That first SFC synth choir in "Invitation to the Overworld" immediately tells you this isn't a typical action RPG score. Soul Blader (Soul Blazer outside Japan) was composed by Yukihide Takekawa for Quintet, and it pulls from folk, orchestral, and rock in ways that blur every genre line.
Read more
"World of Soul Blader" has this grand, exploratory feel that the SNES sound chip renders beautifully. "Seabed of St. Elles" is pure underwater melancholy. And then there's "Koibito no Inaiyoru," where Takekawa actually sings over real instruments, making it one of the earliest vocal tracks in a console RPG.
Short loops, but every one hits. The start of Quintet's legendary trilogy and it already sounds like nothing else.