Other Game Music

[ShionYorigamiEnjoyer]

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

 

[agorabbit]

 Flowers from ddr supernova! My brain doesn't do well with all those eighth notes, but it's fun to play and a great song.

[Ken Hisuag]

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.

Spoiler

 

 

[Ken Hisuag]

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.

Spoiler

 

 

[Ken Hisuag]

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.

Spoiler

 

 

[Ken Hisuag]

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).

Spoiler

 

 

[Jaz:3]

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

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Have a nice day!  :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up...

 

Tactical Espionage Operations 

 

[Ken Hisuag]

On 8/12/2024 at 10:14 AM, Jaz:3 said:

Next up...

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!

[Ken Hisuag]

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.

Spoiler

 

 

[Jaz:3]

On 8/14/2024 at 7:17 PM, 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!

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.

Edited August 18, 2024 by Jaz:3
to me*

[Ken Hisuag]

On vacation right now, so I wasn’t sure I’d be able to post this week, but the page is loading, so we’re good to go.

With limited info on what’s considered the best of the Metroid franchise (as usual with these series features), my odd-one-out this time is Metroid Fusion.  Minako Hamono returns, joined by Akira Fujiwara for a GBA soundtrack, which platform I am less familiar with as to its music capabilities. Compared to the previous two entries I’ve covered, there’s a stronger sense of ambience throughout, and not just in the various “Environmental Sounds” tracks. Melody and progression are in short supply, and I wasn’t initially too impressed as a result; however, as I acclimated to the overarching tone, I came to appreciate its effectiveness. This is less action-adventure music, and more a sci-fi-horror soundtrack. Knowing this going in may improve perspective, resulting in a better listening experience.

Spoiler and quote functions still don’t seem to be available for mobile, so y’all get it direct this week (at least until I can edit it later).

Quote

 

EDIT: Spoiler function still isn't available for editing posts, so I'm stuck with the quote function instead.

Edited August 28, 2024 by Ken Hisuag

[Ken Hisuag]

Going into this series, I was under the impression that Metroid was a franchise focused on action-adventure with a sci-fi theme. As I've listened to its music, however, I've come to realize it's far more focused on suspenseful atmosphere, which it has accomplished quite well. Where my expectation initially caused me confusion with Fusion (heh), my adjusted perspective enabled me to fully appreciate the soundtrack of Metroid Prime.

Interestingly, Kenji Yamamoto from Super Metroid seems primarily responsible for this soundtrack, assisted by Kouichi Kyuma (I find this intriguing given how the other composer for Super Metroid worked on Fusion instead). While there is a strong focus on ambience, the music is not without progression and melody, albeit in subdued capacity. The balance is delicately maintained, and defines the soundtrack's identity in establishing the atmosphere. Higher-energy combat tracks do not betray this focus, being composed dynamically and otherwise in keeping with the general tone. Despite not having very many noteworthy motifs overall, I can recognize the quality of this soundtrack, and appreciate having experienced it with the proper expectations.

Spoiler

 

Addendum: Upon further reflection, I realized how similar this music was to that of Subnautica, both installments. While clearly ambient, melodic progression is still central to the compositions, being able to fall into the background or provide satisfactory accompaniment according to the situation. I can't help but wonder if Chylinski and Prunty took inspiration from Metroid Prime, not necessarily for Subnautica directly, but perhaps as part of the development of their respective styles.

Edited August 31, 2024 by Ken Hisuag

[Ken Hisuag]

All cards on the table, I chose this soundtrack for listening solely for the alpaca/llama (how does one tell?) on the cover art. After a couple tracks, I determined it was worth planning a feature for, and here we are.

Accredited to one José Ramón "Bibiki" García (quite the title), Arco is what I would describe as "western" in style, although I'm aware that the term is a bit out of date. The instrumentation for all but the high-energy tracks (presumably combat) is primarily that form of folk blending Spanish and American styles. I find it strange how I've not previously reflected on the ambiguity of distinct origin for this genre, and I wonder how much history lies behind it. Almost every piece relies heavily on acoustic guitar, though there is a notable presence of oboe in some tracks.

On the other hand, the aforementioned high-energy pieces are tonally distinct from the rest of the OST, consisting of heavy rock with electronic elements. While these compositions exhibit the same degree of quality as the rest, I question the cohesiveness of the collection; some pieces integrate suitably, but others seem to contrast rather sharply with their surroundings. It may be that they work better in-game, but I'm not particularly interested in checking.

On a final note, there is a selection of Spanish vocal songs scattered through the soundtrack. My habit is to seek translations of songs I can't understand, but I was unable to find a proper source for any of these. I'm including one anyway, as representative of the OST, but be aware of my lacking awareness thereof.

Spoiler

 

 

[Jaz:3]

Randomly found a cool ost from a demo game

 

On 8/28/2024 at 7:31 PM, Ken Hisuag said:

Subnautica

Having played it before, it became one of my favorite games. It's so terrifying man...the music and ambience are the only things that makes you feel safe but sometimes when it cuts out the music, it leaves with background noises in-game. When you wander to a certain place in Subnautica and there are only silence... it's very scary, lol. But that's part of the charm of the game tho.

So yeah, Metroid Prime is kind of like that too but I haven't played it tho, so I don't know what the atmosphere is like. I might give a try given you featured it here...I've played Fusion before on an emulator on my old once working tablet but I didn't finish it so I have an idea of what the game's like.

By the way, Ken (can I call you Ken? for short? Or that's a no no), are you planning to do something like a special post or anything like that? Because your 1000th post is coming along sooner or later and it seems you're one of the users that has a big number of posts. It's not like I'm asking you to do it, but I'm just wandering, you know, cus I wanna know, if that's ok, or you can just not tell me. Wait, maybe I shouldn't have asked? Might ruin the surprise but I wouldn't know if there's a surprise anyways.

Edited September 7, 2024 by Jaz:3
tabket lrt let

[Ken Hisuag]

On 9/7/2024 at 3:10 AM, Jaz:3 said:

special post

Wasn't on my mind; I'm fairly casual about my postings, so there isn't much precedence for anything. Maybe a SMYL favorites post? Depends what else is going on when we get there, I guess.

For this week, I find myself compelled to feature a game that I'm not entirely comfortable with. Thank Goodness You're Here! is a masterfully designed comedy game, built on the satirizing of British subculture and supplemented by more general subversion humor. While I was extremely impressed with the manner of progression, the degree of crassness prevalent throughout was more than I could consider excusable. Thus I was conflicted over whether this was a game I wanted to make reference to, even just for its music. Granted, it's hardly the first instance of such a situation (Rabi-Ribi being a prominent example), but I still want to be careful about my potential influence. Ultimately, I want to remember the better aspects of this project, in hope of further implementation thereof in less compromising setting.

The music itself is endearingly simple. I wouldn't consider it "atmospheric," but it is suitably reserved for the background, much in the way atmospheric music usually is. It's hard to pinpoint the specific inspiration for its style, though this could just as well be a result of my own lacking familiarity as a quality of the music itself. The composer was one of the game's designers, James Carbutt, with some additional songs incorporated from other sources. Most notably, I was introduced to "On Ilkla Moor Baht'at," reportedly a culturally significant song for the Yorkshire area. While technically not part of the soundtrack proper, I'm including it anyway as a curiosity :).

Spoiler

 

 

Edited September 11, 2024 by Ken Hisuag

[Ken Hisuag]

With the release of Astro Bot sending waves out through the internet, I thought I'd casually investigate the soundtrack thereof. Three tracks in was enough to realize I'd missed something in being previously unfamiliar with the series. I remember discovering Boneworks some years ago, and being shocked that I hadn't heard anything about its music previously; this felt similar, in that there was a depth of quality to this that I would have expected better acclaim for. I determined to backtrack and find out just how much I'd missed.

Based on my research, the foundation of the franchise exists in a tech-demo game called The Playroom. However, the soundtrack for this unfortunately turned out too difficult to pin down, as was that of its technical sequel The Playroom VR. The first properly available OST is from the more official start of the series, Astro Bot Rescue Mission. Even this soundtrack is lacking proper distribution, but is at least available on Youtube in official format. Composer Kenneth C M Young (without punctuation for some reason) is responsible for the modestly-sized album, making excellent use of leitmotif variance in several pieces (specifically boss themes and "caves") and showcasing a versatile style favoring techno/disco, consistently upbeat and unique. It's an unabashedly happy soundtrack, even as it plays at other tones, instilling an excellent degree of characterization. I anticipate a continuation of these qualities as I progress through the series, as I intend to do in the coming months.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited September 18, 2024 by Ken Hisuag

[Ken Hisuag]

The Finals somehow got on my to-do list, though I can't remember the reasoning; I've limited familiarity with the game, and hardly any previous experience with the music. Nonetheless, I hunted down the three different albums that the soundtrack is currently split between and listened through the lot of them. The division reflects what I assume to be season passes, but also indicate the different composers involved: the first season had "Sailor & I" as lead, while the second and third seasons were headed by Carl Strandberg with assistance from Olof Strömqvist and Alexander Sjödin. Each season also favors a specific genre leaning; heavy synthwave is prevalent throughout, but the second season incorporated chiptune elements, and the third had something of an Eastern influence.

As for subjective impressions, I can't say I was especially engaged. The tracks are arranged well with decent structure, and the stylistic theming adds some degree of distinctiveness. However, there is a general lack of central motifs, specifically in the initial seasons, progression being carried by layer fluctuations instead. I enjoyed listening to this part of the soundtrack overall, but only a few tracks stood out to me. On the other hand, the third season seemed stronger in this regard, so perhaps it's moving in that direction (although, if I consider the perspective of a player, I might start to question the conceptual continuity within context of the gameplay). Overall, I want to emphasize my perception that these are all quality compositions, just that some of them are closer to what I'm looking for than others; context of presentation is important.

Spoiler

 

 

[Ken Hisuag]

Fracture Feature! Instigation related to this week's feature proper:

Spoiler

The day after I do a feature on The Finals, they release another album to the soundtrack. Based on the included pieces, I can confidently say they're trending toward more motif-focused structure, which bodes well for further musical expansions. FTR, there's also a new name attached, being one Andreas Almström. I hesitate to identify the joint-genre theme for this season; some tracks seem to have an orchestral bent, and others notably feature background vocals, but neither is consistent enough for me to be sure of the intention.

 

Spoiler

For Undertale's 9th anniversary, Toby Fox released some more scrapped music tracks. Most are unfinished betas, but the one that particularly stands out is an expanded arrangement of "Power of Neo," which is given several unique motifs that provide actual progression to the piece.

 

Spoiler

Speaking of Undertale, I found this original composition by FaceImplosion shortly after completing Undertale Yellow. I love finding arrangements that fill in the gaps of a soundtrack (such as original themes for Touhou characters otherwise lacking), so the concept alone appealed to me here, but I dare say it's well executed as well. A piano-solo version preceded this one, but I get the impression this is meant to be the complete piece.

 

 

[Ken Hisuag]

The Bloons Tower Defense franchise has justifiably seen the highest success in its most current entry, being the sixth iteration. However, I could not feature the soundtrack thereof in good conscience without first addressing the history, specifically the entries I grew up with. The primary leitmotif of the series finds its origin in Bloons Tower Defense 4 with a stock music track ostensibly titled "Volcano Party," and while I can't find sufficient evidence of this to satisfy myself, the story does match up with the standards of the time. It was with BTD5 that the series received a proper composer in Tim Haywood, who adapted the original piece into a handful of new tracks. The later expansion, BTD5 Deluxe, heralded further compositions with less direct ties to "Volcano Party," but these never achieved the degree of iconic status that the initial pieces did.

Spoiler

 

 

[Ken Hisuag]

Returning to the Astro Bot franchise to feature its [technically] fourth entry, Astro's Playroom. Essentially a tech-demo for the PS5, the game has an even shorter soundtrack than its predecessor, and features less re-use of motifs as a result; whether this is a beneficial change or not is difficult to quantify. The new melodies are as high quality as ever, and while there's a bit of a gimmicky theme going on, I didn't find it too distracting. A couple of motifs are brought forward, specifically the credits theme (not featured here) and the boss fight motif, which help tie the soundtracks together a bit aside from the stylistic similarity. Kenneth C M Young is again the composer, and his consistency across these two projects incites my interest in seeking out his other works (apparently he worked on Little Big Planet, which I have no familiarity with whatsoever, but maybe I'll check it out some time soon).

Spoiler

 

I'm officially set to check back with this year's release, though it'll be a bit before I feature it here; lot of plans for the remainder of the year already, hopefully I can fit everything in.

Edited October 9, 2024 by Ken Hisuag

[Ken Hisuag]

The plan was to listen through Echoes of Wisdom's soundtrack for this week's feature; but when I tried pulling it up, I was reminded of what a hassle it always is to find clean and consistent organization of recently (un)released Nintendo music. It'll likely be a few months before everything's standardized, and I decided I can't be bothered. Meanwhile Gestalt: Steam and Cinder's OST seems to be Steam exclusive, and I'm hesitant to invest at the moment. Year's getting on, though . . .

In the meantime, might as well do that Hi-Fi Rush refeature I'd planned for back when the b-side album came out. Admittedly I'm using it more as an excuse to feature some extra tracks from the base release, but I'd argue the soundtrack is worth it. As before, there's a lot of names associated connected to the collection, notably Shuichi Kobori, Masatoshi Yanagi, and Reo Uratani (I think I sufficiently covered The Glass Pyramids previously). Since acquiring the OST back in March of last year, it's been a consistent part of my listening playlist, and I foresee that will remain the case for some time to come.

Spoiler

 

 

[Jaz:3]

Hey there, I said that I'd write an upcoming post but I didn't because school works were getting in the way... Wow... that was a long time, it's like I....  Kept you waiting, huh? Omg, that sounded kinda corny or smth, lol. I have not check in with this site for awhile now so there are so much posts to go through that I want to read!!! ahhhh.

Anyways, the game that I'm going to talk about today is !!!!! Metal gear solid 3: Snake Eater. I've played every MGS games except for some of the ones in chronological order (yes I decided to play through the series this way, the plot i actually kinda easy to understand too). I like every MGS games, well actually this is one of my favorite series, I've played through every game except for MGS3 and the ones I haven't played yet. But I do have a feeling that if I play MGS3 again, I'd like it.

Did you know MGS Delta is coming out? (I know, great timing to make this post) It's a remake of MGS3, but I do think they should have remade other games that need to be remade (like the 1st 2 games of the series), but hey, whatever makes the most money in the easiest way for Konami right? They reused the engine from MGSV too, but there's is definitely more work put into this new game tho... plus the game isn't out yet so I can't really say anything much.

The original MGS3 felt like a james bond movie of some sorts, but I don't want to compare the 2 like that because I haven't watched any 007 movies and MGS is unique on it's own. I don't know if it's Hideo Kojima (creator of the series) or not, but they really bought a lot of licenses for some of these songs! Uhm.... actually I think it's only one song (the song Way to Fall) but it's just a guess tho, cus I don't really know. 

Spoiler

Snake Eater by Norihiko Hibino (vocals by Cynthia Harrell)

Here's another really cool cover of Snake Eater if you're interested:

 

 

Select cutscene (can't find who made this, unfortunately)

 

Sea Breeze by Sergei Mantis

 

Way to Fall by Starsailor

 

Life's End by Harry Gregson-Williams

 

Don't Be Afraid by Rika Muranaka (vocals by Elisa Fiorillo)

 

 

I hope you're a bit familiar with this game now if you haven't heard of it before! This game, chronologically, is the 1st game in the series (and the 1st game that I played), but I won't go any further than that! Some of the songs I listed here are OSTs that I like, so if you feel like there aren't a lot of "in-game" related OSTs, then this is why, hope you understand haha.

Stay tuned for the next one! The first song is totally gonna be cool... I really should make time for reading and posting man... Also, I'm going to post alot more music from this series, but please don't think that I'm "MILKING" this series to write many many posts, I really do like the OSTs of the series! I just post what I like on here.

Edited October 21, 2024 by Jaz:3
SSSSsssSSssSSSssSSsimgonnapissssSSssSslolSssSsss + credits +clarification

[Ken Hisuag]

I planned a Fracture Feature for today specifically, on behalf of a friend who enjoys Skyrim music. I've posted about the base game and Beyond Skyrim mod soundtracks, but haven't touched on any other fan contributions, some of which are absolutely worth knowing about.

Spoiler

Legacy of the Dragonborn is among the most famous expansions to the game in existence, and absolutely deserving of all commendation. Musically, my favorite tracks are actually stock-music from earlier versions (especially "Skymning" by Vindsvept), but the pieces composed by Trent Moriarty for more recent forms are still excellent, perfectly instilling the unique atmosphere of the mod while fitting in perfectly with the base-game soundtrack.

 

Spoiler

Obscure's College of Winterhold isn't the largest or most popular mod for the location, but it is close, and more importantly seems the only one to add custom music to the area. Matness has made several albums worth of unattached contributions to the game's soundtrack, but this composition for someone else's mod is thus far my favorite. That being said, I recommend checking out those aforementioned albums, which can be found through Bandcamp.

 

Spoiler

Finally, the most impressive music mod I've yet come across is undoubtedly Nir Shor's Musical Lore; while it only adds three tracks, they each rival Soule's work for melody and atmosphere, and I consider them indispensable at this point. "Stonewall District" is a masterpiece of an audio journey, with a strong melody that carries the listener through the struggles and hopes of a foreign land, not as the midst of a great adventure but simply as the day to day determination of those whose part it is to continue living well.

 

 

[Ken Hisuag]

Animal Well's soundtrack has not received official release, and is not likely to, given it technically does not exist. I've had previous opportunity to explore the boundary between music and ambience, or more accurately speaking the overlap between the two, distinguishing between ambient music and "true" ambience. Animal Well uses true ambience, with little to no tonal shift or progression in its background soundscapes. As such, it may be incorrect to reference these as a soundtrack at all, as there is little to distinguish them from sound effects in some cases. Nonetheless, an argument could be made in either direction, and the concept of where the definition begins intrigues me. Perhaps by featuring this "soundtrack," I may incite others to the consideration of what does and doesn't count.

BTW, credits are somewhat lacking for this game, but it seems safe to presume Billy Basso as responsible for the sound design along with everything else.

Spoiler

 

 

[Ken Hisuag]

I am wasting no time on featuring Rivals of Aether II; I've been anticipating this release for much of the year, and now it's finally here!

The soundtrack is divided between two albums, each composed by a different team of musicians. Returning studio RESOFORCE, which includes the original game's composer "flashygoodness," has updated several of the existent motifs to match the new aesthetic. Some of these pieces were already expanded for Definitive Edition, but have still received a fresh arrangement, while several pieces lacking this earlier treatment have been fully reworked to match their quality to the rest. Meanwhile, the Moonsailor studio has composed several new tracks for the game, expanding the soundtrack's range in genre and style. The main name behind these pieces seems to be Rafael Langoni; additionally, raphaelgoulart is credited with arrangement assistance for both albums. Overall, the new tracks fit in perfectly with the old, together forming a collection more than worthy of its predecessor.

Spoiler