Ken Hisuag

I figure 2024 is over for everyone by this time, so here's the annual OGM record.

As 2024 draws to a close, I have prepared some final statements concerning my overall experience with the year's VGM. I was fairly happy this year with my coverage; a few titles will inevitably slip by, but I believe I was able to feature all the releases that specifically caught my attention, and the "most memorable" category will be there to catch whatever I've missed next year. I will mention a couple soundtracks I was not able to listen to, for one reason or another: Antonblast came out late, and even now has yet to release an OST. What I've heard has interested me, but if it isn't available, I can't be blamed for skipping it, at least for now. Symphonia was also a late release, but while its soundtrack has received publication, such has been restricted to Steam. I don't mind purchasing soundtracks through Steam, but doing so means I can't listen to it on the go, requiring a greater time commitment that I couldn't make this late in the year. I look forward to listening through it next year, though. Gestalt: Steam & Cinder was also a Steam-exclusive OST, and while I have the time, I was less enthusiastic with the necessary momentary investment. I prefer to hear some of what I'm buying before I buy it; only a few tracks were published, and I didn't find them quite impressive enough to prioritize the purchase over other available soundtracks. I'm sure I'll get to it before too long, but in this case time ran out before my to-do list did. Additionally, I want to offer honorable mention to Indigo Park; I couldn't consider it for proper ranking, because from my perspective it's more of a demo then a fully finished game (a la Deltarune). Presumably more of the project will be released over time, and at some point it'll be considered "complete," at which point I'll view it as a whole rather than autonomous segments. With all that out of the way, here are my top five* video game soundtracks of 2024! #5: #4: #3: #2: #1: In a near return to form, I've only played one of these games, and y'all could probably guess which one (hint: it's the sequel to one of my favorite games); I've already acknowledged the potential bias there, and hopefully my solution sufficiently addresses that. Otherwise, my experience with these soundtracks is purely with the music, supplemented by secondary sources (i.e., reviews and playthroughs). Finally, I will present my most personally memorable discovery not released this year. Technically this would be Astro Bot's Rescue Mission, but since I finagled the franchise into the ranking proper I'll fall back on the secondary. Bonus Feature (#0): That does it for me! If any of y'all are so inclined, please do share your own preferences for the year's releases! As this ranking purely reflects my own perspectives and preferences, it is inevitably limited, and I always enjoy having my horizons expanded! Otherwise, I wish everyone here a happy New Year!

Missed Saturday, so I might as well move forward with the year-end special. As usual, these are select arrangements I've held on to as being of unusual quality, at least from my perspective. Once upon a time these were reserved for use in the remix tournaments, but now they wait for other special occasions such as this. Levo Lution - Desire Drive Overkill While advertised as a combo arrangement, this is more a straightforward "Desire Drive" remix with "Border of Life" thrown in toward the end. For all that, the instrumentation and pacing makes for an especially wintery electronic remix that's pleasant and engaging. Sometimes it seems you can't go wrong with "Desire Drive" in general. marasy8 - Re:Unknown X I love marasy's piano performances! "Unknown X" isn't a piece I'd normally consider for such adaptation, but leave it to marasy to make it work. This particular adaptation seems to rely on a string ensemble backing (puts me in mind to V.K's work), though I possibly recall finding a solo version. It's good to be able to judge what elements are best for your performance, whether that be additional or reduced. FELT - Faith My climactic offering for the year. FELT featured prominently in the earliest tournaments, and for good reason; I don't see them propagated as much anymore, possibly due to the circle's disbandment, but they left behind quite the discography. Theirs was an explosive vocal style, with the source material for their melodies creatively adapted from Touhou motifs in ways that rendered them just recognizable enough to be remixes while still testifying to their skill in arrangement, complimented by original motifs for some truly exemplary performances. December has been rough for me, with one illness after another. But for all that, I've continued to move forward, putting forth as much as I can in testimony and service. I'm content with the year in retrospective, and I continue to hold hope in Christ. Be blessed, and have a happy new year; Lord willing I will continue posting into 2025!

Day late, for obvious reasons, but I actually had a feature planned out ahead of time just in case. Said plans were somewhat contingent upon the Steam Awards nominations, just in case something turned up there that I wanted to prioritize. I needn't have bothered; three of the titles there aren't technically even viable (not being of this year). Frostpunk 2 might deserve some attention, but initial listening didn't interest me enough to change my schedule. Nothing I've yet seen of Neva has indicated to me that I ought to play it. My appreciation of Gris was its unique integration of storytelling as an experience, equally shared between many components of production as a whole. Berlinist's music was especially important to that experience, and it stuck with me even as I struggled to comprehend its structure. When Neva was announced, and especially when I saw Berlinist attached to the project, I eagerly anticipated a more developed form of what I'd heard in Gris. Regardless of whether or not Gris's other strengths have transferred over, I'm satisfied that the music is everything I could have hoped for. Ambient in some ways, there is yet a lot going on in each piece which keeps the "experience" alive, implying reflection within its setting while simultaneously inspiring it in the audience.

Depends on what you consider a "circle;" considering the term is technically a shortening of "doujin circle," it's not technically accurate to use the term in reference to western groups in general. Also, you might be surprised at how many Japanese circles only have one member; the term does not necessarily indicate a group, and may be more of a marketing gimmick. I am no expert on the subject, but I believe there are other threads on the forum that have gone into more detail on what the "doujin scene" actually is.

LENK64 - Zombie Paradise Here's a melody heavily reliant on its punchy instrumentation, and few better to uphold that while still bringing something unique to the table then Miki Hiroyuki. Shall we make this piece appropriately ominous? Honestly I've never been that fond of "Rigid Paradise," but it was quite beloved in the fandom at some point, so it seemed fitting to settle on this for it. zensen - Desire Drive Electro swing! Why? Because y'all have doubtlessly heard this piece in any number of genres already, so I had to find something slightly more obscure. Not sure why electro swing hasn't caught on stronger in the mainstream . . . goloa - Old Yuanxian (Evil Immortal Extermination Battle) I'm of a firm opinion that the original piece is held back by its zunish traits. The hits need to be harder, the trimmings need to be starker, the bridge needs to blend better, and for once ZUN's instruments just can't quite get across what is meant to be. So while this arrangement may be a bit rough around the edges, I was pleased by the glimpse into what could be I found in it.

I've not been feeling well this month, with one illness after another keeping me behind in preparations. I might not get a better opportunity to post this year's Christmas commemoration, so here it is: Back in 1988, a collective of CCM artists of the time came together for a Christmas album. While such collaborations aren't necessarily uncommon, they usually feature various singles recorded individually and compiled together without direct interaction between the artists. For this album, however, a song was recorded in which all the artists took part; this was practically unheard of, and it remains one of the most unique performances of that era IMO.

Not by direct design, I had another soundtrack on the to-do list with a similar name to the previous week's, though there is hardly any other comparison to be made. Exophobia's OST is an upbeat synthwave style album by Pedro Joao Costa for what appeared to me to be a Doom style FPS. Despite that association, the music overall isn't particularly heavy, favoring a more measured pacing in tempo and progression overall (I was reminded of Axiom Verge, but I'd say this is a bit heavier than that, just with similar instrumentation). There's a limited range of tone, and the baselines can get repetitive, but there's clear thought put into the progression for each piece, and I didn't find it dragging at any point. Aside from that, I haven't much to say, so give it a listen and find out if it measures up for you. Added bonus: While doing the initial searching for videos, I found this DJ mix from the composer. I don't know anything about DJing, but I thought someone who did might appreciate this performance.

sa-sara - Welcome to the Youkai Temple Last chance to get a "Cafe de Touhou" arrangement in the project, and this seems as good as I could ask for. I don't know that I'd consider it "study jazz," which is what I though the "Cafe" series was all about, but as I haven't actually listened to much of it I must have misunderstood. Regardless it's quite an impressive arrangement. AdeleyWolfy - Youkai Girl at the Gate I'm not as happy with this one; it seemed only right to get a bombastically loud remix for the piece, but I also wanted to avoid the big circles as usual, which narrowed my options considerably. This isn't a bad arrangement by any means, but I can't follow it's progression as well as I'd prefer, and the compression is a bit much at parts. Still, it is certainly the best of all I turned up. Sakuga Houkai - Lovely Life ~ See You Next Life I'm usually ready to let go of my expectations if I find a particularly good arrangement in otherwise contradiction. Lovely Cemetery may lend itself to more serene arrangements, but this remix showcases capability to adapt in the opposite direction with admirable results. I couldn't pass it up.

When I'm familiar enough with a composer's name to recognize it quickly, it tends to be enough to instigate investigation into a soundtrack I would have otherwise overlooked. I know Yann van der Cruyssen from Cave Story and Stray, and seeing his name on the album for Exographer put it on my list to look into later. Those two previous titles are significant as to my experience; Cruyssen's work on Cave Story was purely rearrangement, while Stray's soundtrack was heavily ambient, to the point that I didn't consider either of them to be indicative of his composition abilities. This soundtrack does lean toward ambient effect, but not so heavily as to lack melodic progression; I'd compare it to Richard Vreeland's work in that it instills a tone of stable existence that is nonetheless active. I can hear elements of Cruyssen's other work in these compositions, but they feel more properly realized then previously; I wonder if this is progression of skill, or greater freedom within the project? Regardless, I suspect I'll appreciate those other works more now after having heard this.

Honomin - Seething Spirits Maybe not a lot going on here, but that over-tuned bass layer is quite satisfying to me. As far as menu themes go, I don't hear about this one much, so I figure this is a fairly good find. Yanagi - Night Sakura of Dead Spirits The reverb and airy vocal performance contrast with the rock sections, but that may help emphasize the them, which subsequently instigates an ethereal perception to the arrangement. I consider this fitting for the piece. Reverse Resistance Records - The Sparkle of the Spirit that Guides the Night Needed something heavier for Ghost Lead; I almost went with Antares Enigma's arrangement, but that wouldn't have technically been a fresh discovery for me, so I held off and found this instead. It has its moments, especially as it plays with the instrumentation at parts.

Again, not technically a progression of the topic, but a potentially helpful resource in its consideration: This video denotes the instrumentation in play, helping the view appreciate the layering that goes into a Touhou composition, as well as identifying where each sound really comes from.

It's December, and the Game Awards nominations have been announced. I don't particularly care for the fiasco, but I usually check in to see what gets included for the sake of potentially discovering something I'd have otherwise overlooked. This year has five nominations: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth probably deserves it, but I resent the nominations of large-scale remakes when there's so many original titles more deserving of the recognition; Silent Hill 2 is also a remake, but even if it wasn't I'd question the musical range an atmospheric horror game can have (I know there's music, but is it "best vgm soundtrack of the year" level?); I'm not touching Stellar Blade, the marketing made it pretty clear it wasn't meant for me; Metaphor: Refantazio probably has potential, and I'd probably do a feature for it if I had time, but on the other hand it's an Atlus game, and I suspect it will just be more Persona/Shin Megami Tensei style, which I've not been particularly fond of in the past; that leaves Kenneth C M Young's Astro Bot, which was already on the agenda for this month as of several months prior. My initial checking instigated a backtracking through the series, leading to some amazing vgm discoveries. Those discoveries are particularly relevant in regards to this most current entry, since a plurality of the music here is reused or adapted from those earlier titles. Part of me is a bit disappointed at this; in my mind, if a composer reuses a track from a previous project without any adjustment, then it shouldn't be considered part of the more recent soundtrack (e.g., Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent shouldn't have included reused themes in their official album). On the other hand, there's plenty of original and properly remixed material to constitute a full soundtrack anyway, plus some of the reused themes aren't otherwise available (due to Rescue Mission's and the original Playroom's respective soundtracks being unreleased on distribution platforms). Overall, I dislike the precedent that seems to be developing for soundtrack releases in general, but it doesn't necessarily impact the quality of this soundtrack overall. As with previous releases, arrangements are imaginative in instrumentation and general style. The game presents itself as a hall-of-fame sometimes, and I think the soundtrack reflects this with a variety of presentation angles; yet at its core, the music always maintains a sense of light-hearted fun, even in its more intense tracks. I tend to associate "triple-A" with scope-over-heart, but this has sufficient weight in both to give me pause. I'm hoping there'll be more like this to find in the coming year.

yukinadd9 - Volatus Magus There were other names listed in the description, but I don't know if they're additional aliases or credits. "Magus Night" is traditionally a heavy-handed theme, and I fully expected to settle on a similarly heavy arrangement. For sure this isn't a light remix, but the jazz elements are mixed in thoroughly, and I think that helps alleviate the the tone a bit without losing the piece's energy. Fox Factory - Sweety Fluity I typically avoid the big-name circles with the mindset that I may need them free later, but this piece didn't seem likely to have much for it otherwise; it is, after all, just a redo on the title theme, the motif of which was already reused in another track. Accordingly, this remix is fairly straightforward, with its power invested in the performance. Foxtail-Grass Studio - Visit the City of Wood Translation difficulties, I'm defaulting to the iTunes title. It may be considered bad form to follow up a flute-focused remix with a folk arrangement involving intermittent fluting, but for all that this particular piece stuck with me, and I couldn't give it up. The circle names being similar between the two made it doubly ironic; at least going forward I'll remember I featured the two together. Infinnacage Music - An Ice Fairy in Spring -Dawn- Bonus feature, because I didn't want to forget about this and not post it later. The title is intriguing, causing me to doubt which version of "Ice Fairy in Spring" it's meant to be adapting; perhaps both? The tone seems to me equally applicable to a beginning and an ending, somehow transcendent of both. Especially rare to get this kind of a remix for such an obscure track.

Another lesson in the confusing nature of this franchise; while Monster Hunter Freedom can be considered the final form of Monster Hunter [1], Monster Hunter Freedom Unite is considered a unique release from Monster Hunter 2(dos). Apparently Monster Hunter Portable 2nd was less of a port and more of a remake, with certain parts of 2(dos) being replaced, even as most of the latter's content was reused. I gather that much of the music was still present from the original iteration, but enough features were replaced that I can't be sure where the line between the two is; it seems safer to me to simply consider the newly introduced tracks as their own entity. Portable 2nd features an entirely new main town (presumably replacing the town from 2(dos)), which comes with one of the more iconic themes in the series; I'm previously familiar with the motifs from their presence in X/Generations, but this is their first iteration. The primary motif of the theme is adapted into several other town-activity tracks, forming the majority of Portable 2nd's musical additions. Subsequent expansions culminating in Freedom Unite were more focused on new monsters, the themes of which are amongst the best the series had hitherto produced. To cap off the month, I'm including what I presume to be the credits medley, which contains this game's rendition of "Proof of a Hero." I've thoroughly enjoyed finally digging into this series' origins; as frustrating as the investigation can be at times, the discoveries to be had in the undertaking more than justify it. Also, Happy Thanksgiving!

What a remix! I was expecting a Mystic Square arrangement, and then the intro hit me with "Fires of Hokkai." This also reminded me to go purchase some of Hazama Yuutou's albums that have been sitting in my wishlist for a while, so thanks for that. Misora / Fuka Sokyu / hiragimi - Fairy's War Midnight Not sure which name to use for the artist, as he has a lot of pseudonyms. The rock suits the melody, and the arrangement is more than competent, though I struggle to find something interesting to say about it otherwise. 1nsane - Great Fairy Wars Bear with this one a moment, it balances out eventually. I expected to find something much more grandiose for this track, but options were surprisingly slim. I could at least appreciate the imagination behind this arrangement, even if it's not what I'd normally listen too. Tinzuka - Loose Rain It was difficult finding remixes for this that didn't incorporate Magus Night in somewhere; in fact, hybrid arrangements have been quite common for much of this soundtrack. The title had me in mind to a piano solo, but listening to the original track again had me leaning toward a more active adaptation; this does nicely at satisfying both sides of my perception.\

By the skin of my teeth (as the saying goes), I arrive to feature Monster Hunter 2(dos). This one was trouble; I couldn't initially find a playlist with all the tracks organized properly, and I got confused with a few pieces that may or may not have been from the game. Nonetheless, I believe I've tracked down the answers I sought. Masato Kouda returns from the first entry, this time joined by Yuko Komiyama, Akihiko Narita, Shinya Okada, and Hajime Hyakkoku. That's a lot of names, but it's for a lot of music! 2(dos)'s soundtrack is twice the size of Freedom's, and seemingly spread more evenly between the musicians involved than that title -- as is stylistic consistency. I mentioned for the first Monster Hunter that I anticipated a stronger melody focus at some point in the series' progression, but I little imagined it to be so early! To my ears, this soundtrack is indistinguishable from its modern followups in quality and direction; I dare say this is the definitive entry for the franchise's music, to which future titles are compared. All that being said, it's really difficult to pick standout tracks to represent the whole here, not only for quality compositions but exemplary structure: The first town theme alone comes in several variations, each a fully realized piece of its own. The main theme of the game is a prevalent leitmotif throughout, and I'm not sure of which piece best presents it. There's also plenty of monster themes, with some returning creatures from the first game being given entirely new pieces. Honestly I could easily do two features on this soundtrack, but I've only got one week left for the month so I'm just stuffing this one instead.

Tohka Kochi - An Ice Fairy in Spring Honestly couldn't have asked for better! Quintessential "chill" for the chilliest title theme in the series, just long enough to present itself without needing to do something else. Given that the motif is reused later, I wouldn't want anything too complicated, so this is perfect. K2 SOUND - Playback More While the intended presentation of the piece is subversion, the motif still seems suitable to me for something heavier, so I went looking for a rock or metal arrangement. This isn't quite as heavy as I anticipated, but keeps the energy up with the vocal performance, and more importantly gets creative with the motifs. Lifeguardman - It's fun! Here's that second take on the title motif I mentioned; given that this piece is more developed, the motif should probably be considered more native to it, even if ZUN implied the other piece came first. The pacing of this arrangement is excellent, and doesn't sacrifice the melody's natural progression (though it's hard to not think about "Three Fairies SAY YA!!!", but that's no fault of the remix).

Monster Hunter G, Monster Hunter Portable, and Monster Hunter Freedom are all technically the same game, being various iterations and ports of the original Monster Hunter. Additional tracks were added in one of these as an expansion, though it is not entirely clear to me which; whereas such tracks might be considered part and partial to the base release in most cases, publications of the music have made distinctions between them, calling into question the process by which I might cite their sources. I decided to make a distinct feature for them to highlight this confusion; technically the expansion isn't nearly big enough to justify it, but hopefully it will serve as clarification of the difficulties that arise from tracking down these compositions. For future features, I may simply look at the final form of an entry in the series, though recent releases seem to be reverting to a more standard format of DLCs.

This week's feature will be a bit shorter than usual, so I have a slightly bloated Fracture Feature to compensate, instigated by the previous feature. While going through the Monster Hunter OST, one of the tracks that stood out was "Beyond the Fog," an atmospheric ambience piece that I presume served as an area theme. Several other tracks were similarly constructed, but this one was especially cohesive with its musical and ambient parts. As I continued research for the feature, I came across comments alluding to similarities between this track and another piece from a completely different game: "Serenity" from Resident Evil 4. I looked up this piece out of curiosity, and was surprised to find it more than just similar. It seemed obvious that both these pieces were using sampling for their compositions, and I started looking for further information. It didn't take long to track down "To Burble and Pine" by David Torn as the source. Interestingly, it seems unclear whether sampling was approved for the piece, yet it has been apparently been incorporated into a multitude of musical media. The linking factor in most instances seems to be the company Capcom, which published both Monster Hunter and Resident Evil, as well as other franchises in which "To Burble and Pine" appears. The most intricate incorporation I came across was in "Ancient Castle" from Devil May Cry. Ultimately I'm just fascinated that a single sample had such widespread usage.

Knights of Round - Bell of Avici ~ Infinite Nightmare The amount of times I've passed over this circle in favor of something else has finally paid off! "Bell of Avici" works best when its motifs can run smoothly into each other at a brisk pace, and there are few genres better for that presentation then this. HertzDevil - Hatate Unlock My hands were tied on this one; the piece is understandably lacking in coverage, and I was happy enough to find this improbable arrangement. It's been years since I've featured HertzDevil, so it should be fine. :) SilentBird - The Hide and Seek Lifestyle at the Shrine While I technically had more options than for "Congratulation Screen," they were still severely limited. The next best option was a rudimentary chiptune arrangement, and I didn't want it to follow HertzDevil. SilentBird arguably deserves the recognition anyway.

The first Monster Hunter game released in 2004 on the PS2 with approximately thirty-four officially recognized music tracks. Normally I don't bother with such details, but in the case of this franchise they can help mitigate confusion as to where specific tracks actually originate from; due to frequent re-use of older themes in newer titles, regular expansions and ports, and an inconsistent soundtrack publication system, it can be an ordeal tracking down the proper origin of a given piece. Yet I consider the effort to be worthwhile, because this series has consistently turned out some of the best non-jrpg orchestral soundtracks in the video game industry. The major name for this feature is Masato Kouda, who composed most of the music, but deserves particular credit for the franchise's main theme "Proof of a Hero." Not only is this track the best composition of this collection, it has also stood the test of time as the series has grown with surprisingly little alteration to its arrangement. That being said, there are two other names associated with the volume, these being Tetsuya Shibata and Mitsuhiko Takano, and while I'm not completely sure which tracks these are responsible for, I have my suspicions; certain pieces are notably distinct in style from the rest, and I wouldn't be surprised if these more experimental contributions came from a different place than the main themes. Overall, I'm surprised and impressed at how close to modern Monster Hunter this soundtrack still sounds. While this may bring into question the innovation across future entries, it also testifies to a strong start that set the tone for the series, and not many such long-lasting franchises claim as much. I was a bit disappointed with the lesser focus on melody in the monster themes themselves, but I also respect the intention thereof; besides, the town and activity themes make up for it well enough. Given the stronger melodies in X/Generations, I wonder if there was a change at some point between?

Ridil - SPACE TRAVELERS -1969's extended- Ridil has apparently dedicated a bit of attention to this piece, having arranged multiple adaptations for it. Of the ones I found, this was my personal favorite; with or without the samples, this would still invoke feelings of outer-atmosphere exploration, and the melody keeps it all together. Attrielectrock - The Orbit Coincidentally, another space-themed title, though the tone of this remix is certainly distinct from the previous piece. Perhaps we take the first as the launch, and this second as the arrival? The higher energy of this piece is not enough to push it past "chill," and I think both pieces compliment each other well. Fractaleline - Thoughtfulness Three for three on borderline chill type pieces. This one has a unique sampling style that makes it stand out significantly; interestingly, it is the second arrangement of this track that I found in this style, though I'm sure there's no direct association between it and the source material. This one is a bit more consistent with its usage thereof, but I actually chose it over the other because it was a fresh artist.