Video Game Composers- Motoi Sakuraba - First Impressions

The theme of this episode is pronouncing things incorrectly. Have you ever played a video game and wondered just who in the heck writes those songs? Back in the old days, composers had to work around various systems just to emulate real music.
Of course today, composers can pretty much write whatever they want. I know a lot about video game composers, but Motoi Sakuraba went under my radar...and to make things even more interesting, he seems to write for games that I don't particularly play. So what do I think of him? Watch to find out!

Here's links to the music:

[turnbasedmemories]

DUDE! Your pronunciations are hilarious! Access and Elegy are REGULAR words. Hahaha. But it actually added to the entertainment value, so I'm not complaining.

[heirtothethrone]

Alright, if you're doing Motoi then GS needs to be talked about, it's some of his best work

[cjwilliams]

Great video, brother BUT you missed his masterpiece game! Star Ocean 2, "Rena's Theme" in particular is astonishing imho

[Nblem]

My favorite video game composer ever. Although im a progressive rock enthusiast so.

[JustinThornburgh]

This is a cool video! Sakuraba is my favorite composer of all time and it is nice hearing what someone from a different perspective thinks of his work. I also think the selection of songs you picked was a good representation of Sakuraba at his best composing in his own styles. I've heard about everything he's written and I have to say, some of his stuff seems very bland and sacrifices memorability for setting the mood in the game. That said, his best stuff (my favorites being Star Ocean 3, Valkyrie Profile 2, and his solo albums) are amazing. Prog rock and band pieces in general are something I always wish I could hear more of in video game music in place of all the slow melodies and downbeat orchestral background music that many AAA game use to try to simulate the production value of Hollywood movies.

[JH-tkge]

Mo-to-'ee" Sa-ku-ra-ba. spanish vowels bra. Great video!

[JoeCKenny-xzbr]

Pyroxene of the Heart from Eternal Sonata, and Le ali del principio from Baten Kaitos Origins are some beautiful songs from Sakuraba.

[fictionalsilence]

Thanks, now I have new music to listen too :)

Best composer <3

Some of my favorite tracks by him:

Golden Sun - Venus Lighthouse
Golden Sun - The Elemental Stars
Golden Sun - The Golden Sun Rises
Tales of Symphonia - Full Force
Tales of Vesperia - Mages of the Shadows Depths

[VirtuaBros]

Hey man I really enjoyed this video a lot. I think doing videos about video game composers is such a great idea and you are the perfect person to do commentary since you are a talent musician yourself. Do you think you could please make a video about Takenobu Mitsuyoshi? He's one of my favorites and I bet you would have some really enlightening viewpoints on his work. :)

[Krisenaa]

The Smash version of The Valedictory Elegy is a bastardization of the original.

[firestar]

This guy has the most of my respect, he still uses synthetized music nowadays, instead of the overused, repetitive and boring orchestrated music for videogames.