MIDI Week Singles: "In the Town" - Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelations (NDS)

"In the Town" from Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelations on the Nintendo DS (2011)

Composer: Koichi Sugiyama

Album: No Official Soundtrack Release (That I Could Find for the DS Version)

Developer: Arte Piazza

You know, why not make November Dragon Quest music month here at Stage Select Start?  After reading Dr. Potts' article about Dragon Quest VIII, I recalled that I had put down DQVI some time ago and thought it deserved another shot, so that is what I have been playing for most of the month.

I decided to use "In the Town" because it intrigued me a bit.  Aside from your starting village, "In the Town" plays for every town that you go in, which is pretty standard when it comes to video games and specifically RPGs.  But what it is that I find interesting about this song, is that even when you visit the Dream World, the town theme is the same.  And even in the Real World (I've forgotten if it is referred to as anything else), there are rumors of the threat of Murdaw and his armies taking over the world.  It is a rather cheerful song, which is what I am getting at.  Koichi Sugiyama has written another song that just sounds like a small town or village theme, but you would not know that anything wrong is happening in the outside world.

I guess you could say that is my one and only criticism of this song, but again, it is a damn good town song.

Now as to the "Album" section above.  I could find no mention of this song on the Super Famicom 2009 soundtrack release, but the 2009 Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest VI: The Phantom World album does contain "In the Town" as part of a medley.  Surprisingly too was that there was  no soundtrack released for the 2011 DS release, but that seems to have been the case with the DS remakes until the Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King 3DS remake last year.  

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Long I Have Waited To Have My Revenge

MIDI Week Singles - "Overture" - Dragon Quest 8 (PS2)

"Overture" Dragon Quest VIII - PS2

Composer: Koichi Sugiyama

Album: Dragon Quest VIII original soundtrack

Publisher: Aniplex

Given I'm still not that far into the game, I've decided to share the opening theme of Dragon Quest VIII.  The song is very grand, and I'm sure there are some musical terms I don't know to describe the beginning which has sort of a call to attention, before settling into a steady theme full of big horns and cymbal crashes. I like that the song comes to a conclusion rather than fading out or repeating.  It gives it a sense like the opening of a play, introducing the world before the action begins.  This song sets the tone for what has been a light and colorful cartoon adventure.   

-D 

Monthly Update: November 2017

Hmmmmmm, November.  I had thought about participating in NaNoWriMo, as I usually do every year around the end of October.  This year I was planning on either writing a new D&D story since novel writing is not entirely my thing, although I probably could have adapted "The Breaking of the Dawn" into a full fledged story if I focused a bit on the background of Bellamon and the history of the First Order of the Ever Dawn.  However, as is typically the case, November kind of snuck up and excuses abound, I am working more than I was last year (considering last year I was in the middle of my internship) so I do not really have the time to write no less than 1,667 words every day when I also have to sleep, wake up, make coffee, hang out a bit with Conklederp, leave for work, work, leave work, spend time with Conklederp while decompressing from work, eat dinner, spend time with Conklederp, then sleeping again.  My days are kind of full, although I guess you could say that if I were to cut out some of the time I spend during the day playing video games (which is usually during the "spend time with Conklederp time" as we are both playing something), I might be able to make it work.

Oh yeah, and I like spending time here too, obviously as I am writing this on Sunday morning while I have water boiling for that ever loving coffee and considering cooking some bacon because BACON!

And BOOM, just like that it is Monday night.  Stuff happens.  We get caught up doing non video game related activities (like stripping paint off of roughly 200 square feet of hardwood floors, and entering bills and invoices into an online accounting program).

So let's make this (or at least the rest of it) a quick one.

It seems like I was the most productive on the 3DS in October, finishing Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, as well as starting and finishing Metroid II: Return of Samus.  I also started up Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and am enjoying being lost and frequently dying possibly even more than in Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition.

Other games I started last month were the new season of The Walking Dead from Telltale Games and if the game would stop crashing I would probably enjoy the game a lot more, and Wolfenstein 3D because it has been a while since I last booted up Castle Wolfenstein way back in the early 90s.  And yes, I am playing the edition (the only one that is available on GOG) where you can save as frequently as you like and yes, I am playing it on the default Bring 'Em On.  I have also been playing Darkwood off and on, but mainly because it is a pretty stressful game and at the moment, I am not sure how well I am playing the game and I cannot see what the end game is, so I find that that is a bit of a drag on the motivation.

Movies last month too were more abundantly covered than in the past and I was on the verge of posting another article on Friday about two Stephen King movies that are on Netflix, 1922, and Gerald's Game.

BaDOOM!  

Now we are firmly rooted in Friday because apparently that is just how fast the last seven days have decided to be.  I am eagerly awaiting Amazon to deliver my copy of DOOM for the Switch which was released today, but for whatever reason, will not arrive until the 14th.  Lastly (not really, but let us put this thing out to pasture because this is getting out of hand), I am about 12 hours into Final Fantasy III on the SNES Classic.  It might just be my favorite game of all time.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Extremely Vexed We Were


P.S.  If you've made it this far, I hint that there might be something ghostly in our new house that may only be visible with a camera of the 3rd dimensional kind.  That's all I'm allowed to reveal.

MIDI Week Singles: "Unknown World" - Dragon Warrior (GBC)

"Unknown World" or "Go Out on the Plain" from Dragon Warrior I & II on the Game Boy Color (2000)

Composer: Koichi Sugiyama

Album: No Official Album Release

Developer: Chunsoft

A lot of what I could say about Dragon Warrior I & II that was released on the Game Boy Color back in 2000 I already covered last year in the MIDI Week Single article about Ladutorum / Tentegel Castle.  The same applies here too, but additionally so with the song title.  The original title that was given to the song from the 1986 Dragon Quest Symphonic Suite album was "Unknown World" although the title given on the unofficial soundtrack release out there in the ether is "Go Out on the Plains."

So I have wanted to use this song for a while and Dr. Potts' post yesterday about Dragon Quest VIII was just the kick the keester I needed to pull this one out.  The main difference between this 1993 Super Famicom arrangement and the melody written back in 1986, is that the original song only lasted 30 seconds before it would loop back on itself.  The 1993 arrangement is also just a bit slower, where as the original song lasted about 25 seconds.  The additional music that comprises the rest of this arrangement was created for the 1993 arrangement.

Confused yet?  I guess that is the problem when referencing music that was originally written in 1986, re-arranged in 1993, then converted to another arrangement using another sound chip in 2000.  Either, way, this is one of those songs that I could just let play over and over.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

For Us To Make Ammends

First Impressions: Dragon Quest VIII (PS2)

Yes, I'm just going to quietly write a first impressions article as though I haven't taken the better part of a year off from posting anything.  Also, this technically isn't my first impressions of Dragon Quest VIII, I had some experience with the game about ten years ago when my friend and roommate Zor The Red played through it and I watched him, intermittently.  However, that was a long time ago, and the game feels pretty new to me.

Jane watched me play for the first hour, and the thing that made the strongest impression on her was how very adorable the enemies are.  She's not wrong, they really are cute.  I never really noticed this in the earlier NES Dragon Quest games, but here in PS2 High Fidelity, SquareEnix chose to really highlight the cuteness.  In fact, I can now see how easily a Pokemon clone could be born from this universe of adorable monsters.  

The Dancing Devil's Sultry Dance would make Jane lol every time

Play-wise, I find the games retro-turned based approach to combat to be soothing.  It's a throwback with updated graphics, and sometimes that's just the thing.  Turn based combat can lend to some pretty hairy situations where you must make very careful decisions.   The voice acting is really good too, full of earnest overacting that reminds me of any great mid-budget cartoon.  The world in general is very light and optomistic in tone, a nice antidote to the dreary worlds of other media.  

Coming off of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Dragon Quest VIII's world is markedly un-interactive, but this is only occasionally frustrating; when I run into a small obstacle I can't simple jump or climb over.  That being said, the view distance is really great, and I get the impression that, much like BOTW, what I am seeing is actually there, not simply part of the backdrop.  

All in all, I'm pretty happy to be playing this game just after the end of Daylight Savings, and moving into the winter where playing a retro RPG on the couch is just the ticket. 

-D

P.S. a HUUUUGE thank you to Jaconian for giving me this copy to play!  Thank you thank you thank you.  I have no excuse for having been silent so long.  

MIDI Week Singles: "Wondering About My Loved Ones" - Wolfenstein 3D (PC)

"Wondering About My Loved Ones" from Wolfenstein 3D on MS-DOS (1992)

Composer: Robert Prince

Album: No Official Release

Developer: id Software

First off, it was semi-surprisingly difficult to find this particular version of "Wondering About My Loved Ones," which is the version that plays in the 1992 MS-DOS version of the game that is available through GOG.  And because this song is as well known as it apparently is, there are dozens of arrangements, re-orchestrations, remixes, and covers, but what I wanted was the stripped down version that is in the game, not necessarily the version that composer Bobby Prince had written "as is" for the game.  And then there is a semi-soundtrack available with music from Wolfenstein 3D, it contains the music that Bobby Prince originally wrote.

So I landed on "Wondering About My Loved Ones" because while playing the game, I would hear about 10 seconds at most while in the process of saving my game and that was it.  The song in its entirety is not too different from those first 10 seconds, but there is another full minute of music before the song clips back into the beginning.  Plus Conklederp thinks it is a pretty funny song out of context (or even in context for that matter) and it is what I thought would be a good showcase going into November.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Torment Inflicted