle of Time (Title)", which was Hikichi's. But I am willing to be wrong.

Ochiai also took care of "Together with Laramee (Laramee Ending)", which again features Ochiai's peace theme. It's lovely and pastoral, very much in possessing an atmosphere of peace and finality.

Finally, "End Roll Part 1" was also composed by Ochiai, and this part has much more activity and a much more "ending theme" feel to it. It's a celebration of success, between the tambourine beat and the strings. It's energetic, lively, and fun.

Ochiai deserves all the praise I'm giving him: many tracks are beautiful, they fit (I imagine) very well to what they're written for, and his peace leitmotif creates unity in a soundtrack otherwise lacking in thematic content. He comes out looking very strong based on the above tracks.

Of the official soundtrack release, six of Hikichi's tracks are not present upon it. (These will be covered later.) The first track of Hikichi's is "Circle of Time (Title)", a quiet, understated piece, but one with a magic to it nonetheless. His next track is "Cut Your Way (Battle)", which is the normal battle theme. It's pretty simple but exceptionally listenable, if a touch short and looping prematurely.

He also handled "Orb Room", which, landing at 3:02 is the longest piece of in-game music present on the soundtrack release. It opens chorally, but soon moves onto a twinkly motif on synth, which is well-developed as a variety of instruments enter and exit. It's an excellent piece, hampered only by the childishness of the motif Hikichi uses.

"Visions (Geltania Town - After Resolution)" is, as mentioned before, jumpier than Ochiai's own 'before resolution' track for Geltania Town. It has something of a nervous rhythm, played by the harp, while the strings sometimes join in with a descending line - even when it ascends, it doesn't carry an atmosphere of peace. It's a distinctive contrast to Ochiai, who handled most of the 'after resolution' tracks.

Hikichi, in addition to the normal battle theme, also wrote the final battle theme, "Last Boss Battle". (Such invention in naming, I know.) As with Ochiai's battle theme, it lacks a certain fullness of instrumentation, despite its darkness fitting with it, it still disappoints me. In fact, I think I'd go as far as to say that Ochiai's and Hikichi's tracks could've been switched out. They would still have been disappointing, but they would've better suited their roles if they'd been switched. I am left wishing that Takaoka had gotten to write at least one battle theme.

"Slayzer", on the other hand, is what the final battle theme had been: tense, powerfully orchestral, almost martial in its rhythm. But, to be clear, this is a character theme - an excellent one, though, with its string ostinatos and heroic horn melody. The quieter section with the harp is glorious.

However, here's something of interest for the reader: the original soundtrack release's liner notes doesn't credit any one composer with writing "Slayzer". Hikichi is registered with JASRAC as its composer, but it sounds and feels more like a Kohei Tanaka composition, even though a live orchestra wasn't used for it. I'm listing it here because Hikichi is registered as its composers, but even the one YouTube playlist of The Granstream Saga's music credits this to Tanaka, so, while I do not wish to cast aspersions on Hikichi, it is an unusual detail.

It is, of course, entirely possible that Hikichi misremembered. A further mark against Tanaka being the composer is that his only other contributions to the game were genuine orchestral tracks.

I shall not go over the familiar ground of the Ochiai/Hikichi tracks, as they were already reviewed above.

"A Time of Endings and Beginnings (Opening)" is very ominous with its church bells, ticking clock fading in and out, and low choir and percussion coming in. As the track comes to a conclusion, string chords fade in and crescendo, leaving us with the tail end of the low strings fading out.

Of the unreleased tracks (originating from that same YouTube playlist), as promised, here they are.

"Victory Fanfare" is a suitably victorious fanfare, one of the DQ-style fanfares - it's just a quick jingle, rather than a full composition in its own right like FF. "Shop Theme" is one of a long line of cheerful shopping themes: it's a track told on accordion and castanets, with a bass guitar, too. It's startlingly reminiscent of a very old track I wrote, also for a shopping experience, and which also featured accordion and castanets - this, long before I was ever even aware of The Granstream Saga's existence.

Two further character themes are revealed through the unreleased tracks. The first of these is "Hades Theme", which unfortunately is not half so good as "Slayzer" was, a standard 'epic'-type arpeggio playing through the entire running length of the track and grating on the ears. The first half accompanies this with low, non-descript strings and choir, while the second half repeats an ominous motif first on synths, then with strings, then with low strings added on, and then dropping both to loop - arpeggio playing the whole time!

The second is "Muscle Layer Theme" (which I am assuming is a character theme) is totally unmemorable, low strings and synths and mallet accompaniment.

"Imperial Fortress", on the other hand, most definitely ought've been put on the official release for its mixture of imposing, yet cheerful melodic fragments and martial rhythm. It's an excellent area theme, and another favorite.

The last of the tracks is "Vangel Battleship", an imposing and ominous battle theme, but in an entirely different way from the others. It's much more percussive in nature, and like with a couple other of his tracks it continuously develops a single motif. It's less distinctive than "Imperial Fortress", though.

I am, truth be told, disappointed by Hikichi's work, especially after the excellent music he wrote alongside Miyoko Takaoka in Terranigma. The motifs he chooses to use and develop sometimes seem unfitting (I speak here largely of "Orb Room" and "Vangel Battleship") while the battle themes, in the first case, good but undeveloped, and in the second case, not very full at all. At least we have "Imperial Fortress" and "Slayzer".

Takaoka wrote more dungeon themes than any other composer on the soundtrack, and, in addition, didn't write any battle themes. But what she did write is absolutely excellent, a genuine competitor to Ochiai's best.

"Wise Men's Cemetery" opens with choral harmonies, a rising line on some sort of ethnic instrument, a background harmonic line, and an array of percussion. Already, it's clear that (Tanaka excluded) Takaoka is writing very full tracks. As the track goes on, this is still evident, pan pipes flying in and out, a snare beat added onto it, descending sitar lines here and there, and even a fretless bass melodic section. It doesn't sound complicated on first listen, but it's fuller than most of the tracks on the score. The dropping of so many instruments for a purely choral section (with small percussive elements and subtle low strings) is much more powerful in its effect thanks to the fullness of what came before.

"Arona (Arona Town - Before Resolution)" continues this, opening with a solo violin and harp against an array of percussive 'fills'. Soon, though, a flute and guitar comes in, along with a synth choir, and fretless bass. It's a rich and relaxing track, as peaceful as any of Ochiai's, and arguably even better for its greater number of instruments. The fretless bass especially helps in creating that atmosphere.

I'm not sure what "Arcia" is for, but it's another good one, simple but pleasing to the ear, peaceful, but almost mournful, also. I can only assume it's a character theme, as it is beautiful and reminds me a little bit of "Prayer" from Terranigma.

I'll not go over "Pixim (Pixim Town - After Resolution)" again but to say that I think maybe I can guess what it is: Takaoka using Ochiai's peace motif in an otherwise original track. I wouldn't be surprised if I was wrong, though, so don't quote me on that.

"Frozen Corridor - Underground Cemetery" is another dungeon theme, and an excellent one, too, its low string motif unusually dynamic, a fade-in on one of the notes a prominent part of it. Like all of the dungeon themes of the game, it's very listenable, if not especially memorable.

"Ruin of the Spirits" is darker in some ways, with its synth bassline playing a gallop rhythm (though it soon shifts). It's also got a deceptively cheerful flute melody. Again, not very memorable, but effective at creating the atmosphere of a spiritual ruin.

With "Stalagmite Castle", Takaoka adopts much more an orchestral vein: timpani, strings, and trumpets. It's much more reminiscent of Tanaka's work. (Perhaps this and "Slayzer" are examples of Hikichi and Takaoka adopting some of Tanaka's style for pivotal moments in-game. Having not played, I can't speak to it.) It's not particularly memorable, and I struggle to imagine this as a piece playing for a very long, as there is a distinct lack of a prominent melody.

"Altar of the Barrier" is another favorite of mine, as far as dungeon themes go. It's deeply atmospheric thanks to its unique mixture of instruments and wind melodies.

Takaoka also wrote the bright and cheerful character theme "Karok", which, though it has a lovely 'cute' melody, isn't very noteworthy. She also wrote "Tension (Theme of Conflict)", which is effective at its job, especially when the synth bassline speeds up against a build-up in its mallets. It ends with a rising string chord before looping. Effective, but unmemorable.

In the end, I think we're left with a mixed bag, an odd mixture of synths, acoustic, ethnic, and orchestral instruments. There's no immediately obvious main theme, indeed, no main theme at all. The only leitmotif present seems to be Ochiai's peace motif.

Kohei Tanaka's work is, of course, excellent and powerful, often cinematic in its scope, and fantastically played by an ensemble of spirited session musicians under Tanaka's own baton.

Takako Ochiai, who did the most tracks, comes out excellently, from fantastic dungeon themes like "Gude" to peaceful town themes such as "Town of Wind (Arona Town - After Resolution)". The implementation and variations on the peace leitmotif give his body of tracks a greater unity than the other composers, and it makes the lack of a main theme for him to play with all the more notable.

The work of Hikichi on the other hand comes out as the least of all the composers. His choice of motifs to develop is often unusual, though they are well-developed. Likewise, his battle themes also disappoint to some extent. Even so, "Visions (Geltania Town - After Resolution" and "Circle of Time (Title)" remind us all that he was one half of Terranigma.

You could argue that Takaoka came out the best, but this would be a false conclusion as she did fewer tracks than either of her co-composers, which may, perhaps, account for comparative excellence. Even so, her work is fuller and richer to the ear than Hikichi or Ochiai (though the latter often comes close), and music like "Arona (Arona Town - Before Resolution)" and "Altar of the Barrier" are of very high quality.

Though underrated and unknown, I don't think The Granstream Saga will really top anyone's lists of excellent JRPG scores. It lacks a strong thematic identity, and it is sometimes instrumentally inconsistent. But it has a solid baseline of quality. No single track could be called "bad", even if only a select few could be called "excellent".

In the end, I think the fairest score I can give it is 6.5 out of 10.

If you enjoyed this review, here are the links to the other reviews of this series.
The Quintet Quintet | Soundtrack Review: ActRaiser
The Quintet Quintet | Soundtrack Review: Soul Blazer
The Quintet Quintet - Diversion | Arrange Album Review: ActRaiser Symphonic Suite
The Quintet Quintet | Soundtrack Review: Illusion of Gaia
The Quintet Quintet | Soundtrack Review: Terranigma

Well. This whole 'Quintet Quintet' project took far longer than I had in mind when I began it. My intention most assuredly was not to take so many months in completing this, or to leave such a great gap between this review and Terranigma's. For that I must apologize. All manner of things conspired against me: personal projects, uncontrollable circumstances in my own life, and even illness.

Nevertheless. Here we are, at the end of it. Or, nearly. As an apology, please expect a second diversion post reviewing the soundtracks of both ActRaiser 2 and Robotrek, two other Quintet games.

Anyways. What do I have in the works for the future? Well, I'm thinking of taking a break from soundtrack reviewing for a time, but never fear, there's a variety of other reviews in the works, serving as great expansion in the scope of what I review. Please look forward to:

Radio reviews of some fantastic BBC Radio shows, including the funniest thing Stephen Fry ever wrote, Saturday Night Fry, and a truly hilarious satire of political public relations, Absolute Power.

Film reviews of a number of interesting and unique documentaries: the baffling mind of Donald Rumsfeld in Errol Morris's The Unknown Known and the nebulous, hard-to-pin-down yet vital art of conducting an orchestra in The Art of Conducting: Great Conductors of the Past.

And, of course, the promised series on alternate history online, coming sometime soon, hopefully.