Wednesday, August 1, 2018

MIDI Week Singles: "Loftbuckler" - Battle Chasers: Nightwar (NS)


"Loftbuckler" from Battle Chasers: Nightwar on the Nintendo Switch, PC, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, & Linux (2017)
Composer: Clark Powell
Label: THQ Nordic
Developer: Airship Syndicate



I've been slowly working my way through Battle Chasers: Nightwar these last few months, and I feel only a little bad not having featured any of Clark Powell's music, but today I correct that by calling upon "Loftbuckler."  

Now, I wouldn't be surprised if you could manage playing the entirety of Battle Chasers without ever coming upon this song, not because it's a super exclusive song that only becomes available after you've beaten the rare and randomly generated giant eldrich space opossum, but because this song is played when your group is ambushed (although ambushed might be too strong a word) by bandits in an airship.  And it's not like you don't see the airship coming, you do, but it is pretty easy to be distracted by on-screen shinies or be cornered like Pac-Man with nary a Power Pellet in sight.

Now, about this song.  I'm a sucker for a good sea chanty, and this comes across sort of like a sea chanty battle hymn.  Then it goes from sea battle chanty to the heavy drum B section before returning to what I at first thought was a loop, but at around 1:00, there is a guitar bit that sounds reminiscent of something Matt Uelman would have written for Diablo.  And despite how much trouble I am given during these fights (I think I have a 50% survival rate currently), I really like this ditty.  It is fun spirited, which is perfect considering the difficulty of these battles.  But again, I'm a sucker for a good piratey-type song.  And "Loftbuckler" is a great name for this song, even though I have no idea what it means.  It's just got this pirate/bandity tone to it.

The biggest thing that surprised me about this song was how short it was.  The airship battles usually run me at least 10 minutes and I would not have been able to tell you that this song had repeated nearly seven times by that point.  Perhaps that's just one of the touchstones for a great fight song that you are likely (or unlikely if you're awake and fast enough) to hear during the game.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

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