I'm with you by large. To C/P a post I made a while ago...
I dislike the synth used here. They sound flat and cheap, and doesn't blow your ears off like the original OST did. A lot of the tracks sound very mediocre, and there just isn't enough brass. Some came out fine, but then you have
Route 119 and
Vs Magma/Aqua Grunt that are just flat out weak and don't have the same power as the original. (Even the anime got the Grunt theme right!)
They're not just near identical, they ARE identical. I'm pretty sure it's just replaced instruments actually, because it definitely sounds like it. (EDIT: Excuse the exaggeration. The composition has differences but honestly they're very minimal) To bring up another Tropical Freeze example, one where the remix actually sounds a lot like the original, since it did it so brilliantly, the
Lockjaw's Saga remix in Tropical Freeze's
Irate Eight sounds nearly identical, but in reality actually adds more to it while retaining the spirit of the original, yet it has its own identity with the techno direction it took. (Makes sense with the level's theme)
RSE and DKC2 are both OSTs that are very near dear to me, and Tropical Freeze's remixes were a love letter and the kind that I wanted, whereas ORAS just took away what I mostly loved about the original's tracks, mainly the brass.
I don't think it's
terrible, I'm just disappointed. I was expecting more and was hoping it'd blow me away like the original OST did, but alas.
I also noticed a few days ago that the clapping in the E4 theme was removed. :/
Now there are some remixes that I do enjoy, most notably
Primal Groudn/Kyogre battle. That one is pretty ace.