VGM of the Day #12: Opening Stage (Zero)

The Mega Man X series has seen its share of ups and downs, with its graphics overhauls and complete dimensional revamping (Yeah, I'm looking at you, X7), but X4 stands out in my book. This is because:

1) It was the first entry on PS1, so right off the bat we're talking better music and graphics.

and 2) It finally gave gamers what they wanted most out of the series: A chance to play as Zero.

Granted, Zero WAS playable in Mega Man X3, for about 30 seconds, but that was a tease. In X4, the scarlet asskicker is finally playable in his own complete storyline, and he got his own theme, to boot!

Much like the opening stage itself, this track is a fast-paced thrill ride. You can tell just from the intro that it just got REAL. Kinda short, but then again, I don't think I've ever seen a long MM stage, so that works out. The guitar work is on point (especially the solo in the middle), and the percussion goes freaking hardcore. It makes for an exciting start to a game, only enhanced by the fact that you aren't using X for once.

What? You say you picked X? Well reset the game and try again!

The Verdict: Kicks as much ass as Zero does; fast-paced and to the point.

VGM of the Day #11: Run, Sword Fighter!

I love Brave Fencer Musashi. I must've beaten that game like ten times when I was younger. It was so action-packed and exciting, but more importantly, it was the first RPG I'd ever played that wasn't turn-based, so I took it as a big deal. Maybe if I went back and played it today I'd think differently of the game, but memories like that never change.

It was hard to select a song this time around, to be honest. Pretty much every song in the game is overly intense and uncalled for, and that's a big part of what made the game so exciting for me. It made even the most mundane errands in the game epic adventures, and I loved that.

Run, Sword Fighter! is one such song. Starting off gently for all of about two seconds, you immediately get your face rocked by the hard-hitting drums and bass. The drama of it all turns a simple venture from Point A to Point B into this balls-out race to the finish, complete with hordes of enemies to whack at along the way.

The over-the-top style of the music takes the game pretty far, and suits the action well. The game itself might not be the masterpiece I perceived it as when I was a young'un, but I can't deny musical production like this.

The Verdict: Way too intense for a leisurely jog.

And on a side note, Squaresoft is better than Square Enix. But that's a tale for another day.

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.

VGM of the Day #9: Release the Seal

There comes a time in life where one must be prepared to put everything on the line to save the planet. The goal is clear, the evil that must be defeated is revealed. There are no more uncertainties, no more questions to be asked. The culmination of everything one has ever done leads up to this moment - the people they might have come across, the ups and the downs, everything - but will those memories be protected? Or destroyed?

...no? That's only in video games, you say? Well drat.

Anyways, Release the Seal serves as the final battle theme in Blue Dragon, that last epic moment that determines the fate of the world. Complete with a tense bassline, cryptic chanting and some sick guitar work, Nobuo Uematsu made sure that this track would leave a lasting impression on gamers. It's a very well done piece designed to deliver closure and that all-or-nothing feel; when you heard this, you KNEW it would be the conclusion of the game. And deliver it does with flying colors. Good thing you bought 99 Phoenix Talons, eh?

I find it kinda funny that chanting always manages to make its way into the final battle. Anywhere else in the game and it might seem a little odd and out of place, but for the final boss fight, it tends to up the ante a bit. Nice touch.

It's a hype-laden, over-the-top end of an era, and a thrilling conclusion like that of Blue Dragon's was only made more memorable by the music accompanying it. It might not be as widely renowned as the likes of One Winged Angel, but it's pretty damn solid in my book.

The Verdict: Fantastic way to end the game; intense and memorable.

VGM of the Day #8: A Fleeting Respite

Freaking Mondays.

You know the feeling; you wake up ten minutes before the alarm is set to go off. You can't go back to bed, and you don't want to get out of bed, either. You have two options: wait in vain for the inevitable despite your best hopes otherwise, or get off your lazy ass for once and start the day early. Lose-lose.

The Castlevania series gave me that same vibe a lot. There's a world to save and a castle to destroy, but you need to work hard for victory. Backtracking to get the item you need to double-jump, only to approach another wall on the other side that you need the high jump for - it challenged my will to keep playing with how little I've accomplished.

This track expresses that pretty well. Underlying tones of sadness and joy make for a mixed bag of emotions, filling the air of Yoko's shop. Aptly titled, A Fleeting Respite represents that brief moment of rest that you've earned, but before long it's back to work, no matter how much you want to fight it. You've got a job to do, and there's no getting around it.

Freaking Mondays.

The Verdict: Nice blend of happy and sad; catchy and refreshing.

VGM of the Day #5: Rock Club

HEY DEAN YOU DIDNT POST ANYTHING YESTERDAY

I am aware of this and I apologize. I had stuff to do, I promise. Moving on, today we're discussing Rock Club from Scott Pilgrim: The Game.

BUT DUDE ANOTHER WINTER IS THE BEST SONG IN THE GAME

Okay, that's enough out of you.

Though it's true that Anamanaguchi did a great job with the entirety of the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack, Rock Club is one of the few songs that make it clear that shit just got real. It's a fast-paced, bring-the-pain, beat-the-crap-out-of-dudes song that starts off strong and that's exactly what I'd want in a beat 'em up. I love the mix of chiptunes and real instrumentation that Anamanaguchi is known for, and for a game like this I believe it's the perfect fit.

While Another Winter might go down in history as one of the best Stage 1 themes ever, Rock Club is the track that reminds you what the game is all about: Getting together with a few friends (Seriously, have you tried beating that game by yourself? Good luck with that) and beating the crap out of things. I respect that.

The Verdict: Makes it perfectly clear that it's time to punch people in the face. Highly recommended.

What do you think about this song? Post your opinion in the comments!

SilverTrinity Rants About Video Game Music - BlazBlue

I've been playing BlazBlue a lot recently, and can tell you that there is more depth to this than there is to a lot of other fighting games. Whether SFIV is one of those, I'm not sure, but regardless, this ranks among my top 3 fighting games ever. If anybody's played and liked Guilty Gear, don't shy away from picking this up; it's awesome.

And so is the game's music. Much like Guilty Gear before it, the soundtrack in this game is heavily rock-inspired , yet still somehow strongly diverse among the 12 character's themes. Except for Taokaka's and Tager's themes, all the character tracks have an electric guitar accompanied by whatever fits the character (Rachel's theme has an organ and Hakumen' s sounds Asian, for example).

Now, usually, I don't approve of the game's music being too rock-heavy, or too biased into one any one genre, for that matter. but the action gets intense during play, and it fits that so well. As for the remainder of the tracks, they take on a much less bring-the-pain role. The intro has Japanese lyrics (joy of all joys -_-), and the main menu is actually pretty good and catchy, unlike a certain recent fighting game that I won't be playing for a while.

The song I'm most pleased with in the game is actually a lyrical piece that only plays when my favorite character (Bang) activates his Distortion Drive. This song right here can motivate a paraplegic to run a marathon, it's so good. It can motivate you to run outside in a snowstorm and DODGE SNOWFLAKES, it's so good. It can make you want to die, come back from the dead, and AVENGE YOURSELF, it's so good.

But I digress. Though it may not work for some anti-rockers, it's actually really good in terms of production and arrangement.

SilverTrinity's Score: 8.0 / 10.

SilverTrinity Rants About Video Game Music - Street Fighter IV

As there is not much else to do at this time of day but listen to music and chat with my buddies on MSN/AIM/what-have-you, I was doing just that when all of a sudden fellow Psychotic Gaming member Scykoh sends me an IM telling me that he sent me an invitation to be an author on his new blog. So, thinking about what I could blog about from one bad idea to another it occurred to me that I should express my opinions about something I'm knowledgable about.

Right off the bat, the first thing I thought of was my taste in music, for I prefer (In contrast to Scykoh's incoherent drivel) to hear the tunes of my favorite videogames over that of "real" music. As that's all I really listen to anyway, and as not many people favor VGM over other genres of music, I decided to have an episodic blog about various games, past and present, in which I critique their soundtracks.

The first installment of this frequent rant is about one of my favorite games of all time, for sure: Street Fighter IV. After a long hiatus since its last numbered entry in the series, it easily proved that this old series still has it, easily making my Top Game of '09 (Take that, Modern Warfare 2!) and redefining itself as a series. I can't wait until Super Street Fighter IV comes out; it's all Dee Jay, man, watch out.

HOWEVER!

As much as I enjoy the game and the series as a whole, I am displeased to say that the soundtrack in this game is somewhat lackluster. The majority of the stages (Except for the Training Stage, which is awesome) have these generic kind of synth-heavy tunes that are largely forgettable the instant you put the game down. There are 4 pairs of stages that actually use extremely slightly tweaked versions of the same song. C'mon, now.

The tracks in this game are a nausea-inducing, half-techno, half-crap hybrid that make me want to play (thanks to the beauty of the Custom Soundtrack feature) my good ol' Third Strike soundtrack over that of the game's. And I do. Because it's bad.

Now, that's not to say that every single track in this game is bad. There are indeed a few tracks that stand above the rest of the pack for me, and most of them are in the form of the remixed versions of the existing tracks in previous installments.

Ryu, Sakura, Guile, Chun-Li, Cammy, and Zangief all have wonderfully done renditions of their past theme songs. 4 of the fresh new faces in the games- Abel, Viper, El Fuerte, and Seth - have nice, fresh stuff to bring to the table. Akuma and Gouken basically have 2 halves of the same theme, but they're nice nonetheless.

The only problem is that these tracks only play during Rival Battles or the online lobby. Bad move.

Now, I have one more beef I have to address before I give a score. Everybody knows what it is, everybody has their own opinion towards it, and I repect that. But, I must be honest. THE INTRO/MAIN MENU THEME in this game makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. It's a completely and utterly terrible piece of music. In English and Japanese, the beat is grating, the lyrics are irritating, and it doesn't fit. If this load of crap taints the sanctity of my main menu on Super Street Fighter IV, you can count me out, Capcom. Ugh.

All in all, I don't think it really fits with the game too well, it's forgettable, and while it has its high spots, it has far more numerous bad spots.

SilverTrinity's score: 6.0 / 10.