Even during the early days of RPGs and video games, music was always a pivotal portion of the experience. Complex chiptune and 8-bit compositions breathed life into some of the earliest Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games, even if they're sonically simplistic compared to the orchestral arrangements found in AAA RPGs today. Mixing the often-dynamic requirements of video game music with traditional orchestration and higher quality audio has made modern video game soundtracks some of the most impressive orchestrations ever made. This is all thanks to iconic composers like Nobuo Uematsu, Yoko Shimomura, and Atlus' Shoji Meguro.

This week Shoji Meguro, longtime Atlus composer known for their work on Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, announced their departure from the company after 26 years. Meguro's work in orchestration and sound design has not only been heard in most Atlus games since 1996, but his ability to create some of the best RPG soundtracks of all time has solidified him as one of the all-time greats in video game music. Even though Meguro's most consistent credit is composer, he's also served as game director on previous Atlus games, and otherwise had significant input on the tone of entries in the Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, Catherine, Trauma Team, and more.

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More Than Just a Composer For Atlus

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Before diving into his main work as a composer and sound director, it's important to mention that Meguro was also more than just a composer for Atlus. Meguro served as game director for the PSP remake of Revelations: Persona, the first entry in the series that Meguro had previously composed the soundtrack for back in 1996. Meguro would then go on to be game director for the PSP remakes of Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment as well. Meguro was adept with technology just as much as he was musically; Meguro attended Nihon University to study hydrodynamics, so he could get a job as a car designer, rather than pursue a profession in music.

However, while he was job searching after college, Meguro submitted a demo and participated in several interviews with Atlus, the company that would later hire him. Meguro ended up writing "Aria of the Soul" for Revelations: Persona, which would persist in every Persona game (with a little variation in between) for the Velvet Room's theme. While a majority of his subsequent work for Atlus was music composition, Meguro also had significant input on ensuring the tone of certain scenes in-game, which was tangentially related to his job as composer anyway. Regardless, while Meguro's input on development in general was valued, he's most known for his music.

Shoji Meguro's Impressive Orchestration: Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, And More

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During Shoji Meguro's time at Atlus, he contributed to the game industry some of the most diverse and excellent RPG soundtracks of all time. After contributing to Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers' soundtrack, Meguro's first credit as lead composer was with Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne. Nocturne's soundtrack was a significant departure from previous games with Meguro at the helm, injecting his jazz and classical influences into the hard rock, electric guitar-laden scores of its predecessors. Whether it was the dynamic battle arrangements depending on Kagutsuchi level, or the tonal variety between boss themes, Meguro's first full OST was excellent.

The Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga games deserve a special shout out, which had a similarly diverse soundtrack as Nocturne. While the Digital Devil Saga games were never as mainstream as other SMT sagas, this was the first OST where Meguro had full creative control, since this was a new game world and his work was less constrained by technical limitations. Meguro had similar freedom with the Trauma Center series, though both games were a very different genre compared to Shin Megami Tensei.

Of course, Meguro's work on the Persona series was really where his craft became the most popular among fans. From Persona 3 onward, this was where Shoji Meguro's true brilliance as a composer shined; Meguro took the fusion-style method of orchestration from Nocturne, and melded it with a pop music theme that would stick to the series all the way up to Persona 5. Even the fifth game, despite being based on an acid-jazz foundation that was perfect for the picaresque narrative theme, has elements of pop music that make it catchy, yet distinct. Every Persona game has a unique sound that emphasizes Meguro's ability to shapeshift his orchestrations into different themes artfully.

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Shoji Meguro's Freelance/Indie Future

Main Characters of Persona 5

Even though Shoji Meguro is departing from Atlus after over two decades of composition, that doesn't mean he's done composing music, or with games in general. In fact, Meguro is leaving Atlus specifically to chase the passion of developing indie games, something he describes as a passion project he's been working on for the last five years. Meguro also made sure to state that he still intends to work with Atlus on a freelance basis, hoping fans "who were concerned about the sudden announcement will feel relieved." Meguro's in development title will receive its first trailer during the Indie Live Expo 2021 Winter event happening on November 6.

Shoji Meguro may not be retiring from his work as a composer any time soon, but this is certainly the end of an era for the revered musician and developer. Meguro played a huge part in Persona's renaissance and burgeoning popularity, creating some of the most unique and diverse sounds in video games. Even Shin Megami Tensei's previously traditional JRPG sound started to reshape and change thanks to Meguro's efforts on Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne and onward. Meguro's orchestrations have quickly become some of the most iconic video game soundtracks of all time, and it'll be exciting to see what Meguro's future work is like in this next chapter.

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