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Other Game Music

Final Fantasy X marked a significant change for the series's music, this being the first entry to feature additional composers. Most of the soundtrack is still Uematsu's work, but with several arrangements and additional compositions from Junya Nakano and Masashi Hamauzu. The platform this time around was the Playstation 2, and it's at this point I begin to question the absence of live instrument performance. So many of these tracks are obviously VSTs, and while there isn't technically anything wrong with that, by this time the hardware should have been able to handle more, and the series certainly had the necessary clout to justify it. I hesitate to assume this to be a conscious decision on the part of the developers; more likely there's simply more to the process then I'm aware of.

The soundtrack itself is significantly subdued overall compared to the previous entries covered. While this fixes the cohesiveness problem I mentioned in FFVII, I feel this goes too far in the other direction, lacking sufficient range for such a large collection. That being said, individual track quality is still impressive. I've deliberately avoided using final boss themes for these features, and I'll continue to do so here, but I felt this iteration was particularly well suited as a musical point of culmination. I also mustn't neglect to mention the primary leitmotif the pervades throughout the soundtrack, that being of Zanarkand, which serves to tie the music together with the story in an exemplary way.







 
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Initially I chose a five-Wednesday month for Final Fantasy because I was struggling to decide which entries to cover, and figured having an extra week would be advantageous. Having covered four, however, I remained conflicted over what the fifth feature ought to be. FFVIII & FFIX both seemed viable, but would also result in all the features being from a specific part of the series rather than being spread out more. On the other hand, modern entries have only gotten larger, resulting in soundtracks that would take a lot more time for me to listen through. I even briefly considered spin-offs, but I have no context off of which to judge relevant impact. So ultimately, I've decided to take a slightly different approach to wrap up this series.

Despite being a franchise, leitmotifs are inconsistent across entries, each soundtrack being mostly its own entity. The few musical themes that are consistent stand out for this reason, and none more than Uematsu's iconic "Prelude." I hesitated to include any iteration of this piece in the previous features due to its relevance being more toward the series as a whole rather than the given entry within which it was contained. In some ways, its the perfect piece for this purpose; its relative simplicity lends itself to customization without risk of losing its core features, allowing it to always represent aspects of both the franchise and specific iteration. My personal favorite is FFVI's, but FFX's showcases more strongly how versatile the piece can be.




I left out FFVII's for being too similar to FFVI's, but in compensation I can utilize it for the other major leitmotif of the series: the "Chocobo Theme". This one have far less thematic relevance, but is nonetheless considered iconic, and lets me wrap up on a lighthearted note. FFVII had several iterations of this piece, so I've just gone with my favorite out of them (even if it isn't necessarily the best representation of the motif).
 
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It's still Wednesday where I am, and I have one more feature to add to this month. As I've listened through these soundtracks, an inevitable comparison has been in my mind to what I would consider the quintessential Final Fantasy soundtrack; not FFVII, not FFVI, nor from any other entry in the franchise, but which nonetheless captured the spirit of the project in the best possible way. I also realized at some point that I'd never done a proper feature for it since a brief mention way back at the beginning of my time here, to which mention I had later noted an intention to return thereto. Well, I couldn't ask for a better opportunity than this.

While Uematsu notably contributed a number of tracks toward the end of production, the majority of Chrono Trigger's OST was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda. As a SNES release, the soundtrack is most immediately comparable to FFVI. The comparison is a fair one; both are strong in imaginative arrangement and variety. FFVI, in my opinion, makes stronger use of musical theme, having more prevalent leitmotifs throughout. Chrono Trigger, on the other hand, succeeds in an area I've yet to see matched: instrumentation. As I've mentioned before, a lot of SNES arrangements suffer from over-ambition, trying to capture a sound that's just out of reach. The better SNES soundtracks are played to their strengths as a blend between classic chiptune and synthesized instrument sampling. This Chrono Trigger does excellently, balancing its orchestral tracks against hardware limitations in a way that, ironically, invokes more accurately the feel of orchestra.

Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, not because of nostalgia (of which I have none, having yet to play the game), but simply out of respect; it had been and will continue to be the standard by which I judge the music of the classical gaming era.









But this isn't technically Final Fantasy, is it? Lest I cheat the month, here's one last piece for the road, a particularly impressive remix I found during the month.
 
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I do not generally interact with the horror genre, as it is usually by nature a glorification of blatantly evil things. That being said, horror is also utilized as an aesthetic nowadays, with the actual elements of horror being relatively minor. What actually constitutes as "horror" as opposed to merely horror-related can be a bit ambiguous, as I think will be clear by the end of this month.

My relationship with Dead by Daylight is, by my own admission, bizarre. I can honestly say I've been following its development since its release, albeit without actually playing it, despite everything about it being seemingly in conflict with my beliefs. Admittedly my investment has nothing to do with its aesthetic, but rather a fascination with its asymmetrical framework and as an example of the complexities in live-service game design and community maintenance. More relevant for this thread, however, is its exemplary sound design; music and ambiences composed by Michel F. April serve a vital role in both gameplay and atmosphere, while also advancing the artistry of the project.

The officially released soundtrack is limited to compositions from the earlier years of development; while menu theme variations were released for later years, much of the in-game music remains unavailable except through gamerips. Some of the best music this game has is unfortunately also the hardest to procure properly, but thankfully much of it has been archived through Youtube, allowing me to share it here. Note how the layering works in the last two tracks; this is a better representation of the strengths this soundtrack has.






In addition to the music actually used, some scrapped compositions have been leaked over the years. One in particular has stood out in my memory for years now, and is probably my favorite piece associated with the game despite not technically being part of it. While there is no official title, it was datamined around the same time as an in-game function called the "Archive" was in production, so it is associated by most with that.
 
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Someone had this idea to create a Mario Kart style fangame as a Bloodborne spin-off. Random though this idea may sound, those behind it were enthusiastic enough to see it through to production, including an entire soundtrack, though it ultimately did not see release due to copyright. The soundtrack was published thereafter, and while it had merit, it did not appeal as much to me (I'm not familiar with the motifs of Bloodborne), so the matter seemed settled there. Then the team decided to rebrand their game into something more original; while it would retain its aesthetic inspiration, direct references thereto were reworked to make the project safe to release. This also resulted in the soundtrack being remastered, with the new version being significantly more fine-tuned in instrumentation and arrangement in my opinion.

Evelyn Lark (a.k.a. The Noble Demon) is the composer for Nightmare Kart, and her chosen style for the project is reminiscent of other racing games, being high-energy and extremely jazzy. A slight horror element is also infused, though more strongly in some pieces then others; having seen some footage of the gameplay, I'm surprised this was the preferred accompaniment, though I'm anything but disappointed.



 
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I don't normally associate Castlevania with horror, but there is an undeniable connection given its subject matter; mainly, vampires are a horror concept, therefore vampire hunting is a horror related concept, if otherwise lacking horror themes. Hitherto I'd never listened to the soundtrack for Symphony of the Night, simply because the most lauded tracks of the franchise come from other games (e.g. "Bloody Tears," "Vampire Killer," "Divine Bloodlines," etc.). I am aware that this game is one half the foundation of the metroidvania genre, and that being a favorite of mine, you'd think I'd have taken time to look into it sooner.

Regardless, I've taken the time now, and have been suitably impressed; far from the outdated soundfont style I expected, the arrangements sound almost modern, with full orchestral and electronic elements. There is a slight resonance issue that gives away its age, but I find this highlights the atmosphere as an unexpected boon. I was previously familiar with Michiru Yamane from Bloodlines, which for some time has been my favorite soundtrack in the series, but as that game was for very different hardware I didn't base my expectations off of it. She was also involved with Bloodstained, but I hadn't previously paid as much attention to which tracks she worked on; I'll be sure to check back on that now.




 
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Indigo Park's first chapter/demo was not something I expected to interest me musically, but has turned out to be one of the better soundtracks released so far this year. RecD commits strongly to the main theme leitmotif throughout, but with sufficient variance to keep it fresh. Each composition suits its situation perfectly while also contributing to the overall tone of the game, striking an excellent balance between musical variety and thematic consistency. I have high hopes for the future of this project.

As for the horror theme, of everything featured this month this is probably the least aesthetically dark, at least thus far in its production. Despite being self-identified mascot horror, neither the music nor visuals are particularly disturbing imo. I'm inclined to think that most genres, whatever media, have flexible boundaries; while this arguably makes for more difficult categorization, it also facilitates creative range, so it's probably for the best.



 
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So, just recently, I've listen to a song that was from a super mario world rom hack, Super Kitiku World (Brutal Mario). I've never thought the final boss music was so good for this hack. When I decided to look up for the soundtrack of that rom hack, I've found out the original name of that song was the last battle from Romancing SaGa 2. I never knew that song was so good. I've played that game myself and I'm thinking of trying it out myself. Listen to it yourself.




 
Bears in Space is one of those titles which immediately catches attention, but these days doesn't invoke so much interest as mere curiosity. I expected a minimally creative run-and-gun with a small soundtrack of mostly metal, and when I discovered the music wasn't initially readily available, I put it on hold without too much hope for it. I recently came across the OST on Bandcamp, and finally got the chance to hear its merit. To be sure, Dan Goodwin favors metal influences throughout, and his compositions don't "progress" so much as they "build-up" on themselves, usually ending with the same energy, tone, and motif with which they began, just with "more." It is by no means "simple," however; each piece is fully layered with strong presentation, and there's enough tonal variety throughout to warrant a full feature.




 
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Updates are in the works for Mental Omega, and while I never technically stopped listening to the associated music, the recent devlog did increase my attention toward it again. It's been a while since my features here, so I think I'm justified in briefly refreshing one of my favorite soundtracks. For balance, I've stuck with one track per primary composer, i.e. Black Ice 9, Frank Klepacki, and Vladimir Kuznetsov a.k.a. World Beyond Soundtracks. I also included a PrototypeRaptor track that was included in the project, as an example of the various additional tracks present therein. I have a bit more freedom here than before, as I'm not restricted to the official skirmish tracklists; for all that I spent an entire month on this soundtrack before, I'd argue it only scratched the surface of what's available, and there's presumably yet more to come.



 
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Fracture Feature! What random selection will be showcased this time?
Scratchin' Melodii is not something I'm likely to follow further than what I've seen, but some of the music nonetheless has stuck with me. Compositions seem to be vocaloid-focused, which makes for an interesting effect when balanced right, but can also have a negative impact if not. LJ LephemStar has certainly demonstrated capability, but there were still tracks I thought a bit messy. As I already have prejudice against English vocals in VGM, I've decided to make note of the project here and leave it at that.

In direct contrast, I am most certainly keeping tabs on Breeze in the Clouds. The only reason it's getting a Fracture is because it's not likely to come out for some time, and I wanted to make sure I won't forget it. The soundtrack is primarily jazz, with ranged cast of contributing composers, all clearly experienced in the genre; this particular track is a collaboration between Tudd and Carlos Eiene. Ten tracks are already released, so I have every reason to expect the finished project to be worth while.

The somewhat sleazy content connotations of Friday Night Funkin' have somewhat discouraged me from remaining invested in the franchise, but the music can be appreciated independent thereof, so I've kept interest from a distance. There are a lot of tracks that I've appreciated, and my use of this particular one by TaeSkull is intended to represent the wider activities of the fandom.
 
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Some Elden Ring osts since I've been playing an unhealthy amount after Shadow of the Erdtree came out. Radabeast still has to be my favorite track from the game since I'm a sucker for call backs to the intro/opening theme (In this case its pretty much the same).


Spoiler


 
Last year I covered Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, the funky style of which impressed me enough to cast out for further examples. An obvious follow-up was Lethal League Blaze; while the game itself is technically in a completely different genre, it has the same aesthetic and style, being from the same production team. The soundtrack is also similarly compiled from a variety of external sources. A couple names are worth noting: Klaus Veen seems to have a plurality of contributions, and I believe at least one of his arrangements was specifically for this game; Hideki Naganuma also composed a seemingly unique track, and his subsequent work on BRC was a highlight for me there. Otherwise, most tracks seem to be lifted from unattached projects, thought there is nonetheless a consistency in range for the music.




 
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Backlog is beginning to build up a bit, but some of the soundtracks I was looking forward to featuring aren't getting full releases, which hampers my ability to cover them; I've learned my lesson from Cyber Shadow and Mago, but I'd still prefer to have a proper OST to work with. I want to cover Bo and Gestalt before the end of the year, but we'll see what happens.

For now, I settled on Nine Sols, a Taiwanese game which takes inspiration from their folklore mixed with pseudo-cyberpunk. The music, much to my satisfaction, follows through with this standard, mixing in techno elements while favoring folk style and progression. Even anticipating this, I did not expect the soundtrack to be as extensive and varied as it turned out to be. The majority of the composition was done by FFXX and Troy Lin, with additional contributions from and collaborations with other artists. I initially tried to organize my selection in its usual varied manner, but it didn't seem to flow right, so this time around there's a more clear separation; take that as you will.





 
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I sometimes refer to unexpectedly finding an unfamiliar soundtrack as "stumbling upon," especially in such cases where contributing factors are not readily apparent. In the case of #BLUD, I presume all the horror-adjacent OST searching I did during June indicated to Youtube Recommended a false preference on my part, resulting in this getting pushed out to me. I'd consider it "stumbled upon," because there's very little for me to relate to; the project seems to be favoring nostalgia, but the aesthetic is of early 2000s cartoons (which I didn't watch), and the music is '80s and '90s synthwave (which I can appreciate, but wasn't alive for). The compositions aren't particularly noteworthy, but there is a hint of creativity in the arrangement which prevents the soundtrack from being "generic." As I continued listening to it, I found an inexplicable charm elevating the experience beyond what I could directly justify, leading me to commit a feature to it here. I still wouldn't put it on a level with the other soundtrack's I've heard of late, but I do believe it's worth some attention.

As a side note, the soundtrack hasn't been marketed very well, and was lacking proper presence on Youtube for my purposes. I chose to upload the pieces I needed as they are in the OST, even though I think they ought to be properly looped with a fade-out (especially given how short some of the tracks are without). Not sure who's usually responsible for this in the production process; I figure either the composer Bob Fox or the production company behind the game.



 
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This month I turn my attention to the Metroid franchise. I know very little concerning its musical achievements outside of their inclusion in the Smash Bros series, and have only really taken note of the iconic fanfare and the "Brinstar" remix from Melee. Interestingly, both seem to find their origin in the original 1986 release, albeit in more simplified form. Compositions are neither as simple nor as atmospheric as I anticipated, considering the time and the series' reputation (the soundtrack is very short, however). The composer, Hirokazu Tanaka, apparently sought a darker tone for the soundtrack; I personally don't feel it, but it may be a combination of hardware limitations and my perceptions thereof. There is a withholding of resolution in some melodies, which may be what was meant by "darker." Overall, I appreciate it as a product of its time, even if I'm less impressed by the presentation (granted, I'm rather spoiled by the quality of modern releases).



 
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I almost forgot about sharing about this game, this game is one of the best games that I've ever played, the game was so good that it even won some awards! I think if you're a big fan of horror games like resident evil or silent hill, then you'll totally love SIGNALIS. Because the game is inspired by the 2 games that I mentioned. As for music, if you like the kind of music that is atmospheric, electronic,... or horror game music, music from resident evil, silent hill? I don't know really know, I don't play that much horror game or listened to resident evil and silent hill OST, then you'll absolutely love this too, you'll probably love the whole album. Or you can be like me and just listen to any music that you think is good.

There are a lot of songs that I want to put here, but there's simply too many, so I'm going to select a few that I like. Some of the songs here somehow reminded me how much respect I have for who can arrange a song or music in general besides composers, because they can definitely see right through the music and realize the actual value of a song and probably goes like: "oh, that's good" or something. For example, I may hear a certain song and think to myself: "damn this song kinda ass", I wouldn't say something too harsh like that, I'd probably just think the song is not good. But an arranger can definitely truly hear it and thinks that is good.

Ehhh, I'm babbling too much, here's the OST. Remeber to play the game to experience it fully. You can get more info about the game and the music in the video's description. The video is from the dev's channel.

All music was done by Cicada Sirens and 1000 Eyes (Tom Schley)

1:05:21 Die Toteninsel Emptiness by 1000 Eyes (I want to show the more popular song of the game)

19:31 MNHR by 1000 Eyes

38:36 Orrery by 1000 Eyes

40:31 Ewige Wiederkunft by 1000 Eyes

48:35 Nue by 1000 Eyes

1:03:14 The Red Gate by 1000 Eyes

1:08:00 Memory by 1000 Eyes

1:45:22 Warm Light by 1000 Eyes


Spoiler




 
Jaz:3 said:
Next up...
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Looking forward to it! Excellent feature, btw; I have reasons to leave the game alone, but you've done a great job communicating your appreciation for it and its music in a relatable manner. Your highlights method has significant merit as well, and I want to commend that. Thank you for continuing to share!

 
The obvious followup to the original Metroid is the genre-defining entry that established the series's as a staple of the industry. Super Metroid was jointly composed by Kenji Yamamoto and Minako Hamano, both reportedly making significant contributions in addition to their adaptation of earlier motifs. Whereas I felt the NES arrangements fell short of the intended atmosphere, the capabilities of the SNES seems ideally suited to it. This is a departure from my usual perspective on SNES soundtracks, which seemly seek to achieve beyond their means. Some of the tracks from this game adapt their sound channels to ambience, which indicates to me a willingness to work within their constrictions to achieve a more unique and effective tone.

I feel a bit guilty at using six tracks for a soundtrack this size, given the reason is indecision on my part. I could probably drop "Rocky Underwater Area" or "Hot Lava Area" (back before tracks got proper names), but I'm not sure which should take priority, and I feel the overall progression of the feature would suffer from the absence of both. They aren't particularly long pieces, though.





 
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Ken Hisuag said:
Looking forward to it! Excellent feature, btw; I have reasons to leave the game alone, but you've done a great job communicating your appreciation for it and its music in a relatable manner. Your highlights method has significant merit as well, and I want to commend that. Thank you for continuing to share!
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This is the 2nd time you liked something that I posted and write to me a thank you. I don't think what I wrote was anything special (well I think it's still kinda cool a bit but what I meant is like super special or something like that) but I'm glad someone found something special in it regardless. So I thank you for enjoying it, and thank you for the kind works.

 
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