[ Top 20 ] World Map Music #1 - Star Ocean: The Second Story - Field of Expel

[EMPER0RCHA0S]

Damn this sounds so much like golden sun!! But then again They both have the same music producer.

MOTOI SAKURABA FTW!!!

[leongds]

Really great choice! Number 1 indeed.

[ELFmachinery]

I want to try and play this again. I played as my first RPG and couldnt even beat it with gameshark cheats on LOL . Is it that hard or??????? I finished the final fantasies and some of the other RPG

[Romalian]

@ELFmachinery Honestly, I think the only easier RPG than Star Ocean 2 is Pokemon... The reason I love this game so much is just how easy it is and how fun as shit everything is. As long as you KNOW what you're doing, it's EASILY one of the best games.

[rpengler1]

@Romalian Depends if you have limiter on, or off. With limiter off, the final boss in this game has triple the HP!

[Romalian]

@rpengler1 Meh... Still not that hard. So long as you have Bloody Armor on, there's no such thing as a challenge in the game.

[lesjeuxaoublier]

i don't think i put this number one, when you listen the ff6 world map music, it's just the perfection but this is good too.

[Genlog76]

love this game so much it was that they make the battle system totaly difrent not turnbased but more a open battle and they did a great job in it and love the music to

[slizrox]

dude,this game is all my childhood and still onde of my favorites ever

[lexdunmer]

Oh man,this takes me back a while.Thanks for the list man,they don t make m like they used to!

[Juggerknuckle]

dood i soooo fcking wrecked this gam when i was growing up... 255 on 5 chars dias claude rena astion and precies

i love this game so much...

[Romalian]

@Juggerknuckle I probably did that like 6 times now... I've PROBABLY beaten Star Ocean 2 AT LEAST 20-25 times... I ALWAYS do Rena's quest, 70% of the time with Ashton, Chisato will be my fourth member.

It honestly disappoints me that Star Ocean: Second Evolution didn't fix SO2's glaring problems like how useless Mages are.

[Fajjani]

Never heard of this JRPG. Is it any good?

[TALOS7887]

@Fajjani Its great, I felt it's atmosphere was a little more enjoyable than FF7's back in the day. Since FF7 had a more dark and much more serious feel to it. Don't get me wrong, I love the fuck out of FF7. But SO2's combat system and atmosphere is what made me love the first two in the series. The last two sucked bad though.

[Fajjani]

@TALOS7887 Then I'll get my hands on it ASAP; you just can't get enough good JRPG's.

[Raiden7284677]

This is really my favorite RPG game. Mostly because they have my favorite villains, the Ten Wise Men. Those guys seriously need more games!

[Eougne]

*Died from nostalgia*

[UnstableCore]

I liked the "World Map Music #15 - Lost Odyssey" better than this. But this is great.

[MSDesign87]

Thumbs up if you remember just standing in the field spinning the camera just listening to this...

[TheOkkopokko]

Wow no Zelda link to the past on your list!

[Romalian]

@TheOkkopokko Well considering it's an RPG only list. That should be no surprise. =P

[SouthernRiprey]

What the fuck, this is the world map music?

Sounds more like an epic confrontation between two gods lol.

[vintagegamecrazy]

Try listening to this theme during a thunderstorm with a ton of thunder and lightning it makes an already epic sounding track even more so.

[skudzer1985]

Looks like I'll be popular with the ladies again!

[Furotsu]

This one is great, but I think the second world map theme from Golden Sun: The lost age would have deserved a spot in the top 20 :) But it's just a suggestion, and thanks for making this top20, I discovered some pretty nice ost music :)

[Romalian]

@Furotsu Listen to my ( way more ) recent Top RPG VGM's if you want new OST music.

[Furotsu]

@Romalian I will, thank you very much ^^

[theblackmanOyeah]

best game of all time. bitches. 

[63301]

I loved star ocean simply because of all the possibilities to it. almost 100 different endings, different party members depending on how you wanted to play it out....it was simply amazing. Much better than Final Fantasy

[daemocoles]

2:23 onwards is pure bliss: it truly captures the beauty and sorrow of Expel

[Fletchman1313]

Been looking for this for years. Thanks!

[Fletchman1313]

Been looking for this for years. Thanks!

[91FroSt91]

First time I played that song was ... about 6 or 7 years ago ... I've been blown away ever since .. that game was way WAAAY ahead of its time ... the graphics were amazing really (The surroundings' graphics) and the storyline was beautiful .. and the music was so intense and the amazing gameplay ... no words can ever give this game justice ... so I won't say anything other than this was truly the best RPG ever made.

Thank you so much for uploading this :)

[adikkuchan]

Star Ocean and the Tales series should be more popular than FF. I wonder why they don't get much attention.

[Romalian]

@adikkuchan Id guess its cause the Tales series has about... 2 1/2 good games out of... 6?

Honestly, I think the Tales series sucks more often than it's awesome.

[adikkuchan]

@Romalian Sadly it's true. While the Tales series have awesome battles, sometimes they are not as awesome as they should have been. Still love it along with SO though, and that's not gonna change :D

[RichterBelmontITA]

@Romalian

I've always thought the very same, TOS is good but not great.

[CeonnStudios]

@Romalian Bull. Shit. 

[Romalian]

@CeonnStudios I'm sorry?

[Deadrisingfan2]

@Romalian Guess this guy never heard of "Personal opinion..."

Anyhow, ignore CeonnStudios. Just possibly a big fan of em.

[Romalian]

@Deadrisingfan2 Not sure what there is to be a fan of... Lol

[Deadrisingfan2]

@Romalian The Tales of series.

[Romalian]

@Deadrisingfan2 Yes. And like I said.

What is there to be a fan of? Half the series is poorly contrived anime trash. Lol

[Deadrisingfan2]

@Romalian Yes, again I shall repeat myself, "Personal Opinions." Lead to opportunity of flame wars, I believe.

[TenchiHawkwing]

@Romalian You could say the same about just about any JRPG series. Especially Final Fantasy.

Sadly, people hang on that series nuts when its just as anime/anime culture inspired as the rest of em. Every character is an anime archetype with a small spin on them with a few exceptions. And the creators are so lazy. Lightning was designed as a female Cloud and came out as exactly that, I mean... hell, even the name says it. Slap a vagina on him and push this game out (yet people love it).

[TheToilet21]

@adikkuchan Hey! I like FF! D:<

[adikkuchan]

@TheToilet21 I didn't say they were bad. All I wanted was the Tales to be just as popular. If

I hated it, I wouldn't have touched 7, 9, 10, 12. :D

[TheToilet21]

@adikkuchan I ♥ FF7

[adikkuchan]

@TheToilet21 Ha, I love 9 because it's the one I first played :D

[TheToilet21]

@adikkuchan ♥

[skudzer1985]

Star Ocean The Second Story was absolutely my favorite Star Ocean to date. I have both First Departure and Second Story on my PSP and play them regularly.

Hmmmmm...Should I pick Rena so I can get Dias? Or go with Claude and get Leon? What will my final party be? Claude, Ashton, Bowman, and Chisato? Or maybe Dias, Opera, Precis, and Noel? Decisions decisions!!!

[RoddickFarrence589]

Where did you download this song??

[Romalian]

@RoddickFarrence589 I dunno, I kinda uploaded it 2 years ago. Lol

[RoddickFarrence589]

@Romalian Oh.

[LeScratch89]

So many memories. I need to play this again, I still haven't beaten it yet either. Hard-ass bosses at the end with the wise men. XD But that's how an RPG like this should be... steadily more challenging.

[RoddickFarrence589]

Claude: So, where should we go next? Rena: We need to sail to Hilton via Harley, so- Celine: C'mon, let's go to Marze! Precis: No,no no no no! Let's go to Linga- Opera: To the Mountain Palace to find Ernest, do ya hear mee?! Welch: Hmm... I need to find dashing, young man! Chisato: Can't we get back to Nede and go to my office? Noel: ...and I want to go back home, do you hear- Leon: To Lacuer Castle then! Dias: Can all of you shut up and get moving? We'll try the closest city- Krosse.

[TALOS7887]

Games aren't like this anymore. I wish they'd make more Star Oceans like 1 and 2 again.

Maybe a rewind in graphics like Megaman 8

[LightFykki]

WooHoo, this is SO good. It really is! I have played so many good RPG games, but unfortunatelly still not this one. But I can see that this is the best world music that I heard from all of them!

[Laurelindo]

@LightFykki You should definitely try this game, it is incredibly addictive and there's so much to discover.

I have played this game quite often for over 10 years now and I'm STILL discovering new things. ^_^

[eyeball300able]

This is my favourite world map song! My number 2 would be the Star Ocean 1 world map in my opinion.

[Romalian]

@eyeball300able Actually. The SO1 music was originally gonna be on this ( somewhere around 4 or 5 ) but I couldn't find it anywhere.

[teddiesage]

Agree'd! This has the most kickass theme I ever heard.

[IidoTheFox]

It's a close call between this and Field: Last Ignition from Wild ARMs 2. Though Last Ignition is extremely short(as is most WA2 music), it's amazingly epic.

This is a beautifully composed song though, and really is fantastic from the first second

[HeartsOfHipHop]

This song brings back so many memories.

[Trapster2]

Heey. The first 4 notes in this song sounds like Dark Conviction from Baten Kaitos.

Like Survival from the Force too.

[MSDesign87]

Spot on, pal. I can remember running around in the field just to listen to this song. Side note:

I like "The Second Story" as opposed to "Second Evolution". Something about the lack of voice acting made me love it that much more.

Claude: "My Strength!"

[Romalian]

@MSDesign87 Second Evolution had too many changes: The Star Guard being an accessory instead of a shield especially bugged me. I also don't like how they turned all the melee attacking into these combos so now Claude doesn't attack fluidly anymore; however it works in Dias's favor.

Otherwise... other than the needless translation changes ( Mars to Marze ), it was a pretty good port. In fact, I have a review up on GameFAQs for it. Lol

[Laurelindo]

@Romalian That's why I'm not very fond of remakes and new versions of older games.

For some reason they always have to make stupid changes that serve absolutely no purpose at all, and in the new versions they always prioritize exact transcriptions of Japanese names to how good the names actually look - Mars vs. Marze is a good example, as is Banon vs. Banan in Final Fantasy 6 and Izlude vs. Isliud in Final Fantasy Tactics.

[Romalian]

@Laurelindo Dude, the FFT remake on the PSP was a joke. Square Enix was literally laughing their asses off as they were writing the script to that "RAMZA? NO NO NO, HIS NAME IS RHAM'ZAA NOW. LIONEL CASTLE? NOPE LYONI KEEP"

"but sir wont this look stupid and needless?"

"Not with the forced old English accents were giving everyone!"

Fucking hate re-translated ports.

[desolatorXT]

Awesome, i'd put #3 - Final Fantasy VI map theme #1 though, it's so epic...

[Romalian]

@desolatorXT

Everyone thinks that. However, I completely disagree. Terra's theme is good, but not that great.

[billyez]

It's been...like, eight to ten years since I first rented this game on a whim. I wasn't impressed with this theme until I waited around one time on the world map to hear beyond it's opening minute. It didn't become my favorite, but it is a great world map theme.

This also before Motoi Sakuraba's music really started sounding similar to me - perhpas because this was the first game he composed that I played. ;)

[DemonmachinE]

This song is UNFAIRLY epic. It became my favourite world map theme of all time as soon as I heard it.

If you like epic songs like this, check out the 3 battle songs from Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey on the DS. They are ridiculously epic and incredible.

[IcedEarthaholic]

Fuck yeah, Star Ocean the 2nd Story for the win! Damn, I remember the first time I heard this, I was blown away, and was so glad I bought this game. I think this is easily one of the longest non-repeating overworld tracks out there. I could be wrong, but still, both this, and Energy Nede were definitely on with the world map themes.

[Romalian]

Glad you think so!

[girbuddy]

This is one of the greatest pieces by Sakuraba if you ask me. There's so much depth in this song, I'll actually stop playing just to listen to it. :) I just wish this game wasn't so overlooked. It's really a great game with a pretty amazing soundtrack in my opinion. My favorite rpg by far. Thanks for posting this. <3

[Bartgast]

@girbuddy So what? You played it :)

[Ilovemariofan]

Kinda weird how this song is in Baten Kaitos. I know it was made by Tri-Ace.

[Romalian]

This was in Baten Kaitos?

[Ilovemariofan]

@Romalian Check the song condemnation of darkness since it is so similar.

[Romalian]

Sounds kinda similiar... not enough for it to be the same song or a remix, though.

[retuyar]

help i cant land my psynard,,,,i dont know how to use it?please

[Demonfeed]

Star Ocean is one of the best series ever. I played 2 back on Playstation, but when they re-released 1 and 2 for psp, I had to get both. I was NOT disappointed. 2 is the longer game, and its got alot going on, but 1 is more combat oriented. Not to mention the main guys worst feature is his tail, not his stupid hair and uniform. Claude bites as a hero, but the game more than makes up for him. I played Rena just to get Dio.

[loydz898]

why voices have changed in star ocean evolution 2? I prefer voices from star ocean 2 second story playstation version.

[LucasHorclox]

cuz they were fucking terrible....although because of that, I enjoyed the horrible voice acting. Leon and Chisato's was the best.

[Heritor89]

this energy bomb just screams "Full Speed Ahead Mates!" !

[MioAkiyamaFTW]

You can definitely tell this is a piece by Sakuraba. I can pick out bits of Valkyrie Profile, Tales of Eternia, etc. Awesome piece, but I've never played a Star Ocean game >___>

[ShareBear17]

This is simply the best World Map Music I have heard, yeah Final Fantasy and others had good ones too, BUT!

This truly deserves it's ranks. Too bad this game and the Star Ocean series is completely outshined by Final Fantasy and other franchise, it's a real shame.

Star Ocean interested me more than final Fantasy story and character-wise.

If you thumb me down you're ridiculous. I'm not saying the other games suck but they did NOT, however catch my attention.

Good Count down by the way.

:D

[bewarethenemo]

I completely agree with that...up uuntil the third game. the third and 4th star ocean game were terrible in my opinion, but I'm weird like that, hardcore old school rpg fan. The second game (this one) is by far my favorite in the series, has a great story, 2 campaigns and alot of cool characters to recruit, (and I loved the private action system) overall is a great series though.

[Romalian]

@bewarethenemo

The first wasn't too great either.

I think the third was better.

[LucasHorclox]

I dont about know about you guys, but I enjoyed the 3rd and 4th game.

[mhaid2000]

@ShareBear17 Ill admit i loved star ocean 2 but there are some final fantasy games that are better story wise and character wise in my opinion but i do agree star ocean is very underappreciated. It is one of the best rpg series ive played and i really hope square enix makes future installments.

[Laurelindo]

I kinda agree.

I still like the Final Fantasy series more, but I have to concur that this world map theme outshines most other, even the great, FF world map themes; the only themes that are just as good IMO are the ones for FF6 and FF9.

[TheFfrocks]

@ShareBear17 I agree and the Star Ocean series has ended T,.,T -crys- the ending was beautiful though. I just wish they would make some more episodes.

[JadeDragon007]

in the game this song gets to me when I play more then 15minutes :/

[Romalian]

"Gets to you"?

[bce5150]

first time i heard this was so damn epic

[KrikOBob]

This song is absolutely WONDERFUL. I'm not going to lie.

[Romalian]

Good to know.

[bewarethenemo]

you fail

[lilross2k6]

suikoden 1 and 2 beat this....well it's close between 1 and this...but 2 definitely

[Romalian]

Never played the first.

The second... was okay. I didnt play it in the time of making the list. I probably would have added it somewhere near 7 or 8.

[jeffcf123]

Good list but have you ever palyed any Suikoden games? They have fantastic music and deep stories you would truely enjoy them. They have some cool world map music.

[goddessofanguish]

Great choice! Star Ocean 2 is probably one of the best RPG soundtracks of all time. Don't get me wrong, the Final Fantasy music is lovely but Motoi Sakurba did wonders in Star Ocean 2.

[Romalian]

I don't know about THAT. I think Xenosaga 3 and Final Fantasy 9 have it beat...

In fact, Star Ocean 2 doesn't really have that great of an OST outside it's World Themes. Haha.

[AceNoctali]

Allow me to disagree and to present a few counter-arguments : Dynamite, Shower of Blossoms, Theme of Rena (all versions of it), Pure A Stream, A Feeling Of Opression, Silent The Universe, Stab The Sword Of Justice, Sacred Song, Breezy Afternoon, White The Heart, The Incarntion Of Devil, Integral Body And Imperfect Soul, to only cite a few. I agree the OST is not 100% perfect, but to limit its greatness to just its World Map themes is making it a great disservice, if you wanna ask me.

[Romalian]

Except I don't agree.

Not to say that the Overworld of both Nede and Expel COMPELTELY overshadow the entire OST, but I will say there are a few good tracks. I don't know the name of them, however I will say:

Fun Land Colosseum, the Mountain Cavern ( where you find the Dragon for Ashton ), Cave of Trials, Incarnation of the Devil, Shingo Forest, The Ruin Nede Laboratory( Not sure if it's the emotional music or not, but if not, add that too )... Are the only few of the OST which I'll say I like.

[Romalian]

Otherwise, I just don't think it has that great of an OST.

I mean, I've played Star Ocean more than any other RPG. By a LAND SLIDE ( somewhere like 15-20 times ), and maybe all the music just grew old to me... But this is all I really like.

[AceNoctali]

Looks like we have radically different tastes, because aside from Incarnation of Devil and Shingo Forest (and Theme of Rena since it's the emotional music you're alluding) which I agree with you, I find the themes you mention rather bland and/or repetitive. And that's coming for a guy who too love this game to death and has played it a lot.

Well, can't be helped then, to each their own tastes, like they said. :p

[Romalian]

How could you not like the Fun Land Colosseum? Lol.

That's like the most epic pump-me-up music.

[AceNoctali]

It's not bad indeed, but it becomes repetitive extremely quick. It's a bit of the same case as Mitsumete Knight's War Battle theme, "Otoko no Ikusa" (see Part 19 of my Mitsumete Knight Full Sophia Run if you're curious to hear it) : as much as I like this theme, it's awesome at the beginning and pumps you up for the battle, but loops too quickly, and lacks some variety as well.

[ShareBear17]

@Romalian

Makes you wanna got a theme park whenever you hear it. At least to me. :D

[ridethetsunami]

without question #1 of all those games. good list.

[ReloadRewind]

Theres no way this theme couldnt be number 1! Its just brilliant, truely epic

[DemonmachinE]

Yeah this one quickly became one of my favourites. As soon as I stepped out onto the field the game suddenly felt so epic, even though right now in the story it's not - this song makes me feel like I'm doing something IMPORTANT!

[Romalian]

Haha, I'm glad you agree with SOMETHING of mine. =P

[jackleone]

Yeah, it's a great list. In the next-gen there are few World Maps in games, that's bad in my opinion. :(

[Underworld23]

Nice top 20, really a good list! and you uploaded nice pics too, good work

[Zapper101]

Gotta agree with that entry. I thought it's a great field theme. It was one of my favorites. So what is your next list good sir?

[Romalian]

I'm not sure. These things take a lot of patience to search through all possibilities, so I'll have to think.