VGM of the Day #10: Fate Corrodes Me

"None of that matters to me now! Neither of you understand my pain! I must do it! For the death of my brother... WU MUST PAY!"

Long-ass story time incoming.

In the Three Kingdoms era of ancient China, the land was split into the hands of three warlords: Liu Bei of Shu, Cao Cao of Wei, and Sun Quan of Wu.

Now, Liu Bei was a pretty nice guy, made lots of friends, believed in virtue, yada yada. The point is, he had sworn an oath of brotherhood with two other men who later became his generals; a vow to die on the field of battle in the same second of the same minute of the same hour.

Fast forward a bit to the Battle of Fan Castle. The forces of Shu and Wei are battling it out, things are going smoothly for Shu troops, who during this battle were being led by one of Liu Bei's sworn brothers, Guan Yu. That is, until out of nowhere, Wu reinforcements back up the forces of Wei, ambushing and killing Guan Yu.

Before this, Shu and Wu had gotten along quite well, actually. They saw Cao Cao as the common threat in this three-way fight for control of the land. But it was the last straw. Throwing away his virtue, defying his retainers' advice, and generally being pissed off, he and his troops marched on Wu in the Battle of Yi Ling. THAT'S when this song plays.

Phew, that was a lot of context.

True to the title, Fate Corrodes Me is a dark and angry marching track. The demented guitar and thick bassline have a brooding air about it that makes you wonder if what you're doing is right, as you slash your way through hundreds of Wu troops. It does a great job of matching and portraying Liu Bei's rage, and it's got Koei written all over it.

I love the contrast in the two melodies of the song. At :35, it sounds sad, forlorn; Liu Bei's brother had been slain, and he wasn't sure if he was making the right decision by pursuing Wei. Maybe his advisers were right; was he making a mistake?

Then later, at 1:41, it gets much more tense. It's clear that even if what he's doing is wrong, he can't just let Wu pull a fast one like that. There's no more air of uncertainty in the song, as his mind was made up. It was payback time.

Chances are, if you're playing Dynasty Warriors, you probably can't hear the music anyways over the plethora of death cries, but the guys at Koei did a great job on this one. Perfect fit for what was going on, and I love that in a song.

The Verdict: Makes you wanna kill a man. Or several hundred of them.