Other tracks that go way beyond the call of duty include “We’re Ranger” with its delightful flute trills, “Let Me Sleep…” with its dreamy harp work, and “Left Unspoken” with its electric piano contemplations. “Clumsy Dance” is also far more intricate than the context demanded and could have sufficed perfectly fine as a short bouncy ditty the fact that Takehara took the time to score a wistful development section makes the track worthwhile out of context, though. The most remarkable feature of this composition is the way it develops from a frivolous A section towards a much deeper B section, culminating in some striking fanfare figures at the 0:31 mark. “Kingdom”, for instance, is a classically-oriented town theme with period phrasing and chamber orchestration.
That said, Yuko Takehara had an above-average command of orchestration for a game music composer back in the day and some of her works are especially reflective of this. However, it’s not an absolute regression, since the music works almost flawlessly within the game. In general, Takehara’s approach sometimes feels a little lazy and unartistic compared with that offered by Yamaguchi on the previous score. Other tracks such as “Coliseum”, “Century of the Patriarch”, and even the staff roll “Thank You, Everyone” also feature loud top-heavy orchestration that is highly striking in the game, but are a little obnoxious outside it. With its relentless chords and thunderous percussion, “The Destined Child”, for instance, makes a massive impact despite its brevity and unoriginality. Yet whereas Breath of Fire featured elaborate gothic-tinged orchestrations, the treatment of the orchestra is often plain and straightforward here, if still effective. The original version nevertheless features most of the major compositions and is of potentially some merit… BodyĪs evidenced from the opening themes, Breath of Fire II continues the epic orchestral focus of the series. The initial soundtrack release for the game was incomplete, featuring one disc of music, though Capcom eventually resolved this by releasing a complete box set. While a talented composer, not all her contributions to this score are a clear progression from the predecessor. However, the ensemble team who scored the original Breath of Fire were replaced by a single composer, Yuko Takehara.
Among the similarities include the focus on orchestral elements, the use of RPG staples, and the employment of similar synth samples. Of all the scores in the series, Breath of Fire II‘s has the most noticeable continuity with its predecessor. The Super Nintendo’s Breath of Fire II continued Capcom’s dragon saga in 1994 to largely impressive results.
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