KH1.5's Remastered OST is the First to Capture the Disney Feel

Originally, KH1 was held back by the sound limitations of the PS2

This captures the feel of flying so much better

This pretty much sounds like it's missing the lyrics to a Disney song

It's like wonderland or something

Seriously, dis remastered ost, suddenly kh is that much closer to the old Disney standard

 

Yes, they do indeed capture the mood quite well.

 

No pirates gigue? That song sound just like a Peter Pan Disney song.

 

I like the remasters of the old songs! But there are times when I think that the original is better.....

 

Yeah i see what you mean i for example preffered the old version of hollow bastion theme.But then if you look at it from a musical point of view, the new son
gs are indeed better.

 

It's great for the soft tracks, but it also screwed up a couple of the boss themes. Namely, Shrouding Dark Cloud and Squirming Evil...

These tracks are supposed to set the player on edge, but they've both been softened. It's particularly noticeable in Squirming Evil, where the drums have basically been gutted. It's a funky track, no doubt, but it doesn't have the tension and dread that the original so deftly expressed.

Forze del Male trades harder drums and a steadier rhythm for cascading cymbals and thundering brass. It's about an even trade, but it still demonstrates the point; the new tracks really should've cranked up the bass a scoch.

Destiny's Force was never supposed to be that pulse-pounding of a track, but I still feel like it's missing that essential kick that the original tracks had.

And again, compare The Deep End from the original and the update; the instruments sound more organic now, yes, but they also don't hit you in your gut. Was that really a worthy trade-off?

I think the real question is, do we want it to be Disney-esque? There are other standards to which a composer may aspire. KH had a unique flavor, and while it retains that in 1.5, it seems to have made an unnecessary switch in aesthetics. Hardness can be pleasing in music, especially when it comes to high-octane tracks that are supposed to be backdrop for an intense stand-off. I'm almost afraid that playing 1.5 will feel a lot more detached as a result, like I'm actually watching a KH movie and not playing a port of one of my top five games. Beautiful remaster regardless, but it means to sacrifice some things that will be missed.

tl;dr good for the twenty seconds of Big Ben, bad for the two-minute Captain Hook fight

 

Was it ? I assumed it was 44 KHz quality (CD quality, which is optimum for human ears, there are better qualities out there but we' re incapable of hearing the difference), was it compressed lower than that ?

If anything my TV speakers were butchering it, when I plugged earphones it suddenly felt like there was a whole orchestra in my room.

I was under the impression the constraints Yoko Shimomura mentionned had more to do with the time, budget and tools she had back then than with the PS2 specs, especially the tools (not all the musics sounded orchestral, some obviously came out of a computer).

 

No. It was 41Khz. There is not articulation in sequenced PS2 music which is why songs sounded loud and had a kick to it with i guess no emotion. Not that the songs didnt have any. PS2 could only provide so much options to music.

 

I agree with Nova that some of the tenser tracks have been very toned down, but overall, I agree that the others come closer to the "Disney" atmosphere--which is important for the world music, I think. I can't wait to play the HD remix in general, and the updated music is a huge contributor to that. I do wish that there were heavier drums in some of the tracks, to keep you on edge during some of the fights, but I suppose you can always crank up the bass on your tv, heh.

 

Bleh, you know those moments when something comes up and you say "Oh, I'll totally come back to this later" and then you completelyforget? ._.
That happened. Anyways, I'm here now, let's goooo
Before I begin in earnest, I should confess something
Personally, besides a few specific tracks, I think KH1 has a pretty weak soundtrack. NOT WE BEGIN

Shrouding Dark Cloud in my opinion, benefits greatly by softening part of the song. It makes the increase in volume during the brass sections much more effective. But I also think it's fundamentally the same song as before
Squirming Evil, however, I completely disagree with you on. I feel that song has improved DRASTICALLY in 1.5. The frantic drums and slightly off key string attacks are far more tense to me

This was actually the first time I enjoyed Destiny's Force as a song in the entire KH franchise... but overall it's still a pretty weak song. It doesn't convey any particular mood, so it just seems weird. It almost seems like it's meant to be slower, dramatic or maybe even eerie, but instead it just kind og lacks any sort of bite. It won't commit to a style, and it's weaker for it.

I'd say it is. The more realistic instrument help carry nuances completely lost in the original version. Namely, the strings and drums

Yoko is unique in her composition style. She manages to effectively mix Disney sounding presentation with JRPG sounding tracks. In recent games where she has been significantly less limited by technology, she has managed to create some amazing pieces, but in terms of pure musical aesthetics she never quite nailed the Disney feel. Now they have, and have effectively mixed the two for many of these tracks, so it makes he excited for KH3'a potential ost.

Twenty seconds? Don't you meant twenty four hours? :P
Or did you not get all the treasure

 

Personally, I don't think it was so much PS2 limitations, but choice style.

For example, take a look at how Spooks of Halloween Town improved with these three games:

Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts: Re:Chain of Memories

 

With KH1 it was definitely limitations, the songs use a default soundfont. KH2 had a more specialized set of sounds, most notably a regularly recurring instrument that is somehwere between a harmonica and a string ensemble
Comparatively, I'm fairly certain Re:CoM uses a prerecorded soundtrack

 

In regards to Re:COM, don't all games use prerecorded soundtracks?

 

Most games before the HD era used midi soundtracks, basically a collection of notes that the ps2 plays using built in sounds. This leads to the music being much smaller in file size, but also generally lower in quality