MIDI Week Singles: "My Quiet Forest Home" - Octopath Traveler (NS)

"My Quiet Forest Home" from Octopath Traveler on the Nintendo Switch (2018)

Composer: Yasunori Nishiki

Album: Octopath Traveler (Original Soundtrack)

Label: Square Enix Music

Publisher: Square Enix

Developer: Square Enix Business Division 11

I do not know if this song crops up anywhere else in Octopath Traveler or if Duskbarrow is the only town/place where My Quiet Forest Home" plays, or maybe I was just in the right mind-space after running away from battle after battle in order to get through a forested region that was full of monsters 5-21 levels higher than my party members.  Whatever the reason was, this track hit me like a calming wave of contentment, and despite not actually being able to do or afford or do much in Duskbarrow, I wanted to stay.

Everything about this song is peaceful and serene, with no noticeable undercurrent of impending dread lurking around the corner.  From the opening theme-lette on the piano to the what I will call a cello bringing a soulful and heartfelt melody, I love everything about this song.  Maybe I am getting too sappy, but when the song loops back to the beginning and the piano is once again playing by itself, to me it is saying, just as the cello starts again, "Remember, this is why you're here."  I don't really know why that phrase pops into my head during this one specific section of the song, but it just does, and it makes me happy.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Across an Endless Horizon


P.S.  Now I need to listen to more of Yasunori Nishki's music to find out why I get massive Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda vibes (unrelated to the fact that Octopath Traveler's visual style is reminiscent of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger).