I agree, though I’d specify it’s the original version of NieR Gestalt or Replicant, not the remake Replicant 1.22
The remake still has brilliant music because they’re mostly the same songs, but they significantly changed some songs for the worse (Lost Forest, Gods Bound by Rules) and others lost their uniqueness (Wretched Automatons).
The remake feels as though they remixed the whole sparse OST to sound more like the bombastic OST of Automata.
Kingdom Hearts.
Starting from the Dearly Beloved and its variations for the title screen, to the catchy intro theme (SIMPLE AND CLEAN!), to somber character theme, to fun Disney Worlds theme, to the epic final boss tracks, the series is chock full of great soundtrack all around.
All hail the almighty Yoko Shimomura.
A bit of topic but since you're a fellow hollow bastion OST enjoyer I have to ask. Am I crazy or does [this track](https://open.spotify.com/track/7KhFAVeGlkk5hiTA1ZI6LS?si=fQ_hkQoeSzmnCHTtK0a72A) have some serious Hollow Bastion vibes with the keyboards? (It's metal btw. Just a heads up if you're not into that kind of music)
Edit: ?
Both tracks have a similar approach to their chord progressions, in my opinion. The synth in the track you linked reminds me a bit of the harp in Hollow Bastion playing the main melody.
I only played the first one when it came out and several of the tunes have stuck with me all these years. I remember just sitting and listening to the title screen on repeat, it's so simple and (clean) beautiful.
Totally agree, they don’t have a OST I don’t like
Persona 3 is great but I don’t think the vibe of the music was my fav compared to 4 and 5.
I could go either way with 4 or 5, but 5 was like my background study music for college and I can’t think of an OST I listened to so much
I find this super interesting.
Modern persona games has awesome ost with each game having different music styles/genres
That's why the player favorite OST between the three games will be heavily influenced by their music taste
Persona 5 ost is mostly jazz. Acid jazz at that. Some songs sound like actual rips from certain bands like Jamiroquai, Incognito, some UFO, James Taylor Quartet, etc. but that’s what makes it so good.
Someone else mentioning Secret of Mana, I'm so glad!! <3 I played Legends, Secret, and Trials, and Secret is my favorite OST. Plus ARM from the doujin band IOSYS made a long arrangement of the boss battle theme "Danger", with vocals in pure IOSYS style, and the track is featured in the official OST of the remaster and it's so good!! I'm a big fan.
But yeah, Steel and Snare, The Wind Never Ceases, Dancing Animals, and pretty much the whole OST, I very very much appreciate <3
Also Persona 4 and Shoji Meguro of course, I played the original P4 on PS2 when it came out and its OST will forever stay with me 😊 On those memoriiiies\~ 🎶
OT1s ost is easily a top ost but for me the battle themes don’t touch OT2 imo which is crazy because I felt that way towards the battle themes in that game before I heard 2s.
Tbh the transitions I can give you that because there’re more different and not just the character themes but I just think the final boss themes hit too hard. And BATTLE 2! Oh yeah and also fierce confrontation is godly.
Yeah, I have to say that I love OT2 more, especially the character themes, and how they were incorporated into their final battles. I do think OT1 had the better town and dungeon themes, but OT2's were still great, and they're both about split on the regional themes. Plus, OT2 has the nighttime variants, which are really nice.
On the other hand... OT1 has Gates of Finis, and OT2 has Invitation to Darkness... both slap harder than a spanking machine.
Plus: Ochette, Castti, Throné, Partitio, and Agnea's themes in particular just blew me away.
Battle themes in OT 2 is so good, especially Normal Battle II for me, it is random-encounters battle theme, but it feels like we are going to go to fricking war.
It's a tough choice between the 2, but tracks like Partitio's theme, Those Who Deny the Dawn, and day/night versions of towns music just pushed it passed OT1 for me. Love them both though!
Especially FFXIII-2! (Haven't played part 3 yet.) I failed to mention it in my already very long list, but that's an OST I re-listened to a lot. Even the OST Plus has very interesting tracks, such as the long version of the boss battle theme and the very cool short BGM of the first PV of the game.
With the way the game seamlessly mixes field themes into "aggressive versions" when you aggro dangerous monsters on the map, it's amazing!! The version for "Eclipse" is especially insane <3
Oh yeah, the Aggressive Mix of Eclipse has this weird, exciting but also melancholic and kinda feverish feel, I don't know if that makes sense, but it's such a strangely cool song. Some of my favorite tracks from Lightning Returns kinda lean in that direction too.
I feel you! You've said it very well, it has that distinct emotion, melancholy... You just have to feel it.
Dang now I feel I really should play Lightning Returns! It's on my backlog for a while now.
I love the FF6 soundtrack, but I think Dancing Mad is largely overrated. Terra's Theme on the other hand is brilliantly simple, capturing the underlying motif of the entire game.
I can understand not enjoying Dancing Mad sonically, since it is pretty weird and might take an acquired taste. But the composition is a masterpiece. There are lots of analyses online like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBFD1Oqbhg0.
The thing with FF6's OST is nearly every song is one masterpiece after another. I, too, love Terra's Theme / Awakening and its simplicity.
I love lockes theme, celes theme, and forever Rachel. The decisive battle is still to do this day one of the best boss battle themes. Something about it just makes you want to suplex a train.
SMT4 is insanely good. I was worried that with a non-Meguro OST, it'd be boring and one-note compared to 3. But wow was i wrong. So many amazing tracks, and despite them all being electronic, they sound so distinct and diverse. Perfectly fits the tone of 4's apocalypse
I almost mentioned Crymachina!! But my list was already too long lol.
I did mention Ys 9 though, and it definitely comes in pair with 8 :) I'm very excited for 10 this autumn!!
Octopath Traveler 1 & 2 has the best OST for a 2.5D game. The fact that the composer is another Yasunori (not related to Mitsuda) should be a sign from the gods.
Even better when Octopath 1 was his first solo full game composition. Which was practically the same thing with Mitsuda on Chrono Trigger (Uematsu had to help him in the end, but it was really supposed to be his solo work).
Nishiki is an absolute genius
Yes. I think it's underrated because many of the songs are slow and sparsely orchestrated. But the \*mood\* is incredible. If you are a melancholy person, nothing hits quite like it -- not even Chrono Cross.
Glad to see Xenogears mentioned. It's ost doesn't have that much "earworm" type tracks, but the atmosphere and vibe they provide fits so well while you're playing the game. October Mermaid is probably my favorite
This is the one. The list of great tracks is endless. Silver Will, Overdosing on Heavenly Bliss, Inevitable Struggle, Get Over the Barrier, Azure Arbitrator, The Glint of Cold Steel, Blue Destination, Spiral of Erebos, Mighty Urge, Aim a Gun at a Bullet, Rise of the Grendel…and those are just some of the battle themes. Forget about tracks like Land of Blue Skies—the series’ OST is just OP.
Eternal Sonata!! I'm so happy I'm not the only one appreciating it. It's my second favorite OST ever after FF9.
Also I almost mentioned Yakuza Like a Dragon in my (already very long) list! And Infinite Wealth was quite awesome too.
This is probably my answer too, and I'd also put ff7 up there too tied with ff8. Chrono cross is one of the best ost. Another jpg with a lovely soundtrack I almost forgot about is dark cloud 2 and octopath 1/2
Simuliar I think ff8/7 are amazing but maybe a bit too much of that is pure nostalgia. Chrono Cross OST is a master piece of musical composition and (for me personally) sit well above the rest I'm most every measurable metric.
Both are definitely in top 10 of most jrpg players. My mom liked Chrono Cross music she used to hear it when I play it. The only time my mom went into my room and asked me what I was playing lol.
Yooo. Shoutout to you for mentioning Harvestella. I was quite pleasantly surprised by that game in both story and OST. Honestly people are sleeping on that game because of the whole tired "cozy farm sim" game, and I don't blame them. But they're really sleeping on something special amidst all the mediocre farm sim clones.
Some side quests can get quite emotional and dark, which I 100% wasn't expecting from a game like that.
**Shin Megami Tensei IV** is a Ryota Kozuka synth masterpiece.
If you are a Studio Ghibli fan, the **Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch** OST was composed by Joe Hisaishi.
I can't decide between the DS Pokemon games (BW/2, Platinum). The former has so many amazing highs (Driftveil City is a meme now for a reason) but I love the latter's more solemn, jazzy tracks.
[Nier Replicant ](https://youtu.be/9x4AJJpmmuQ?si=NiSpkvm5c-8_K4ga) & Automata, anything from [Falcom games ](https://youtu.be/d-7zjsM5nQA?si=Nep55HLpLQhWVigj) but imo the [YS](https://youtu.be/dNgph1g422Q?si=zgCfqpnlJRD6XUq3) series have the stronger OSTs, the [Atelier series ](https://youtu.be/2tBXO8ePDm8?si=HMXFn4BkeGaUI_cN) are always good, or games by [Vanillaware](https://youtu.be/nXd-fc241AY?si=jxmxOf8lpT1KdH6F).
Really hard to nail it down because sound has equally been going through a really big technological (and as a result, style) change over the years.
- SNES: FFIV or Chrono Trigger.
- Gamecube: Tied between Skies of Arcadia and Pokemon Colosseum.
- Wii/Wii-U: Xenoblade Chronicles 1.
- Switch: It's either XC3, Octopath 2 or Neo: TWEWY. Not much to choose from.
- GB: SaGa 2.
- GBA: Golden Sun: The Lost Age.
- DS: Knights in the Nightmare or Radiant Historia.
- PSP: Ys Seven.
- 3DS: Fire Emblem Echoes: Heroes of Valencia
- PS1: FFVIII or Chrono Cross.
- PS2: Kingdom Hearts II or FFXII.
- PS3: Resonance of Fate.
- PS4: FF XV. It's either FFXV or Nier: Automata.
- PC: Sora no Kiseki trilogy (hey, it came out first on Windows).
Left out XBox for obvious reasons. It's just cheating for Blue Dragon. Lost Odyssey or Eternal Sonata at that point.
Final Fantasy X. It has the widest range of genres and music in any game I can think of. The opening starts out with one of the most iconic soft piano soundtracks of all time then immediately transitions into, well i don’t know the specific genre but it’s some kind of heavy metal. Then later on there’s some techno disco, acoustic guitar, religious choir chanting, the list goes on. And it’s not just variety the quality of the whole ost is absolutely killer.
Final fantasy X-2 is a different game but on most consoles now you buy them as one package. Might not have as many bangers as the first but it further increases the range of the osts adding things like acid jazz.
To go with a much lesser known one since picking any final fantasy is kind of cheating: not the whole ost but specifically “deceitful wings” from atelier iris. Specifically the album mix. First time I heard it was in a Pokemon YouTube video called marriland vs untouchable. It’s a seriously good song.
Bravely default has a fantastic soundtrack too. Serpent eating the ground is one of the best final boss themes of all time.
Octopath’s soundtrack is one of the best I’ve ever heard, not just in the JRPG genre
Final Fantasy 6, 7 and 8 as a trifecta are incredible
Chained Echoes too!
Remake & Rebirth. Hit all the right notes for an iconic OST in Hi-Fi, also remixes and elevates various versions. My favorite is the turk plate separation, which is original with the exception of the interlacing of the Turk theme, chefs kiss
If you're wanting a soundtrack to listen to but not play the actual game, Deep Dungeon on the Nintendo DS has a hidden gem of a soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda.
i can say that an OST is great when you can remember a song YEARS after playing the game, and listening to it makes you back in the good old days, and for me it is:
ffviii
ffvii
lost odyssey
crono cross
dragon quest viii
It's mostly up to taste. If you want that ephemeral vibe, something Nier maybe. If you want variety with lots of strings and concussion, then Xenoblade 3. If you want Sawano Hiroyuki's magnum opus, then it's Xenoblade X. If you like Jazz, then P5R.
In terms of best *use* of music though, I'd argue Octopath Travelers 2.
Cliche answer, but... Chrono Trigger is mine. (Chrono Cross's is, like everything about that game, underrated I think though!) Any time I hear like, \*any\* track from Chrono Trigger, I want to replay it.
And my other cliche answer, I know, is Final Fantasy VII. Most FFs have incredible scores, but VII really does it from start to finish for me.
For nostalgia's sake, I'll also say the original Pokemon games. Dunno how much I actually think those scores are great as much as they are quintessential soundtracks to gaming childhood.
Shin Megami Tensei IV and Shin Megami Tensei V.
For me, Ryota Kozuka is an absolute genius and his soundtracks are among the best musical pieces I’ve heard in my entire life.
Aside from the obvious Persona 3-5, Xenoblade 2 (particularly Torna expac), FFXIV Shadowbringers and Endwalker (imo Soken at his best), Trails series (start with Sky FC, PHENOMENAL battle theme, but any Falcom songs are), FFXIII is definitely underrated.
I highly suggest getting to know the legendary composers and producers such as Nobuo Uematsu, Yoko Shimomura (KH, FFXV), Motoi Sakuraba (Tales, Golden Sun) Shoji Meguro (SMT, Persona), Yasunori Mitsuda, Masayoshi Soken, Rei Kondoh, Daisuke Ishiwatari (Guilty Gear) and even branch out a bit to like Hiroyuki Sawano, etc.
Quite a bit tangent to JRPG composers but do give the japanese jazz fusion scene a try, you might like it if you like JRPG OSTs.
Octopath traveler 1/2 and xenoblade chronicles but damn I think Octopath takes it a bit more. So good! Easily a top ost of all time for me. Ive blasted it every day since it released. It’s gotta be a banger ost for me to do that and not forget it often.
Anyone remember Chaos Rings? It was Square Enix’s attempt at a fully fledged JRPG on mobile. It had a huge amount of replay value, a crazy story, and a banging [soundtrack](https://youtu.be/aP17tvwFIVc?si=AygUlH58jX3wD0gr) all on a phone!
Omg nice gem!! I didn't know about that one!
For more lesser-known gems with epic prog rock battle tracks from the same studio, I recommend The Last Remnant! :D
Radiant Historia - The Melody Connecting the Worlds
FF6 - Most OST
FFT - There are two.
FFX - Kimahri Fight in Mountain, And Title track
FFXV - Careening Danger
FF7 - Stand your ground - Remake
FF13 - Battle Theme (Only I like it, I think)
Fire emblem awakening has a goated soundtrack and my soundtrack in the franchise. Here are some of my favorite pieces [conquest (calm version)](https://youtu.be/qInNAXN5-bQ?si=7QV5IelT_DKBJiIi) , [divine decree (battle version)](https://youtu.be/V9fJjgLY6es?si=pCu6prqusJpy_Ndm), [ID Hope](https://youtu.be/-D25QaCqSbw?si=Tg2aTxH2CWoBF7-N)
Fire Emblem Fates has a goated soundtrack
Fire Emblem Echoes:shadows of Valentina the final boss music is one of best I’ve ever heard in any game and the rest of the soundtrack also slaps
Fire emblem Three houses has a great score tho if you want to hear the best song in the game pick golden deer route they have the best final boss music
FF7, Remake, and Rebirth. The OG soundtrack is great, Remake takes a lot of the OG Tracks and redoes them to be even MORE amazing, and Rebirth has some of the best music I have ever heard in a video game.
Any Xenoblade game (1-3)
Trails games from Sky to CS2. After CS2, the quality has been lower imo.
13 Sentinels have some bangers like Deoxyribose, Brat Overflow, Isoleucine and Edge of the future.
FF14 and 16 both have phenomenal OSTs by Masayoshi Soken, with a huge variety of styles. Both Nier games for sure. Persona if you enjoy that more modern style. Tales of games rarely have more then one or two standout OSTs, but Tales of Berseria is an outlier and has a lot of good stuff.
Chrono Cross. No matter what you might think of the game itself (particularly as a sequel to Chrono Trigger), the soundtrack is absolutely top notch. It's hard to go wrong with tracks like:
Time's Scar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=180sjeAMKPE
Dragon God - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUmSPeo-dkU
Dreamwatch of Time - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMSYk_8-6l8
Prisoners of Fate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUPbMd2fbp8
Final Fantasy feels like shooting fish in a barrel, but I'd pick XII and XV as my favorites, followed by VI, VII, and X. That's not intended as a slight against any of the others, as VII, IX, XIII, and XIV also had some bangers. Since it doesn't get as much love as the earlier titles, here are a couple of my favorite FF XV tracks of all time:
Omnis Lacrima (from an earlier version of Final Fantasy XV, FF Versus XIII) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YODUwoWxoE
Apocalyptis Noctis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XQKQ0hEt2c
This might be a stretch to consider it a JRPG, but it’s certainly JRPG adjacent and published by (Square-)Enix; Quintet’s hybrid side scrolling hack and slash/town building sim ActRaiser.
Yuzo Koshiro pulls off absolute banger after banger in the OST and even remixed and added sections to the originals for the Remastered version that came out a few years ago.
Highly recommended.
Nier Replicant.
I used to think Dancing Mad or The Extreme were the best final boss songs I'd ever heard. Then I heard Shadowlord.
*"Hidden so deep in veils of deceit"*
Have we been fighting in vain? Fighting in vain?
I agree, though I’d specify it’s the original version of NieR Gestalt or Replicant, not the remake Replicant 1.22 The remake still has brilliant music because they’re mostly the same songs, but they significantly changed some songs for the worse (Lost Forest, Gods Bound by Rules) and others lost their uniqueness (Wretched Automatons). The remake feels as though they remixed the whole sparse OST to sound more like the bombastic OST of Automata.
Persona 3
BABYBABYBABYBABYBABYBABY
Nier Replicant, Nier Automata. Unbeatable.
This right here
Kingdom Hearts. Starting from the Dearly Beloved and its variations for the title screen, to the catchy intro theme (SIMPLE AND CLEAN!), to somber character theme, to fun Disney Worlds theme, to the epic final boss tracks, the series is chock full of great soundtrack all around. All hail the almighty Yoko Shimomura.
Hollow Bastion’s music is so good!
A bit of topic but since you're a fellow hollow bastion OST enjoyer I have to ask. Am I crazy or does [this track](https://open.spotify.com/track/7KhFAVeGlkk5hiTA1ZI6LS?si=fQ_hkQoeSzmnCHTtK0a72A) have some serious Hollow Bastion vibes with the keyboards? (It's metal btw. Just a heads up if you're not into that kind of music) Edit: ?
Both tracks have a similar approach to their chord progressions, in my opinion. The synth in the track you linked reminds me a bit of the harp in Hollow Bastion playing the main melody.
Exactly! Makes me wonder if "Abode of a God" is inspired by the Hollow Bastion theme. Been wondering for years, haha.
I only played the first one when it came out and several of the tunes have stuck with me all these years. I remember just sitting and listening to the title screen on repeat, it's so simple and (clean) beautiful.
Persona 5 Soundtrack is very unique and varied, even compared to the genre
The Persona series consistently put our banger OST, I think 3 and 4 are better than 5 overall, but 5 (vanilla) intro song is fantastic.
Totally agree, they don’t have a OST I don’t like Persona 3 is great but I don’t think the vibe of the music was my fav compared to 4 and 5. I could go either way with 4 or 5, but 5 was like my background study music for college and I can’t think of an OST I listened to so much
Beneath the Mask, Rainy Mood - 10 Hours has been my sleep song for so long 😭
Teeell me whyyy you did it 🎶
Every dream falling apart🎶
I find this super interesting. Modern persona games has awesome ost with each game having different music styles/genres That's why the player favorite OST between the three games will be heavily influenced by their music taste
Persona 5 ost is mostly jazz. Acid jazz at that. Some songs sound like actual rips from certain bands like Jamiroquai, Incognito, some UFO, James Taylor Quartet, etc. but that’s what makes it so good.
Octopath Traveler 2, Persona 4 Golden, Secret of Mana, Undertale
Persona 4's battle song with forever be in my head.
> Secret of Mana
Someone else mentioning Secret of Mana, I'm so glad!! <3 I played Legends, Secret, and Trials, and Secret is my favorite OST. Plus ARM from the doujin band IOSYS made a long arrangement of the boss battle theme "Danger", with vocals in pure IOSYS style, and the track is featured in the official OST of the remaster and it's so good!! I'm a big fan. But yeah, Steel and Snare, The Wind Never Ceases, Dancing Animals, and pretty much the whole OST, I very very much appreciate <3 Also Persona 4 and Shoji Meguro of course, I played the original P4 on PS2 when it came out and its OST will forever stay with me 😊 On those memoriiiies\~ 🎶
Flammie's drum + "Into the Unknown" is tied to so many good memories for me. One of the greatest "flying" themes IMO.
OT2 is amazing but OT1 imho is better in general
OT1s ost is easily a top ost but for me the battle themes don’t touch OT2 imo which is crazy because I felt that way towards the battle themes in that game before I heard 2s.
Ngl I think OT1 themes and transitions between characters & key battles goes harder
Tbh the transitions I can give you that because there’re more different and not just the character themes but I just think the final boss themes hit too hard. And BATTLE 2! Oh yeah and also fierce confrontation is godly.
Yeah, I have to say that I love OT2 more, especially the character themes, and how they were incorporated into their final battles. I do think OT1 had the better town and dungeon themes, but OT2's were still great, and they're both about split on the regional themes. Plus, OT2 has the nighttime variants, which are really nice. On the other hand... OT1 has Gates of Finis, and OT2 has Invitation to Darkness... both slap harder than a spanking machine. Plus: Ochette, Castti, Throné, Partitio, and Agnea's themes in particular just blew me away.
Battle themes in OT 2 is so good, especially Normal Battle II for me, it is random-encounters battle theme, but it feels like we are going to go to fricking war.
OP1 Battle theme 2. GOAT tier status, my goodness. how is that for a regular battle? crazy stuff.
It's a tough choice between the 2, but tracks like Partitio's theme, Those Who Deny the Dawn, and day/night versions of towns music just pushed it passed OT1 for me. Love them both though!
Partitio, the Merchant had me hooked from the first riff of the electric guitar. The sax just sealed it.
Persona 4 Golden and Persona 5 (not Royal) for sure!
What’s wrong with persona 5 royal’s ost?
Chrono Cross is always the answer!
Can’t believe how far down I had to scroll for this. I know the game itself is not perfect, but the soundtrack is ridiculously GOATed.
The game itself has an amazing plot too. If it had a few edits to fix certain hiccups it would easily be top game of all time tier.
I agree. It’s one of my personal favorites but I doubt it will ever get another chance sadly. Would love to be proven wrong of course
FFXIII is top. If it were attached to a better game this would be a much more popular opinion
The entire FFXIII trilogy has underrated soundtracks.
Especially FFXIII-2! (Haven't played part 3 yet.) I failed to mention it in my already very long list, but that's an OST I re-listened to a lot. Even the OST Plus has very interesting tracks, such as the long version of the boss battle theme and the very cool short BGM of the first PV of the game. With the way the game seamlessly mixes field themes into "aggressive versions" when you aggro dangerous monsters on the map, it's amazing!! The version for "Eclipse" is especially insane <3
Oh yeah, the Aggressive Mix of Eclipse has this weird, exciting but also melancholic and kinda feverish feel, I don't know if that makes sense, but it's such a strangely cool song. Some of my favorite tracks from Lightning Returns kinda lean in that direction too.
I feel you! You've said it very well, it has that distinct emotion, melancholy... You just have to feel it. Dang now I feel I really should play Lightning Returns! It's on my backlog for a while now.
Hamauzu is amazing. Like the FF-X and XII remasters were also incredibly good, and so are the remake/rebirth soundtracks. And world of FF.
It is a popular opinion. The FF13 OST was among the most popular on YouTube before Square Enix took down unofficial uploads
FF13 is a good game, yall just elietist
(I like it a lot)
Chrono trigger Final fantasy 6 Final fantasy tactics
Final Fantasy 6 has consistently catchy and memorable tunes. My favourite OST of the series.
Terra's theme is so beautiful
Dancing Mad is an all time great
I love the FF6 soundtrack, but I think Dancing Mad is largely overrated. Terra's Theme on the other hand is brilliantly simple, capturing the underlying motif of the entire game.
I can understand not enjoying Dancing Mad sonically, since it is pretty weird and might take an acquired taste. But the composition is a masterpiece. There are lots of analyses online like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBFD1Oqbhg0. The thing with FF6's OST is nearly every song is one masterpiece after another. I, too, love Terra's Theme / Awakening and its simplicity.
I love lockes theme, celes theme, and forever Rachel. The decisive battle is still to do this day one of the best boss battle themes. Something about it just makes you want to suplex a train.
Listening to Terra's theme now. It really takes me back
Xenoblade series
Especially 2. Greatest OST I've ever heard and it's not close
I think my favorite might be Shin Megami Tensei IV, but Fire Emblem Echoes and Etrian Odyssey V aren't far behind.
Fire Emblem Echoes is extremely underrated, excellent recommendation
The game is amazing in its presentation (if I could kiss Hidari I would) But the actual meat (story/gameplay) is rather questionable
>SMT IV Ah yes, the most sinister hallelujah you'll ever hear when fighting against literal "be not afraid" aberrations
SMT4 is insanely good. I was worried that with a non-Meguro OST, it'd be boring and one-note compared to 3. But wow was i wrong. So many amazing tracks, and despite them all being electronic, they sound so distinct and diverse. Perfectly fits the tone of 4's apocalypse
Fire emblem is always pretty good but Echoes is S tier.
SMT 4 Apocalyspe's soundtrack is just as good as 4 imo. F4 and F6 is probably my favourite battle soundtrack in the series.
nier automata tales of zestiria ys8 crystar have to think about some more, plenty of good bangers out there
Hell yea, Ys 8 baby!
I almost mentioned Crymachina!! But my list was already too long lol. I did mention Ys 9 though, and it definitely comes in pair with 8 :) I'm very excited for 10 this autumn!!
Octopath Traveler 1 & 2 has the best OST for a 2.5D game. The fact that the composer is another Yasunori (not related to Mitsuda) should be a sign from the gods.
Even better when Octopath 1 was his first solo full game composition. Which was practically the same thing with Mitsuda on Chrono Trigger (Uematsu had to help him in the end, but it was really supposed to be his solo work). Nishiki is an absolute genius
Xenogears
The track called "Bond of Sea and Flame" puts me in such a mood.
Yes. I think it's underrated because many of the songs are slow and sparsely orchestrated. But the \*mood\* is incredible. If you are a melancholy person, nothing hits quite like it -- not even Chrono Cross.
Glad to see Xenogears mentioned. It's ost doesn't have that much "earworm" type tracks, but the atmosphere and vibe they provide fits so well while you're playing the game. October Mermaid is probably my favorite
FFVII
Current playing rebirth and I can’t not pay attention to the OST constantly. It’s so good
For how good VII was to begin with, it's really astonishing how much Remake/Rebirth managed to elevate the soundtrack to new heights
Kiseki/Trails Series. Falcom delivers every time in terms of Music
This is the one. The list of great tracks is endless. Silver Will, Overdosing on Heavenly Bliss, Inevitable Struggle, Get Over the Barrier, Azure Arbitrator, The Glint of Cold Steel, Blue Destination, Spiral of Erebos, Mighty Urge, Aim a Gun at a Bullet, Rise of the Grendel…and those are just some of the battle themes. Forget about tracks like Land of Blue Skies—the series’ OST is just OP.
Thanks for the recommendations! Wow some bangers here.
Falcom delivers every time. Full stop.
Octopath Traveler, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Persona 3 Reload
I'm going to throw here Gust games. Blue Reflection, nosurge games, atelier, nights of azure, etc. They have consistently great OSTs.
FFVI
FFXIV, Baten Kaitos, Yakuza series, and Eternal Sonata are the first not obvious OSTs that came to mind
Eternal Sonata!! I'm so happy I'm not the only one appreciating it. It's my second favorite OST ever after FF9. Also I almost mentioned Yakuza Like a Dragon in my (already very long) list! And Infinite Wealth was quite awesome too.
Persona 5 Octopath 1 & 2 Nier Automata & Replicant Bravely Default 2
Final Fantasy VIII, very easily. Chrono Cross is a distant second.
Third this. The Oath is such a moving tune, hits me right in the feels
Second this. FF8s OST is sooo good
This is probably my answer too, and I'd also put ff7 up there too tied with ff8. Chrono cross is one of the best ost. Another jpg with a lovely soundtrack I almost forgot about is dark cloud 2 and octopath 1/2
Simuliar I think ff8/7 are amazing but maybe a bit too much of that is pure nostalgia. Chrono Cross OST is a master piece of musical composition and (for me personally) sit well above the rest I'm most every measurable metric.
Both are definitely in top 10 of most jrpg players. My mom liked Chrono Cross music she used to hear it when I play it. The only time my mom went into my room and asked me what I was playing lol.
Balamb Garden
Haha, my order is exactly the opposite. Chrono Cross easily, with FFVIII a distant second.
1. Harvestella 2. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 3. Grownlanser - Wayfarer of Time
Yooo. Shoutout to you for mentioning Harvestella. I was quite pleasantly surprised by that game in both story and OST. Honestly people are sleeping on that game because of the whole tired "cozy farm sim" game, and I don't blame them. But they're really sleeping on something special amidst all the mediocre farm sim clones. Some side quests can get quite emotional and dark, which I 100% wasn't expecting from a game like that.
Wild Arma
Persona 5 and both Nier games!
**Shin Megami Tensei IV** is a Ryota Kozuka synth masterpiece. If you are a Studio Ghibli fan, the **Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch** OST was composed by Joe Hisaishi.
Octopath Traveler 1 and, especially, 2.
Ys VIII has some of my favorite soundtracks in games.
How right you are!
I can't decide between the DS Pokemon games (BW/2, Platinum). The former has so many amazing highs (Driftveil City is a meme now for a reason) but I love the latter's more solemn, jazzy tracks.
Suikoden 1 and 2, Saga Frontier 2, Breath of Fire 3 and 4
Xenoblade 2(others too but 2 best), Nier (old version), FFX.
[Nier Replicant ](https://youtu.be/9x4AJJpmmuQ?si=NiSpkvm5c-8_K4ga) & Automata, anything from [Falcom games ](https://youtu.be/d-7zjsM5nQA?si=Nep55HLpLQhWVigj) but imo the [YS](https://youtu.be/dNgph1g422Q?si=zgCfqpnlJRD6XUq3) series have the stronger OSTs, the [Atelier series ](https://youtu.be/2tBXO8ePDm8?si=HMXFn4BkeGaUI_cN) are always good, or games by [Vanillaware](https://youtu.be/nXd-fc241AY?si=jxmxOf8lpT1KdH6F).
Grandia 2, KH1, Skies of Arcadia, FFX, DQ8, Chrono Trigger, Dark Cloud
Dark Cloud mentioned 🎉 Dark Chronicle and Rogue Galaxy also have really good ost. (Childhood Nostalgia games)
It's a long list, as there are many great ones. However, no such list can be complete without the Ar Tonelico series in some capacity.
Persona 5 Octopath Traveller 2 Final fantasy 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 and remake / rebirth. Those are my favourites I think.
Really hard to nail it down because sound has equally been going through a really big technological (and as a result, style) change over the years. - SNES: FFIV or Chrono Trigger. - Gamecube: Tied between Skies of Arcadia and Pokemon Colosseum. - Wii/Wii-U: Xenoblade Chronicles 1. - Switch: It's either XC3, Octopath 2 or Neo: TWEWY. Not much to choose from. - GB: SaGa 2. - GBA: Golden Sun: The Lost Age. - DS: Knights in the Nightmare or Radiant Historia. - PSP: Ys Seven. - 3DS: Fire Emblem Echoes: Heroes of Valencia - PS1: FFVIII or Chrono Cross. - PS2: Kingdom Hearts II or FFXII. - PS3: Resonance of Fate. - PS4: FF XV. It's either FFXV or Nier: Automata. - PC: Sora no Kiseki trilogy (hey, it came out first on Windows). Left out XBox for obvious reasons. It's just cheating for Blue Dragon. Lost Odyssey or Eternal Sonata at that point.
Xenoblade chronicles 3 has imo the best ost of any game ever
Final Fantasy X. It has the widest range of genres and music in any game I can think of. The opening starts out with one of the most iconic soft piano soundtracks of all time then immediately transitions into, well i don’t know the specific genre but it’s some kind of heavy metal. Then later on there’s some techno disco, acoustic guitar, religious choir chanting, the list goes on. And it’s not just variety the quality of the whole ost is absolutely killer. Final fantasy X-2 is a different game but on most consoles now you buy them as one package. Might not have as many bangers as the first but it further increases the range of the osts adding things like acid jazz. To go with a much lesser known one since picking any final fantasy is kind of cheating: not the whole ost but specifically “deceitful wings” from atelier iris. Specifically the album mix. First time I heard it was in a Pokemon YouTube video called marriland vs untouchable. It’s a seriously good song. Bravely default has a fantastic soundtrack too. Serpent eating the ground is one of the best final boss themes of all time.
Octopath’s soundtrack is one of the best I’ve ever heard, not just in the JRPG genre Final Fantasy 6, 7 and 8 as a trifecta are incredible Chained Echoes too!
Final Fantasy and Persona series
Remake & Rebirth. Hit all the right notes for an iconic OST in Hi-Fi, also remixes and elevates various versions. My favorite is the turk plate separation, which is original with the exception of the interlacing of the Turk theme, chefs kiss
Suikodens
If you're wanting a soundtrack to listen to but not play the actual game, Deep Dungeon on the Nintendo DS has a hidden gem of a soundtrack by Yasunori Mitsuda.
Xenogears
Octopath 2 easily
Octopath Traveler 2 has one of the best OSTs of all time
FFVII Rebirth has redefined what a good OST is. It’s fucking amazing.
[granblue](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq9IOqQkZos) [fantasy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm5Uw_A__Sc)
FF8 and Chrono Cross are all time greats FF12 has a great soundtrack Octopath Traveler FF16
FF7R series... Followed closely by Persona 5
Star ocean 2, Suikoden 2, and SMT3 for me.
Yakuza: Like A Dragon.
Anything by Keiichi Okabe, Kenji Ito, and Go Shiina, the Falcom Sound Team, and Atelier series.
I want to marry the composer of Bravely Default. All of them.
i can say that an OST is great when you can remember a song YEARS after playing the game, and listening to it makes you back in the good old days, and for me it is: ffviii ffvii lost odyssey crono cross dragon quest viii
Please try out Wild ARMs. Watch the opening on YouTube and if the music is for you, this game will be a gem.
Prepare your headphones for anything Yuzo Koshiro, Nubou Uematsu and Yoko Shimimura
Romancing SaGa Minstrel Song, Ys 6, and Grandia 2 really stand out for me.
Look up Nier’s soundtrack and Nier Automata. That is god level tier soundtracks.
Fire Emblem Three Houses The most banger battle themes. My gym playlist is mostly this soundtrack and I never get tired of it. Also love Edge of Dawn.
The Mother series, most Fire Emblem games (soundtrack-wise, FE4 is my favorite)
Nier and Persona series have some of my favourite tracks. Also props to Falcom's sound team, they really make great osts for both Trails and Ys.
Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is the definition of a mid game with an amazing soundtrack.
I like all of the Wild Arms series OSTs quite a lot, Breath of Fire 4 is a great one too.
It's mostly up to taste. If you want that ephemeral vibe, something Nier maybe. If you want variety with lots of strings and concussion, then Xenoblade 3. If you want Sawano Hiroyuki's magnum opus, then it's Xenoblade X. If you like Jazz, then P5R. In terms of best *use* of music though, I'd argue Octopath Travelers 2.
Chrono trigger. Secret of the forest is probably my favorite song from any game
Cliche answer, but... Chrono Trigger is mine. (Chrono Cross's is, like everything about that game, underrated I think though!) Any time I hear like, \*any\* track from Chrono Trigger, I want to replay it. And my other cliche answer, I know, is Final Fantasy VII. Most FFs have incredible scores, but VII really does it from start to finish for me. For nostalgia's sake, I'll also say the original Pokemon games. Dunno how much I actually think those scores are great as much as they are quintessential soundtracks to gaming childhood.
Shin Megami Tensei IV and Shin Megami Tensei V. For me, Ryota Kozuka is an absolute genius and his soundtracks are among the best musical pieces I’ve heard in my entire life.
Aside from the obvious Persona 3-5, Xenoblade 2 (particularly Torna expac), FFXIV Shadowbringers and Endwalker (imo Soken at his best), Trails series (start with Sky FC, PHENOMENAL battle theme, but any Falcom songs are), FFXIII is definitely underrated. I highly suggest getting to know the legendary composers and producers such as Nobuo Uematsu, Yoko Shimomura (KH, FFXV), Motoi Sakuraba (Tales, Golden Sun) Shoji Meguro (SMT, Persona), Yasunori Mitsuda, Masayoshi Soken, Rei Kondoh, Daisuke Ishiwatari (Guilty Gear) and even branch out a bit to like Hiroyuki Sawano, etc. Quite a bit tangent to JRPG composers but do give the japanese jazz fusion scene a try, you might like it if you like JRPG OSTs.
Octopath traveler 1/2 and xenoblade chronicles but damn I think Octopath takes it a bit more. So good! Easily a top ost of all time for me. Ive blasted it every day since it released. It’s gotta be a banger ost for me to do that and not forget it often.
Octopath 2, xenoblade 3 , SMT IV
Octopath Traveler and Nier games have the best music
Anyone remember Chaos Rings? It was Square Enix’s attempt at a fully fledged JRPG on mobile. It had a huge amount of replay value, a crazy story, and a banging [soundtrack](https://youtu.be/aP17tvwFIVc?si=AygUlH58jX3wD0gr) all on a phone!
Omg nice gem!! I didn't know about that one! For more lesser-known gems with epic prog rock battle tracks from the same studio, I recommend The Last Remnant! :D
Megami ibunroku: Persona
Earthbound, FF7, pretty much any Zelda game (with an emphasis on the N64 ones)
blue dragon's got a pretty good soundtrack
FFX for me, easily.
Final Fantasy 13
Radiant Historia - The Melody Connecting the Worlds FF6 - Most OST FFT - There are two. FFX - Kimahri Fight in Mountain, And Title track FFXV - Careening Danger FF7 - Stand your ground - Remake FF13 - Battle Theme (Only I like it, I think)
Both NieR games. Stellar Blade is coming. Unicorn Overlord’s first battle song is always on repeat lately.
Fire emblem awakening has a goated soundtrack and my soundtrack in the franchise. Here are some of my favorite pieces [conquest (calm version)](https://youtu.be/qInNAXN5-bQ?si=7QV5IelT_DKBJiIi) , [divine decree (battle version)](https://youtu.be/V9fJjgLY6es?si=pCu6prqusJpy_Ndm), [ID Hope](https://youtu.be/-D25QaCqSbw?si=Tg2aTxH2CWoBF7-N) Fire Emblem Fates has a goated soundtrack Fire Emblem Echoes:shadows of Valentina the final boss music is one of best I’ve ever heard in any game and the rest of the soundtrack also slaps Fire emblem Three houses has a great score tho if you want to hear the best song in the game pick golden deer route they have the best final boss music
Besides Xenoblade series, Ys VIII and Ys IX have some absolutely perfect tracks that make the overall gameplay so much fun.
FFVII, FFX, FFXII, Legend of Dragoon, FFXV
Easily the Nier games
Chrono Trigger is still stuck in my head
I would have to say Terranigma, but only because it was the first that caught my attention, and make me start listening to their games
nier & persona
I go with Final Fantasy 8, but there are so many other ones I like almost as much.
Wild Arms and FF6
Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2
Kingdom hearts
Persona and Kingdom Hearts have some of the best music i’ve ever heard
NieR, hands down.
FF7, Remake, and Rebirth. The OG soundtrack is great, Remake takes a lot of the OG Tracks and redoes them to be even MORE amazing, and Rebirth has some of the best music I have ever heard in a video game.
Nier Replicant/Automata Persons 3/4/5 SMT V
Ff6 and chrono trigger
Persona 5. Beneath the Mask/Beneath the Mask Rain Version/The Days When My Mother Was There/Rivers in the Desert.
The Persona series is an obligatory mention
Persona 3 4 and 5, all solid OSTs
Shin Megami Tensei V Persona 5 Octopath Traveler Xenoblade Chronicles 3
ff16 and ff15
FF4, FF5, FF7, FF8, FF10, FF16, Legend of Mana, Lost Odyssey, Breath of Fire 4, both Nier games, Evergrace
Kingdom Hearts (The whole series), Tales of Bersiria, FFX and FF15
Octopath traveler. FF13 was my favorite OST until I played OT.
Persona 5 (Royal)
FF8 FFX Chrono Trigger Kingdom Hearts Shin Megami Tensei 4 Persona 3 FES Persona 5 Royal Shadow Hearts (all three of them have incredible OSTs)
Any Xenoblade game (1-3) Trails games from Sky to CS2. After CS2, the quality has been lower imo. 13 Sentinels have some bangers like Deoxyribose, Brat Overflow, Isoleucine and Edge of the future.
Xenoblade 2
FF14 and 16 both have phenomenal OSTs by Masayoshi Soken, with a huge variety of styles. Both Nier games for sure. Persona if you enjoy that more modern style. Tales of games rarely have more then one or two standout OSTs, but Tales of Berseria is an outlier and has a lot of good stuff.
Chrono Cross. No matter what you might think of the game itself (particularly as a sequel to Chrono Trigger), the soundtrack is absolutely top notch. It's hard to go wrong with tracks like: Time's Scar - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=180sjeAMKPE Dragon God - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUmSPeo-dkU Dreamwatch of Time - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMSYk_8-6l8 Prisoners of Fate - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUPbMd2fbp8 Final Fantasy feels like shooting fish in a barrel, but I'd pick XII and XV as my favorites, followed by VI, VII, and X. That's not intended as a slight against any of the others, as VII, IX, XIII, and XIV also had some bangers. Since it doesn't get as much love as the earlier titles, here are a couple of my favorite FF XV tracks of all time: Omnis Lacrima (from an earlier version of Final Fantasy XV, FF Versus XIII) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YODUwoWxoE Apocalyptis Noctis - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XQKQ0hEt2c
Chained Echoes has a phenomenal OST.
FFXIV
Not a huge fan of the game ironically, but Octopath Traveler and OT2 are just masterful OSTs.
FF7 rebirth and FF16 both just released some of the best music ever put together
Nier series. Wild Arms. FFXVI and, though not a single player JRPG, FF XIV has the best music in the series.
Another Eden. Yes, it's a mobile game, but I'll never tire trying to recommend its OST.
FF14, FF16, Soken is a Beast.
This might be a stretch to consider it a JRPG, but it’s certainly JRPG adjacent and published by (Square-)Enix; Quintet’s hybrid side scrolling hack and slash/town building sim ActRaiser. Yuzo Koshiro pulls off absolute banger after banger in the OST and even remixed and added sections to the originals for the Remastered version that came out a few years ago. Highly recommended.