MIDI Week Singles: "Braving the Battle [Metal Zone Theme] - Terra Battle (And/iOS)

 

"Braving the Battle [Metal Zone Theme] from Terra Battle on Android and iOS (2014)
Composer: Nobuo Uematsu
Album: No Official Release*
Publisher: Mistwalker
Developer: Mistwalker

I had considered using a song from Rad Racer, but I didn't want to use two songs in a row from the same album, so I jumped ahead 27 years and picked a song from the mobile game Terra Battle.  This is a game that Conklederp and I played quite a bit when it was released 11 years ago.  We went through a shortish phase playing a couple of co-op games in the days before Pokémon GO, and I think Terra Battle was one of the last ones.

Deciding on a song was a little difficult, but it was a toss-up between several battle songs; this one, for me, hit the nostalgia buttons the hardest.  I apparently spent a lot of time doing the Metal Zone because it was the easiest and fastest way to level up newly acquired characters quickly, so that everyone was roughly in the same ballpark of the same level.  It's just a fun, high-energy song from Nobuo Uematsu in the years since he left Square and seemed to be doing his own thing, although going back to work with Hironobu Sakaguchi was nice.  

And I thought this would be a fun way to go out on our accidental month of featuring tracks form less popular games in Nobuo Uematsu's career.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Click-Clock

You Must Be A Poseur

With the announcement of the nominations for "Best Score and Music" from the Jeff Keighley Awards, sorry, The Game Awards, I had considered listening to and featuring a track from each game as an upcoming MIDI Week Single.  Then, while listening through the soundtrack to Hades II by Darren Korb, who we've featured in the past, I began to feel like a poseur.

I haven't played any of the games that were nominated, mainly because I haven't played a lot of games that were released this year (2025) that I didn't receive from developers/publishers through Keymailer.  Not because the games didn't interest me, just that I'm finding it hard to buy new games at new game prices.  So here I am listening to the soundtracks to Silksong and Hades II, and while there've been quite a few songs that have piqued my interest, I don't really know what to say about them because I have no context for the song itself.  I could go by the title, be it "Fourth Chorus" or "Moonlight Guide Us," and then look up a playthrough to see how the song fits contextually with the game, but that just doesn't feel quite right.

Yes, I have done this exact same thing with older games, like recently with Apple Town Story and Metal Masters, and I think the main difference is that those are significantly older games or games that I am less likely to get around to playing because they're difficult to find, or out of print, or they're just not compatible with modern hardware.

So then why do I feel a smidgen of shame featuring music from Silksong or Clair Obsure: Expedition 33 or Ghost of Yotei?"  As best as I can explain it, I think it's because it feels like each of these games (along with Death Stranding 2) have fervent fan bases that if I talk about the music in the games, I'll be asked what my three favorite tracks are from the game, and what my three favorite moments are from the game, and what's my least favorite element from the last third of the game, and how come I haven't played Hollow Knight yet if I'm talking about Silksong, and that I'm not a real fan because I haven't had to wait eight years between releases.  You know, shit that I went through in Jr. High because god forbid I wear a Grateful Dead or a Megadeth shirt without being grilled about what my five favorite Dave Mustain solos were and why can't I play them on guitar, and why "Countdown to Extinction" is an inferior album compared to "Rust in Peace"?  Because every album released after "Rust in Peace" is an inferior album is the easy answer.

The short answer is that it's easier to talk about music from older games that fewer people are likely to have played than music from modern games (games released in the last 15-20 years, apparently) without fear of online harassment.  I've also found that with some older games like Ace Combat Advance, Dragon Spirit, or Amida, that people are simply happy to hear from a nostalgic favorite than care deeply if I've played the game or not; and I'm always upfront in the articles on that point.  I am a moderately soft-spoken introvert after all, which is why I still write on the Internet.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Instrumental

P.S.  I kid you not, while listening to the Hades II soundtrack, specifically "Coral Crown", a coworker walked by my office and said something along the lines of, "Hades II, nice track!"  I sheepishly said, "Oh, yeah," as if I knew exactly the context of the song.  But then he continued walking to the bathroom, so that was the end of our conversation.

MIDI Week Singles: "Shall I Play With My FC: BGM 2" - Apple Town Story: Little Computer People (FDS)

 

"Shall I Play With My FC: BGM 2" from Apple Town Story: Little Computer People on the Famicom Disc System (1987)

Composer: Nobuo Uematsu

Album: Preserved Tracks Collection 1986~1996 

Label: Square Enix Music

Publisher: Square

Developer: Square 

13 years before Maxis created The Sims, Square ported Activision's Little Computer People over to the Famicom Disk, and Nobuo Uematsu wrote some of his most minimalist music for a video game.  In Apple Town Story, the unnamed little girl goes about her daily life with little input from the player.  One of the activities that the player can suggest to the girl is to play on her Famicom, and from what I could tell from the playthrough I watched, she'll play one of three generic video games.  The only thing that differentiates the three games is the music that plays while our heroine aggressively button-mashes her way to defeat, and this song is the one that stuck out to me the most.

I like the somewhat high-energy drive of the music, and it even reminds me a little bit of "Pushing Onwards" from VVVVVV, but on a much smaller but no less grand a scale.  The song only plays for 53ish seconds after all, as you're not actually playing the game, you're just watching the girl play the game, albeit not very well, apparently.  Whatever game Nobuo Uematsu had in mind may not have extended beyond "exciting generic video game music," but it works here, and that's all that matters.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
And Sound the Anthem

First Impressions: The Escape (Itch.io)

[Disclaimer:  I received a review key for The Escpae through Keymailer, a third-party website/company that connects publishers and developers with content creators.  The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and content be created through the playing of the game and the experience.  Unless otherwise noted, all content in the following article is from my own playthrough of this game.] 

The Escape

Systems: Windows

Release Date: September 16, 2025

Publisher: Space Race

Developer: Space Race

Time Spent: ~38 Minutes

First Play Video on YouTube

Not taking into account that I was unable to record any usable videos while playing The Escape, I have several things to say about this game.  Some of my lack of enjoyment might be related to how the game ran on my computer, but I don't think all of the blame for the general poor performance lies with my laptop. But I cannot wholly rule out that possibility either, as I believe my laptop is on its way out; I did buy it five years ago, if I haven't already mentioned it.  And while some of my issues with the game lie with its performance, the majority of my criticisms lie with the game itself.

From what I was able to play, The Escape is a series of medium-sized, sparsely decorated interlocking escape rooms.  You start off in one room with a door, and after solving how to operate the lever next to the door, you're able to leave.  You then find yourself in a hallway with two large shutter-style doors on either end of the hallway, and another regular unlocked door.  All that I was able to discover during my time playing were the four rooms and two hallways.  Oftentimes, the puzzles required you to backrack to previous rooms after flipping the lever in any given room you're exploring

My issue with the game is that it feels like a lot of it was either made up of existing assets, or assets were created and just reused haphazardly.  For instance, you can move the lever in one room, but it's locked in another, and the game prompts you to find a crowbar.  But the crowbar and all of the other items I found were all single-use items.  For another lever, you're prompted to find an axe or a key.  I've done plenty of in-person escape rooms, so I know that you're often unlocking one puzzle to acquire an item to unlock another puzzle.  That's all that I felt I was doing here, except I didn't always know where the next puzzle was or where the "key" I had discovered was to be used.

The other issue is that the game switches back and forth between Italian and English, sometimes within the same sentence, without rhyme or reason.  I get that the developer, based on the Itch.io page for The Escape, is likely Italian, so the in-game text is also in Italian, and I managed to use the screen recording feature of Google Translate on my phone to get the gist of what I was supposed to find.  I could understand if the player is not supposed to understand Italian, like they're a person who only speaks English and they find themselves in an Italian prison/escape room, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

Lastly, the movement started getting really messed up after about 15 minutes.  I genuinely don't know what was going on, and I'm sad that OBS wasn't able to record it, because describing it is going to be difficult.  For most of the game, I was holding down the Left Shift key to run because there was a lot of space between rooms, the hallways were long, and I wasn't always sure if a switch in one room did something in the room I was in or a different room.  I was starting to notice that my movement was slowing, not in a reduced frames per second way, but that my character was moving slower while I could still turn at a regular and constant speed.  The 'bounce' of the camera, too, was becoming a lot more noticeable while trying to run.  And I think that's where a lot of my nauseating feelings originated.  A combination of the progressively slower and slower movement, the disconnect between what I was doing (pressing W to move and Left Shift to run), possibly the fact that you can't invert the y-axis, and the increased bouncing is ultimately what did me in.

And this was just from my first play attempt.

On several follow-up attempts, I had identical issues, although the slow-moving glitch/bug happened earlier than the 15-minute point, and I think my brain recognized what I was doing because I became nauseous in fewer than five minutes.  I tried playing the game three more times, and the uninspired puzzles coupled with the nausea meant that I've yet to escape from the starting four rooms and two hallways.  The Escape simply needs a lot more work for it to be fun and playable, but also feel like you're playing a finished product.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
I've Searched the Eye

MIDI Week Singles: "Prologue" - Final Fantasy Adventure (DMG)

 

"Prologue" from The Final Fantasy Legend (Makai Toushi Sa・Ga) on the Game Boy (1989)

Composer: Nobuo Uematsu

Album: All Sounds of SaGa

Label: NTT Publishing Co

Publisher: Square

Developer: Square

I do actually have a copy of The Final Fantasy Legend for the Game Boy at home, but I couldn't tell you where I acquired it.  I might have bought it, and I might have also been gifted it years/decades ago.  I don't think that I borrowed it and never returned it, although that is, enemas forbid, possible.  All of that to say, I have played a little bit of The Final Fantasy Adventure, but only long enough to not really understand or grasp the levelling, and fully appreciate the mechanics of leveling and nuances behind the mutant and monster classes.  So my experience with the SaGa series has been pretty limited to say the least.

But as of yesterday, having received a copy of Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered, I figured I should reacquaint myself with the origins of the SaGa series and play the games from the beginning.  What I love about "Prologue" by Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu is that it doesn't sound derivative of the "Prologue" theme from the Final Fantasy series.  This opening title track is its own thing, and I am thankful for listening to this song with stereo speakers instead of the single speaker on the Game Boy because there is some fantastic left/right speaker action going on within the first couple of seconds.  What I love about "Prologue" is that, while a heartfelt piece that plays during the opening titles and while you create your playable character, it could also double as a callback in the late game during some Final Fantasy IV-level revelation about the Tower to Paradise, or any other NPC you meet along the way with this kicking in as a reprise; I've only just restarted the game, so we'll have about 20 hours to wait and see on that prediction.  

I also love that, despite having to learn a new music input language from the NES and SNES, Nobuo Uematsu doesn't feel like he's let the 8-bit Game Boy music chip hold him back from creating something beautiful, soulful, and powerful.  Once again.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Who Could Hang A Name On You

First Impressions: MOUTHOLE (NS1 & NS2)

[Disclaimer:  I received a review key for MOUTHOLE through Keymailer, a third-party website/company that connects publishers and developers with content creators.  The game was given without promise or expectation of a positive review, only that the game be played and content be created through the playing of the game and the experience.  Unless otherwise noted, all content in the following article is from my own playthrough of this game.]  

MOUTHOLE
Release Date: April 1, 2024
Systems: Windows, Steam OS, PlayStation 4 & 5, Nintendo Switch 1 & 2
Publisher: Sometimes You
Developer: Anything Nose
Time Spent: 3+ Hours
Highlights Playlist on YouTube

First off, I recently discovered that the developers, Anything Nose, are no longer in business as of May 2025.  The game was delisted on Steam shortly after the studio closed, although it's still being released on consoles, so Sometimes You is now receiving the money for their work on their ports.

Anyway.

MOUTHOLE is a bit of a strange game.  It's kind of a 3D walking-sim, point-and-click adventure game with some light puzzles, time management, and a touch of not-quite-a-rogue-lite since there is a New Game mode that retains some progressions from previous playthroughs.  I had originally thought that I was going to write a Game EXP article, but then I noticed that there are 11 possible endings, and while I was putting together videos, I was again noticing all of the things that I had either missed or just altogether skipped on my first playthrough.

The premise of MOUTHOLE is that you go to see a dentist who tells you that your teeth are in horrid condition and that you likely have only five days before they completely rot out of your head.  You're asked a couple of questions that may or may not have some impact on your particular playthrough.  You wake up each morning in wonderful Majora's Mask style, with the game telling you how many days you have left before your teeth all fall out.  Your day is then filled with activities that often take an absurd amount of time, such as an hour to brush your teeth, drinking beer for two hours, or taking six hours to build a door.  You only have so many hours in a day, and once you reach 21:00 or later (you can start a task before 21:00), then the game tells you you're too tired to do whatever it is you're trying to do and gives you the option to sleep on the floor.  Or you can just continue to wander and then go to sleep in your bed.  Very respectable.

You can also crawl inside your mouth to access environmentally different areas to find items to use in the real world that can help you progress through the story and puzzles.  Did I not mention that you can crawl inside your mouth?  That's a thing you can do here, and it's just as weird as it sounds.  You stand in front of the mirror in your recently cleaned bathroom and crawl into your mouth.  Once inside, there are four, possibly five portals to other areas accessible by different parts of your body.  I think.  One portal takes you to a desert mesa with a sentient worm (RFK Jr. be jealous) while another takes you to the space where two eyes look at each other, while black mushroom-like polyp-things can sprout while green fluid gushes down from one eye to the other.  I don't quite know what to make of it all.

And then there are things that I don't have an answer for, like what the red glove behind the white caution fence on the mesa is all about.  Or what 17:00 has to do with the sundial in the room just off of the kitchen; yes, I visited there specifically at 17:00, and nothing happened and I couldn't trigger anything.  Or what happens if you drink all of the beer?  Or if you only brush your teeth.  Or what that little platform with the church-like-building in your stomach (was that area your stomach?) was about?  Or the eight other possible things that could have led to eight of the other endings I didn't see.  The end of your run, be it from your teeth decomposing in your mouth, collapsing on the ground, or dying in a car crash, the end game text gives some hints as to what you're capable of completing during your five days in your house before you see the dentist at the end-end of the game.

I have no doubt that there are overly complex endings that will require a detailed walkthrough, while others can be triggered simply by falling off the stairs; I found that one at least, testing to see if fall damage was a thing.  MOUTHOLE is a bizarre and surreal experimental game that likely won't land with everyone, and its weirdness was just enough to be mildly gross, but still entertaining.  I was entertained at least.  So mission accomplished?

Now to figure out how to lead a balanced life where your teeth don't fall out in the end.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Rejoice the Dreams

MIDI Week Singles: "Rebel Army Theme" - Final Fantasy II (FAM)

 

"Rebel Army Theme" from Final Fantasy II on nearly everything at this point (1988 - 2024)

Composer: Nobuo Uematsu

Album: All sounds of Final Fantasy I - II (and several others)

Label: DATAM, POLYSTAR

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Square

I remember first hearing this theme as Scene VII on the album, "Symphonic Suite Final Fantasy," that I bought online (with my parents' credit card) sometime in 1997.  I had never played Final Fantasy II, although I had recently only become aware of its existence.  It easily became one of my favorite tracks on the album, even with all the other orchestrated tracks from the game I already knew —the original Final Fantasy.  It's not many 30-second songs that can be elongated into nearly five and a half minutes of heart-wrenching majesty.

Thirty seconds!  That's how long this original song lasts before it loops back in on itself.  I don't have the knowledge to break down something that lasts for that short of time because you know that every single note is so purposeful and deliberate.  There's a melody that somehow is able to convey both emotional feeling and a drive to make the world a better place while still having some semblance of a cobbled-together amateur militaristic resistance to a growing oppressive power.

I decided to use the original Famicom version while playing the Pixel Remaster version mainly because the newly orchestrated soundtrack clashes with me while playing an NES/Famicom-era game.  Even with the enhanced visuals and presentation, hearing this theme in 8-bit stereo feels a lot more natural to me.

That's all I've got.  I love this song, and replaying Final Fantasy II has only made me appreciate the game a lot more than just being a sequel to the Final Fantasy that I played over and over again on the original NES.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Think of Your Destination Number

Monthly Update: November, 2025

 

I don't really know where to start with November.  

We're fortunate enough to make enough to not have to worry about cancelled SNAP benefits, and I feel it's definitely coming from a place of privilege to be okay with the US Senate Democrats not voting for the one-sided Republican budget that doesn't do anything to address rising healthcare costs (that they already cut with Trump's first and likely only legislation for his entire four-year term).  And we all know that their position of, "Well, let's pass our bill first and then when we all come back and when the government is funded, we can talk about the Affordable Health Care subsidies that expire January 1st, 2026."  It's very much in the Republican playbook to claim one thing one day, then back down on it the next.  Look at their position of not voting for a Supreme Court Justice until after the 2016 election, but then voting in a new Justice in 2020, one week before the 2020 election.  Or the Republicans' position to not want to hold hearings/voting on federal and district court judges during Obama's presidency (yes, there were appointments, but there was a lot of stonewalling by the Republican Senate as well).  The point is, the Republicans in the Senate and House won't do anything without Drumpf's approval, and the only thing he cares about right now is his ostentatious ballroom, the marble in a renovated bathroom, and being pandered to in foreign countries.

Where was I?

Oh, right.  Vidya gambinos.

I know I didn't post as much as I had wanted to last month, but I kinda fell into a rhythm of posting about games I received through Keymailer on Friday while still maintaining our usual MIDI Week Singles.  I have a couple of additional Keymailer games coming up this month with Mouthole, The Escape, and [Herror] Gas Station Case, plus I will also have a slough of articles for Resident Evil 6 now that I've finished that game.  Although "finished" is relative because I only went through each campaign once, even though with the first three, there are two playable characters with ever so slightly different routes when characters split up.  It would be interesting to play through Chris' campaign with Piers' arc, but that campaign was also the one I was least interested in gameplay-wise overall, and I don't really want to replay the 47 stages of the Simmons fight in Leon's campaign.  So it's not very likely that I'll be replaying any of Resident Evil 6.  My plan is to have an article for each campaign and then one for the game as a whole, if I get around to having everything done on time. We'll save Resident Evil 6 for December. But if you want, I have selected videos from my entire playthrough up on YouTube in a handy and convenient playlist.

I've also jumped back into Fire Emblem: Awakening while at work.  It's nice because the battles don't feel like they take as much time as a typical tactics game, or even Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade.  The no-feet thing is still exceedingly distracting.  I also feel that, in typical Fire Emblem sense, with the weapon degradation mechanic, there isn't much of an incentive to engage in non-story battles since there aren't typical JRPG gold drops to build up gold stores to buy weapons after they've broken or repaired them.  At least Chrom's sword is unbreakable, so that incentivises the player to actually use them in battle instead of keeping them in the back to avoid them dying and the battle automatically ending (although there is still that fear).

I know back in January, I said that I was going to play through games that I had received through crowdfunding campaigns, so now that we're firmly in Quarter 4 of 2025, let's get a brief rundown of where we're at with that list:

• Hatch Tales: Still playing, but not as frequently.
• Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened: Unplayed.
• 9 Years of Shadow: Hit a skill wall about 75% of the way through.
• Lords of Exile: Only played the first level.
• Chrono Sword: Unplayed.
• Meifumado: Have played about an hour.
• Mashina: Have played just over an hour.
• The Sinking City 2: Not released yet.
• Mariachi Legends: Not released yet.

So, not great, not terrible.  I mean, pretty terrible if you consider how many of those games I've finished, but at least there are more games I've played than ones I haven't played.  But I have high hopes that we'll make it through at least half by the end of the year.

That's what I say anyway.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Baby, All You Do Is Ride