Recommended Soundtracks: Valkyira Revolution

Sega’s Valkyria Chronicles series has been down a bumpy road. The series had an encouraging start with the first game on PlayStation 3, which didn’t sell too well out the gate but took off after word of mouth spread about how good it was. But many among the audience were disappointed when Valkyria Chronicles 2 went to PSP, not only because it was on a handheld, but due to how it was considerably less popular in the west compared to Japan. It also added a tropey school setting that westerners weren’t as receptive to compared to Japan. While the second game was localized, Valkyria Chronicles 3, also released for PSP, stayed in Japan after VC2 reportedly put up disappointing sales.

The Valkyria series returned to consoles with Valkyria Chronicles Remastered for PS4 and Steam (and Switch in mid-October), but also through a new game known as Valkyria Revolution (Valkyria: Azure Revolution in Japan). Instead of being another strategy RPG, Revolution was an action RPG that took place within the same universe, though utilized a slightly different art style. Unfortunately, it was an experiment gone horribly awry despite its good ideas and foundations, and was thoroughly eviscerated by critics and fans of the VC series alike. The story was okay, but its action was unengaging thanks to the shooting and attacking lacking impact, and its AI wasn’t fun to battle most of the time.

(Fortunately, Valkyria Chronicles 4 happened despite this game’s performance, which has been well received. Whether Revolution killed the sales of future VC games remains to be seen.)

However, there’s one element of Revolution that everyone agreed was fantastic. You saw what feature this was from the title and banner, so you might have guessed that I’m talking about the soundtrack. While the VC games contained soundtracks from Hitoshi Sakimoto (mostly known for his contributions to Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII), Revolution’s was provided by Yasunori Mitsuda. He’s another composer whose name is familiar to anyone who’s been playing Japanese RPGs for years, and is mainly known for his contributions to Chrono Trigger and Xenogears. Revolution’s soundtrack is one of his best in years, and it’s a damned shame that it’s attached to such a subpar game.

But that’s why I’m featuring it here. Mitsuda made this soundtrack special by having it composed with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, which gave it the feel of a cinematic movie soundtrack. Unlike several movie soundtracks, though, it has more than ambient tunes, as its melodies are on par with classic Mitsuda soundtracks. It’s also a pleasure to listen to outside the game.

“Young Soldiers Charging Towards Victory” plays in one of the game’s early missions. Its melody is a little calmer compared to fast-paced tracks Mitsuda composed for battles and missions in previous games he’s worked on, but it works well enough with this game. Again, it’s also great to hear outside the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb2OPlh6coQ

Second is “Imperial City Elsinore,” the theme for the town of Elsinore. It almost sounds too grand to accompany a town for this game, since this title’s towns are smaller than they actually appear. It would have been better if it went with a town in a much better game, but like the previous track, it’s good to listen to casually:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMpjmI4HgwY

Valkyria Revolution also has several vocal tracks from Japanese-Australian singer Sarah Àlainn, who’s worked with Mitsuda for video game and arrange soundtracks. Most of her tracks are also in English for this soundtrack. Among these is “Lacrimosa ~ Tears to Dust,” one of the two acapella performances for the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQNPViE_2yM

The final track I’m highlighting here is “Battle with Maxim,” which plays during, well, the boss battle with Maxim. Like the previous tracks, this would go well with a movie, animated or otherwise, and is a different kind of battle track compared to what we’ve come to expect from Mitsuda:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eab5Y1vVLFc

Since the release of Valkyria Revolution’s soundtrack, Mitsuda has also worked on Xenoblade Chronicles 2’s soundtrack, and has provided smaller music contributions to other games like Final Fantasy XV: Episode Ignis and mobile title Another Eden. But Revolution’s soundtrack was the last one he composed entirely by himself, and it’s one of his best in years. I highly recommend listening to the entire soundtrack, but I can’t emphasize one point enough: It’s a crying shame that it wasn’t attached to a better game, and I feel bad for Mitsuda and the production team, because the soundtrack is woefully underappreciated as a result.

Mitsuda is starting to leave more of the work to lesser-known composers and arrangers at Procyon Studio, the music company he founded. Shunsuke Tsuchiya and Mariam Abounnasr, for instance, worked on the bulk of Another Eden’s soundtrack. While both are good composers who still have time to grow, Mitsuda’s compositions have a unique touch, so hopefully he composes another soundtrack like Revolution’s for another game — a quality one this time.