This is a treasure for anyone who follows the legacy of Ryu Umemoto, the legendary FM synth composer who shaped the sound of Japanese PC gaming before his untimely passing in 2011. DESIRE was a C's Ware visual novel from the mid-90s, and Umemoto's score for it is some of his most emotionally sophisticated work.
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"Ishtal" is haunting and beautiful in equal measure, while "Reflector" showcases his gift for melancholy that never tips into sentimentality. The real draw here is the version comparisons. Hearing "Ishtal" progress from its original FM synthesis through the YM2608 1995 arrangement, the YM2609 2007 reworking, and finally the Unlimited 2008 version is like watching a master refine a painting across decades.
Each chip and each era brings out different textures -- the raw warmth of the original versus the cleaner, more expansive later versions. "Beginning" gets the same treatment, and the evolution is fascinating. Tracks like "Lament," "Solitude," and "Regret" reveal Umemoto's ability to score the emotional weight of visual novel storytelling with precision.
"Spiral" opens with an intensity that belies the PC-98's hardware limitations, and "Sunset" is pure late-afternoon melancholy rendered in FM synthesis. This is archival work done right -- rare tracks that deserve to be heard, not just preserved.