Playing Games: The Music of Final Fantasy VII Remake Part 1

I've been playing Final Fantasy VII Remake since it came out and I've simply got to do some analysis of the music.  This will be a multi-part series, though I'm not yet sure how many parts.  I have enough ideas and questions written down to last several months, some of them very extensive, so we'll see how far I get with everything.

I wanted to start today with some outside information that exists about the creation of the audio for the game before jumping into my own thoughts about it.  Here are three excellent videos that have a ton of useful, direct from the source information.

First of all, and this was the first video about the audio I encountered, a video from Playstation Asia about the creation of the theme, Hollow, for the Final Fantasy VII Remake.  Here, Yosh from Survive Said The Prophet and Nobuo Uematsu work to record the vocal version of the track.

As of writing, this video has just under 3000 views.  I'm really uncertain why it isn't of more interest!  I first saw this in February, around the time it came out, and at the end of it I burst into tears.  Not so much because of the theme, which is growing on me, but more because I was imagining how amazing it would be to be in a recording studio with Uematsu on the other side of the glass thanking you and applauding the work you'd just done.  As I've rewatched it, a couple of the most outstanding quotes in this come from the singer, Yosh, who calls FF7R "an iconic project that represents Japan" and "a historical collaboration of Japanese music and Japanese games."

The second video I saw, and most illuminating for the kind of work I do, is a video from the Final Fantasy YouTube channel, Inside Final Fantasy VII Remake Episode 4: Music and Sound Effects.

Again, I'm really stunned at the low number of views.  As of writing, there around almost 57000, which just seems so low to me!

This video interviews a number of people involved in the project, producer Yoshinori Kitase, music supervisor Keiji Kawamori, composer Mitsuto Suzuki, composer Masashi Hamauzu, and sound director Makoto Ise.

Kitase explains how he watched a video of the gameplay of the entire game of Final Fantasy VII as he prepared for this project, before any music was written.  He took tracks from the original game and put them over gameplay for the new game to create an overall image and director for the remake's sound.  Kawamori, Suzuki, and Hamauzu describe one of the most notable features of the game music: the decision to make various arrangements of the same theme that match with the game's scenes, sometimes being more cheerful or sad.  In more active scenes, these tracks may react, cross fading between them seamlessly, thus increasing or decreasing the aural intensity depending on the player's actions.  Kawamori explains how the design team stayed faithful to the original melodies that players would've heard hundreds of times playing the original and "enhanced them with a more modern sound, arrangement, and technology."  I was also impressed when Kawamori explained that the spoken dialogue allowed the storytelling to happen better and this made them want to make the music even better.  (Although I'm keeping my feelings mainly in the coming entries, I will say I would think of spoken dialogue as stepping on music, rather than helpful for it.  I must say that I think the design team handled this very eloquently!)  Suzuki and Hamauzu describe the difficulties of staying faithful to the originals but creating with your own voice.  Hamauzu reveals that not only had he played the original FF 7, sang in the Sephiroth chorus, but also that Uematsu recommended him to work on the Remake.  In a more technical turn, Ise describes the sound management system created for the game, MASTS, that allowed "AI to automatically generate all the sounds for character movement, based on things like the angle of their bone structure and the speed they are moving."  There are also some shots of recording sound effects (12 min- 13 min).

Finally, I'll leave you with the most recent video I watched about the audio in FF7R.  Although it's not a video that describes any technical aspects or has informative interviews, I do think many players would be interested to consider more about the voice actors in the game.  This video, from PlayStationGrenade, Final Fantasy VII Remake: The Voice Actors Behind the Characters details where you've heard the English voice actors before in tv, film, and games.

At the end of the second video linked above, Kawamori says that he thinks "one way to get enjoyment from the game is to see how your actions affect the changes in music as you play."  And that's exactly what I'm doing now as I play a second time through.  I'm also replaying the original FF7 to compare the music and sound in this case.  Illuminating!  I'll be back with more thoughts about the process soon.  Would love to hear any thoughts you have about the sound and music as well!

Playing Games: Audio of Final Fantasy XV

It's a snow day in Ann Arbor today and I've enjoyed much of the day doing some research playing Final Fantasy XV.  I am, of course, am taking notes as I play.  The backstory for me is that I finally got a PS4 on Black Thursday because the system came with a number of games: Ratchet and Clank, The Last of Us, and Uncharted IV with the promo, and I also purchased Star Wars: Battlefront (won GANG's 2016 awards for Best Interactive Score and Best Music award last year) and World of Final Fantasy and have been messing around in those as well.  I've been playing FF 15 for about 35 hours since then and thought I might write some reactions and thoughts.

Overall, Final Fantasy XV represents a major upgrade to the audio of any previous Final Fantasy game I've played (FF 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 13).  The implementation seems to me to be very much more clever and well-designed than any of its predecessors.  Final Fantasy XV has a car radio and a Portable MP3 Player that allow for player choice of music during much of the gameplay.  This isn't the first time that a Final Fantasy game has had the ability to play the soundtrack in the game; Final Fantasy Legend II had an in-game jukebox.  Soundtracks from the previous Final Fantasy games are available for purchase at a relatively cheap price (100 gil) compared with many of the other stores' wares.  Listening to these soundtracks is one of my favorite parts of the game and at times I have to remind myself to listen to the Final Fantasy XV soundtrack!  (PS- Driving around in a car listening to Final Fantasy soundtracks is literally my life turned into a virtual game.)  While putting on these older tracks stirs up nostalgic properties, it also changes the feel of the gameplay dramatically.  The intensity of tracks like Jenova from FF VII or the emotion of FF VI Celes Theme change the feel of gameplay in virtually opposite directions.

Interestingly though, these soundtracks aren't complete.  For instance, the Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack in-game in FF 15 has the following tracks: Prelude, Opening (I think of this as the main theme), Main Theme (I think of this as the Overworld theme), Matoya's Cave, Battle, Mount Gulg, Airship, Sunken Shrine, and Castle Cornelia.  Missing are numerous themes including Garland's Castle, Town, Ship, Floating Castle, Ending Music, Castle Shrine, Menu Music, Sleeping, and Game Over music.  I can understand why several of these wouldn't be included, for instance game over, sleeping, and menu, music would be out of place.  However, I wonder if some of these are missing because of gameplay mechanics.  For instance, while there are a few airship themes included, perhaps there's no sailing ship theme because there's no sailing ship.  Also, I must note that despite the in game listing these as "Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack," these are not truly original, but rather updated soundtracks from more recent remakes of the games.  I do miss those true, old school, out of tune sounds.  Here's a list of all the music you can hear on the Final Fantasy car radio/ MP3 player.

Another standout audio moment for me was nearly immediate in the gameplay.  As the heros push their broken down car down the road while Stand By Me plays, although it's not the classic Ben E. King recording we all know, but rather a 2016 version recorded by Florence and the Machine.  As far as I'm aware, this is the first time licensed music has appeared in a Final Fantasy game I've played.  I wonder: is this the first time for licensed music in an FF game, ever?

Another of my favorite audio moments happens after some battles when Prompto sings the Final Fantasy victory fanfare on a nonsense syllable.  The victory fanfare also plays when the player levels up by resting overnight, but Prompto occasionally sings it out on the field immediately after battle.  When the victory fanfare plays in Final Fantasy XV, it's in the key of C, the most commonly repeating key for this fanfare in the series; Prompto sings it in the highest key for Final Fantasy yet to date, E.  I wonder if there was a given starting pitch for the voice actor, Robbie Daymond's, singing or just a direction the voice actor to "sing the theme" without giving a starting note and consideration of how this line would fit into the game's tonality or the franchise's musical lineage?  Prompts also sings "I want to ride my chocobo all day" to the tune of the Chocobo Theme.  Not only is it a clever throwback to use this famous theme again, but in my gameplay, Prompto began singing this shortly before I had access to the chocobos, making it a teaser for what was to come.  I'm fascinated at the idea of players making up their own lyrics to game audio, something I've done since a young child, and love this homage to the many fans who have created their own words and sing their favorite game audio.

Am I gushing too much?  Another favorite: the way that the designers implemented musical layering into the gameplay.  I don't recall that being a trait of previous FF games I've played.  For instance, in previous games, there's no different in the musical sound depending on the speed of your chocobo.  But in Final Fantasy XV, when you ride the chocobo fast, the music is in a much fuller mix than if you're just standing on your chocobo in place or walking slow.  These aren't groundbreaking techniques, rather similar to a variety in the audio depending on your racing position in Mario Kart 8.  FF 15 uses the same technique again in the towns, with different areas having slightly different mixes of the same theme as you wander around.  In fact, my favorite audio in the game so far is in the town of Lestallum.  I love the Lestallum theme!

But of these variations that are heard as the player meanders about, my absolute favorite is when you really get into the thick of the market in Lestallum.  The music here sounds like a Mariachi band is playing during a night out at a Mexican restaurant and I LOVE it!

That said, the audio's not perfect.  There's a pretty clunky implementation issue at times when the player dismounts the chocobo-- an awkwardly long silence and then a jarringly loud restart of the music.  But that's a small, technical point.  And making up for it are clever moments like the "'Professor's Protégé" side quest where you have to capture frogs and the easiest way to find them-- at least for me with a surround sound set-up-- is following their sounds.  Overall, this is by far the most impressive audio implementation I've ever seen from the Final Fantasy series and a much needed upgrade for the franchise.  Given all the music there is to hear, I can say I'm about 35 hours in and beginning to hum a few of Yoko Shimomura's melodies.  Am really hoping more of them grab me and become memorable hits of their own on the radios of future Final Fantasy games.

Are you playing Final Fantasy XV?  I'd love to hear your thoughts about the audio.

Video Game Music Class: Playing Games: A Link to the Past and NES Remix 2

One of the joys of teaching Video Game Music is that it often has me playing games or looking at game footage for examples of the current topics we're discussing.  In class recently we've been looking at the function of game audio.  What's the purpose of a particular sound?  How does where a sound is placed in a game determine certain features about it (i.e., menu music vs battle music)?

Over the weekend I got sick and had quite a bit of time to enjoy a few games.  One game that I replayed is A Link to the Past.  The music for that game is great!  I love the old games where voice acting was less prominent because music has such a powerful role to play in the storytelling and immersion.  Actually, what I was most struck by on this play through was in the credits of the game.  The ending is a lovely, long nearly 10 minute scene.  You hear themes from this game during these final scenes.  There's a particularly powerful moment that occurs around 7:43.  I've started the video at 7:00 in the timestamp below, but remember if you were actually playing, you'd have heard those 7 minutes before!

The impact of hearing the famous Legend of Zelda overworld theme as Koji Kondo's name appears onscreen is genius.   I'll have to remember if I ever score a video game to put my most famous sounds as my name appears as well!

A second game I've been playing around with is NES Remix 2 on the Wii U.  I can't find footage online that shows how the various games open as you play and progress, but perhaps there will be some up soon.  Or else, I can make a video to demonstrate.  In any case, when a new game opens for play-- say, Metroid-- the first thing you hear when the notice flashes onscreen is the main theme from whatever game has opened up.  Then, after you see your score for the level you just finished, you see the game open on the main menu and its main them plays again.  Definitely a cool use of audio as a reward in a video game.  This is probably much simpler and clearer to hear than describe, so I'll keep my eyes open for some footage that demonstrates what I mean.

This week in video game music, we're having a guest Skype session with Chance Thomas, and having a quiz later in the week.  I love the first quiz because it really lets the students (and me!) realize how much they've already learned.  More as the week progresses!

Playing Games: Wind Waker HD

I think I mentioned earlier that my parents gave me a Wii U for my birthday and last night I beat Wind Waker and have really enjoyed playing it.  Great game in the Zelda tradition.  Really glad to have played it on the Wii U because I never owned a GameCube and hadn't seen this game at all.  It got me really excited for the upcoming Wii U Zelda game.

I thought the game had great music.  The in-game credits list Kenta Nagata (primary), Hajime Wakai, Asuka Hayazaki, and Atsuko Asahi as doing the music for the game.  Of course, Koji Kondo also has famous themes in the game-- curious as to why he's not listed in the credits?

There are numerous moments of the game that I could mention as being musically significant.  For one, when I started the second quest, I realized how some of the music you hear at the very beginning of the game is the same as music heard at the very end of the game.  The bookend effect is cool, clever, and traditional.

Playing this game also led me into numerous conversations with Vince about the use of canonic Zelda music.  Is it a cop out to use the same music again and again in a game series?  Simple, easy, and cheap?  Is it clever, bringing branding and tradition to the series?  Probably some of each, plus more.  However, one thing I appreciated here was that some of the music, for instance, the town music, Windfall's theme, was uniquely remade rather than an exact repeat of the traditional Kakariko theme.  This kind of work is ideal in my mind: it pays homage to the audio traditions of the series, yet keeps the musical experience fresh and vital.

Here are a couple of my other favorite musical moments.

The ocean (overworld) theme in this game is another one of those musical moments with elements of the traditional Zelda overworld music, but creatively redone.  In addition to melodic and harmonic commonalities, which I want to explore more in the future, one of the easiest things to hear is the traditional call and response Zelda overworld motive.  (If you're wondering what I mean, take a look at this video and you can see and hear these elements in the original LoZ overworld theme.)

Give a listen to the overworld theme below, and you can hear some of the traditional call and response elements from :48-1:10.

A second musical moment I loved was in the cutscene where you meet Ganon for the first time in the game.  I like the use of Ganon's theme from A Link to the Past as well as Zelda's Lullaby in this short cutscene.  Re-watching this reminds me how important and powerful the music is to the storytelling aspects of Zelda games, especially since there's no talking.

One last favorite to leave you with...  I love the reuse of the Hyrule castle music as well.  Totally brings me back to that rainy day at the beginning of A Link to the Past.

Playing Games: South Park The Stick of Truth

It's been winter break in the last week for UM and Vince is out of town, so I took some time to play a few video games, and for the last few days, have been completely enrapt with South Park: The Stick of Truth.  As a die-hard South Park fan (I've seen every episode numerous times, own almost all of the DVD complete sets, etc) this game is amazing!  Any South Park fan will love it.  What's been doubly awesome is that I've enjoyed the game audio so much as well... very clever and craftily done!

I did a quick Google search to see what the top hits for SoT are in terms of the music.  Many of the top hits discuss problems with the music dropping out, the fact that the audio uses songs from the show (Sexual Harassment Panda, Taco-Flavored Kisses, Let's Fighting Love, etc), and that the audio generally is great or is not great.  Further down in the results came some more interesting ideas about the music and sound effects spoofing Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Diablo.  Even further down in the results came mentions of Gregorian Chant and Middle-Earth.  What's so shocking to me is this: considering Matt Stone and Trey Parker have created two highly acclaimed musicals, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut as well as The Book of Mormon, the music in this game has, so far at least, gotten very little attention!    

I don't know that this post will ever be a top Google hit for the game music, but I took some notes as I played and would like to add some specificity to the discussion of its audio, and more precisely, its music.  Quite frankly, I find the audio in this game to be genius, and despite the flaws in the music at time dropping out, or the visual glitches/ audio lag-- which can really get terrible at times-- I think the use of music in the game is incredible and deserves special mention.  Here are some of my highlights:

First of all, the biggest thing to jump out to me about the game audio is the variety of it.  There are mock religious songs, Japanese TV-like themes, "elevator" music in Planned Parenthood, and fully orchestrated music at times contrasting with 8-bit sounds.  How many games have this variety of music as part of the standard gameplay audio?  Also, the music is cleverly used in various games, puzzles, and attacks during the gameplay.  I'd say the use and and incorporation of music in this game rivals a Zelda game-- which from me is high praise!  

Probably my favorite moment in the entire soundtrack is when you enter Canada.  The music immediately changes to a two or three part 8-bit soundtrack, and the sound effects are reminiscent of Dragon Warrior.  Check what I mean below in this video around 16:23-17:23.  Not only do you hear the O Canada two part version, but also the music when entering the cave is very NES Wizards and Warriors.  

There are also musical games as well.  For instance, when you're on the alien spacecraft, there's a "Simon" like game where you follow musical combinations to release Randy.  Check out 17:00-17:45 for a funny version of this Simon game.  

Another clever use of typical game music gaming is the DDR like moments when you are convincing the Goth kids to help you or when you use Jimmy's Bardic Song powers.  

I haven't played Skyrim, so I can't comment on references to its audio in this game music, but I definitely hear Diablo in the Storage Cellar.  The guitar strumming reminds me of Tristam's theme.   Listen below from 3:43-4:00 to catch this reference.  Also notable to me are references to the Hobbit/ Shire theme of the Lord of the Rings movies.  You can hear that in the video below as well from 34:22-34:43.  Compare with the LOTR theme in this video around 5:08-5:22.  Both the instrumentation, the shape of the melodic line, and the rhythm of the melody share similarities that make the Stick of Truth music below recall it.  

Many webpages have mentioned that you hear snippets of the show on TVs and songs from the show on the radio.  But it's better than "just" this...  Not only do various televisions and radios play songs from the show, the most clever part of that audio decision is that you can choose to turn on/off many of these devices, adding a level of realism to the audio environment and letting you sculpt certain moments sonically.  

My favorite of the pop song references is one the Goth kids are listening to, All In Your Head.  Being about the same age as Matt and Trey, I immediately heard this as a reference to the Cranberries 1994 hit, "Zombie."  While the beginning of the songs are virtually identical, for me, the refrain is what struck me and made me think to look up Zombie.  Thus, particularly compare 1:00-1:30 below with the main refrain of Zombie-- in the link above, that's 1:34-2:00.  

Now to be fair, the audio is not all perfect...  If I had to pick one moment as an audio fail, it would be the generator in Professor Chaos' lab.  The sound effect there is just clunky-- as if being a small distance across the room would obscure how loud the generator is when you're close to it?  A nice try by the sound designers for realism, but it's overdone and made me laugh when I first heard it.  I noticed in the credits that the audio is integrated via Wwise and after recently playing Epic Mickey as well, I'm wondering if this is just a clunky part of Wwise's integration.  I've not tried it before, but the max/min radius with this generator sound is simply too small and crazy in the storage unit.  

If I've piqued your interest, check out the soundtrack, which I can't believe is already posted online.  I didn't hear the O Canada theme in this, just the "Blame Canada" music, so I'm not actually sure this is the complete soundtrack.  Still, it's cool to be able to hear this music.  I'll leave you with one of my last favorite moments, which is the Japanese TV theme like music that plays toward the end of the game.  In this video, that's around 18:25.  Enjoy!  

Playing Games: Epic Mickey

I've been digging around through some "old" games that I messed around with but never finished, and I decided to pull Epic Mickey back out and give it another try.  So far I've really liked it!  The choice is a little bit dual purpose: I won funding to attend GameSoundCon this coming fall, which offers training sessions in Wwise.  Epic Mickey used Wwise for audio implementation (splash screen at the beginning!), so this is a chance for me to experience what's possible using Wwise from folks who really know what they're doing with it.  In the summer, I plan to play around with it, and in the fall, I'll be working on it with experts!

So far, I've been really impressed by two things musically.  One is the use of Mickey Mousing in the cutscene explanations at the beginning of the game.  Check out what I mean in the below video, starting around 52 sec.  When the cursor moves over the friend, the music becomes even more positive; when it moves over the monster, it quickly becomes "evil" sounding, moving the main motion into the bass.  Cute use of cartoon traditions to teach gameplay!

I also like how the battle music in the initial levels uses a demonic sort of "Small World" motive at times.  You can hear that in this video at 4:04- 4:55.

Do I also hear a little bit of Sleeping Beauty's Waltz occasionally as I explore?  Very clever James Dooley!  Looking forward to playing more of this game!

Playing Games: DuckTales Remastered

The next game up in My Gaming Audio History is DuckTales, and when I was just looking for something about it, I saw that the Remastered version is out.  I haven't even pressed start yet, but sitting here on the title screen, I LOVE the fact that the first two bars that play are a sample of the original music.  Completely recognizable to me since I played this game so many times as a kid.  Then the music bursts into a modern sound, first a new drum track comes in, then more background instruments, suspended cymbal roll and: "DuckTales!" comes in with the full sound of modern gaming.  It's an historic audio montage in the opening seconds of gameplay.

I was going to try to go to bed early, but now I just might be up quite a while....

Update:  I've played DuckTales Remastered for a little more than six hours now.  I think the audio is very well done.  Incredible updating of the pieces, yet it stayed true to the original.  I like that there's voice acting, but feel at times that the voices sound as if they were recorded in a box.  That to me could've been improved.  The cutscenes also pulled me out of the gameplay a bit.  I loved how their background music continued to reference themes from the game music and the main theme, though.  It's a brilliant game that I've enjoyed.  I think it just goes to show that these old games are classics for a reason.  The gallery with music purchases is the perfect incentive to bring replay value to the game.  I couldn't stop playing until I had purchased all the music possible.  (The tracks made it a lot easier to do the next entry!)  Overall, a great update, particularly in the music area.  Well worth the time and purchase as I know I'll play it again.  And Vince'll LOVE it when he gets home!  

Playing Games: Ear Monsters

A couple months ago, Brian Schmidt left a comment where me mentioned a new game he was about to release, Ear Monsters.  It's taken me a while to get to it, but I recently bought it and have been playing it a bit.  Very cool game, I've never seen, heard?, played! anything quite like it.  The premise is basically that you have to kill (by tapping) monsters you can't see, but you can hear them.  You need some good headphones for this game.  By changing the volume between your various ears, reverb, etc, the game gives a fairly easy to understand method of hearing where the monsters are.  The teaching/tutorial section at the very beginning of gameplay is simple and fast.  I hate games where you have to drag through long tutorials before being able to play.  This integrates the learning how to play right into the gameplay.  I also like the arcade like aspect of the game-- quick to dip in and out-- and trying to best your previous high score.  Old school, but awesome!  It may sound kind of simple as I describe it here, but add in aircraft sounds, the sounds of your shots being fired, bombs suddenly appearing, and a timer bleeping as your final (and most difficult) seconds count down-- and it's a lot to hear!

Aside from the unique audio aspect, I like that there's quite a bit of tapping around on the screen.  A lot of the games I play on my iPhone or iPad have a directional key and maybe just one button to push otherwise.    Here, I get to tap all over.  My favorite part of the game is easily just listening to the sounds that are unlocked in the sound gallery.  The planes flying from right to left are just incredible.  I find myself constantly checking to see if I've unlocked more sounds because I just want to hear them and play them over and over....

The game music is fairly simplistic, basically some percussion and a little bass.  If it were much more, it'd interfere with hearing the things you need to in the game.  I did try playing without the music to see if that helped my aural focus, but it didn't really and I quickly wanted the musical ambience back.  I will say that having a fairly good pair of headphones makes a difference.  I tried the game three ways: with my standard iPhone issue earbuds, with a pretty nice pair of Stretch headphones, and mirroring the game on my TV through my Apple TV so that I could play it via my surround system.  It's possible to hear the differences in the monster positions in each of these cases, but I definitely did the best with the headphones as I was able to get the most monster positions I've ever achieved and a score of 318.  I'm going to keep dipping in and out of the game in coming weeks and am definitely going to use it as one of the mobile games I feature in my game class in the fall.  

Cool game.  Different.  Haven't ever played anything quite like it.  If you want to try something outside the box, and the game sounds good to you, give it a whirl.  Let me know what you think.  Oh, and if you're interested in more info on Ear Monsters, Brian has an incredible blog post over at Gamasutra where he describes the process of creating the game.  It's well worth a read and definitely the kind of behind the scenes info that scholarship needs for historic accuracy in game audio.  

Playing Games: Rock Band and Rock Band 2

My friend John brought over drums and two guitars last night as well as Rock Band and Rock Band 2. As you know if you follow my blog, I'm not a player of these music games.  I think in large part it's because I play instruments, conduct, and sing in my every day work, so these games really seem like work to me rather than play.  However, as I'm running the blog, I want to experience as many games as I can of a wide variety, so I'm playing a lot of different things right now.

First off, I have to say that contrary to my usual JRPG games, Rock Band is cool because it's a multiplayer in person game.  At a young age this is just a recipe for awesome times together, and at my age, it's a chance to hang out and drink and play video games way older than a person should.  The games are fun and I actually knew a couple of the songs on them!  I was really terrified because I don't listen to popular music, but there were some hits from my youth (Nirvana) that I recognized.  The songs are unquestionably easier to play along with if you've heard them and know them.  And that opening video?  Bands playing on the hoods of cars as they go down the road?!  Wow...  I want to be that cool one day!

What I loved about these games were the immediate engagement and graphics that draw you in.  It's fun to choose an avatar who might look like you-- or nothing like you in my cases!  Also, to hear the audience cheering you on as you perform and the tracks of music light up with flames and colors as you're really doing well is super cool.  What would make these games even better would be if somehow they actually taught you to play the instruments as you played the games rather than just teaching you to push buttons on the controllers.  Some of the skills are transferable, but obviously, it's a

Things I didn't enjoy about the games: I absolutely suck at the drums.  That's so ironic because I played drums in high school and play a little bit when I'm away in the summer.  I'm not great by any means-- certainly a much better pianist and singer-- but still, I literally couldn't complete a song playing the drums.  I don't know if it's a problem with my setup, but I'm not that bad.  John and Vince were able to play them without too much trouble so maybe it was just me...  Also, I couldn't stand the fact that if you're screwing up too badly your player just stops.  HELLO?!  The first rule of performance is that "the show must go on."  Yes, real world performances do stop occasionally... but rarely.  I don't think I've been a part of a performance that stopped since I was in 6th grade band.  As a performer, I can definitively and authoritatively state: if you screw up, you keep going or if you're totally lost, you take a second and then get back to where you should be as fast as possible.  Under no circumstances do you just drop out and stop.  That's too unrealistic.  The game should just give a lower score-- don't stop the song because one person is sucking!  Not right.  Needs to change.  Also, if you play something late or wrong, instead of missing the note, the game should play the wrong note, or sound with you as you try to find the right note, or play the note late with you, not just be a missed note that's left out from the track.  Too bad.  More realism is needed in these games.

Overall, Rock Band and Rock Band 2 made for a fun night, but these aren't ever games I'm going to love.  I get to make live music with my friends, which, even if imperfect, is far more fun and rewarding than playing it in a game.  There's not enough chance in these games for expression and individuality.  Instead, they're about "getting it right."  That misses the key point of music: self-expression.  I do understand why these are popular, though.  And I love that they get people listening to music more carefully.  Just not my cup of tea.

I'm leaving home pretty soon for a couple months with my usual summer work, but John also mentioned that I should play Space Channel 5 part 2, Rez, and DJ Hero before classes resume in the fall... so they're on my agenda for August!  What games do you think I should definitely check out before I teach a class on video game music?

Playing Games: Wii Music

I checked out Wii Music from the UM Game Library today to give it a shot over the holiday.  I don't really play games where making music or playing along in time is the main thrust of the game.  I suppose it's largely because I'm already doing that most days at work, so why would I play it virtually on a game?  This is a genre of games I don't know very well, but plan to explore more this summer.  There are definitely some cool things about Wii Music, as well as some things that left me dissatisfied.

The first ten or fifteen minutes of gameplay are tutorials where the game teaches you how to play the different kinds of instruments.  Now, I don't know what this experience is like for most folks, but it took way too long and was very boring for me.  Also, super unrealistic.  The drums and the piano are played with the same motion-- and-- as a person who plays both, I can say: piano and drums aren't really played at all in the same way.  However, I do like the premise of playing the game and the instruments.

Realistic, fun touches: the look of panic on the handbell player's face when you screw up, the sweating and disappointment when you play in the park and no one stops and listens because you've played so poorly, the orchestra warming up/ audience murmuring before you bring up your hands to conduct.  The pitch perfect section is also a cool section-- not bad as a Mus Ed tool as it incorporates reading and some tricky ear training.  I don't know if it's always this way, but I had a ton of augmented and diminished chords to create and only a couple major chords.  The section where you figure out who's playing the wrong note is a great training idea for a conductor, but it's kind of hard to hear the difference between some of the instruments.  Perhaps that's the point, and maybe if I played more I'd be better, but I enjoyed this none-the-less.  I love the way that you can record your performances and then mix them together to create your own versions of songs and then share them with others.  That rocks.  The game definitely got something right there.  The references to classical pieces that are blatant and overt-- love it!  Oh, and the fact that you unlock video game music to play/conduct as you progress: Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda-- AWESOME!

Disappointing: the lessons simply take too long.  They could be simplified and quickened for a person who gets it quicker.  I understand most players don't have a doctorate in music, but I just couldn't even do those lessons-- I just gave up out of boredom.  Also, doesn't the conductor traditionally acknowledge the choir/orchestra before bowing him/herself?  I know they want the focus to be on you, the player, but with so many realistic touches, it's too bad that the end of the piece doesn't end with recognition of the players first.  Also, if I tried to conduct any of the pieces at the tempo they should've been, the orchestra skipped because the game seems to think they should be slower!  What?!  Carmen Overture, Vivaldi Four Seasons, even the Zelda Overworld Theme-- these aren't slow!  Hopefully, the playing and conducting motions will get more realistic with future.  I also don't want to watch my videos right after I play, and if there's a way to skip that, I'd love to know it.  Re-watching the videos was just a chance to tune out for me.

Cool game, glad I tried it out!

Playing Games: Majora's Mask

I can't get off my Zelda kick.  Currently playing Majora's Mask.  Of course, the Zelda series is incredible for its use of music.  Ocarina of Time began a new level of importance with the integration of audio in the game and so far Majora's Mask has only raised the bar to a new level.  Here are my favorite musical moments so far:

Playing the Song of Time in reverse slows down the passage of time in the game.  Normally when you learn a new song in The Ocarina/Majora's Mask/Twilight Princess portion of the game, it's presented to you and practiced.  Instead, with this melody, you're just told that this melody can be reversed and you have to work that out for yourself.  Even if one just thinks of this as patterns of pushing the controller buttons, they've in effect made the game controller into a musical instrument and asked you to think about the pattern of the music.  This is a new level of engagement with musical thinking than the Zelda games have asked of the player before.  Awesome.

When you break into the Monkey's cell in the Deku Palace and he teaches you the Sonata of Awakening, he has to sing it to you softly so that you're not discovered.  Of course, you end up playing too loud and the Deku do hear you, but still, this is clever.  As a person who's played and loved Ocarina of Time, I was expecting the songs in the sequel to be taught in a similar way.  The songs in Ocarina are all taught in a patter: the game presents the song by playing it for you twice, then you play it back.  This happens very routinely and at a regular volume, not typically in a stressful situation.  However, in this case, the song is whispered secretly to you.  I appreciate the realism of this moment.  It breaks up the routine of learning the songs.    I love the Sonata of Awakening!

One of the other best things about these games is that you learn the melody to the songs without hearing the accompaniment.  It's hard to guess what the harmony and meter of the song will be from the initial melody only presentation.  As soon as I learned it in the game, Vince said that the harmony changes sounded so stereotypical for Zelda.  I think it's the G to Bb, IV-bVI, progression that makes it sound Zelda-esque.  Some how that chromatic mediant feels like Koji Kondo.  I'll have to think more about what I mean by that as I continue to reflect on his music...

Playing Games: Twilight Princess

Yesterday I finally beat Twilight Princess!  I think Vince bought me this game about three years ago and I finally got around to playing it.  Although I thought the fighting was quite a bit simpler than Skyward Sword, I really enjoyed the puzzle nature of the game.

One of my favorite themes in the game is the music when you're in the bomb shop in Kakariko.  I love the Caribbean sound with the steal drums!  I'm not sure why the shops would play music like this, but it makes me feel like I'm on vacation!

Easily my favorite music in the game is Hyrule Castle's theme right at the end.  This music is a blend of the Hyrule Castle theme from A Link to the Past (:12-:40) and Ganon's Theme from A Link to the Past (:24-:36).  The Twilight Princess Hyrule Castle music is changed slightly from the Link to the Past music so that instead of going down at the end of the phrases, it goes up (octave displacement).  This almost seems to me to foreshadow what the composers would do with Zelda's Lullaby as they inverted it for the Skyward Sword Theme.  We've had our ears prepared for this music earlier in the Twilight Princess as this music sneaks in to some cutscenes as well.

There are a lot of Zelda-isms snuck into the music of this game-- enough for a person to write a dissertation about-- if it were possible to get a doctorate in game music!

Final thought:  The soundtrack to this game is roughly three and a half hours.  It took me just over sixty hours to beat the game-- and there are still a few heart containers I could get.  That's roughly a 1 to 15 ratio of music to game play-- and much of the music is for cutscenes that might only be heard once.  I never found the music repetitive or irritating, but I'm really surprised at how little music there is for the gameplay time.  Ratio of play time to amount of music is something I'm wanting to investigate further...  

Playing Games: The Last Story

For my birthday, Vince got me The Last Story.  I'm just a few hours into it (as I'm also trying to finish up Twilight Princess), but I really like it so far.  Trying to figure out the battle system....

Here's the cover of my copy.  If you look toward the bottom, you'll see "Music by Nobuo Uematsu."  I can't remember buying a game before where the composer of the game was so prominently a selling point of the game on the cover of the game.  I suppose there are others I've not thought about or known about, but Uematsu really made his name as a game music composer, and now he's considered so important that his music is a main selling feature for the game.  It's definitely why Vince bought it for me!

As a gamer from the 80s, I'm completely surprised by games that don't have continuous music, but that's definitely not the trend now.  So, while I wish I'd heard more music in my few hours of playing, I've got to say: I love the main theme of the game.  Just give it a listen.  The first 36 seconds are so brilliant-- so simple, so folklike, so Uematsu, shifting from minor to major, so classical in form (1st phrase, 2nd phrase repeats with ending going down, 1st phrase again, and then the B phrase with the double resolution that shifts to major), such clever instrumentation-- bringing the flute in right at the moment when it shifts from F minor to F major.   Awesome.  Looking forward to hearing more!

Playing Games: Twilight Princess

For the last couple of weeks, my game of choice has been Twilight Princess, and of course, as I play I've been thinking about the audio aspects of the game and of the Wii.  For instance, every time I play a Wii game, I remember that one of my favorite features of Wii audio is that the player holds a speaker in hand.  I absolutely love that the device I hold to control the game also makes sound!  Two desires for the future: 1- the audio quality of the handheld speaker needs to improve and 2- the volume of the handheld device needs to be in sync with the other audio experience.  For instance, if I turn the volume down on the TV, the handheld speaker doesn't adjust as well-- and often it can be several minutes after I've adjusted the volume of the TV before the handheld speaker makes a sound so much louder than the  stereo volume.  It is possible to adjust the Wiimote volume, but it's in a separate menu and really this experience should be streamlined rather than two separate adjustments.  And as for the audio quality from the handheld speaker-- I'd need to investigate the technical aspects, but is it better than GameBoy quality?

As with all the Zelda games, audio plays such an integral role.  While I'm enjoying immersing myself in this new world of FF XIII where games have spoken audio in addition to music, LoZ games are a bit of a throwback to the past because of their use of printed dialogue.  For better or for worse, this choice immediately puts the music into the driver's seat in a different way for a game with dialogue and visuals.  The music never has to duck below the spoken audio.  It predicts, supports, reacts, and coincides with the onscreen action so seamlessly and with such artistry.  With just a few voice actors providing a word, grunt, yell, or sigh, the music must tell the story so clearly.  The beauty of these moments is that the audio and visual really pull you through the dramatic narrative in much the way a silent movie does.  Superb!

Playing Games: Music in Red Dead Redemption.

The soundtrack is more of an environmental ambience-- wildlife/nature sounds, gunshots, speech, with perhaps an instrument or two making a punctuation or a short melody, rather than fully composed tracks.

In an earlier post, I quoted James Gunn as saying that the music in the game is actual Spaghetti Western tracks.  I'm not sure what he meant by that, but I definitely don't think he means it literally.  There are some newly composed songs by popular artists, but the main musical experience is one of short ambient sound stems, all composed in the same key and pulse, that weave together based on the action you experience onscreen.  In other words, if you're just riding around looking at the scenery, you've probably got mostly ambient sound happening, if you pass someone in trouble, the music might start up as you slow your horse to help, and if you get into an all out gunfight, the music really gets going.

Some of my favorite in-game moments are those where you meet someone out in the wilderness who's playing the harmonica, or you enter a saloon and hear the piano.  The game designers were even so clever to have the audio follow the angle of the camera very precisely-- in other words, as you approach the saloon, you don't hear the piano as much because the camera is behind Marston as he's approaching, yet as you leave the saloon, the camera is still from the vantage point of being closer to the saloon and at the same point where you don't hear anything as you're approaching the saloon, you do hear it as you leave.  It's as if you carry the audio experience of where you've just been with you.  In other words, the spacial positioning of the audio is very cleverly crafted.

This format leads to an incredibly interactive audio that immersed me in the game.  At home, I've got a surround sound stereo system, so the audio literally helped me as I could hear which direction I needed to turn to find the person shooting, person talking, bird squawking, etc.  Only a few times in the game did the audio not match up with my playing experience.  For instance, when I was trying to figure out how to tame horses with Jack and I fell off for about fifteen minutes his snippets of dialogue got extremely repetitive and irritating-- granted, I was sucking at this part of the game and taking way longer than the designers expected, but perhaps a non-repeat function would help at a certain point.  Also, a trained RPG player, I almost always checked the bodies of victims as I fought my way across the land somewhere-- and sometimes the music was very intense while I was just running around picking up money and ammo.  Thus, it became very noticeable to me because it was a totally different character from what I was doing since all the bandits around me were dead and I was looting up before going on to the next objective checkpoint.  I have to say one of the biggest disappointments for me about the audio was how rarely-- if ever?-- it underscored the set video sequences from the main story line; these are almost entirely void of music, using only spoken audio.

Overall, though, this has to be one of the absolute best audio experiences I've had in a modern game.  Completely different from what I was expecting as well.  The audio tracks that are stand alone performances of songs with words really stand out when they appear and are incredible.  The ambient nature sounds reminded me of my childhood in rural North Carolina.  The interactive quality of the audio almost never pulled me out of the moment of the game, in fact it immersed me more deeply and helped me with locating objectives in the game.  What higher praise could a game soundtrack have?

Interestingly, this is one of the first games I've played whose audio I can definitely say one cannot experience merely by listening.  As much as it's possible with some other games, and particularly earlier games, to watch gameplay videos and have a pretty good understanding of the audio, this game audio experience is so different based on your particular playing session that one really must experience it as a player to fully appreciate it.


Here are some of the best web resources I've found about the audio of Red Dead Redemption:

The soundtrack, available via iTunes, is put together based on the motives of the game audio to give a feel of the ambient nature of the sound, but it's a completely different experience from playing the game.  The soundtrack can also be heard on YouTube.

Straight from the Rockstar Games Red Dead Redemption site, this has links to samples of the audio, behind the scenes creation videos, and plenty of information about how the audio and soundtrack were created.  Incredible.  Every game should have such an awesome audio tool!

How can you better learn about game audio than via the composer's mouths?  Gamasutra has a fantastic interview with Bill Elm and Woody Jackson as they discuss the score, composing, developing the music, working with other musicians, and the influence Morricone had on the score.

Here's an incredible article from gamermelodico that details some of the best features of the game music and audio.  I never thought about the audio experience of the Dead Eye feature, but Kirk Hamilton details it as well as the authenticity, space/positioning, and ambient score superbly in this article.

Keith Stuart's article from the UK's Guardian details plenty of audio information about the soundtrack from the game and its construction.

Here's another blog I'm just encountering, gamertheories.wordpress.com.  For something a bit more heady, this article discusses the use of non-diegetic songs in Red Dead Redemption and Far Cry 3.  Not quite as much of a focus on the game music, but an interesting consideration from the player's perspective.

I also perused this article from a blog I need to check out more, creaedigitalmusic.com.  This refers to the game soundtrack as an "interactive collage" and puts the soundtrack in broader scope of being in the "post sampling age."  Not quite sure what that means, but I'm hoping it'll make more sense as I keep exploring this genre.

Finally, for more of a focus on the audio design than the music-- also an incredible part of Red Dead Redemption, check out this interview with audio director Jeffrey Whitcher.

For more, you can always check out the Game Audio Relevance iasig site.

Playing Games: Final Fantasy VII, Comparing Themes

As I've been playing FF7, I've jotted myself several times that I'm interested to compare a musical theme from this game to one in another Final Fantasy.

First comparison: the airship theme from FF7, "The Highwind Takes to the Skies" vs. the "Big Whale" theme from FF4.

Both themes have a lot of cymbal clanging, building snare drum and timpani figures, and fast arpeggiation in the accompaniment.  The busy-ness in the accompaniment.  They sound heroic/ patriotic, they give the feeling that "the sky's the limit"-- no pun intended.

Here's another I jotted down:  Compare FF7's "Hurry Faster"  vs FF6 "The Unforgiven."

Both of these themes use lots of percussive sounds, rhythm, and energy to convey a sense of excitement and activity.  Both also use sections in irregular meters to give a less regular aural feel.  For some reason, hearing irregular meters makes me think of a famous Dali painting.  Of course, the FF7 track is much longer and has several more sections (this seems to be a trend with FF7 tracks versus earlier FF games-- probably because of the new possibilities the Playstation presented Uematsu), but especially the beginnings of these tracks for me share common ground.

What comparisons do you think of for the same composer but different games?    

Playing Games: Music in FF7's opening

So I'm playing FF7, and as annoying as it is, I'm taking notes on the musical experience meanwhile.  I've got a huge stack of post-its, a red pen from grading papers, and my brain and ears.  So far, I've learned that there's very little written on game music analysis.  Even with the little written, certainly one thing that's missing from discourse on this material is indepth analysis of music's influence on game play. 

As I'm in the midst of reading Collins' books on Game Sound, I've got many academic arguments in my mind.  Wondering particularly: how does the music influence the feel of the game play? the flow of the scene? how do the changes in the music interact with the visual experience? how does the music help to draw you into the gaming experience?  Thus tonight's blog, a real time experience of me jotting my thoughts about the music and game play of the opening minutes of Final Fantasy VII.  In the future, I'd like to explore this sort of dialogue as a realtime chat feature to allow discussion with others.  For now, just noting the kind of things that come to my own mind may help establish avenues for future thought/ analysis.  What do you think/ experience as you hear this music? Leave me comments! 

The first thing you hear when you start a new game is, of course, the opening music of the game.  The classic music from when you cross the Cornelia bridge from the first Final Fantasy.  This video skips the opening and begins after the "new game" screen.  It starts with the ambient noise of outer space.  Music mimics the uncertainty as we pan through the unknown. 

What's the first music cue?  The appearance of Aeris face (:47).  Union strings create emotion, feeling, importance, tonality (home base).  Opening theme.  

Notice Aeris footsteps echo as if on coblestone in an alley.  This sound had to be carefully constructed to sound as shoe against stone in echoing alley.  This game has clear attention to detail in precisely crafted sound effects. 

This opening is a movie and incorporates Mickey Mousing, the idea of timing music and sounds to precise visual cues.  For example, the first bike drives by at 1:08, breaking the shot on Aeris, and this moment is also the first percussive sound in the accompaniment.  The accompaniment builds to 1:28, when the title screen appears.  Timpani and drums herald its arrival.  A melodic snippet is sequenced lower as the camera zooms back in to Avalanche's raid on the reactor, shifting the music to the next theme.  The percussion enters as the last note of the previous material dies away, keeping flow with the single camera shot.  Just like a movie with spotted cues, this opening video has a careful audio/visual construction.

1:58-- Opening Bombing Mission theme.  Music is now continuous until 4:55 with no break for battles.  This music is active....  2:39 battle entry sound, but no music change.  This music has sharp percussive beats and gives a feeling of urgency.  By not introducing other music for battles, the music for the intro has more continuity.  Excitement.  Entering the Shinra buidling yields no music change but entering the reactor... 

On entering the reactor (new screen) at 4:55, the music slows down to the "Mako Reactor" theme.  Whereas before the state of the music earlier conveys to the player, "hurry up!, get pumped, go!" this music says: "calm down, you're doing well, explore."  Mechanical sounds.  Wondering: how does this music compare to Final Fantasy VI factory music?  Bell chimes sound grandiose, cold.  Syncopated and synthesized offbeats sound mechanical, weird. 

6:42 is the first real battle music heard in the game.  7:05 the first victory fanfare/spoils music.  Fanfare music is timed to last as long as victory movements (Cloud twirling blade, Barret pumping fist). 

10:20-- At the reactor core, notice how the alarm sounds, and the return of the Opening Bombing Mission.  This battle is going to be different, more challenging, more fast paced...  To be honest, hearing the Bombing Mission theme here struck me as new boss music theme and I was surprised to learn it's the same Bombing Music from 1:58 replayed.  If you heard it as a return of the Bombing Mission, then perhaps it serves as a reminder for you: oh yes, we're on a terrorist mission, we set off the alarm, timing is of the essence, get it done and out of here. 

The impact of new music and the timing of when music is introduced at the beginning of a game cannot be overstated as a way to draw a player into the game and convey information about game play, characters, situations, etc.