With a link as inextricable as one the Final Fantasy series shares with its soundtracks, it’s no large wonder that the series ended up with a rhythm game spinoff in the form of 2012’s Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. After its critical and financial success, we were finally gifted to a sequel in the newly released Theathrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call. And although Square-Enix could have easily gotten away with making Curtain Call nothing more than a glorified expansion pack — after all, the original Theatrhythm shipped with about 70 songs on the cartridge, while its sequel boasts over 200, sans DLC — some rather significant changes were made to ensure that it improves on some of the original game’s flaws.

TBB has an exclusive interview with Shota Nakama, creator and producer of Video Game Orchestra. We sat down with Shota and VGO’s production manager Ivan Lin (also a classical pianist) at Jamspot Somerville to talk about the orchestra’s upcoming show at Berklee, the premiere performance of the Dark Dreams Don’t Die soundtrack, and the game’s developer Swery65 (Hidetaka Suehiro).

Shota is quite the busy guy, preparing for a series of shows in Taiwan and arranging video game compositions. VGO’s work has most recently featured in the Final Fantasy XV trailer, God Eater II, and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMix. There are definitely more projects in the pipeline as well.

Video Game Orchestra plays Thursday, October 2 at 7:30pm, bringing their crowd-pleasing rockestral arrangements to Berklee Performance Center. Get your tickets here!

Halloween not arriving soon enough for you? I know I feel that way. That’s why I bought a jack-o’-lantern tablecloth and window gel gems already. But there’s something else we can get! Costume Quest 2! Double Fine’s sequel to 2010 trick-or-treating RPG is now available to pre-order on Steam in two amazing bundles. Sate your sweet tooth with fun extras like the original Costume Quest and the old costumes good to wear in CQ2.  Read on for details plus PAX Prime exclusives at the Midnight City and Double Fine booths.