Judging from hands-on reports it would seem as though Dragon Quest VII localisation for the Nintendo 3DS will contain MIDI music. Some were hoping that the game would feature full orchestral music, but this seems to be in doubt. Still it’s certainly encouraging that Square Enix caved into fans demands and decided to bring the game to the west.
In truth, complaints about the UI and menus being boxy and having boring font is hardly going to dampen enthusiasm for this one, and nor should it. Retro aspects are also a positive, too – playing with headphones we certainly got drawn in by the MIDI music, and switching rooms or areas also triggers a delicious Bit-based sound effect. Even if you’re unfamiliar with the history and reverence that this franchise commands, this game does a great job of helping you appreciate that legacy through its subtle nods and winks.
Are we still going on about this? The author can’t tell the difference between MIDI and Orchestrated. Also if you have a look at the demo videos and the videos at E3 you can clearly hear it sounds the same as the JP version… Don’t jump to conclusions when nothing really has been confirmed or denied. I’ll wait till Square Enix comments on it.
[…] you can clearly hear it sounds the same as the JP version […]
Well, didn’t the Japanese version use a MIDI soundtrack? I don’t know about the 3DS version. All I know is that the original Japanese PS2 version of the game contained a MIDI soundtrack, while all the localised versions of the PS2 verison contained an orchestral soundtrack. I think that’s the main reason why some people fear they coulde use a MIDI soundtrack in all of the versions this time. As I mentioned, I never looked at the 3DS version in detail, so I don’t know what version of the soundtrack the Japanese version used.
Wait, actually… screw what I said. I totally confused this with Dragon Quest VIII. Just from the news mentioning MIDI, I immediately assumed that this was talking about DQVIII and that the issue was that the orchestral soundtrack of that game wasn’t being used. Stupid me.
The game was neither voiced or had a orchestrated soundtrack when it first came to Japan. Voice acting was added for the west because we are spoiled fucks.
Sweet Jesus, when will you people learn what MIDI is? And for that matter, what ‘orchestrated’ means? MIDI is a bloody interface, not a form of music. Musical Instrument Digital INTERFACE. Almost all digital composers make use of MIDI at some point during the creation of a soundtrack. Just because something features recorded audio doesn’t mean MIDI has not been used. MIDI does not equal chip-style or ‘old’ sounding synthesis/sampling. Orchestrated means arranged for orchestra – you can have orchestrated music written down as sheet music, or programmed into a score editor like Sibelius USING MIDI. Orchestrated is a term referring to arrangement, not the actual sound of the music.
Please, no… The orchestral soundtrack was one of the best things about the localised versions of the original game.