Motoi Sakuraba's score for Tales of Xillia on PS3 leans hard into this spirit-world mythology and it sounds incredible. "Master of the Spirits" opens with layered choirs and orchestral swells that immediately tell you this world is ancient and alive.
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The battle theme "Clenching the Fists" has Sakuraba doing what he does best, prog-rock energy filtered through a JRPG lens with relentless tempo shifts. Then "A Mountain Village in the Dawn" pulls everything back to this warm acoustic calm that actually makes you stop fast-traveling and just listen.
The way it contrasts militaristic tension in "Rampant Malice" with peaceful exploration tracks. So well paced. If you've been sleeping on the Xillia OSTs while replaying Symphonia for the tenth time, fix that tonight.