Audio problem assignment

Audio-based problems

An example of a fault in video game soundtrack is Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (or Lucifer’s Call) for the Playstation 2. Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne is the 3rd entry in ATLUS’ long running Shin Megami Tensei series, released in 2003. This was the first time the PS2 had recieved a JRPG with a tone that is as dark as this games, and had a soundtrack like none other at the time, composed by Shoji Meguro. There is one problem with it’s soundtrack, however.

In-game, the soundtrack has a very low quality, especially compared to other PS2 games from around the same time. For example, this is the normal battle theme from the OST:

And this is the full version of the normal battle theme ripped from the game:

This problem only seems apparent with the normal battle theme and the town battle theme. Unfortunately, this was a problem seen with all copies of the game. The game received 2 re-releases, adding many features such as add
I managed to find this information out by using websites such as Gamefaqs and Reddit:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/582958-shin-megami-tensei-nocturne/51842100
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/582958-shin-megami-tensei-nocturne/47034676

I managed to find out that there are many reasons to why these problems happened. the two songs not being able to be fully compressed. Since ATLUS is not a big budget company, they were unable to fully compress these two songs, otherwise they would’ve had to release the game with two discs. Another reason is that there simply wasn't enough disc space left for these to be in high quality, which is another reason for them to use 2 discs. Since their budget wasn't that big at the time, using 2 discs would've been too expensive. The in-game versions of these soundtracks have more solos, only found in the in-game versions. They aren’t available on the OST release.

This problem can only be fixed through re-releases. To fix this, ATLUS could re-release the game now (with their higher budget), but with two discs, having half of the game on one disc, and the other half on the second disc. This would be the one of the few possible solution to fix the original version for its intended console, since this is a PS2 game, and only a PS2 game, meaning that the problem with the sound quality can’t be updated digitally.

Another possible solution is if they were to re-release it again, using the OST release versions of the soundtrack in-game. It would fix this audio issue, despite sacrificing the full versions of the two songs. 

Another way to solve this issue is to either fully remake the game, or to re-release the game with a remade soundtrack. Since ATLUS have a higher budget now compared to how much they had when this game was originally made, they'd be able to do either of these and manage to fit higher quality versions of both tracks.