A while ago some track samples from the Xenoblade X OST were uploaded on youtube. Now that the game is out in Japan, a few of the complete tracks have been posted. Compared to other game soundtracks, It's super heavy on the vocals. Some people are turned off by that. Personally, I really like it. I get tired of hearing the same sort of themes each genre tends to stick to. I like it when they take risks like this (another reason for my Persona 5 excitement). The vocals, drums and especially that funky bass are such a treat. For instance...

Here's the link with all the samples again. It's a really strong soundtrack. It might sound "anime cheesy" to some of you, but it fits so well in my mind. Super catchy too. Wouldn't work if it wasn't. A few of the more unique / vocal focused picks I have are "By my side", "The way / ThemeEx", "No.Ex01", "Uncontrollable", and "Don't worry". Some of the names are crazy cause Sawano's weird.

With this and Persona 5 on the horizon, I feel like the last time I was this excited for a game was when I was in middle school or a freshman in high school.

I might have to listen to some of these, but part of me wants to wait for the game (however long that may be state-side). This was honestly one of the big reasons I got excited for this game. While I never got into Attack on Titan, Sawano's Gundam Unicorn, Kill la Kill, and Aldnoah.Zero work made all of those shows better and the idea of him doing a game soundtrack was/is so damn exciting.

@epidehl: Aldnoah's soundtrack was the main reason that show (or at least the first season) was so watchable. My cravings for this game are bad, and made only worse by Sawano. This much of his style in one big batch is exciting. Although I like his usual big orchestrated stuff, I like it more when he experiments and you naturally get some of that in such a huge OST.

The battle theme is too Capcom vs SNK for its own good, aside from that the music seems pretty decent. The lack of Yasunori Mitsuda compositions makes me a bit sad, that guy is as much a staple for the Xeno games (to me anyways) as much as Tetsuya Takahashi is. I think this might be the game that'll make me pull the trigger on getting a Wii U either way.

I generally really like it when a game has music with vocals, whether it's limited to a battle theme or encompasses the entire soundtrack. Persona and The World Ends With You are the only other examples I can think of though, so it's kind of rare, sadly. Generally really looking forward to the game, hopefully it'll be a RPG I actually finish.

2:11 <3

@jacksukeru said:

Exactly. Those two are the only ones I can think of that lean so heavily on it, and Silent Hills to a lesser extent. Man...another TWEWY would be cool.

@asilentprotagonist: The anime energy is strong in this one.

This reminds me... Does anyone remember when that Leona Lewis song was the Main Theme for Final Fantasy XIII? - man that was weird.

Xenoblade, now with more Sawano drops.

FFXIII, that was weird...and never ending...

I had this really hilarious moment where I was listening to the soundtrack and thinking to myself "oh my gosh, this sounds exactly like something Hiroyuki Sawano made", only to later find out that was totally because it IS something Hiroyuki Sawano made. So count me in! I've straight up watched and kept watching entire anime series exclusively because Hiroyuki Sawano was scoring them.

The battle theme that people found a few months ago seemed kind of bad, but everything else I've heard of the soundtrack when tuning into Twitch streams has been excellent.

Glad to see Sawano still sounds the same wherever he goes. Not that I'm complaining mind. <3

However I do prefer stronger instrumental soundtracks with ambient vocals.

Kind of reminds me of Ar Tonelico. The weird-ass vocal-heavy soundtrack was the best thing about that game. (or, to be mean and more accurate, the only good thing about it.)

God this is funky. Don't know much about the Xenoblade games but I'll probably be getting this when it'll eventually come out in Europe.

@meatball: I'm actually into the battle theme as well! Although I think there's more than one of them if I'm not mistaken. I'd guess the one you're thinking of is Black Tar. I'm totally fine with fighting monsters to cheesy Japanese rap and rocking tunes. It's got an energy to it appropriate for its purpose. Also I'm not sure how often the vocals in that track actually come in during gameplay.

Edit: Checked quickly for other battle themes, and apparently Uncontrollable plays when you fight unique monsters. Don't know if there's more.

I like that song in the original post, it sounds pretty good.

Part of what I loved most about the first Xenoblade was the music, so I'll trust any decisions made about it until proven otherwise, even with a new composer. I dropped $40 to buy the imported CDs on Amazon (edit: of the original soundtrack) and they are totally worth it. So damned good.

@asilentprotagonist: The fade right before the vocals reminds me a ton of the end of Aldnoah.Zero episode 1. I really like it. Same composer, so it makes sense. Spoilers for episode 1 of Aldnoah.Zero in the video below, cause I don't know how to get the spoiler block to work with video.

I can dig it.

Really wish they'd lock in a release date. Weirdly paranoid it'll get pushed off to next year.