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I am a lover of orchestral music. But I am a very passive listener. I listen to individual songs more then individual people.

It goes without saying, then, that because I am an avid Dragon Quest fan, I hear a lot of Sugiyama. One of the reasons why he is my favorite composer.

Now, I'm not here right now just to praise the man. I'm here to talk about how no one ever mentions him.

People regard him as the grandfather of Video Game Music.
The soundtrack to Dragon Warrior the first was the first video game soundtrack to have ever been performed by a live orchestra.
He has Classical Training. It shows.
There are game composers out there who cite him as inspiration. Nobuo Uematsu among them.

So why does no one ever mention him? Is it because no one plays Dragon Quest in the states? I honestly don't think I've ever seen any recent video game music retrospects mention him at all.

And he continues to make music to this day. I believe he is now 79 years old, and still kicking.

Just look at him. What is more pleasing than a tiny, aging Japanese man, in front of a gigantic orchestra? Look at him conduct!

Not that I'm an obsessive fan. Just a fan. I've seen obsessive fans. I have enough of an opinion to say that I don't think the Dragon Quest IX soundtrack wasn't really up to his standard.

Although what does it say about me when that creepy Brodiger gal offers friendship and gives you a thumbs up?

Dragon Quest VIII has my favorite soundtrack, not only because they were amazing, but the symphonic versions were actually used in the American version and they did SO MUCH for the atmosphere.
But IV is not far behind. IV was definitely the most varied soundtrack, what will all of the character themes and such. It's really great.

I'm not sure how much of Ballet Dragon Quest is on Youtube (last I checked, it was 9 or so out of 13 parts), but you should look into it. My favorite part of the whole thing is actually in my Gaia profile. Some superb choreography, and two of my favorite songs in the series ("Satan" from V and "Game Over/Small Shrine" from III).

It isn't a perfect ballet, and I have some minor criticisms. But, like DQ is and should be, it is a lot of fun to watch, it has great music, an interesting way of telling a story, and it has an Asian guy in a fat suit staggering around as Torneko.

So I finally got wi-fi again (via nerd stuff/adjusting stuff) and I got the Zoma's map in IX and I have come here to post my opinion of how well it was redone, so far it's my favourite out of the legacy boss remake music (Dragonlord closely follows then Malroth just because he has the best final boss theme in the series ;D)