MIDI Week Singles: "Freezeezy Peak (Christmas Bells) - Banjo-Kazooie (N64)

 

"Freezeezy Peak (Christmas Bells) from Banjo-Kazooie on the Nintendo 64 (1998)
Composer: Grant Kirkhope
Album: No Official Soundtrack Release
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Rare

Ok, yes.  There have been official soundtracks for Banjo Kazooie, but when I went looking for this specific variation on the original "Freezeezy Peak" I was unable to find it on any of the albums.  A lot of the music is the same, except that here some chimes/bells sound almost like they're playing a 1-3-5-3 chord progression, but I could be off and am just now embarrassing myself.  I had originally planned on playing through Banjo-Kazooie so I could at least say that I played up to Freezeezy Peak, but then life, time, and several other games got in the way and I still hadn't played from beyond the first level after the first playing the game back when the first game was released in '98.

Melody-wise, I can't really pinpoint anything that tells the player to enjoy this wintry wonderland of golden stars, music notes, and puzzle pieces. Still, almost everything else, like the jingle bells and chimes, is classic for what this song sets out to accomplish.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Can You See Me Fly?

MIDI Week Singles: "Fighting of the Spirit" - Tales of Phantasia (PSX)

 

"Fighting of the Spirit" from Tales of Phantasia on the PlayStation (1998)
Composer: Motoi Sakuraba & Shinji Tamura
Album: Tales of Phantasia Original Soundtrack Complete Version
Label: Victor
Publisher: Namco
Developer: Wolf Team

I haven't played Tales of Phantasia, but I did play through almost half of Tales of Symphonia back in 2005-2006 (you know, 18 years ago) and I appreciate action RPG music which the Tales series is known for (or at least I think it is).  This track takes on a certain bounciness, considering it plays during miniboss-style battles against Spirits before they lend you their power (or at least that's what I've come to understand from watching a couple of longplays).  And from what I recall of Tales of Symphonia, this style of music is very fitting for the Tales franchise.  It helps to keep the energy flowing and the player engaged as there's not really a section during the entire song that slows down to let the player catch their breath.

Maybe it's me, but I find this track somewhat reminiscent of something from the Mega Man X series.  Regardless, I really enjoy this song and feel that I'd eventually like to get back into the Tales series.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Instrumental

Returning to the Wasteland - Fallout 2 & Fallout: New Vegas

 

Fallout 2

Release Date: October 29, 1988

Systems: Windows, Mac OS X

Publisher: Interplay Productions

Developer: Black Isle Studios

Current Time Spent: 51.5 Hours

Yeah, I came back to Fallout 2 after not having played it in almost eight years, but thanks to that stupid show over on Amazon, I have a hankering to revisit all of the Fallout I either never completed or never played.  So I'm jumping back into Fallout 2 and Fallout: New Vegas while concurrently starting Fallout 4.

In Fallout 2 I decided to return to my character of Judith, who was my third or fourth character, the previous one being Jude because after attempting a new character, I decided that I liked how Judith's story had shaped out to that point.  I'm not going to recap the whole thing, but you can read about it here, although I did progress a bit further after arriving in Vault City.  Judith traveled through there, made her way to New Reno, found her way down to Vault 15.

I did have Judith enter Vault 15, but there were just too many Khan raiders to deal with and my companion Vic wasn't much help in a gunfight despite him saying he was good with small guns.  So now I'm just wandering around the wasteland, heading towards the New California Republic (aka Shady Sands), trying to uncover as much of the map as possible and completing any open quests I might already have and any more I find along the way.  

Fallout: New Vegas

Release Date: October 19, 2010

Systems: PlayStation 3, Xbox 36o, Windows

Publisher: Bethesda Softworks

Developer: Obsidian Entertainment

Current Time Spent: 23.4 Hours

I created my character of Juanita sometime back in August/September 2016.  I don't fully remember the backstory I created for her, but it was something like she was a young girl, maybe 18-20, and had decided on the life of a courier because it was either that or brahmin herding and she didn't want that life.  She wanted to see the Wasteland and the rest of the world.  So after a couple of successful jobs, she was given a package/letter (she doesn't remember as it has not yet been revealed in the game) that got her attacked, shot, and left for dead.  Revived by Doc Mitchell in the town of Goodsprings, Juanita had to have a significant amount of surgery to remove the bullet fragments which left her with a shaved head.  Now she's on a mission to find out why she was singled out for the package she carried, if the Mojave Express had set her up, and who had her killed.  

I don't remember much of the specifics about where I was game-wise, but I remember that Juanita helped defend Goodsprings.  I got on the wrong side of Caeser's Legion and the Khans while doing something around a roadside casino.  I helped the citizens of Novac in whatever way that entailed.  She cleared out a rocket testing facility* near Novac, which might've been the last thing before further wandering out in the Mojave Wasteland.  So Juanita headed for New Vegas to the East without knowing what else to do or where else to go (partly because I kept triggering an attack by the Legion where she was overpowered and killed every time).

But not really knowing what you're going to do next is one of the reasons why I love the Fallout games.  I'll follow the main quest for a while until I find a bunch of side quests to do and then do those for a while to get better gear and level up a bit.  Then hopefully regain the main quest and be just a little bit overpowered; then destroyed by a deathclaw.

But that's just part of the world/experience.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Instrumental

*P.S.  For whatever reason, I didn't think the Space Suit would have a better armor rating than the Tempered Leather Armor, but that is what Juanita is now wearing as I try to make my way to Dr. Usanagi somewhere on the Vegas strip.

How I Have to Play Final Fantasy VII on the Steam Deck

 

Before I started Final Fantasy VII on the Steam Deck, I made sure that it was at least of a "Playable" status, although I would have given it a try just to make sure; because the 2014 release of Lords of the Fallen is categorized as "Unsupported" and I haven't had any issues with it.  It is important to note that the version that I am playing on Steam is a slightly different version than the one that was originally released on Windows in 1998, which is different in several ways from the PlayStation release over a year earlier.  It seems to be a mix of the 2009 International version, which has improved graphics and soundtrack but still contains many of the keyboard-centric commands of the 1998 Windows release.

Like a lot of early Steam games, when I start Final Fantasy VII on the Steam Deck, a separate config window is brought up.  There is the option to change the graphical style from the HD-ified 2009 character models to the 1998 Windows models (which are still an improvement over the 1997 PlayStation graphics).  But, you have to use a mouse to navigate this menu and you might think that the right trackpad on the Steam Deck was built for moments like this, and normally you would be right, but not this time.  Here, you have to hold down the "Steam" button to activate the mouse cursor with the right trackpad to navigate if you like.  It did take me a few minutes to figure this out.  I also tried going into the controller config screen to have the right trackpad automatically function as a mouse, but that didn't seem to work, so the "Steam" button method would have to be it.

I did see some people talking on the discussion page about needing a Square Enix login, and it does appear that my Square Enix account was already attached to my Steam account since, except when I logged into my account, it only mentions Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV.  So I'm not 100% sure what was going on with that, but since it seems to be an issue for other players that I did not have to deal with, I still wanted to bring it up here just in case.

But then I ran into another problem.

Once you get past the Eidos Interactive and Squaresoft animated screens and the New Game or Continue screen, the game brings up a screen to show you how the keys on the keyboard are mapped.  Normally this would just be a reminder since the Windows copy of the game came packaged with a plastic keyboard overlay that would fit between and around the spaces of a keyboard 10-Key.  And to get past this screen, you had to press the "Okay" button which was mapped to the "A" button by default.  However, the game would not recognize the A-button as a valid input.  It took me a search on the Steam Discussion boards to figure out that I needed to press the "X" key on the keyboard since "X" is by default the "Okay" button.  So I had to go back to the button config screen within Steam and mapped the "X" key to the R4 button on the back of the Steam Deck.  I figured that I wasn't going to be using this button too often and I already mapped the Screenshot function to the R5 button (which I do for every game that doesn't use the R5 back button).

And I thought that that would be the end of my Steam Deck button config-related issues.  And it was for a time.

Then I realized that the R/L shoulder buttons didn't do what they were supposed to do.  So like the R4 button above, I went into the controller config screen and mapped PgUp and PgDn to their respective shoulder buttons.  I did briefly consider doing a never-running away run, but then I remembered that there was additional functionality for navigating the menu screens so I went in and remapped them anyway.  And all was well and good.  Until I had to do squats.  This particular minigame requires the player to press three buttons in succession to perform a successful squat.  The button prompts here were [Switch], [Cancel], [Ok].  Before the practice squats started, I was confident I knew what the game wanted for [Cancel] and [Ok], but I had no idea what it meant by [Switch].  Longer story short, the [Switch] button is mapped to the Insert key on the keyboard, so Insert is now mapped to the L4 back button.

But aside from that, the game runs great.  Which it actually does, no sarcasm there.  I think my past experience with the Steam Controller and seeing that as more of a keyboard emulator than a traditional controller has made me more comfortable with customizing the button remapping beyond simple swaps and even if all of the above seems cumbersome, none of it has deterred me in playing this game.

On the side, but not actually while I'm playing, I am watching an older Kotaku series by Tim Rogers on the differences between the original Japanese in-game text and the English translation, which adds a nice little bit of historical context to this 27-year-old game.  I am also watching Dan Floyd's playthrough which he started two weeks ago. . . maybe that's part of what kicked off this desire to play/finish Final Fantasy VII as I do love his commentary while he plays through areas that I just recently went through; that and also re-catching the Final Fantasy bug after finishing Final Fantasy XIII a few weeks back, because I do really love JRPGs of the '90s.  And while I still assert that Final Fantasy VII is not the pinnacle of the franchise, I do love the world created by so many of the other entries.

Now I guess we'll just have to see if there are any more button mappings I need to do and if it actually only takes me 36.5 hours, or 81.5 hours even without doing anything with the Knights of the Golden Round Chocobo quests.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

And I, I Will Not Desert You Now

MIDI Week Singles: "The Sewer Snake" - Nightmare Creatures (N64)

 

"The Sewer Snake" from Nightmare Creatures on the Nintendo 64, PlayStation & Windows (1997)
Composer: Frédéric Motte
Album: Nightmare Creatures (Original Game Soundtrack)
Label: elmobo
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Kalisto Entertainment

Nightmare Creatures is a game that I started one afternoon back in 1999 and probably was not given a fair chance as I played for maybe 10-15 minutes before I stopped.  All I remember was that I did not like the control setup and I think it might have been too actiony for what I was looking for in a survival horror game.  With that in mind, I never made it out of the opening area in the streets of London, so I never ended up going up against any bosses, sewers, or otherwise.

When I watched a playthrough of the Sewer Snake boss fight, I was a little disappointed in how the audio mix felt very muted; it could have also been the settings with the music lower than the sound effects.  But it was difficult to hear the amazing organ intro over the sound of the creature roaring and belching fire throughout the stage.  Once the drums and guitars come in, at around 10 seconds, the music becomes even more difficult to discern from all of the other sound effects happening, which is really sad because this is some great high-energy boss music.  And good luck even hearing anything of that baseline in-game either.  

Just a fun theme to play if you find yourself in the sewers and have to battle a 12+ foot tall multiheaded fire-breathing snake.  Just another typical Wednesday night in 1834 London.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Draw the Line in the Horizon

MIDI Week Singles: "Decide in the Eyes" - F-ZERO X (N64)

 

"Decide in the Eyes" - F-ZERO X on the Nintendo 64 (1998)

Composer: Naoto Ishida

Arranged By: Taro Bando

Album: F-ZERO X ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK

Label: Nintendo 64 Sound Series

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo EAD

While not at all a controversial choice for a MIDI Week Single, there is a little bit of contentiousness saying that neither of the Big Blue tracks in F-ZERO X were my favorites.  The first Big Blue occurs in the Jack Cup and is the tube-track where for half of the race you drive on the outside of a cylinder where it can become very easy to lose your sense of direction especially if you are trying to hit the boosts and forget where exactly the tube stops and the road starts.  Big Blue 2 in the Queen Cup is a shorter race that involves sharp hairpin turns and a track that loops and double backs on itself, all of which I find rather uninteresting.  And that was it.  "Decide in the Eyes" (aka "Big Blue") only occurs twice in the entire game, although the X-Cup does randomly pull songs for the procedurally generated tracks, I am only counting the four primary Cups.

The music from F-Zero on the SNES composed by Naoto Ishida, here arranged by Taro Bando is a worthy successor to everything that made the original song great.  Pretty much all of the elements are there, just with an improved sound chip and a more aggressive take to match the fact that there are 29 other racers on the screen at the same time and matches the energy on the rest of the soundtrack.  And of all of the arrangements that "Big Blue"/"Decide in the Eyes" has made over the years in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (although I do appreciate the use of a saxophone in that arrangement), this is still likely my favorite take on this theme that is about as ubiquitous as "Mute City" is with the F-Zero IP.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Ya verás, cuándo vuelvas aquí

P.S.  I should also mention that the song that is on the official soundtrack, and not the one in the game, was recorded in stereo and of better sound quality.  There are plenty of articles about the sound quality of the music in the game and how all of the audio was mixed to mono to help save room on the cartridge so that the game could maintain its (still) impressive 60 fps.

MIDI Week Single: "Windmill Hut" - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

 

"Windmill Hut" from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on the Nintendo 64 (1998)

Composer: Koji Kondo

Album: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Sound Track CD

Label: Nintendo of America

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo EAD

Over the past eight years, we have featured music from eight of the (checks notes) now 20 games in the mainline Legend of Zelda series (not counting spinoffs), and with Tears of the Kingdom being released on Friday (May 12th), having a track from a Legend of Zelda game felt appropriate.  And seeing as how we have somehow managed to not use any music from Ocarina of Time, now seemed as good a time as any.

The "Song of Storms" that you learn from the Phonogram Man is one of my favorite songs in the game.  Really the whole story and events surrounding the "Song of Storms" is strange, to say nothing of the overall strange vibe from the Phonogram Man himself.  But this song, "Windmill Hut," is the song that plays when you are in the windmill where you learn the "Song of Storms" and is just a longer rendition of that song that you play on the ocarina.

That is really all.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Instrumental

MIDI Week Singles: "Exploring the Plains" - Baldur's Gate (PC)

 

"Exploring the Plains" from Baldur's Gate on Windows, mac OS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch (1998, 2019)
Composer: Michael Hoenig
Album: Baldur's Gate Soundtrack & Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition Official Soundtrack
Label: Hasbro, Beamdog
Publisher: Black Isle Studios, Interplay Entertainment, & Beamdog
Developer: BioWare

I've done it again.

I started a new character in the first Baldur's Gate, and I have "Darkwell," the finale in the Moonshae Isle Trilogy to thank for this. Hinted at in the first book and revealed in the second, Bhaal, the God of Murder turns out to be the primary antagonist against the Ffolk of the Moonshaes and the Goddess of the druids, the Earthmother.  What is interesting about this trilogy is that there are times when the narrative takes the perspective of Bhaal, albeit not an attempt to make the character/God's actions as sympathetic, but why Bhaal is doing what they are doing and their relation to other Gods in the pantheon of the Forgotten Realms.  It was this perspective that made me think about the Bhaalspawn and character development of the main character (canonically named Abdel Adrian).  Then I wanted to create that character.

So I created a new character and played through the ambush.  This music first plays right after that attack as you reconnect with Imoen and like I always do, head north to the site of the ambush to loot the bodies of the attackers and Gorion.  The music also plays at other times while exploring maps and the melody is so nostalgia-filled for me that it is difficult to separate the quality of the music and how much it reminds me of that first time exploring The Forgotten Realms and the Sword Coast.  Meeting Minsc and Boo for the first time.  Being caught up in a plot that went beyond both my and my character's comprehension.  

It is a great piece of music though.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
It's Deep In Their Bones

P.S.  Although maybe I will wait until I read a few (dozen?) more books 

MIDI Week Singles: "Safe in Beregost" - Baldur's Gate (PC)

"Safe in Beregost" from Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition on Windows, MacOS, iOS, OSX, Android, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One (1998, 2012, 2013, 2014, & 2019)

Composer: Michael Hoenig

Album: Baldur's Gate The Original Saga, and Baldur's Gate Soundtrack

Label: Interplay Entertainment, and Hasbro

Publisher: Black Isle Studios, Interplay Entertainment, Beamdog, and Skybound Games

Developer: BioWare, and Overhaul Games

You first hear this theme played in this relaxing manner when you reach The Friendly Arm Inn, being your first real sense of peace and rest after you are attacked and Gorion is killed in front of you.  This theme is played again upon reaching your first large city, Beregost, which at least for me served as my primary hub outside of Nashkel in the south for a good portion of the game.  I just have so many memories of when I first played this game, stumbling upon the house infested with spiders, selling used and unneeded gear at Thunderhammer Smithy, either saving or fighting off Silke, or oftentimes forgetting that Kagain's Shop is a thing on the west side of town.

It is a little bit more fanfaric than the arrangement used for "The Friendly Arm Inn," which I believe is the same piece of music used in Nashkel, but that makes sense because both of those places are more rural compared to Beregost and having a slightly grander version of this theme might be out of pace.  That is just an assumption as I could be wrong.  The theme again plays when you finally reach the city of Baldur's Gate, and that arrangement loops faster than any of the other versions, lasting less than a minute as there is less buildup.  Maybe that is why I was drawn more to "Safe in Beregost," with its slightly longer build compared to "Streets of Baldur's Gate," and has a fuller, richer sound compared to "The Friendly Arm Inn."

This song just exudes all of the fond memories I have of playing Baldur's Gate 20 years ago, and this soundtrack is one that I am frequently drawn to and will have playing in the background whenever I am reading a Dungeons & Dragons novel (currently it is The Halfling's Gem).  That is really all I am trying to say.  If you really think about it.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Into the Night We Shine

MIDI Week Singles: "Title Theme" - International Superstar Soccer (NGB)

"Title Theme" from International Superstar Soccer on the Game Boy (1998)
Composer: Unknown
Album: No Official Release
Publisher: Konami of America
Developer: Konami

International Superstar Soccer is not a game that I would have come across naturally as I had moved on from playing my regular Game Boy in 1998 and was more focused on the Game Boy Color and the beginnings of the N64, so only by the providence of my #AllTheGameBoyMusic spreadsheet and YouTube was I able to be introduced to this music. I cannot lay my finger specifically on what it is about this song that I really enjoy other than that it reminds me of something I might hear in a Mega Man game.  Actually, you know what part of it might be, is just the way the melody resolves at around 19-20 seconds in.  I just find it really satisfying.

I was sadly unable to find any additional information about the composer for the game as everything I found for International Superstar Soccer and World Soccer GB did not have additional credits from those on either Wikipedia (which does not specify the Game Boy version) or Moby Games.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian
Your Destiny Awaits

MIDI Week Singles: "Miracle!! Sukeru Toko (more starlight remix)" - Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon (SSat)

 

"Miracle!! Sukeru Toko (more starlight remix)" from Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon on the Sega Saturn (1998)

Composers: Ko Hayashi, Keita Haga, Osamu Ishikawa, Daisuke Nagata, & Shigeharu Imano

Album: Waku Puyo Dungeon Ketteiban Original Soundtrack*

Label: Kid's Dom, Program

Publisher: Compile

Developer: Compile

I have only previously played the Puyo Puyo Tetris demo on the Switch shortly after we got the Switch, and all I really know about the franchise is that it is a puzzle-Tetris-like game.  Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon (WWPPD from here on out) is actually a top-down dungeon crawling adventure game.  That is all I was really able to find out.  I have no idea what this miracle is, or who/what Sukeru Toko is, what more or less starlight is referring to, or why this music is a catchy as it is, and why it made me dance at my desk while performing some of my daily data entry duties.

That is really one of the things that I look for with video game music, especially when it is music from a game or franchise that I am unfamiliar with.  If I start paying attention to the music, or if I catch myself bobbing my knees like a 40-year-old white dad at a wedding, I will note the song then come back to it and upon relistening, if I have a similar reaction, that song is getting featured.  This is exactly what happened with "Miracle!! Sukeru Toko (starlight remix)"  Again, I have zero context for this song, where it appears in the game or why, but I'll be snookered if I did not enjoy listening to it a few times before and while writing today's article.

It may not have the same reaction to you, and I do not expect all our featured songs too, but I am going to listen to it again, just because I am sure that no one is going to be walking by my office in the next three minutes.

~JWfW/JDub/The Faceplantman/Jaconian

Instrumental

*P.S. I bring this up in the footnote because I could not find a soundtrack specifically for the Sega Saturn release, but there was one for the 1999 PlayStation release that used that title too instead of the original Saturn release.  The music from the PlayStation release sounded a little different, but I did not find that track until after I had nearly completed this article, and I wanted to feature the song that interested me in the first place.

MIDI Week Singles: "Dream Chaser" - F-Zero X (N64)

"Dream Chaser" from F-Zero X on the Nintendo 64 (1998)

Composer: Taro Bando

Album: F-Zero X ORIGINAL SOUND TRACK

Label: Pony Canyon

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Nintendo EAD

I love this song.  Not because it has the catchiest of melodies, but because for me it generates a lot of fond memories from two specific race tracks in F-Zero X.

The first is Silence: High Speed, being the second track you race in the Jack Cup, which is essentially just a loop above a planet.  I feel like the whole point is to show off how fast you can get your car up to as the entire track is covered in boosters.  I played this track I don't know how many dozens of times, especially in the Time Trials mode where I would occasionally fly off of the track because of how fast (usually around 1,300-1,400 kph) you could be traveling.  The number of times my car blew up as I crossed the finish line from spamming the boost power ability was also probably pretty hilarious.

The second track was Silence 2: Wavy Road, being the second track in the King Cup.  Again, playing the Grand Prix a lot, I found that on a decent run, I would make it to the wavy section at about 0:28, which for whatever reason played great at that point in the race track.  The track itself was fairly unremarkable considering it is part of the more advanced race tracks of King Cup including tracks like Sector β, and White Land 2, but for me, the use of Dream Chaser makes this track memorable, hence why I seem to have remembered it after 20+ years.

And hell, if a lackluster race track can be made memorable by a piece of music, then you can be sure that I will want to share that with the rest of the world.

~JWfW/JDub/Cooking Crack/Jaconian
Fear Nor Regret What You Will See

MIDI Week Singles: "The Innocent Abandoned" - Sanitarium (PC)

"The Innocent Abandoned" from Sanitarium on the PC (1998), and Android, & iOS (2015)

Composer: Stephen Bennett & James C. McMenamy

Album: Sanitarium In-Game Soundtrack

Label: Available through GOG.com

Developer: DreamForge Entertainment, & DotEmu

Somewhat based on my Year in Review article, I have unofficially decided to play more games through GOG, mainly because there are a lot more good ol' games (eh!?) that I have not played that I feel that I would really love.  Sanitarium is one of those games, and awesomely enough, the soundtrack comes packaged with the game!  Although I did have to scour the Internet a bit to find the track listing since it was not included with the bundled soundtrack and the ID3 tags were only labeled as "Track 01" and so on.  So this may not be the official title of the song, but it seems to be the general consensus that this is what this particular track is called.

Now I presently have not played Sanitarium and I really hope that when I do, that I will have better luck than my foray into both I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, and Dark Fall: The Journal, both of which I really enjoyed, but some of the puzzles became too much for my little brain and I stepped away too long to recall well enough what I was doing and what I had previously done to get me there.

But "The Innocent Abandoned" is what I felt was the first stand out track on the album for me, and considering that it was the third track after the first two that sounded like dark and ambient songs, this should not come as much of a surprise.  The piano intro reminds me a lot of "Promise (Reprise)" from the Silent Hill 2 soundtrack, as well as the 30th anniversary version of Night of the Living Dead with additional music by Scott Vladimir Licina, "The Dead Walk."

So now I guess Sanitarium is going to come up sometime after I decide that I have finished with either The Shivering Isles, DOOM, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Wolfenstein 3D, or Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation.  Hoo boy.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

This Is What We Were Put Here For.

MIDI Week Singles: "Vacant Lives" - 1080° Snowboarding (N64)

"Vacant Lives" from 1080° Snowboarding on the Nintendo 64 (1998)

Composer: Kenta "gon" Nagata

Vocals: Wataru Yamaguchi

Album: 1080° Snowboarding Original Sound Track

Label: Nintendo of America

Developer: Nintendo EAD

I landed on "Vacant Lives" partly because of how much time Dr. Potts and I (and the rest of our household) put into playing 1080° Snowboarding back in the early 2000s.  It is also because there is still a pile of snow outside of our house here in the Portlandia area more than a week after it dumped just about a foot of snow in less than 24 hours.  To note, we typically only receive one to two inches of snow each year.

I thought I would showcase "Vacant Lives" by Mr. Kenta "gon" Nagata because it is the opening/menu theme that plays when you first turn the game on, and honestly, aside from the "Let's Go!" at the beginning of the song, my brain never registered the rest of the lyrics, presumably because they are sung in Japanese.  Except that is isn't "Let's Go!" and it's not sung in Japanese after all.  This could be an artistic choice by illustrator Wataru Yamaguchi, it could be the type of distortion used on the vocals, or it could be that the Nintendo 64 sound chip just didn't want to digitize the sound of the human voice into something that would be perceptible to the human ear.  Except I do not believe that last one.

So in these final days of snow covered city streets, I would like you all to enjoy "Vacant Lives."  Or don't, it's not everybody's bottle of Tequila, but it does really wish that my N64 was still in working condition.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

The Hunt Is Over

Writing in Games: The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard

Before I begin, I want to say that if you are interested in playing The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, I will be revealing some spoilers, but only because it provides context for the reason behind the article that I'm posting today.  So if you have not yet played and want to, you may want to skip this post.

Okay, now continuing.

Last night while getting back into TESA:R (After trudging through the Dwemer ruins southwest of Port Hunding for most of the day), I returned to the Yokudan camp outside of the city to the north and set up the stones (after some online assistance, because I am apparently not smart enough to know how this astrological chart,

translates to placing two rocks in the following locations on an astrological map drawn in the sand):

I'm getting away from my intent, but after this rigamarol happens, I was greeted with a nearly eight minute cut scene, which also contained some of the best written dialogue for a stereotypical "rousing" speech that I have ever heard in a video game of recent memory.

The context leading up to this Shakespearean-esque speech is that Cyrus the Redguard is trying to restore Prince A'tor's soul (which has been imprisoned in a soul gem) to his body.  Prince A'tor will then lead The Restless League, (which are the remnants of the Crowns on Stros M'Kai who rebelled against Tiber Septim's annexation and ruling of Hammerfell) against the Imperial occupation of Stros M'Kai.  Cyrus calls the remaining Restless League to the Temple of Arkay (which is where the cut scene starts) while he brings the Gypsy-esque Yokudans for the transferring of Prince A'tor's soul.  After the soul transfer takes place, it is observed that the soul transfer failed, which presumably means that Prince A'tor's soul is forever lost, which is observed by the Restless League who then become discouraged at Cyrus having failed them in their long running goal.  That's when Cyrus starts with his speech when he realizes that the soul did not enter the body, but became one with the sword.

I am not sure which of the three principal writers for TESA:R, (Todd Howard, Michael Kirkbride, and Kurt Kuhlmann) was behind this speech, but damn they did a great job.  Granted Cyrus does not speak with such eloquence at any other part during the game, but it is just so damn good that I do not care that it seems a little bit out of character, or at least a character who we are introduced to during the events leading up to and during his time on Stros M'Kai; in-game time it is only a couple of days.

This is basically it for today's post.  I just wanted to talk about, what I thought was amazing writing on the parts of Howard, Kirkbride, and Kuhlmann, as well as voice acting by Michael Mack.  I was very much impressed and knew that I had to write about it, so that is what I did.  Now it is onto finishing the game as I appear to be very close to finishing.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

And Many More Of Us Shall Die



P.S.  All of the screenshots I took from Vazz's walkthrough of TESA:R since I've been unable to take screenshots while playing on GOG's Galaxy client.  I also used Vazz's assistance to help me through some of the more confusing parts/puzzles in this game so far (see the above puzzle using constellations and rocks).  The videos linked are Vazz's walkthough that I used.  I will also be using pictures from his playthough when I write my full article after I finish playing because there is just oo much taken from this game that is used in the later Elder Scrolls games and I want people to know about it too.  Just wanted to let everyone know.

MIDI Week Singles: "Beyond the Canyon" from Fallout 2 (PC)

"Beyond the Canyon" from Fallout 2 on PC (1998)

Composer: Mark Morgan

Album: Fallout 2 The Soundtrack, and Fallout 2

Developer: Black Isle Studios

My main reason for picking this song is because I'm attempting (again?) to work my way through Fallout 2.  This is the music that plays in the the starting village of Arroyo.  I've actually made my way back to the village on a number of occasions, none of which have been because I've found the G.E.C.K., and every time I'm there, and each time the song comes up on my computer (usually around the eight second mark with "Ooo-whop-woo" tone which repeats throughout the song), I immediately thing, "Ah, I'm back home."  Which is a nice comforting feeling to have as you wander the Wastelands hoping that you're not going to be waylaid by raiders, super mutants, centaurs, or any other abomination that the desert decided was a good idea to vomit up on the dregs of humanity.

I'm not far enough in the game (heading to Vault City. . .I think, and I only have the leather jacket for armor) to know if this theme is used anywhere else, but I feel that whenever I hear it, I'll feel somewhat at ease; and on the verge of being attacked by a gecko.  Either way, good feelings associated with this piece.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Instrumental

MIDI Week Singles: "Battle (VS Trainer)" - Pokémon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow (GB)

"Battle (VS Trainer" from Pokémon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow on the Game Boy (1996, 1998).
Composer: Junichi Masuda
Album: Pokémon Red/Green Super Music Collection, Pokémon LP
Label: The Pokémon Company
Developer: Game Freak

All the hubbub the last couple of days has been about Pokémon's 20th anniversary (although not released in North America until 1998), and I thought what better way to celebrate the 20 years that monsters have been invading our pockets in little round balls than to expose some of that glorious music that Junichi Masuda composed.  From a soundtrack of 40+ tracks (which is rather impressive for a Game Boy game), I decided to showcase "Battle (VS Trainer)."

Now, I know that there are plenty of people who could tell you which Pokémon is making which sound once they start making noises around 01:39 and which sound effect is actually one of their attacks and not the Pokémon making their name/call/noise.  I should also say that I haven't actively played my copy of Pokémon Red for at least a decade, although I will occasionally turn it on just to make sure that the battery is still functioning and my save file hasn't been erased (again).

My reasoning though behind deciding on this track in particular is that while it is a frequently heard track, along with "Battle (VS Wild Pokémon)" and the "Pokémon Recovery" jingle, I wanted to use a track that was exciting yet still very familiar, but not used as frequently as the above songs.  (Damn, does that make me a hipster?)  Plus, I really like the inclusion of the various Pokémon sound effects that have been inserted after the song has made it's full lap.

Now that I think about it, I could probably do a Game Scores article about Junichi's score for Pokémon, so I'll go and find a spot on the back burner for that one.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Share With Me Your Glorious Deeds