#THE MAIN LEITMOTIF OF THE MUSIC NO LESS | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lightninginapuddle · 4 months

Text

Blackbeard's musical theme S1 vs S2 observations

I've been rewatching the show recently to find the scenes where Blackbeard's Theme is used, and here are some observations I can share with those interested. I'm not going to get technical or anything, just pinpoint some things I found interesting in the use of that theme in the context of the show, the characters, and the scenes it appears in.

Just so you have it in your ears, this is Blackbeard’s Theme. When I searched for scenes, I was looking for a specific leitmotif that derives from the very beginning of that linked song: the 3 held, rumbly, low notes (E, G and D#/Eb in that order), or a variation of that pattern. In the show, this main theme is often followed by strings playing a high-pitched sustained harmony with fast repeated notes (that or maybe these are long slow strokes with lots of vibrato, you tell me, I don't play a string instrument).

The theme is meant to be menacing.

My observations under the cut, sorry it's a little messy!

- Season 1: the theme is introduced by Izzy in A Damned Man and last heard in a scene with Ed in Wherever You Go, There You Are. The theme is never played for anyone else but them throughout season 1.

- Season 2: the theme is reintroduced by Ed at the wedding in Impossible Birds, and we last hear it at the beginning of Izzy’s death scene in Mermen.

- Contrary to season 1, the theme also appears with the crew when they are fighting with each other in Fun and Games, and with Lucius when he's alone and holding the wooden shark in The Curse of the Seafaring Life. The theme we hear in the scene with the crew is a variation from the original theme.

Some analysis could be drawn from this, such as Blackbeard's poison leaking out of Izzy and Ed and contaminating the crew and reflecting in the way their trauma is portrayed on screen. The theme being heard with lucius is particularly interesting to me, though I'm still trying to form my analysis of this. Maybe because the shark is a physical embodiment of Blackbeard to Izzy? And thus the essence of Blackbeard is transferred to that wooden shark? Who knows, your guess is as good as mine.

- Season 1: the theme is in 21 scenes in 5 episodes only (2,3,4,6 and 10). I’d argue that Izzy is the driving force of the theme in at least half of these scenes (12/21 vs Ed 9/21) as he carries the threatening essence of the theme.

- More than half of those appearances are in only 2 episodes: The Art of Fuckery (7 scenes) and Discomfort in a Married State (5 scenes), but never less than 3 scenes per episode for the other episodes.

- Season 1: we don't hear the theme in The Best Revenge is Dressing Well, This is Happening, We Gull Way Back and Act of Grace. It's interesting to note that, apart from Act of Grace, Izzy and Ed don't interact at all in those episodes.

- Season 2: 14 scenes in 6 episodes (1,2,3,4,5,8). The theme centers a lot more around Ed. At first because he's lost in the persona of Blackbeard and carries the threatening essence of the theme, and then because his fractured vision of himself is mending back with the Kraken and Ed to become one by the end of the season.

- 11 of those scenes are in 3 episodes: Impossible Birds and Mermen (4 scenes each) and Fun and Games (3 scenes). We hear the theme in only one scene for the other three episodes.

- Season 2: similarly, we don't hear the theme at all in Calypso's Birthday and Man on Fire. Maybe signifying the healing amongst everyone involved with Blackbeard? Ed is turning poison into positivity and the crew is healing and embracing him back, and similarly Izzy is embracing his own self-discovery rather than focusing on Blackbeard. In Man on Fire, Blackbeard seems to have become something of the past, especially symbolised with Ed throwing his leathers in the ocean.

- Season 1: the theme is recognizable from one scene to the other, sometimes changing the melody of the motif a little bit, sometimes it’s instrumentalized a little differently (a piano instead of a cello for example), sometimes the motif is only one or two notes, but it mostly stays the same throughout the season.

- The only two times I can think of when the theme is the most “different” is in 1) The Art of Fuckery, when Ed is doing a fuckery with fireworks and descending from the sky with a harness. There, the theme mirrors the theatricality of the scene; 2) the very last time we hear the theme in Wherever You Go, There You Are, when Ed keeps Jim and Frenchie on his crew. The theme is sped up, more colorful and rhythmically more dynamic. To me, it symbolises the change in Blackbeard's persona as someone a lot less stable and more dangerous.

- Season 2: still mostly the same theme but it shapeshifts a lot more. The range gets broader, getting more and more high pitched, to the point of being shrill at times, which contrasts a lot with the low, rumbling sound of the cello we're so used to hearing, the main melody has more variations (with the crew in Fun and Games, with Izzy in Fun and Games and Mermen) and it even appears very distorted when Buttons is talking to a bound Ed in Fun and Games. Interestingly, the theme appears in more distinctly different variations in Fun and Games than any other episode, when every one is dealing with the brunt of their trauma.

- Season 2: when Ed is pointing his gun at the crew then at himself in Impossible Birds, the theme is the most shrill we've ever heard as the tension rises, with the same sustained harmony from the original motif played at a very high pitch and doesn't cease to be played until Izzy yells and the music completely stops. It picks back up once Ed shoots him, and the lower range of the theme emerges as well with the shrill harmony.

- Season 2: When we hear the theme with Ed by himself in Mermen, it's never heard on its own anymore. We hear it partnered with the Kraken theme and/or Gnossienne n°5. BUT the theme is pretty much in its original form and at that point in the season, we haven't heard it like that since Impossible Birds (if I'm not mistaken).

- Season 1: This happens only once, where the echo of Blackbeard's theme quickly morphs into Gnossienne when Stede realizes that maybe Ed does fancy a fine fabric in Discomfort In A Married State. (And no, I’m not taking the Kraken Theme followed by Gnossienne in The Art of Fuckery into account, as I’m only focusing on Blackbeard’s Theme here).

- Season 2: Let me also point out that we don't hear the theme with Ed after his discussion with Buttons in Fun and Games, and it's so fractured and distorted that it's hard to recognize at all. We hear it with the crew, Izzy and Lucius but not Ed until Mermen. And it comes back in Mermen following Pop Pop telling Ed to go back to what he is good at. This time however, what he's good at is not only being Blackbeard but channeling all the parts of himself to protect others.

- Also, as mentioned before, Izzy has a strong connection to the theme in season 1 but not nearly as much in season 2, if at all. The theme really is his in 2, arguably 3, scenes even though he is present in more than those two scenes (6/14). Now this is my interpretation, you're free to make your own, but I tend to analyze this as him losing control over Blackbeard, especially at the beginning of the season where we can see how he doesn’t know how to stop the spiral Ed is in. Izzy wanted Blackbeard and not Edward but it resulted in him having neither. And the disappearance of the theme with Izzy also symbolises that, Blackbeard doesn’t belong to him anymore. It's even more clear when we consider how Izzy was a driving force to the theme in season 1 or at least Ed and Izzy shared the theme somewhat equally -though in Izzy's favor (12 for Izzy, 9 for Ed)-, yet in season 2, 9 scenes out of 14 are all Ed compared to Izzy's 2/3.

- When the theme is heard with him again, Izzy is at his lowest point mentally. He's lost his leg and throws the unicorns ones to the feet of the crew before falling down and crawling away while the crew watches him move away with concern and pity. I personally think the theme coming back in that moment is some sort of reckoning for Izzy, and the theme is a variation of the original one too. Izzy fully faces what pushing for Blackbeard to keep existing cost him and he's having a hard time coping with it.

- The last two times we hear the theme with him after that, are: when he talks to Ricky, and the theme turns almost positive, hopeful even, maybe Izzy is allowing Blackbeard to be something positive instead of negative, paralleling Ed doing the same as he embraces all the parts of himself? Then, as a last echo, the final nail in the coffin so to speak, the theme shows up at the very beginning of Izzy's death scene. Here, the theme is higher pitched than the original version of it, and feels tight, strained and weak, almost paralleling Izzy holding onto life.

Feel free to draw your own conclusions if you even read all of that. That was a lot of rambles, sorry!

#ofmd #our flag means death #no one will care but eh #ofmd music #ofmd meta #ofmd analysis #feel free to correct me as well I might have missed A LOT of stuff #but this is at the top of my head for now #might add some stuff later on #my gifs

33 notes · View notes

inamindfarfaraway · 2 years

Text

If we can’t have Batfamily movies and all Batman movies must be set in the early years before Robin, at least let us have one about the Gotham Justice Triumvirate. With Harvey Dent in the central role. Here’s my pitch:

Badass DA and wonderful person Harvey.

Harvey and Jim Gordon and Batman’s friendship. Jim and Harvey are friends! They’re two normal humans hanging out with a vigilante/living shadow cryptid who has no concept of normal human interaction! Think of the in-jokes they must have! Near the beginning, after Batman pulls his trademark disappearing act on them Harvey asks if Jim thinks he’ll ever say goodbye to them. Jim’s reply is some form of “when hell freezes over”, maybe even “Yeah - when he’s seeing you off to Arkham and me to Blackgate.” They laugh.

Harvey and Bruce Wayne’s friendship.

The fun and dramatic irony of writing Bruce and Batman as completely separate characters.

Depending on the timeline, possibly a cameo of newly fostered little Dick Grayson! To whom Harvey is like an uncle.

Gilda’s character being fleshed out. Exploring her side of the marriage and views on her husband’s career and mental decline and alliance with the Bat.

Harvey and Gilda’s relationship. And her and Two-Face’s relationship! He doesn’t care for Bruce, but he does love her equally while she apparently doesn’t even know he exists prior to him killing people. That’s an interesting dynamic.

Mafia intrigue and drama as the heroic trio finally bring down the previously untouchable Maroni empire.

Judicial, political and police force intrigue and drama as Harvey and to a less examined extent Jim fight to preserve their moral integrity in and reform their deeply corrupt institutions.

“For Gotham” is a key phrase, and may be the title. It’s said by each member of the triumvirate at different points when demonstrating or discussing how far they’re willing to go and how much hope they have for their city and its people.

Accurate, in-depth DID representation with Harvey and his protector alter not yet named Two-Face, who, reasserting himself after years if not decades of repression, resentment and ingratitude by the person he’s only ever wanted to protect slowly grows into a persecutor. Now Harvey’s wary, dismissive treatment of him is very understandable because of how terrifying DID can make life when you don’t understand it/your alter(s), and the need for control and excessive responsibility his childhood of abuse and neglect has cemented in him. But it’s still damaging. Other than lash out sometimes at people making Harvey feel threatened (Pre-)Two-Face hasn’t really done anything wrong before the events of the movie. They’re two sides of the same badly scarred coin each just trying to survive and make sense of their pain, equally sympathetic and valid… at least at the start. An element of the tragedy is that Two-Face could have healed and been a true friend to Harvey, if different choices were made and different chances were given. But the pressure of the Maroni case, a lifetime of unresolved trauma and post-traumatic stress from their father and each other, some plain bad luck and some mistakes lead to him becoming another abuser and a supervillain besides.

Music! Harvey has a theme, Two-Face has a theme. They hit opposite beats and parallel each other a lot yet never quite harmonize well. The coin (and the destruction and despair it represents) has a leitmotif that slowly rises to prominence in both. This motif is also associated with Christopher Dent. Harvey and Gilda have a love theme. Bruce and Batman have distinct themes that complement each other perfectly when played together, and when Bruce’s emotions shine through in Batman or Batman’s grimness peeks out of Bruce elements from the other piece are mixed in. The concept that Gotham’s ‘soul’ can be saved and humanity is worth fighting for has an uplifting theme, the main theme of movie and an antithesis to the coin’s, that has sections and elements woven into each member of the triumvirate’s themes and is repeatedly reprised in different tones.

Harvey’s external plot is making Gotham a better place, specifically via dismantling the Maroni crime family. The structure of most of the movie builds up to the climax of the trial of Salvatore Maroni himself. Maybe there are even recurring shots of Harvey’s calendar with an increasing number of days crossed out, to really drive the countdown home. To the main characters, it’s a beacon of confidence; a chance to prove law, and law for the good of the people, does hold power in Gotham, to send a message to everyone that things can and will get better. Nothing (and no one) is beyond redemption. To the audience, it’s a doomsday for Harvey we’re helpless to stop that taints every victory and happy moment on the path toward it.

His internal plot is grappling with his severe psychological issues rooted in his nightmarish childhood. He goes to therapy, he’s in a good place right before the start. But the first scene is… rough.

He visits his alcoholic father Christopher in the cheap hotel Chris, reduced to a pathetic old man, is staying in. Though he still calls him Dad and wants to try to reconcile, it’s clear he understands his regular, brutal beatings and otherwise generally neglectful parenting style (at least half the time) were wrong and he’s uncomfortable and tense. Chris solemnly presents him with a coin. The coin he would flip every night to ‘decide’ to beat him or not, which always, always came up heads for punishment. He said it was fair and that paradigm - that that his desires and actions don’t matter, he was just always bad inside and always deserves to suffer, in short that Harvey’s fate isn’t in his control - shaped the system’s entire personalities and worldviews, Harvey striving to prove it wrong and over years of bearing trauma and triggering experiences, his much more cynical protector internalizing it. With trembling fingers Harvey picks up the coin and looks at both sides. Two heads. The music cuts out. Dolly zoom on him that makes the room appear to close in around him, as a boy’s pleas, cries and screams of agony echo and he dissociates. Two-Face, who always acknowledged the flip was rigged, switches in. He smiles ruefully and says in a calm, quiet voice, “I understand.” Then he lunges to his feet, punches Christopher to the ground, grabs him by the throat and slams him against the wall, right fist raised to strike. He is now anything but calm. “Why? Why did you do it? Not the beating, that was just because you’re a sick bastard and took your anger out on the person least able to do anything about it. But why use the coin, why make it a game? Why lie? To shift responsibility even more? Just for fun? Tell me! Why would you bother to put a little spark of hope into your son’s eyes only to crush it? Answer me!” Instead of answering, Chris notes he’s bleeding; his right fist is closed so tight his fingernails have punctured his skin and the coin inside it is cutting into his palm. The shock of seeing that damn coin literally, physically hurting him brings tears to Two-Face’s eyes. He looks back up at his father, full of only raw grief and sadness for himself and his alter. His voice breaks. “Why, Dad? Did you really… not feel anything good when you looked at me?” “Did you really believe every time?” is all his father can say. Two-Face’s expression hardens, his fists clench again and he squares his shoulders. “Only half of me did. Goodbye, Christopher,” he says bitterly. The second he slams the door his facade of strength crumbles. He falls to his knees, sobbing and heavily dissociating. Cradling his head in his hands and raking them through his hair smears blood on and in the right half of his face and hair. Cue title card!

So yeah, there are only a couple of months between that day and the Maroni trial. He can’t bring himself to throw away the coin despite knowing he probably should. Gilda can’t understand why and urges him to leave it behind. He says it’s “too important” and “a reminder”, although of what, he can’t verbalize. The coin eventually ends up being habitually fidgeted with and kept on his person like a lucky charm. He’s trying to ‘redeem’ his trauma, turn it into something good, by drawing on it to motivate him to fight for justice, but the coin in practice is just a trigger. His PTSD, guilt complex and self-worth and control issues are dragged to the forefront and he dissociates more frequently. He falls further and further into obsessive workaholism. Loses sleep. Misses therapy sessions. All that matters is giving the absolute most he can to his city. Rest can wait, quality time with his wife and friends can wait, Harvey Dent the person can wait until the case is closed. Until after the trial. Everything will be better after The Trial.

The Trial happens. Everything is not better.

Maroni unscrewing his flask occurs in the background of the shot out of focus. When the acid is thrown, it sprays through the air in slow motion. We see Harvey and the witnesses’ (including Gilda and Bruce) shock transitioning to panic and horror as he flinches away too slowly, the coin in his hand flung into midair revolution and a wayward drop of acid approaching it. With a last close-up on his wide left eye reflecting Maroni’s smirk, cut to black. The most tortured screams you can imagine ring in our ears. No music in any of this.

Harvey and Two-Face’s mental health sinks to rock bottom during their hospital stay. Gilda, Bruce and Jim’s visits comfort Harvey little, especially since Batman duty calls Bruce away at a critical point (remember, nowhere in the script does it say Bruce is Batman). They’re given the coin back and discuss that life isn’t fair, but it should be… if they played their dad’s game now, it would be fair. All that work, all the blood and sweat and tears Harvey put into Gotham and this is how Gotham thanks him. He was never going to change things. Not playing by the rules of a rigged game, at least. It was never up to him. He never had it in him to be good, to be someone not worthy of punishment, let alone to improve other people’s lives. Flipping the coin, Harvey whispers with shattered eyes, “I understand.” Of course, seeing their scars is the last straw. Two-Face switches in, literally locking an anxious Harvey in a dark repressed chamber in their inner world to stop him getting in his way, and escapes hospital. Gilda, on her way to his room, begs him to stop and he hesitates but, genuinely sorrowful, decides his quest for justice takes precedence and runs into the stormy night, the shadows and rain obscuring his trail. She calls him, phone in a death grip. Fade out to its continual ringing.

This might be too weird and artsy but what if from the Fuck My Life I’m Listening To A Coin Now toxic epiphany onward, the shot composition is roughly pretty much symmetrical? Within shots or with shots mirroring each other. Not perfectly, obviously, but like. Rewind looking for it and it’s there.

The penultimate scene is another rooftop rendezvous and this time Harvey isn’t present; we and his friends feel his absence. Batman regretfully tells Jim and shows him footage of a new criminal taking the underworld by storm: the fledgling Two-Face. Jim is first disbelieving, then devastated and turns his back so Batman won’t see him cry. He angrily tells Batman not to comfort him, and to leave now that he’s given him the shitty news, because that’s all he ever does for him. We pull back to show Batman is staying, pained, guilty and truly having no idea how to proceed. Jim assumes he’s already silently vanished. Once he collects himself and goes inside to inform his subordinates, Batman lingers in front of the Batsignal where they took their shared vow. “Goodbye, Harvey,” he says softly.

The epilogue is Two-Face’s confrontation with Maroni. Several months later, the Mafia don’s out of prison already thanks to the, again, incredibly corrupt legal system. Two-Face acts venomously calm and civil while holding him at gunpoint. He remarks how long and hard Harvey worked just to bring Maroni to court, and how now with some broken laws and spilt blood here Maroni is in front of him in a fraction of the time. Helpless, like he was in that courtroom. He explains his “fair” game to kill him or not in a speech clearly quoted from Christopher, shows him both sides of the coin, tosses it and stares at the unseen outcome in his hand. “Lucky,” he announces, making Maroni slightly relax - a little spark of hope put into his eyes, you could say. Suddenly Two-Face shoots him twice in the heart. “For Gotham, not you.” Harvey switches in (implicitly his alter’s guilt is a positive trigger for him as his anger is for Two-Face) to find his alter has committed murder, with a smoking gun in his right hand and flecks of blood on that hand and his suit. He staggers back in horror and drops the gun and coin. A pang of practically physical pain interrupts his calling Jim to turn himself in, because he can’t choose that, can he? He falls to his knees. With trembling fingers he picks up the coin and, pleading under his breath to just have this one chance, flips it. It comes up scarred. Two-Face resumes control. He smashes the phone under his heel and stands. The final shot is him walking purposefully toward the camera so it zooms in on the vertical divide of his suit jacket.

#i have. a VISION #you want pain dc? you want to make your characters suffer? you want dark depressing endings?#fine!#i’ll play your game #AND characterize harvey and two-face better than at least 75% of comics they’re in #let’s go full greek tragedy #also i love parallels and where are they more suitable than the story of the Duality Duo?#gotham justice triumvirate #bruce wayne #batman #harvey dent #two-face #jim gordon #comissioner gordon #dc comics #dc #gotham city #sal maroni

276 notes · View notes

angel-armed · 1 year

Text

Tristamp OST analysis

This is going to be a bit of a monster even with me just jumping to favorite songs so bear with me... I'm a classically trained vocalist, I play piano, guitar, and a load of different woodwinds.

1.KNIVES’s Piano

This is the most important leitmotif in the series, legit. This is part of how Knives ‘haunts the narrative.’ While he doesn’t appear in every episode, his leitmotif is everwhere. This melody appears even in songs that are not necessarily about him, and can also be tied directly to the concept of Plant Song, which is another track on here. It gives the idea that Knives’ theme is not something he just magically composed and pulled out of the aether– it’s a primordial melody that belongs to the Plants themselves. We see this especially in the scene in Episode 11 (Or 12, they blend together for me oops) where Vash starts to sing this very melody and the Plants sing along with him.

Millions Knives vocal Ver.

This is probably the most obvious and prominent track in the entire show. It takes the same melody and motif as Knives piano theme and adds lyrics that are really only fully heard here and in Drain Arm, the 2nd to last track. These lyrics turn that Plant Song into a blatant lovesong, even including a call and response– a lyrical/vocal style used primarily in lovesongs in musicals and even Disney Lovesongs. Without official lyrics to look at the, lyrics I hear go as follows:

Can we breathe (or maybe be, but breathe is more likely) the same way together?

All of the lives(Lights? Lies? All fit) are a part of me

Wish we could stay here forever

Although the stars are falling down.

Remember how

We used to be

No turning back

Stars falling down

These are the main vocals, but the response is, either right after the last stanza or during it, underneath the vocals as a joined swell “I still care for you” suggesting that said response is Vash responding to Nai’s previous thoughts. I could go on about this one forever, but those are the main points to take away.

Vash the Stampede

This is Vash’s main theme and leitmotif, heard very prominently throughout the first few episodes. It harkens back to the more Western heavy themes of the original anime and manga, and really represents Vash’s spirit. It’s upbeat and introduces several motifs that will be used to represent Vash throughout the rest of the OST. It also includes the big brass fanfare that are the main Trigun Stampede theme from the first OST (which I haven’t played to death as much as the 2nd one) We’ve got the harmonica and guitar that brings us that western feel, but that quickly gets wrapped up in a modern almost hip-hop rock beat and really encapsulates the way Vash presents himself, less than his actual inner being. It almost feels like this song is how Vash wants the world to view him. That cool cowboy that Nai talked about when they were kids.

10. Boyhood/ NICHOLAS THE PUNISHER/ Whom to let live

This gives us Nico’s leitmotif, and some that might later be associated with Livio depending on how they decide to utilize him in season two. This is the only place in the soundtrack where we hear the use of the theramin (A very cool instrument you should look up the history of) which is famous from classic sci fi shows like the Twilight Zone and the Original Star Trek. It’s used to invoke a sense of spookiness, and often used to tell us through the music that something strange and alien is happening which is appropriate, as part of Boyhood is used during the scene where we’re shown how Conrad’s experiments transformed Wolfwood and Livio.This and NICHOLAS THe PUNISHER makes use of another instrument we don’t really hear anywhere else– the Saxophone, which if you know Trimax and the 98 anime, is a cool throwback. Whom to let live uses it even more prominently. Whom to let live is a personal favorite of mine, it’s so introspective and soft– almost soothing. This plays on the Sand Steamer during one of Wolfwood’s introspective moments; when he’s trying to choose who he should save.

11. Energy of the Plant

This one contains some of the same musical elements of Knives’ vocal theme, eventually ramping up into the violins that are often used, in my opinion, to represent Vash in a theme– a cool little nod to them being connected literally and figuratively.

20. Home

This track is SO near and dear to my heart. It’s built out of melodies and themes that are simply not present in the rest of the OST. No sign of Nai’s theme, yet the theme is played on the instrument associated with him– piano. It starts out simple and then bit by bit, brass and woodwinds come in to swell the melody into a heart-bursting wave of warmth. Just as it reaches that climax, the violins that represent Vash come in, and give us a tiny glimpse of the leitmotif from Vash the Stampede, as though whispering of the man he will become after growing up in the company of the people from Ship Three. See if you can pick it out right at 1:46! This right here is why I believe the violin is the instrument used to represent Vash throughout the rest of the OST.

23. Last Run

I can’t help but mention this track, as it is probably one of my top three favorites. Of course the most obvious part is how it incorporates Knives’ theme towards the middle and end, but the build up to that point is a masterclass in creating musical tension. It starts with the underlying sound of weeping violins, and then a synth instrument that just barely offers a TEASE of Nai’s theme as the other elements, discordant slides and very subtle percussion build up. As Vash enters the scene, the violins become more tense as well, playing short staccato notes instead of the long, weeping notes before. It drops off into that synthesized guitar bomb slide, which is used to almost simulate the beating of a heart along with deep bass. Then, the Plantsong itself comes in– the same vocals used to represent the Plants in other songs just as the Climax of the scene begins, and then Knives’ piano theme slowly comes in, falling like tears before another stop that leads into the actual climax. Honestly this song is an absolute masterpiece. Just then, some organs come in very softly, picking up what can only be called a transformative moment for Knives as his worldview is cemented into stone, his path to becoming the god of this planet laid out before him in rage and fury. Then in the very last quarter of the song, it transforms almost entirely into his theme just around the time Vash’s gate manifests– but with the added oomph of Vash’s absolutely gut-wrenching violin playing along in a duet. They are both in so much pain in this scene, and the song spells it all out.

28&29: Erhu in July and Plant Song on erhu

I love these two tracks because they really are one song, and go one into another seamlessly– they are simply Vash’s and then Knives’ leitmotifs played on an Erhu, which is legit one of my favorite instruments of all time. Really brings into focus that July has a TON of Chinese influence!

41. Conception

Jumping way ahead on this because while there are a lot of great tracks, I really wanna focus on the ones that stand out. This one in particular is really special because it takes Knives’ theme that is usually played in Minor key and moves it almost entirely into Major Key. It’s triumphant! His eden is at hand, and then, those sad strings come in (a cello this time–) that just suddenly dies out, just as Vash cuts him off.

42. Memory of Rem

This song is really cool because it is, once again, part of the same melody that Knives always plays– but it’s only ONE part of it accompanied by violin, likely to represent the half of the melody that is attributed to Vash. Obviously it represents his connection to Rem and his childhood.

44. Drain Arm

This song is a fucking magnum opus, and starts with the same notes that are present in Memory of Rem, symbolizing how she lives on through Vash. It almost immediately starts with a slow, sad violin melody that then builds up and up using some of the same melodic motifs as Home– and then Nai’s piano comes in, cascading downward along with the vocals that are used to represent plants. The beginning movement really is a mix of everything that made Vash who he is today. Then, it moves into mirroring the melody of Knives’ piano theme entirely with new added piano flourishes that make this moment feel so beautiful and yet sad. Vash and Knives are both becoming who they are going to be for the duration of the rest of the story. The old is dying, and the new is being born– very painfully. The vocals swell and then drop, bringing the focus back to the piano and some ominous percussion and bells before coming back up into a crescendo. This is where the lyrics from Knives’ Vocal theme appear, expressing Knives’ pain and Vash’s desperate “I still care for you,”

I’ve said it before but the piano here really feels like cascading tears, which are then joined by the weeping of a violin as that lyric: “I still care for you” plays. The melodies all start to join up into one as the violin now starts to play the intro to Knives’ theme and carry the song into its final climax and the pain we all know it overlays. This time, the violins play Knives’ theme– while his usual piano plays a countermelody and harmony. Still, the two are unavoidably intertwined. I can’t help but feel as though this represents Vash taking that melody into himself, carrying the Knives he knew and loved with him.

#trigun stampede

44 notes · View notes

sagethegremlin · 11 months

Note

here i am, asking you about sonic leitmotifs. rant as much as you can

oh where on earth shall i begin c;

i could easily talk forever about this, but ill split it into three main sections to be a little more digestible

My favorite instance of a sonic leitmotif

DUDE HAVE YOU EVER PLAYED SA1

So we start out the game and its pretty straightforward until we get to gamma. He's the odd one out in the whole lineup, and this is reflected in his theme. Every single other character has a vocal theme (which are all really good btw), but gammas is purely instrumental (and one cool thing that i saw someone point out once is how the beginning of the song sounds like a startup).

But there are two main melodies in gammas theme (and man if this was a convo and not a paragraphed tumblr dot com post id just sing em), and they get their biggest use in the song unbound.

Unbound is so important because it uses gammas leitmotif to recontextualize his theme as not for him, but as for the flicky that's inside him.

If we want to take this one step further, we could see one of Gamma's melodies as the robot (that first part of unbound with the piano before it gets into the dramatic part with the horn), and the other as the flicky inside, which fits together perfectly in gammas theme, but we see them "unbound" from each other in unbound.

It isn't just the fact that the leitmotif is used, either. It is so beautifully crafted that it truly feels like a solemn sendoff, and I adore it. :)

2. My favorite sonic song and how it uses leitmotifs

HAVE YOU EVER PLAYED SATBK BECAUSE I HAVEN'T AND I'M SO UPSET OVER IT EVERY DAY

Ok so you start off the game and what's the first thing you hear? Knight of the Wind. And as you progress through various cutscenes, you can faintly hear that beginning moment in the song.

Knight of the Wind stands for fighting for freedom. For doing what's right.

But at the end of the game, we get the leitmotif in a new form. In the form of my favorite sonic song, and of one of my favorite songs in general: Live Life.

I need you to listen to the beginning of Knight of the Wind and then listen to the beginning of Live Life. It's the exact same leitmotif. It's the leitmotif used throughout the entirety of the game. The leitmotif that previously stood for courage and kindness, now also taking on the meaning of hope and change (which can in turn apply to all of the cutscenes it appeared in!!! :D).

Not only does Live Life carry on the leitmotif into a slightly different message, but when you hear the leitmotif in Knight of the Wind, it's this commanding tune on guitar, a contrast to the beautiful and slower version on violin that plays in Live Life, in a completely different key no less!

3. My favorite sonic soundtrack and how it uses leitmotifs (perfectly)

BABYGIRL HAVE YOU EVER PLAYED SONIC 06 BECAUSE I HAVE AND IT'S MY BABYGIRL I LOVE IT SO MUCH BABYGIRL

God I could talk about the leitmotifs in 06 for literal hours but the good news is I already have! :D

Here's this post because honestly if I tried talking about it again I would just repeat myself lol

All this to say when I finally sit down and write a sonic music video essay its over for you fuckers c:

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sonic music

10 notes · View notes

beevean · 9 months

Note

Top 5 video game soundtracks

I'll limit myself to my favorites from the series I've played :P

5) Mega Man X5. Mostly this high up because of Zero Stage 1 which is honestly one of the best videogame tracks I've listened to. Just peak MMX, energetic and cool.

4) Metroid Prime. Absolutely iconic soundfont, a masterclass in atmospheric music, perfect for the game famous for nailing the idea of being Samus exploring an alien planet. Phendrana Drifts and Sunken Frigate my utter beloveds <3

3) The Great Ace Attorney 2. Including ofc the many tracks it shares with GAA1, but I prefer the original tracks of the second game. A somewhat unique style compared to the main series, taking full advantage of the real instruments, but still keeping that Ace Attorney bounciness and emotions. It some of my absolute favorite tracks from the series, in particular The Great Secret Trial and The Game Is Afoot <3

2) Curse of Darkness. Barely edging SoTN's for me, because I'm Sonic trash and you can easily buy me with guitars :P but yeah, half of it is Michiru Yamane continuing her work of replicating SoTN's style but with real instruments, and the other half is her rocking out Senoue-style (Legendary Belmont owns my whole soul). Fantastic.

Sonic '06. Absolutely peak. It has everything I love to see in a videogame OST, from great sound quality, to wide variety, to clever use of leitmotifs, and overall a big sense of cinematic scope. There is not a single track I believe is anything less than great :)

(special shout out to Katawa Shoujo's OST which, while obviously MIDI and amateurish, has a very special place in my heart <3)

#megaman x5 #metroid prime #the great ace attorney 2 #curse of darkness #sonic 06

3 notes · View notes

theotherseapancakes · 8 months

Text

Very entertaining to me how one of the most popular tumblr posts I have is me yelling (sleep-deprived) about Chrom's insecurities.

(I rambled this got long im sorry.)

Slightly, SLIGHTLY less funny that it constantly reminds me that was the day a bird broke into our house and refused to leave, though, which is funny, in a horrible way. Because Chrom attracted a Robin, I guess, IDK. It was a small one. (It was not funny at the time. Literally nobody would help us we called EVERYWHERE just had to make our poor roommate come home.) I get notes on that one so often. I feel like Chrom's insecurities SHOULD be obvious, but maybe they're not AS obvious as I thought? Hrmmm. Food for thought. ... I'm putting this on main because I'm scared it'll also blow up somehow--but while I'm here, I'm also thinking about how FEA has some really good leitmotif useage. Like, I think anyone if they just listened to the OST will notice the obvious Id ones (which I tend to feel belong to Robin, as the protag, which makes sense to a degree, but Chrom too) but I feel like rambling specifically about something dumb. Say how "Such Bonds Are The True Strength of This Army" has such a simple melody that gets reused in so so many pieces. It's really good stuff; Nintendo music is always leitmotif heavy in the best ways but it's not absent here. It makes the game feel cohesive to me. Also I can't think of many times I've heard the notes to Id Purpose also in other songs. It's present in Sorrow for obvious reasons but I still just. Gosh, I fucking love this game. I know it's a mess, I know it has issues. I know, I know. But fuck if it doesn't compel me. I don't ask much of my fiction. Just engross and compel me. Sell me on your characters. And I can't deny awakening does that. Sitting here rotating Robin in my head and Chrom and thinking about how their relationships really do mean the difference between so much. Grima is so lonely (the latest FB event makes this doubly obvious I would say) and Robin is so surrounded by friends and allies. That shit hurts. Like, imagine if you made all these friends only to be told by the universe, hey, no, fuck you, giant dragon time. Anyway everyone should go play the gay awakening mod and also my game about anime chess people, it was the one that introduced easy mode gdi. GO PLAY IT PLEASEI M ON MY KNEES CRYING AND BEATING THE FLOOR.

#grimleal trash heap;#fire emblem rambling #i just have so many feelings #like not even the lascivious kind i just #Chrom and Robin hit me in the SPECIAL BUCK DESTINY tropes so hard and NNNGHHH #also as seen with my OCs #i love a good drastic difference pairing where they compliment each other #or a friendship even

1 note · View note

pinksilvace · 2 years

Note

If you want, give us the full version of your thoughts about Sonic 06: the musical

Haha, this got long (2600 words!)

I'm a very cursed person to ask about this because there are three (3) musicals I am known to talk about and I have a very inconsistent music taste but here goes:

Opening Number. Themed around the festival of the sun, Soleanna, and Solaris during the chorus bits. It's got to have a number of overlapping parts, thanks to the game's three main storylines. It's loud and intense and expresses the goals of the main characters: Silver has to restore the future, Shadow has to protect the world's relative peace, and Sonic has to take down bad guys to save the common folk. Cool? Cool. Once everything's been established, Silver continues on with his part, describing what life is like in the future, and the chorus stays to the fringes of the stage. Silver is appealing directly to the audience. The music slows enough for Mephiles to come in, say his promising bit, and get Silver's agreement before swelling again for the end of the number.

Since they're on my mind, I'm going to establish a few things here. This musical should be focused on Iblis and Mephiles. Eggman will be mentioned, but not shown. Also, there is an actress for Blaze, but I really like the idea that she's a friend Silver made up, so she's typically only in scenes where Silver is alone or with Mephiles. Silver might make a few comments to her, but nobody else pays her any mind. A few things about the plot of '06 will be restructured to make it more concise, since musicals need to be pretty compressed.

Also, Mephiles needs a STRONG leitmotif. It’s with him whenever he shows up, as well as in other special circumstances as mentioned below. Additionally, his theme in the game is powerful for so many reasons, and one of them is the fact that it has no words. I think it's alright if he has pieces that are sung softly or not sung at all for the first part of the show.

Second Number. Sonic is doing his hero stuff. Just a general exploration of his character and daily routine with Tails. For this piece, he’s rescuing the princess of Soleanna from a mentioned “Eggman.” Elise does a brief little dance segment with Sonic and Tails before going offstage.

Throughout the musical, Elise can be seen as part of the chorus, but she will be primarily excluded from the plot. I love you, Elise, but for the sake of a musical, saving you repeatedly makes even less sense than it did in the game.

Third Number. As Sonic runs off the stage, Shadow runs in from the other side and stops in the center, right wherever Sonic just was. As he does so, the lighting changes. This is his spy mission to retrieve Rouge and the Scepter of Darkness. The chorus of this song is “cold” and has a hard drop*. This is Shadow’s song, they can go however cool for it as they want.

*check out Idea, libidO, Wonderland, or Back Door to see what I mean (I didn’t think I’d be linking kpop but it was all I could think of for examples). It’s all about the vibes; they SCREAM “spy mission.”

Fourth Number. Silver’s in the present! This song is short, but it’s all about appreciating the world around you. Blaze, the friend he communes with when he’s anxious, is gone.

Fifth Number. Comedic little number between Silver and Amy. Amy tries to explain basic concepts of society to Silver, Silver mostly fails to understand them, Amy deems his efforts good enough. There are no background dancers; it’s just the two of them, and it really emphasizes the fact that they’re both in their early teens.

It’s cute and clumsy. Again, it’s supposed to be a lighthearted and comedic view of their search together. The audience obviously knows that they’re searching for the same person, but the characters don’t.

Sixth Number. They find Sonic and Tails! Yay! It’s their confrontation. Driven by his determination, Silver’s personality directly contrasts from what it was in the previous number. Sonic fails because he’s focused more on Tails’ well-being than his own. The whole thing continually builds until Amy cuts in. Silver is left alone on the stage.

Seventh Number. Silver solo number about weighing the world against a single life. We see his doubt. The determination is gone; he’s clearly a kid again. This piece is one of the more somber ones in the show. At the end, Blaze walks up from where she’d been watching at the back of the stage and sings a short bit about their mission. During this, we can hear Mephiles’ leitmotif to emphasize that he’s gotten inside of Silver’s head.

Transition Scene. Sonic and Tails bump into Shadow and Rouge. Sonic messes with Shadow, and after a bit, they chase one another around the stage, including up onto ramps and higher set pieces, where Rouge and Tails have settled. Sonic knocks into Rouge and sends the Scepter of Darkness falling to the stage below. It releases Mephiles, who says a bit, maybe sings a small part, and makes the stage go dark.

Just for the sake of this show, I think I want to do away with the whole “Mephiles takes up Shadow’s shadow” thing. Hating him is enough to form their special connection <3. Besides, Mephiles deserves a cool costume (I’m talking Macavity from cats levels of wild) that slowly devolves over the course of the show.

Eighth Number. IT’S CRISIS CITY TIME, BABY!!! Sonic and Shadow start to prattle at one another, then Tails and Rouge reveal that they’re all in the future. With that, we enter into a Team Sonic/Team Dark rivalry duet while they all look around for a way out. This is going to be a long piece; it transitions directly into the flame core boss fight with Iblis, which is the half that’s heavier on choreography and lighter on words. At Iblis’ defeat, they realize that the monster tore open a portal, and without better options, they jump through it.

Imagine the banter between Sonic and Shadow in this song to be like the banter between Light and L in Stalemate from the Death Note musical. Not in context, but in the way their parts work together. Iblis should be a big jumble of chorus dancers dressed in red (think the costumes from this but all the same tone) that are linked together and lash out at the heroes.

Ninth Number. Mephiles redirected each member’s journey through time, though they all end up back in the present. When Shadow steps out of the portal, he’s alone with Mephiles himself. They have their little scene about humans going after Shadow, then a number wherein Mephiles remains calm but Shadow’s temper and tone rise. This is, of course, cut off with Omega shooting Mephiles, who ragdolls to the floor. Rouge’s voice comes over the speakers as if she’s talking through Shadow’s intercom to warn him that they’ve all been broken up. Shadow exits through the back of the stage. Omega exits through the audience.

I imagine Omega looking like a very stoic Man in Black sort of guy. He’s just some guy in a suit and sunglasses that speaks stiffly and has a gun.

Tenth Number. Sonic is all alone and has a solo about how he has no idea what’s going on. Silver appears elsewhere on the set such that their characters do not notice one another. Both of them sing individually about wanting to promote a better future, then have a short duet.

Eleventh Number. Silver has a very brief confrontation with Mephiles, who points out Sonic’s position on the stage.

Twelfth Number (Act I Closing). Silver confronts Sonic. Part-way through the number, Shadow hurries in to defend Sonic and drop the bomb that Mephiles has been toying with Silver the whole time (insert leitmotif with a note off). Triple S decide to team up. They all go into the portal to the past. This song is pretty long and an absolute BANGER.

At this point, Sonic doesn't need to rescue Elise two more times for padding. He can hang out with Shadow and Silver for Act II.

Thirteenth Number (Act II Opening). Solo Mephiles number. It's short, it's gentle, and it acts as his "I want" song the way that the opening number does for triple S. He briefly lets the audience into the agony he feels being separated from Iblis and his discontent with watching time being steered the wrong way. He also mentions that humans have mistreated him and how he loathes them. He remains onstage for the next number and watches the performance.

I didn’t make this part thirteen on purpose, but I think that that’s a nice touch.

Fourteenth Number. The Duke of Soleanna and his scientists are separating Solaris into pieces. Not only is the process described to us; this is where the audience is informed about what Iblis and Mephiles actually are. It ends with the blast of failure.

First act was all about triple S. I think it would be nice for these previous two pieces to focus a bit more on the villain. I wouldn't want it to be any sooner than the second act, since Mephiles is, by nature, in the background, but trying for the audience's sympathy would be neat. The fourteenth number should be performed such that we side against the scientists.

Fifteenth Number. Triple S rush onstage. Mephiles (the spectator) creeps away. They survey the damage. A bit wary of the stranger, Sonic offers to follow Iblis with Silver while Shadow goes after Mephiles. First, we follow Shadow, and there is a reprised motif from the ninth number.

Sixteenth Number. Sonic and Silver are chasing Iblis. There’s a short (maybe a minute, minute and a half) segment where they learn more about one another before the music slows. Silver catches Iblis, but before Sonic can try to jump at it, the Duke arrives with Elise, and we have a longer musical piece about her duty and his love for her. Even when this scene is over, the tune carries on until triple S meets up again to return to the present.

I don’t like the crying rule in the game. It’s hard to think about. If the Duke makes it clear that Elise cannot be incapacitated in some way, I think that that would make much more sense as a rule for releasing Iblis.

Seventeenth Number. A short song about all the different things that the characters have to accomplish. Silver wants to capture Iblis in the future, Shadow’s going to hunt down Mephiles, and Sonic’s going to check on the princess, now that he knows she might be one of Mephiles’ targets. They tear open a portal and all move to accomplish their tasks.

Think Notes or Preparations for the pacing. Maybe even Very Very Busy. Also, assume they’ve been collecting the chaos emeralds all this time. I’m too lazy to go back and find all the spots where they do.

Eighteenth Number. The scene where Silver seals Iblis. Let’s say he manages to seal it within one of the emeralds. When he does, Blaze disappears from the stage for good.

This one is supposed to be a little bittersweet. The song is powerful, but just like in the game, Silver should finish it sounding a little bit lost. He’s finally accomplished his lifelong goal, after all.

Nineteenth Number. Team Dark is on the hunt for Mephiles. The first part is just a search and probably has a motif from the third number. When they reach Mephiles in the desert, they have a little back-and-forth singing confrontation. Mephiles sounds the most agitated that he’s been in the entire show so far. There’s a short battle shown through dance, then Shadow has his biggest solo singing moment of the show before delivering the final piece.

This is a long number. The first part of this makes me think of Find Anatole and Why Have You Brought Me Here?. The second part also reminds me of something, but I don’t know what.

Twentieth Number. Sonic and Tails reach the castle of Soleanna and are denied entry. They devise another way in. The number ends in Elise’s room, where Sonic and Tails switch between entertaining Elise and being on guard. Mephiles comes up from the back of the stage and stabs Sonic through the back while he’s the entertainer. Sonic crumples to the floor. Elise screams and faints. Tails cries out. The whole scene stops so that Mephiles, looking at Iblis (which is probably just a lighting effect rising from Elise), can deliver a soliloquy. After that, the lighting goes wild, and the stage seems to shatter.

If you need a visual for the frozen moment in time, think of Hamilton’s final monologue.

Twenty-First Number. When the lights settle, the stage is arranged differently. All of the familiar cast is there: Sonic, Tails, Shadow, Silver, Rouge, Omega, Elise, and Amy. Shadow, Tails, and Amy examine Sonic, and they all find evidence that he’s alive. He isn’t bleeding out; this is a space without time. He’s also not getting any better. The group resolves to search for the emeralds again. The song starts out somber, picks up momentum, and ends somber again.

Twenty-Second Number. The group all comes back together around Sonic’s body. On the set above them, the light illuminates Mephiles, who is now Solaris. His costume is different than it was before. It’s brighter. He bursts into song with a gusto that we haven’t seen from him all show. As he’s delivering his villain moment, he’s puppeteering around the other characters on the stage below.

The intensity of this piece is supposed to show that Mephiles is whole again.

Twenty-Third Number. The longest piece of the show. The characters attempt to gather all of the emeralds together, but Mephiles keeps them each from reaching Sonic. Tails is the one to devise a plan; he gives his emerald to another character, who begins to discreetly collect them from the rest of the cast while Mephiles’ attention is elsewhere. Tails sets up a distraction that allows this character to reach Sonic. The chaos emeralds erupt with power, Sonic rises, yadda yadda, Solaris boss fight. The musical piece goes on all the way until Sonic and Elise are alone with Solaris’ flame and choose to blow it out.

I think Amy should be the one to collect the emeralds. That would be neat. I don’t have much of an idea what the fight would look like, but to be fair, I’ve been outlining for four hours by this point and my brain is starting to wear out.

Twenty-Fourth Number. A reflection of the opening number. Themed around the festival of the sun. Sonic and Shadow double down on their goals, maybe with an extra lesson they’ve learned. Silver has a solo moment to express what he’s looking forward to in the future. Most of the piece is bright and expressive, but it ends on a mellow tune.

I have a few ideas about the costuming and makeup that I’m NOT going to try tacking onto this post because it is long enough, but the sum of it is that I don’t want the characters to be Sonic characters human-ified. I want the costumes to be WEIRD. If anything, I want the costumes to only be evocative of the characters they represent. They should be able to stand on their own for the purposes of attracting the general audience.

I always like shows where the chorus dancers go through the aisles. I think that that would be a nice touch for the opening and ending numbers.

For how dramatic it is, Sonic ‘06 should always have just been a musical. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

#ask #sonic 06 the musical #sonic 06 #put in the replies which musical number would be your favorite #this took. a while #hope you guys like it :)#you DID say full thoughts so that's what I delivered

16 notes · View notes

sleepymarmot · 1 year

Text

Not to be like “person who has only seen one slow-paced 12 episode long TV show about the fight against a totalitarian state, watching their second TV show”, but Andor (2022) and Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973) are an interesting combination to watch one right after the other. The post contains spoilers for both shows as I compare my impressions of them from a few angles.

I’m going to start with a comparison that is not in Andor’s favor, be warned. The first thing 17MoS made me realize was how tired of “origin story”-itis I’d been. Everything needs to be an origin story! I remember how everyone praised Spiderverse, and then I watched it and was disappointed that it was another goddamn Spider-man origin story. One of Andor’s biggest flaws, in my opinion, is that it follows the same trend. It throws out the established origin story of its protagonist, which was the foundation of one of the main character conflicts in the original movie, and replaces it with a direct opposite in order to show how he started to work for the protagonist faction from the beginning. It takes an entire 12-episode long season to maneuver him from being an independent opportunist into committing to the Rebellion. It feels as if the writers think the audience is only able to comprehend and relate to a typical reluctant hero, and frankly it’s an insulting idea. Imagine how lame it would have been if Seventeen Moments of Spring began by explaining how and why the protagonist became a spy! Thankfully, it doesn’t.

Which brings me to the next point: pacing. Both shows are slow-paced, but in pretty different ways. I know there are two camps, one of which says that nothing happens in the first episodes of Andor, and the other is appalled by that idea. I’m in the first one. Throughout at least the first half of the first season, Cassian’s (mis)adventures seem like sidequests, and it's not really clear what role they play in the bigger picture; plus, Cassian is never under significant threat until he gets arrested. 17MoS’s individual scenes are way slower than Andor’s individual scenes, and with my limited attention span, I often had to pause or long for the modern TV pacing. But the main mission of the entire show is established by the end of the first episode, and the hero and his main ally are in big trouble from at least the beginning of episode 4.

17MoS does share another sin of the modern TV storytelling: reliance on a sequel. Yes I know it was based on one book out of a series! Still, it’s disappointing to watch something assuming it to be standalone, and be left with a major plot thread kind of flapping in the wind.

Another interesting similarity between the two shows is that the protagonists are less expressive than the characters around them. In both cases it’s not an accident but an important part of the concept. Cassian is someone who stays out of the spotlight, representing the many people who make the Rebellion possible but never become one of its starts (see this interview by Diego Luna). Stierlitz, in many ways, is a classic hero that Cassian is a subversion of — but he’s a spy and must constantly hold back his true reactions, everything he lets out is highly controlled and purposeful — and to be able to do this job for two decades, he must be someone to whom it comes naturally. In both cases, the protagonist refrains from making showy speeches but acts as a catalyst that prompts others to make them. Both shows use a similar technique to reveal the reserved protagonist’s internal life: nonverbal lyrical scenes set to a music with a recognizable leitmotif. Compare the ending of episode 11 of Andor with any scene set to “Song of the Distant Homeland”. (In the latter case it's also deeply impressive how well the singer’s voice and performance match the character.)

---

Episode 9 of Andor has so many similarities to episode 9 of Seventeen Moments of Spring that I’m half-convinced Tony Gilroy is paying a tribute to it. I mean, he’s worked in the espionage genre before, and he referenced Soviet history in interviews, it’s not impossible that he has seen the most famous Soviet spy story! Let’s recap — in both episodes:

a young woman, old friend of the protagonist, is psychologically tortured with child suffering, being made to listen to their screams

an old man, who has worked with the protagonist for a short time, dies after a lot of torturous suspense, but at least he dies quickly; surviving for much longer would have been a fate worse than death for him

at the end of this very bleak episode, a middle-aged man, who has previously obediently followed the fascists’ instructions and helped them enforce imprisonment, has hit his limit and finally rebelled, siding with the viewpoint character prisoner

To continue the similarity, in both episodes 10 the latter dies.

---

According to what I’ve read online, Seventeen Moments of Spring glamourized Nazism in the eyes of many viewers. But when I started watching, I thought that the Nazis in it were refreshingly non-glamourous and normal-looking in comparison to Imperials from Andor! Sure, they wear well-tailored uniforms, but these uniforms aren’t ethereally smooth and almost glowing, their interiors aren’t semi-abstract fields of blinding pure white, and they speak in a more casual/realistic manner.

#star wars #andor series #семнадцать мгновений весны #blah blah blah #looking for cinematic parallels and if i can't find them i will create them

2 notes · View notes

theworstzangooseever · 1 year

Note

This is probably a very weird request, but the main theme from FNaF Security Breach lol

Daily VGM #15: It's very hard to make a joke about FNAF that isn't something about furries or Markiplier tbh

Howdy. FNAF Security Breach was a very weird game, and I think everyone is in agreement there. Launched in a pretty poor state due to what I can only imagine was a rushed out release due to Funko leaking the game's designs through merchandise like, 3 years early. It's still a pretty buggy mess but much less of one than it was.. At least the atmosphere was pretty decent. The music, too. Like..

It's Main Theme! Funny enough, I don't think you actually get to hear this game in full usually. You hear a snippet in the opening, but then the cutscene where Freddy malfunctions and such plays and stops it short. This song is also a leitmotif too, surprisingly! You'll hear it usually in the elevators. Watching AstralSpiff play this game so much has ingrained it in my brain.

Not much I can say about the song itself. It's energetic and catchy, sounds like a Kidz Bop version of a classic rock song almost. The whole ost is pretty decent, if not completely forgettable in my opinion. Though I think it's also just not my type of music, it's more just a mood setter. The Daycare theme is pretty fun at least, fits the situation you're in very well. However El Chips is like.. Sickeningly Mexican. Like, the best way I can describe it is white person Mexican. Tostarena did it better, and has instruments that sound like real instruments. El Chips sounds really artificial... Probably like the meat they put in the tacos there.

#Daily #ask box

0 notes

hartmonkey · 2 years

Text

Part 1: Enter, Ex-SOLDIER! [A Complete Analysis of Final Fantasy VII]

Masterlink here.

Welcome! This is the first post in my chapter-by-chapter analysis of the entire Final Fantasy VII. Each chapter will be primarily based on the original 1997 game, with discussion of the compilation works where relevant – ie. when they pertain to the original game (OG). Aside from a spoiler-warning for the entire FF7 (this is the only warning I’ll give), I want to note a few things before we start.

Firstly, story terms (shout out to DutchDread on YouTube for these most useful descriptions).

People use the words ‘story,’ ‘narrative’ and ‘plot’ interchangeably when referring to ‘story’. FF7 has a complex story with complex plots and narratives that often contrast, so I will be using these terms in their literal sense.

The story itself is the series of events that make up the game.

The narrative is how the events are told – ie. how the writers intend the player to interpret the story. It is the lens through which the player experiences the game; it is the device employed by the writers to twist, trick and play with the player’s emotions. Therefore narrative can subvert, mask or reveal truths.

The plot is the relationship between the events – ie. how the story is pieced together; how the events are related through cause and effect. The narrative can lie, but the plot remains true. In fact, to distract and misdirect the player from the plot is the very reason that the narrative lies. (Keep this in mind, for FF7’s plot and narrative will often tell a very different story.)

Secondly, plot terms.

I will discuss each chapter in three sections which are to be considered in light of the whole of FF7: its external plot (concerned with saving the Planet); its internal plot (concerned with saving Cloud); and its secondary character arcs (the journeys of party members and other characters excluding the main trio).

Yes, I have concluded that FF7 has a main trio. Cloud is, without a doubt, the primary protagonist, integral to both the external and internal plots. In this capacity he is, without a doubt, the hero of the game. But he is not the hero of either the external or internal conflict specifically. These roles (of equal and integral importance) belong to Aerith and Tifa. Aerith is the heroine of the external plot; Tifa is the heroine of the internal plot. Cloud, the primary protagonist, and Sephiroth, the primary antagonist, bridge these two plots – their actions and interactions tipping the courses for better or worse.

It can therefore be said that FF7 is the story of Cloud Strife.

Just as much, FF7 is the story of Aerith Gainsborough.

Undoubtedly, and no less, FF7 is the story of Tifa Lockhart.

Lastly, a note on techniques.

I will be discussing the notions of foils and musical leitmotifs in particular. A foil is a character who contrasts with another and simultaneously highlights the qualities of that other character. Foils can range from heroes & villains to heroes & heroes and villains & villains. DC’s Batman and Joker, for instance, are antithetical foils in what they represent: order and chaos. The Lord of the Rings’ Aragorn and Boromir, though both nobles of Gondor sharing the quest of the Fellowship, are foils in ideals and personality. A leitmotif is a recurring musical phrase (set of notes) that is associated with a particular character, place or idea. It can be as short as the two-note leitmotif of the shark in Jaws. It can evolve like the leitmotif of Star Wars’ Darth Vader.

And now, let us get underway.

Chapter 1: Enter, Ex-SOLDIER!

The External Plot

Aerith is the very first face we see. She will also be the last. Her identical shot at the game's beginning and end frames the external plot.

With her is a green glow that matches her eyes and small bubbles rising all around. In the present shot (the opening), these bubbles are revealed to be from a mako pump. In the end shot, these bubbles will be pieces of mako within the Lifestream. Juxtaposed is the mechanical science of Shinra with the nature (literal lifeblood) of the Planet – the main two forces at play within FF7’s theme of ‘life’.

Accompanying Aerith’s face lit by Lifestream imagery is the Lifestream leitmotif heard in the track Opening. With this first shot also being the game’s final shot (pre-credits), this same leitmotif will be the last musical piece heard at the end of The Planet’s Crisis. In both instances, it is in minor key on discordant piano notes, accompanied by one eerily long string note to give a mystical, grand and otherworldly effect.

youtube

Aerith appears even before the main titles, with the mako bubbles morphed from a cinematic pan of space. The stars which cinematically ‘transform’ into mako, are of immense thematic importance. We will learn (under a parallel pan of space in Bugenhagen’s observatory) that when a living being dies they become one with the Lifestream. The flow of spirit energy from which, eventually, new life will form. The stars, as Tifa will later inform us, represent living beings – the loved ones she and Cloud lost in Nibelheim (the already dead), and the lives that she, Cloud and the party are fighting to preserve (the presently living and lives-to-be).

“Do you think the stars can see us? Do you think they know how hard we’re fighting for them?”

Central to the theme of life, as will be aggrandized in Aerith’s journey, is death. What will set Aerith’s death apart from the deaths of characters like Dyne and Seto, is that the player experiences her death personally – we play as Aerith, and she is our friend, our 仲間 with whom we share joys and sufferings. The significance in her entrance here is that, unbeknownst, we are simultaneously looking at the two sides of life: life and death. She is alive in our opening by this mako pump, and she is both dead and alive in consciousness in the ending within the Lifestream.

Immediately following Aerith’s introduction, the external plot is established: the anti-Shinra group, AVALANCHE, is fighting against the Company to stop its consumption of the Planet’s lifeblood – and thus save the Planet. (Later, the means of saving the Planet will change, but saving the Planet will remain the heart of the external plot.)

After the destruction of Mako Reactor 1, the player meets Aerith selling flowers in a technological metropolis where flowers hardly grow; an allusion to her unique relationship with the Planet. Next chapter, Tifa will tell the player that flowers do not grow below the plate. Here Aerith is selling flowers atop the plate where they are shown not to grow.

“Don’t see many flowers around here.” - Cloud to Aerith atop the Plate

“You almost never see them in the slums.” - Tifa to Cloud below the Plate.

The only places we will ever see flowers in Midgar – and in abundance at that – are in Aerith’s church and around Aerith’s house. They are distinctly unique to Aerith, just as her relationship with the Planet is distinctly unique.

Aerith’s name will not be learned until Cloud meets her in the church. At present, she is introduced to the player as “Flower Girl”. The strangeness of selling flowers is enforced even further in the Remake, where Aerith is introduced as “Flower Peddler”. While ‘peddling’ means trying to sell something by travelling from place to place, a ‘peddler’ is specifically defined as someone who sells illegal goods. I regard this a wonderfully ironic title, further setting Aerith’s character apart.

On that note, let us consider her design. Credit to DiGi Valentine (you can find wonderfully in-depth reviews of both Aerith and Tifa’s visual designs on his YouTube channel).

Aerith’s OG graphic design instantly sets her apart from the rest of Midgar – seen even more starkly in that we are presently atop the plate (we’re contrasting her to people well-off as opposed to the poor-clothed slum folk). Compared to everyone else’s plain attire, Aerith instantly stands out as someone who doesn’t belong. But just as importantly, we get a dive into her personality.

At face-value, her long, pearl-pink dress elicits an air of grace, making our Flower Girl appear gentle and good. These qualities are enhanced by the matching pink ribbon in her hair, which adds an additional purity to the character – one of youthful girliness, naively separate from the gigantic world around her. Accompanying the dress and ribbon, however, is a red, short-sleeve crop jacket – which instead of enhancing this grace and naivety, exhibits the exact opposite. Red is a bold and brazen color. Coupled with the 90’s crop-style of the jacket, it speaks strength and vigilance. The loud (and somewhat rebellious) qualities of Aerith’s jacket countervail the soft elements of her dress and ribbon. They are a metaphorized balance of Aerith’s personality. She is gentle and pure, but she is no softie. She has strong confidence in herself.

This strength and confidence is displayed even before the player approaches her. Flower Girl is pushed over in a panicked scramble of street folk, and she picks herself up, dusts herself off, and resumes her flower-peddling. It is a beautiful little display of her capability to hold her own. (Though this will not stop her from allowing Cloud to play her bodyguard later.)

The contrasting qualities of Flower Girl’s outfit are connected in the fact that red and pink are proximate colors; while the dress and jacket are from two different worlds, their colors go together. Moreover, red and pink are the colors that represent love. Mixed together, they create ‘hot pink’ – a color used to communicate playfulness. A beautiful symbol of her love for all life and her jestful, sassy personality.

Moving to Flower Girl’s footwear, we find an even sharper contrast. One would expect that a person who so fashionably marries grace and strength would have stylish footwear to match. Yet here Flower Girl stands in a pair of grimy, commonplace boots. While the dress, jacket and ribbon communicate her nature and personality, these grimy, commonplace boots inform the player of the life she is leading – the life of a girl who has grown up in the slums.

Flower Girl’s boots and hair are the same shade of brown, framing the vibrant personality her outfit presents. In addition to the bright, lively clothing, her hair is a standout feature. And there is another central character who shares this feature. Aerith’s trademark bangs have an almost-identical design to Sephiroth’s, a subtle allusion to her in-every-sense enemy foil. Not only do the pair share similarities with their hair: Sephiroth’s collar and length of armor parallel Aerith’s jacket; his wrist-cuffs parallel her bracelets; his cloak parallels the length of her dress; and his eyes – though mako-induced – are in direct match to Aerith’s.

[Bonus fact: in early stages of the game’s development, Sephiroth and Aerith were intended to be either siblings or former lovers. This is likely a reason the matching hair was kept in their designs.]

The pair’s bright green eyes further represent their foil-roles in relation to the plot. Aerith’s eyes are green with life, representing her connection with the Planet. Sephiroth, of course, holds a connection too, though his Mako-induced green is not his authentic color. They portray him as the false ‘savior’ he acclaims himself to be, in contrast to the true savior that is Aerith. Aerith and Sephiroth’s traditional stances too are directly antithetical, as seen in their concept art by Tetsuya Nomura above. Aerith’s weapon and hair trail right while Sephiroth’s weapon and hair trail left – like a mirror image. Also note Aerith’s bright, vibrant design against Sephiroth’s dark, monochromatic design; a visual display of life and light against darkness.

There is no FF7 character with a brighter visual design than Aerith – fittingly, for she will be the party’s light. In the Remake, her outfit is much the same if not expanded upon. The jacket reaches her hips rather than waist, and her boots are black yet about as commonplace as the OG brown. The notable difference is her dress. The Remake fits Aerith in a looser, frilly dress, which actually enhances her grace and creates a more deceptive air of naive youthfulness, much like the longer crop jacket further enhances her boldness.

In the Remake, simultaneous to Cloud meeting Aerith, Sephiroth appears. His fighting leitmotif is heard much earlier – after the opening shot as Aerith makes her way down the alley. It will later be heard after his return in the Shinra building when the party battles Jenova Dreamweaver, and then in full during the final boss fight, One-Winged Angel – Rebirth.

youtube

The very moment Aerith locks eyes with Cloud, Sephiroth appears with the line: “You are too weak to save anyone. Not even yourself.” As the agent of Jenova’s will, Sephiroth is the ultimate threat to the Planet, and thus the main antagonist of the external plot. As the one Cloud must overcome inside his very conscience, he is also the main antagonist of the internal plot. Thus, while he is Aerith’s external enemy foil, he is Cloud’s antagonizing internal foil (as well as Tifa’s as we’ll soon see).

“You are too weak to save anyone” foreshadows Aerith’s death and plays on the feeling Cloud attributes most to himself – weakness. “Not even yourself” foreshadows the breaking point in Cloud’s inner struggle, where his identity will shatter as he and Tifa are rifted apart.

Like Sephiroth, FF7’s secondary antagonist is the secondary antagonist of both its external and internal plots. This antagonist is, of course, Shinra.

While Sephiroth is established as the enemy-foil to both Aerith and Cloud (& Tifa), Shinra will be established as the facilitating ‘background’ enemy to both Aerith (& the Planet) and Cloud (& Tifa), plus Sephiroth himself. In fact, Shinra is the facilitator that has personally impacted the very identity and present life course of every main and secondary character in the game.

In the Japanese OG, when Jessie and Cloud speak on the train, Jessie says:

最高水準の技術の結晶。人間の知と力のしょうちょうね。このミッドガルは…

This literally translates to:

“A crystallization of the highest power. A symbol of humanity’s power and wisdom. That’s what Midgar is.”

Midgar, the symbol for what humanity has achieved (this “power and wisdom” built by Shinra into a technological metropolis), is juxtaposed to the Planet the Company is slowly destroying. In between stands Aerith with her intimate connection to the latter.

If selecting dialogue accordingly, the player has the option to buy one of Aerith’s flowers (an allusion to the player’s role in the external plot, where we participate with Aerith in saving the Planet). Making this clear is the fact that it occurs just after the bombing. The player’s first mission is AVALANCHE’s fight for the Planet (which is a red herring in the means of saving it) – and the fact that this act of buying a flower is optional enforces Aerith as the centerpiece and the player (Cloud, and by extent, AVALANCHE) as her aide. This option is also the first in a series adhering to the ‘affection point’ system we will later discuss.

The flower mechanic will also showcase Aerith as an excellent judge of character. She offers to sell this flower to Cloud for just 1 gil (or, in the Remake, tells him it’s “on the house”). Later outside Sector 6’s Honeybee Inn, Aerith will be eyed by a crowd of lecherous men. To them, the cost of her flowers would be 300 and 500 gil each (as expensive as a high potion and tent respectively). But to Johnny from Sector 7 (who is truly kindhearted), Aerith will freely gift a flower.

The Remake removed the flower-buying option, as well as Cloud’s choice of giving the flower to Tifa or Marlene. Instead, Aerith gifts Cloud a flower which he gives to Tifa. This flower is said (directly in Japanese) to represent ‘reunion’ – another major theme of the game. I will discuss its metaphorical significance in the next chapter.

Before examining the internal plot, I want to briefly consider the soundtrack and how it builds the Shinra/AVALANCHE conflict. In the famed Bombing Mission, a low minor piano ostinato accompanies AVALANCHE’s entrance before the takeover of trombones, tubas, trumpets and horns. Brass continues to dominate with a background of strings – giving a heroic climbing-victory effect as the team fights their way into the reactor.

youtube

Bombing Mission will also play:

if the party chooses to storm the entrance when infiltrating Shinra HQ (at Barret’s – AVALANCHE’s leader’s – suggestion); and

when the party engages Shinra in the final battle to save Midgar at the external climax of Disc 2.

In the Remake, the repeating four-note melody (Extract II above) will be expanded upon and evolved in further AVALANCHE/Shinra fights, including the Scorpion Sentinel boss battle and expressway escape.

Inside the reactor (and subsequent reactors) plays Mako Reactor 1 – a minor melody on synth over a piano & timpani bass – ominous sounds evoking a dystopian setting. This is joined by strings, and later a new metallic chime & synth melody. This new melody is the secondary of the two Shinra leitmotifs – the secondary being fitting, for we are only scratching the surface of Shinra’s world rather than interacting directly with the organization. The main leitmotif will first be heard when we meet President Shinra.

youtube

AVALANCHE escapes the reactor to Hurry! Foregrounded on minor strings, this track will occur in many moments of desperation and escape throughout the game. A sense of urgency & danger is evoked through the use of a ticking clock and a half-step upwards key change (F minor to F# minor in this case).

Lastly, moving away from music, is the theme of the underground – presented here in the heart of a mako reactor. This is a motif that will pop up time and again throughout the story. In fact, the game’s most crucial battles will all be fought in the underground, from Corel Prison to Midgar’s Underground to the depths of the Planet itself. And this holds just as true for the internal plot, climaxing with Cloud and Sephiroth’s final showdown in the Lifestream.

And now, moving on to our man of the hour himself...

The Internal Plot

Cloud’s identity is established by the narrative under the persona of Ex-SOLDIER. “Ex-SOLDIER” leaps off the train and takes out the Shinra guards. Biggs says, “You used to be in SOLDIER, huh?” and only then the player can name himself “Cloud”. Whenever we think Cloud, we are to think Ex-SOLDIER.

Ex-SOLDIER’s first fight teaches us two things: first, that the capital spelling of SOLDIER does not pertain to an ordinary ‘soldier’ (ie. the occupation of the guards we are fighting - called ‘MPs’); and second, that our Ex-SOLDIER is the epitome of strength. The Shinra ‘soldiers’ shoot at Ex-SOLDIER, dealing single-digit HP damage. Ex-SOLDIER decimates each soldier (hundreds of HP damage) in a single blow. He doesn’t even need the impressive Materia equipped in his blade.

Cloud being an “Ex-SOLDIER” is reinforced repeatedly throughout the mission and will continue to be reinforced repeatedly in the chapters that follow. Every time it is reinforced, the reputation of a SOLDIER is simultaneously built up: a SOLDIER has exceptional strength. The theme of ‘strength & weakness’ will play central role in Cloud’s journey and in his relationships.

“What’s with you all of a sudden? That job wasn’t even tough.” “I guess not… you were in SOLDIER.” - Cloud and Tifa re the bombing mission (if the “something hard” drink dialogue is chosen)

“If there was anyone from SOLDIER, you wouldn’t be standing here now.” “Don’t go thinkin’ you so bad jus’ cuz you was in SOLDIER. Yeah, you’re strong. Probably all them guys in SOLDIER are.” - Cloud and Barret re the bombing mission

Cloud will later tell Aerith in the Sector 6 playground that he was a First Class SOLDIER. The Remake wastes no time acquainting us with this statement, playing off a comical discourse between Barret and Cloud at present:

“What are you, like twenty-something?” “First Class. Doesn’t go into twenties.” “I meant your age, not your god-damn rank.”

The focalization of Cloud’s identity on this persona is shown – as well as his insecurities regarding all that he is without it. (A notion we would not even consider at this point, for “Cloud” and “Ex-SOLDIER” are ingrained in our minds as inseparable.) And how about it? He is a proficient Materia-user, can hack through foes with a single sword-strike, and wields the biggest handheld weapon we’ve ever laid eyes on.

After Ex-SOLDIER’s introduction, we simultaneously learn three things: first, he is a mercenary; second, he was a former SOLDIER for Shinra; and third, he has been hired by the anti-Shinra group to bomb one of Shinra’s reactors. Alluded through this is the fact that Shinra is corrupt on the inside (one of its top ‘defenders’ having defected the Company). Not alluded – through his vocal indifference toward it all – is Cloud’s reason for fighting the Company. For now, we are supplied a series of statements that Cloud just wants his money for the job and that he, in reputation and skill, is naught short of a total badass.

Highlighting this perception, of course, is his visual appearance. Cloud’s outfit is a dark purple variant of the classic SOLDIER uniform – purple being the color associated with power, grandeur and ambition. (Purple was especially popular in nobility circles before and during the Middle Ages.) At the same time, Cloud’s clothing showcases him having attributes of a SOLDIER but not being a ‘complete’ SOLDIER. He wears a pauldron over his left shoulder only, as well as an armlet over just his left forearm with a SOLDIER band on his right wrist. (Compare him to the earlier picture of Sephiroth, who wears SOLDIER bands on both wrists.) Cloud’s shoulder pauldron and armlet contain visible screws, which may indicate makeshift repairs during his prior brushes with death.

This ‘half’-SOLDIER design designates two things. Presented by the narrative at face value is Cloud’s desertion of Shinra, as noted by emphasis on his status as Ex-SOLDIER. Beneath the surface, however – not presented by the narrative – is Cloud’s true identity. That he, though striving for the title, was never actually a SOLDIER, having adopted the persona of the man we will learn to be Zack.

Cloud’s physical build is also not what we would expect from a walking embodiment of strength. His muscles – on clear display – are well-toned but rather small, putting his visual appearance at odds with his reputation. Like the ‘half’-SOLDIER design of his outfit, this hints that something is not quite right. Sure, he’s carrying the five-foot-long Buster Sword and will tell us he is physically built like a SOLDIER later on. But we will also learn that Cloud was initially “too weak” to make the program, that he spent four of the last five years in a lab tank, and that he suffered adverse effects due to all the experiments.

“Physically, I’m built like someone in SOLDIER. Hojo’s plan to create a Sephiroth clone wasn’t that difficult. It was just the same procedure they use when creating members of SOLDIER.”

“For better or worse, only the strong can enter SOLDIER. It has nothing to do with the Jenova Reunion. But weak people… like me, get lost in the whole thing.”

Which brings me to that badass-looking, five-foot-long Buster Sword. The noun ‘buster’, coined in the 1830s, was officially recorded as American slang for "anything large or exceptional; a man of great strength.” How absolutely perfectly fitting for Ex-SOLDIER! As Cloud’s default weapon and Zack’s physical legacy, the ‘Buster’ Sword is Cloud’s ‘Zack’-persona metaphorized.

When compared to Sephiroth’s eyes – the green color of mako – Cloud’s are more his original blue. He will be consistently recognized as having the “mako eyes” of a SOLDIER, yet at the same time, they are distinctly ‘Cloud’ – a blend, like his outfit and build, in his ‘half’-SOLDIER design.

There is a character who parallels Cloud’s ‘half’ design – the person who is Cloud’s reason for wanting to become a SOLDIER, the reason for Cloud hiding his true self when he failed to become a SOLDIER, and the reason for Cloud joining the fight for the Planet against Shinra as “Ex-SOLDIER”. This character – who has an arc that mirrors Cloud’s, and is in every sense Cloud’s other half – is Tifa. Tifa, like Cloud, wears two metal guards on her left side: one at the elbow and the other on the tip of her boot. Interestingly, the elbow is positioned between the shoulder and forearm – if one were to put Tifa and Cloud’s armor together, their armor would essentially cover a whole arm. In addition, both characters wear an earring in their left ear. These are allusions to their being ‘half’-selves with their locked up feelings – their right sides being ‘open’, where they rely on each other’s support.

“A sealed up, secret wish… Tender feelings no one can know…”

Now, Tifa is a leftie – as the observant player will note – and Cloud too dons his armor on the left side for drawing his sword. Their leaving the right side bare is also symbolic though, in that Tifa is Cloud’s right hand – his chief supporter, uplifter and rock – just as he is hers.

In the sequel, Advent Children, both characters wear a black sleeveless vest with a high zip collar, a black cape, black boots (Tifa having replaced her trademark red) and a wolf symbol (on Cloud’s badge and Tifa’s ring) – a symbol associated specifically with Cloud. Moreover, the shared wolf motif symbolizes a pack, a family, with Barret and Denzel (Cloud & Tifa’s adopted son) also in possession of one. Tifa’s ring is at center camera-focus when she confronts Cloud about their moving forward and rescuing the kidnapped children. It is also closely framed at the end when Tifa coaxes Denzel toward Cloud to be cured of his Geostigma.

As with the culmination of their love under the Highwind at Disc 2′s end in the OG, Cloud and Tifa’s matching visual designs in Advent Children symbolize their being ‘one whole’. But more on that later.

The etymology of Cloud’s name is one of the more obvious. ‘Cloud’ represents obscurity, hiddenness and confusion in addition to ‘gloomy’ or ‘troublesome’ weather – a perfect allusion for Cloud’s suppressed and lost identity. ‘Strife’ refers to his inner turmoil and bitterness toward himself – due to his feelings of weakness and failure.

Much pertaining to Cloud has its etymological roots in Norse mythology. One of his later swords, for instance, is called Ragnarök, named after the Norse apocalypse. Cloud’s bike in Advent Children, Fenrir, is named after the monstrous wolf said to be bound until Ragnarök. The wolf imagery, as aforementioned, reflects Cloud’s devotion to his ‘pack’ and family. It also reflects his wanderings as a ‘lone wolf’ whilst he is lost in his inability to forgive himself for Aerith and Zack’s deaths and his fears of failing Tifa and the kids.

What is most interesting etymologically, to me, is Cloud’s hometown Nibelheim – based on the Nordic place Niflheimr (lit. “mist world”) translated “fog home” in German. Not only is Nibelheim the home of Cloud Strife, but the literal “cloud home” of all of Shinra’s secrets, from the Cetra to the Jenova project to human experimentations to Sephiroth’s origin. But I digress.

Cloud’s first line (aside from stating his name) is to Biggs: “I don’t care what your names are. Once this job’s over, I’m outta here.” Cloud, the Ex-SOLDIER, is established as a hired mercenary. Just prior to this, Barret calls him “newcomer”. In the Japanese version, he calls him 新入り (“shin’iri” – lit. “new recruit”). The localization avoids calling Cloud the equivalent of ルーキー (“rookie”) or 初心者 (“beginner”), which would imply inexperience. Remember, we are to think of Cloud as strong and skilled.

Barret reinforces Cloud as “Ex-SOLDIER” whom he does not trust, to which Cloud is nonchalant. It is presently not clear why Cloud is here. But this interaction reveals two things: first, that Cloud has been hired in desperation on AVALANCHE’s part; and second, that Cloud’s sympathies are not with AVALANCHE or their mission. Cloud repetitively uses the phrase きょうみない (lit. “not interested” / “not my problem”), asserting that he is as uninterested in the fate of the Planet as he is in the names of his (temporary) co-workers.

Cloud’s inner voice is heard for the first time when setting the bomb: “This isn’t just a reactor…” This voice of his ‘real’ self – buried in the depths of his own conscience – will continuously be heard during his memory lapses and breakdowns throughout the narrative. This narrative, which consistently reminds us that he is “Ex-SOLDIER”, is prone to masking the truth of the plot: what we see as lapses and breakdowns are actually moments of clarity.

When the bomb is about to blow, Cloud says in English, “Come on, let’s get outta here!” (his trademark ‘strong’ façade is cracked). In Japanese, however, he says さあ、脱出ぁだ (lit. “Well, time to go”). While English Cloud sounds ‘cool’ (and perhaps a little panicked), Japanese Cloud sounds ‘strong’.

Before moving on to secondary arcs, I also want to mention Tifa’s set up in this chapter. The two mentions here occur only in the Remake and I think they are a brilliant addition.

The first is Jessie asking Cloud if he and Tifa are “close”, to which Cloud has a first-person flashback of a young Tifa asking him if he is “ignoring” her. In the Japanese version, she says また無視した。 (“Ignored again.”) This introduces a distance – a barrier – between them, and implies that this barrier is on Cloud’s part. They are distant out of Cloud’s doing. Young Tifa calling out to Young Cloud is an allusion to Present Tifa reaching out to Present Cloud, which is the centerpoint of the internal plot. The barrier, which will remain unknown for the majority of the game, is exactly the thing that has been the central focus of this chapter: the Ex-SOLDIER persona.

In addition, the first-person perspective alludes to Tifa being ignored by the player. That is, the narrative will constantly distract the player from what is really going on between Tifa and Cloud.

The second mention of Tifa occurs when Barret convinces Cloud to set the bomb: “Prove to me you’re the man Tifa says you are. That you’re one of us.” Tifa is established as Cloud’s connection to AVALANCHE. Barret affirms their closeness questioned by Jessie and proceeds to ‘test’ Cloud, enforcing Tifa as his connection to the group.

Cloud replies that he is “just here for the pay-check” and takes the bomb. His words again enforce that he doesn’t care for AVALANCHE. They reveal nothing on his ‘closeness’ with Tifa however, and the narrative leads the player to assume it is the same in her case, immediately diverting our attention back to the mission.

After the bombing, when Tifa and Cloud speak privately on the way to their apartments, the conversation goes as follows:

“How was it up on the Plate?” “It was… chaotic.” “Sorry for dragging you into all this. It was wrong of me to put you in danger like that. I promise I won’t do it again.” “Danger’s part of the job. Don’t worry about me.” “I’ll try not to.” “Always happy to help stick it to Shinra.”

Two things are reinforced here. First is Tifa being Cloud’s connection to AVALANCHE (enforced three times in just one statement of dialogue) in addition to her (three times in that same statement of dialogue) taking personal responsibility for and worrying about Cloud’s safety. Second, is Cloud’s blatant lie – “Always happy to help stick it to Shinra”. On the entire mission, Cloud voiced his indifference to the Shinra/AVALANCHE conflict (in which the Planet hangs in the balance) and his indifference toward “helping” the crew.

After a long pause – which backed with the very next sentence shows that Tifa knows this – we get:

“So, you make nice with everyone?” “Much as I could, all things considered. Maybe not enough for them.” “Good. You had me worried. You’re not exactly a people person.” “I’ll give you that.”

Yes, Cloud. We saw just how far out of your way you went to “make nice”.

The Remake will constantly present Cloud and anyone else as a “me and them” and Cloud and Tifa as a “we”, from shared quests, to battle dialogue, to the rescue of Aerith later in the Shinra Building where Cloud will jokily tell Barret, “Why did we bring you along again?” But again, I digress.

When the player leaves Sector 1, the musical score Heart Of Anxiety is heard – a track closely associated with Cloud. Falling minor chords on the sustained strings melody reflect Cloud’s feelings of isolation & detachment. Accompanying the flute’s loop of this melody is the prelude ostinato on piano. This ostinato only appears before beginning play when the game is booted and on the game-over screen (during the tracks Prelude and Continue respectively).

Framed with these two tracks (Prelude and Continue), the ostinato represents the story aspect of FF7, and its occurrence in Heart Of Anxiety – as associated with Cloud – enforces the centrality of Cloud’s story to the entirety of the game. Also heard in Heart of Anxiety are the final four notes of Sephiroth’s leitmotif, foreshadowing Sephiroth’s literal influence in Cloud’s heart.

youtube

Secondary Arcs

Barret

The narrative introduces Barret as being determined to save the Planet – setting this up as his main goal – yet Barret forces Cloud to set the bomb. Cloud himself (our nonchalant, indifferent Ex-SOLDIER) – for the first time – questions Barret: “Shouldn’t you do it?” As established in Barret’s first line after Cloud’s introduction (“Ex-SOLDIER, huh? I don’t trust ya”), the narrative tells the player here that Barret forces Cloud to set the bomb because he doesn’t trust him (“Gotta make sure you don’t pull anything”). The narrative cleverly masks the plot that has Barret forcing Cloud to set the bomb in order to avoid doing it himself.

In the bombing of Reactor 5, Barret will again have Cloud set the bomb, and the Remake will detail that Tifa – not Barret – is the one carrying the remote detonator. Only the very attentive player will notice that Barret is avoiding accountability – a characteristic that will present itself time and again throughout his journey.

Like with Cloud, the narrative is hiding Barret’s true motives and Barret’s own identity struggle. Like Cloud’s constant reinforcing of “Ex-SOLDIER”, Barret constantly rants about saving the Planet, leading the player to believe that is his motivation and goal. Here are some excerpts just from the OG bombing at present:

“It’s the lifeblood of this planet. But Shinra keeps sucking it out with these weird machines.” Cloud responds: “I’m not here for a lecture. Let’s just do it.”

“Little by little, the reactors will drain out all the life. Then that’ll be that.”

“The planet’s dyin’, Cloud!”

Later will we learn that this obsession with protecting the Planet is a façade.

Upon his introduction, Barret is established as a respectable leader who bears the burdens of his team. This is demonstrated beautifully during his speech in the Remake after Reactor 1 is destroyed. But there are many examples in the OG, particularly in the Japanese version. Here are two in Barret’s own words:

When Reactor 1 has exploded: さあ、引き上げるぞ ! (Saa, hikiageruzo! – lit. “Let’s pull it up!”) This is a militaristic term, one commanding officers would relay to their subordinates.

On the train, when Biggs wonders if Cloud died: あの野郎が金ももらわねえでいなくなるわけねえだろ!! (Ano yarou ga kanemo morawanee de inaku naru wake nee daro!!) This sentence literally reads, “There’s no way that jerk will disappear without getting his money!!”

This second quote is drastically different from the English version where Barret just says, “No way!!” Barret’s use of slangy verb endings in Japanese – such as もらわねえ (“morawanee”) rather than もらわない (“morawanai”) – also make him sound tougher and cooler (one of the reasons that Barret and Cloud’s personalities clash). But moreover, Barret rejects the idea that Cloud is dead and instead answers Biggs’ question as though he had been asked something along the lines of “Do you think that Cloud ran off and abandoned us?” For all his dislike and distrust of Cloud, he actually cares about him.

Barret’s toughness and intimidation is emphasized by multiple characters throughout the narrative. When Wedge asks about the crew’s money after the mission, an irritated Barret slams a fist and he immediately goes quiet. The slum folk on the train all scatter when he enters the carriage – a recurring reaction as noted by the Shinra employee: “This is why I hate the last train. Hoo boy…” (on the midnight return to Sector 7); and “Hoodlums again. God, don’t I just have all the luck?” (the next morning). When arriving in Seventh Heaven, AVALANCHE’s HQ, Barret storms in and kicks Tifa’s customers out of the bar.

All of this gives the player the impression, “Don’t mess with Barret” and “Barret leads, you follow”. But beneath it all is Barret’s unfitness at being a true leader.

He is unable to provide his followers satisfactory pay:

“I’m going upstairs. I want to talk about my money.” “Shucks!! …money…” - Cloud and Barret in Seventh Heaven’s basement

“What about our money? ...Uh, nothin'…sorry.” - Wedge and Barret on the train

“Uh… ugh… That money’s for Marlene’s schoolin…” - Barret to Tifa after Cloud demands higher pay for the next bombing

“Yeah, yeah, your money. Ask Tifa. She takes care of all that.” - Barret to Cloud (Remake)

In every instance, Barret passes off the responsibility to pay Cloud. Cloud, already having figured out he won’t get his pay from Barret, wants to go upstairs to talk to Tifa; Tifa urges Barret to acquiesce to Cloud’s request for more pay; as soon as arriving in Tifa’s bar, Barret passes the responsibility of paying (what they do not have) to Tifa. Later, when they have the money, Barret is the one to pay Cloud.

This pattern will occur with every event of accountability in Barret’s life. When Sector 7 is destroyed by Shinra, Barret will refuse to take his share of the blame:

“…Are you saying it’s our fault? Because AVALANCHE was here? Innocent people lost their lives because of us?” “No, Tifa! That ain’t it! Hell no!! It ain’t us! It’s the damn Shinra! It’s never been nobody but the Shinra! They’re evil and destroyin’ our planet just to… build their power and line their own damn pockets with gold! If we don’t get rid of them, they’re gonna kill this planet!” - Tifa and Barret after the Plate fall (OG)

“It was us. We did this.” “No. You can’t think like that. Whatever came before, it was Shinra who pulled the trigger today. Am I right?” “…Yeah.” “Hold onto this. This… anger. Okay?” - Tifa and Barret after the Plate fall (Remake)

Then, much later when confronted about it by Cait Sith, we get this:

“I been itchin’ to say this to you for a while now! When you blew up the Sec. 1 reactor how many do you think died?” “…that was for the life of the Planet. Ya gotta expect a few casualties.” “A few? Whaddya mean ‘a few’? What may be a few to you is everything to those who died… Protect the Planet. Hah! That sure sounds good! And no one will go against you. So you think you can do whatever you want, right?” “I don’t wanna hear that from no one in Shinra…”

Seeing the pattern here? Barret is confronted with his actions that helped yield negative results; Barret makes excuses and passes the blame. And at the end of the day, the accused party is the only one who looks bad. The Plate was destroyed because Shinra is evil and greedy. Shinra must be stopped or it’ll happen again. Cait Sith worked for Shinra, therefore he has no say.

Here, however, is an additional fact that often goes overlooked: in every one of these instances, Tifa takes the accountability for Barret’s actions.

“Cait Sith… Barret, he knows what he did. What we did in Midgar can’t be forgotten no matter the reason. [Turns to Barret.] Right? We haven’t forgotten, right?” [Barret refuses to reply.]

Yet, ingrained in our minds from the get-go, is this:

Throughout Barret’s journey, we will see the beautiful unravelling of a very human character – a man full of flaws and weaknesses, who grows into a genuine self-sacrificing comrade. But, for now, let us return to the chapter at hand.

Barret’s visual design, as the narrative enforces, is that of a hardened military man. Contrasting Cloud’s smaller build, he is tall, heavy-set and muscular. Where Cloud’s smaller stature is at odds with his “strength”, Barret’s large and powerful build emphasizes his. Compared to Ex-SOLDIER Cloud – strength in reputation – Barret is the visually strong leader.

In place of Barret’s right arm is a gun – by default, a Gatling Gun. The real-world gatling was the first practical machine gun, adopted by the US army in 1866; “a rapid-fire, crank-driven gun with clustered barrels”. Just like our boisterous, revenge-driven shooter who wears his emotions on his sleeve. Barret will later reveal that he initially had a prosthetic hand after the burning of his hometown, but forsook it for a gun graft when he began his quest for vengeance. In the sequel novel, On the Way to a Smile, an atoning Barret exchanges his gun for a new steel hand. In Advent Children, he has embraced both together – able to transform his hand into a gun and vice versa – representing him having made (at least partial) peace with his past and actions.

Complementing his militaristic leader role, Barret has armor around his waist and left wrist, a tattoo of a skull on his shoulder, dog-tags around his neck, and his hair styled in a crew-cut fashion. Three scars stretch across his cheek, signifying his past brushes with death and showing that he is a survivor. His outfit consists of a dirty brown vest, a pair of green, army-color pants, and big brown boots handy for getting by in the slums.

The Remake makes a few modifications to Barret’s attire. The notable one is that he now wears sunglasses – a prop that the narrative often uses to evoke insights into Barret’s deeper emotions. He first removes his glasses when speaking to Cloud about the tragic lives of the slum-folk. And he removes them whenever conversing with his daughter Marlene – the center force of his journey – whom I will discuss in the next chapter.

___________________

Summary

“Flower Girl” is the first and last character seen, framing the external plot. Paralleled in the identical opening and closing shots, she presents the two sides to the overarching theme of life.

Flower Girl is established to have a uniquely intimate connection to the Planet, standing between the juxtaposed nature of the Planet and science of man (Shinra).

AVALANCHE is introduced as the red herring ‘savior’ of the Planet, the role which will ultimately belong to Flower Girl.

“Ex-SOLDIER” is introduced as our protagonist, the epitome of strength and skill.

Ex-SOLDIER has been hired in desperation on AVALANCHE’s part. He is a mercenary indifferent to the cause.

Barret is set up as the strong and calculating leader of AVALANCHE. Narrative-wise, he is out to save the Planet. Masked is his façade.

#[mine]#analysis #final fantasy vii #cloud strife #aerith gainsborough #barret wallace #tifa lockhart #sephiroth #avalanche #shinra #cloti

74 notes · View notes

anime-grimmy-art · 3 years

Photo

Told you guys I’d ramble in due time.

I absolutely adore Bravely Default 2. It came at a really bad time cos I can’t waste 70 hours on a jrpg, but well, it’s too late to be concerned about that now. And as is tradition with me obsessing over a new game / show / whatever, you’ll basically find a fullblown review disguised as ramblings right under the cut. Be aware that I’m gonna talk about EVERYTHING, so spoilers are a given. Some maybe even for the previous Bravely Default games.

Also, if you wanna talk about this game in any capacity, hit me up, I’m DESPERATE to talk more about it.

Just for reference on how long this is gonna be, I made a voice recording while driving to remember all the points I wanna make, and that recording is almost 2 hours long. I did cut it down but still, this is gonna be a lot.

I’ll start off with the things that actually bugged me about the game, since there are only 3 things that really bothered me. First of, I really don’t like that you can name Seth. He has too much personality to be a self insert and player integration is not that big of a part in the game that this decision can be justified. It wouldn’t bother me that much if it didn’t leave a bad mark on the ending. First of all, we were robbed of Gloria desperately shouting for Seth, which makes the impact work less, and it’s just so prevalent that the name can’t be said because you have all the normal sound design going. If they’d just let the credits still play I wouldn’t have batted an eye, but because every other sound comes in it’s so obvious they’re just silently shouting in this scene, which makes it look silly. Like I said, this decision is more a detriment than an addition, and it’s a shame it casts a shadow on an otherwise heartfelt ending.

Speaking about lost potential, the other thing that really bothers me is the lost potential in certain plot points and character conclusions. I mainly mean Adam and Edna here. Both of them have been built up to be these formidable foes but they just, die. If it was just Adam I’d be fine with it, since you expect Edna to backstab him and be the actual big bad of the story, but I cannot fathom why they dropped Edna this HARD. If not Edna herself, I don’t understand why we don’t get more of a reaction from the Fairies and especially Adelle. I mean, Edna was her sole reason she left for her journey in the first place, then Edna dies and that’s it? No part where she grieves for a second? No concern from the others about Adelle? Mind you, I haven’t finished all the Sidequests, so maybe there actually is one in which this is addressed, but I think even just a Party Chat after Bad End 1 would have been sufficient to show how Adelle suddenly feels about the loss of Edna. It would have made Bad End 2 / The Secret Ending even more impactful, because, yeah, of course, you kinda know Adelle isn’t going to turn her back on fairy kind, but one of the reasons she doesn’t leave is because if Enda didn’t get a happy ending, then she shouldn’t either. It would have been amazing foreshadowing if she showed this sentiment before this scene happened. Other than that, it’s a shame that we know so little about Edna, or rather, how she became “bad”. I get she’s supposed to be corrupted by the Night’s Nexus, but how did it even come to this? It can’t have been a gradual thing, after all, Adelle says Edna was always good natured and then just disappeared one day. Really would have loved seeing more of that plot point.

Ok, last gripe I have, some choices in the soundtrack and sound design. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the OST, and I will get to that, but damn, whatever Revo used for the lead instrument in Wiswald hurts my ears. It’s a really good track, but I always have to turn down my volume because these high pitched sounds physically hurt. And for sound design. Dude, the Night’s Nexus is the least threatening, nightmare fueled abomination that ever existed. I get that its growl is kinda supposed to be layered with Edna’s or sth, but it, it just sounds silly. If they went the route of just swinging between different voices or began distorting it from phase to phase, it would have been fine. But the choice they made really made an otherwise creepy design just absolutely silly.

Ok, enough jammering, on to the good stuff. Like I said, there’s going to be a lot, so I’ll try to be brief in each aspect.

Gameplay

I honestly like the new battle mechanics more than the old ones. This individual, turn based system feels way more dynamic and it’s easier to strategies in battles. Because nothing made me more angry than setting up for a heal and the enemy suddenly being faster than me and killing my healer. Now it’s easier to plan ahead a bit.

I also found myself experimenting more with the jobs. Not sure what it really is, but none of the party members leaning more towards certain types of jobs and the job leveling being way faster probably helped.

And I know some people get up in arms because the boss sometimes can be a real pain in the ass (looking at you pope dude), I still found it very interesting getting around counters or even using these counters as a benefit. As an example, I made Adelle my main physical fighter and gave her lots of counter abilities to help her profit from being countered by enemies themselves. Now, she can attack enemies, get countered, automatically evade that counter and earn a BP at the same time. Made a lot of boss fights way easier and fun to exploit.

Music

Ok, I will try my best to be really, really brief, because in my recording this part takes up almost 40 minutes. Anyways, Revo might have just become one of my absolute favorite composers ever. I don’t know what kind of magic he used, but I initially wasn’t that impressed with the OST, but every time I listened to it, I just fell in love harder and harder. Before getting into specifics, I wanna highlight the two things that made me love this OST overall. First of all, this soundtrack almost seems like a refinement of BD’s. While losing some of that fairytale vibe, it sounds even more fantasy now. And in contrast to the original, this almost sounds more balanced? Like, BD’s OST felt high energy throughout, BD2’s on the other hand manages to find a good balance between high and low energy pieces. Like, the character themes or battle themes are absolute hype, but the overworld themes are a lot calmer and easier to listen to while exploring. Second big point that makes this soundtrack amazing is that Revo is an absolute god at using emotional progression/storytelling and leitmotifs in his songs. And heck, do I love myself my leitmotifs. You’ve got some obvious ones, like the final battle theme in which all the character themes and other leitmotifs are integrated. Then you got some maybe more subtle once, just like how the overworld themes are just the main theme, just a lot calmer and using the lead instruments of the towns of the areas.

But my absolute favourites gotta be the character themes and the main theme. I love how fitting the themes for the characters are and in general, each of them is such a bop. At first I prefered Elvis’, because I sure am a sucker for jazzy vibes, but over time Adelle’s became my fav. It’s just something about the trumpets, and how the theme almost sounds a bit melancholic and bittersweet, that drew me in. And considering her story, mostly her bad end, that the bittersweet tone really fits.

Then there’s the main theme. Just like BD’s it shouts “triumphant anthem” and it definitely gives you a very familiar vibe, but I’d argue it has even better emotional progression. Heck, the first time I heard the music start up in the reveal trailer, I didn’t have to look at the screen to know this is gonna be a BD game. Also, the credit song version had me weeping at the true end. I’m someone who’s very easily affected by music (if me shouting about soundtracks on this blog wasn’t proof enough) and just hearing that ending song, getting the after credits scene, just for the second credits to start as a freaking duet. Dude, at that point I just started sobbing, I’m not gonna lie. Just this little part showed how much Revo knows how to put emotion in a song and also write it in such a way that he can elicit strong, emotional reactions from you too.

Story

People have been complaining how the story is too boring and kinda disappointing in comparison to the last one, but I just think the games tried to accomplish different things here. Since the BD series is a celebration of old, classic jrpgs, “cliche” storytelling is a given. Though, BD did throw a lot of meta stuff in there too. BD2 in contrast just feels like a direct execution of that initial idea. It feels familiar, it feels comfy and it feels safe. Except for the little things with the endings and then overwriting the Nexus’ “save file”, BD2 doesn’t really get that meta, which is totally fine. It doesn’t try to reinvent or innovate anything, it just wants to be a fantasy story, that might be cliche, but still fun and enjoyable in its own right.

I’d also argue that the pacing is a lot better than the old game, because with BD I sometimes found myself skipping through scenes to get on with the story. Not that this game didn’t have me rushing through stuff as well, but I found it kept my intrigue way better than the original.

Characters

Next to the music, this is the part that I absolutely love the most. While, yes, they did lose a lot of potential with some characters, mostly with the villains, the main cast is just so much fun. I love these 4 dorks so, so much.

I honestly can’t stand how much people compare them to the original cast. Yes, ofc, I’ve been doing my fair share of comparisons too, but calling these four a more boring version of BD’s party physically hurts me. Because except for some initial impressions, the Heroes of Light are completely different from our beloved Warriors of Light.

While yes, Seth and Gloria give off strong Tiz and Agnes vibes at first, they both grow into such different characters that they’re not really comparable. I think this shows with Adelle and Elvis even more. I do understand how people could compare Adelle and Edea, since they’re both the feisty girl type, but I can’t understand how people can see Ringabel and Elvis as the same character type. While those two are the “suave” party members, they act so differently from another. And that’s honestly apparent the first time you meet them.

Anyways, I love these 4 so much.

We technically don’t know a lot about Seth at all, but they manage to pull so much out of just the fact that he’s a sailor, that it makes him really endearing, really fast.

I was kinda disinterested with Gloria at first, because again, the initial impression was Agnés2.0, but she grew on me a lot. Gloria is way more hard headed and honestly sassy in comparison to Agnés and I absolutely adore it.

Elvis. Elvis, my man. I love this fantasy scottosh wizard so, so much. He’s such a ridiculous character but so endearing at the same time. You got all this dorkiness, with him setting himself on fire as a student, him doing god knows what for a good drink or just laughing danger and prejudice in the face. But then you got his super empathetic and caring side. Mind you, most of his wise moments come from quoting Lady Emma, but still, as much as he’s hopeless with certain social situations, he’s actually still really good at reading the room and playing things smart. He’s a smart and powerful idiot, which makes him a danger to everyone and himself, and I love him for it. (I also can’t believe they called him Lesley I MEAN COME ON)

And then there’s Adelle. I liked her from the start, but I didn’t think she would stick out to me. I think now she’s my favourite character. Not even talking about all the stuff that happens in chapter 3 and onward, because these story threads are awesome in their own right, but there’s just something about her personality that’s interesting and appealing to me. Like I said, I’m not surprised people compare her to Edea, I did too at first, but while Edea walks very close to the line of a Tsundere, I was really surprised that Adelle is, well, not a Tsundere at all. Yeah, of course she’s putting Elvis down a lot, but that stems more from her preventing his ego from going to his head than her being all embarrassed. No, Adelle is actually really well adjusted when it comes to communication. While it’s hilarious that she and Elvis met with her chucking her shoes at him, the two just got along well right from the start. Adelle in general has this really open and helpful personality, but also doesn’t shy away from putting her foot down, even if that sometimes comes out as an embarrassed sputter. She’s also the mother hen of the group. She looks out for the other three and gets concerned about them real fast.

I dunno, Adelle just really grew on me over the course of this game, and then her kinda being paired with Elvis too, as partners and as partners, makes me like her even more. Because as much as I like their personalities individually, I like their character dynamic even more. I honestly love the relationships between all four of them a lot. You really feel them grow closer as friends and all the little character sidequests just always made me really happy.

Conclusion

You might not believe me, but I really held back there. This could probably have been 3 times its length. As much as I love this game, it’s of course not perfect. It struggles and flails in some parts a lot and it certainly has some aspects that might turn people off. But for me, it was just a very familiar and comfy game that didn’t necessarily deliver anything new, but that told its story in such a way that it still got me excited to keep going. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing and the conclusion of the story actually got me to cry. While not groundbreaking, this game is highly enjoyable and leaves you absolutely satisfied at the end.

Also, I would like to iterate that I am desperate to get more content about this game, so if you wanna chat about it, hit me up.

Anyways, anyone else felt like having a fever dream when everybody in chapter 2 started talking fantasy scottish? Cos I sure did.

#bravely default #bravely default 2 #bd #bd2 #fanart #review #ramblings #seth #gloria #adelle #elvis #elvis lesley

296 notes · View notes

lyteupthelyfe · 2 years

Text

ok but like one of the things i LOVE about three houses is how it uses music to ENHANCE and CONTRIBUTE to the story

I'm not just talking about how The Apex of the Worlds, an expansion upon, remaster of, and remix of Edelgard's Story in Seasons of Warfare/The Edge of Dawn (or Daughter of Hresvelg, as it's known in Japanese), is used when the story has either recontextualised (AM) or fulfilled (CF) Edelgard's journey, or how A Funeral of Flowers, being an orchestration of Guardian of Starlight, is dramatic on top but mournful piano in the cold hard reality to remind us as players that despite everything, Rhea is still there. The Immaculate One is no monster, only (and this is highlighted by the plot point of her succumbing to her overstressed Crest from her actions at Shambhala) a victim of circumstance--and that she always has been, more or less.

And its not even in how God-Shattering Star, in part being a remaster of Paths that Will Never Cross, proves that Byleth will not, or even, at this point in the game, cannot become another Nemesis, tearing the land apart. (Quite the opposite, VW is the one route that unites Fodlan, deals with TWSITD, and has the Church reevaluate its place in Fodlan society)

I guess I'm more talking about how in the Revenge cutscene (the invasion of Garreg Mach movie), there's a section while Rhea's burning soldiers alive and destroying buildings that note-for-note echoes "faint lights pass, through coloured glass, in this beloved place"--a place once beloved, now going up in flames, destroyed in war, marking the game's clear transition (well, as if it couldn't be any clearer) into its second half

OH and for one more final-battle analysis, At What Cost? is a sped-up orchestral version of Legend of the Chalice, bringing to light just how twisted and monstrous the reality of what happened (or, well, the reality of that failure to resurrect Sothis), is.

There are more sprinklings of leitmotifs across all the tracks, but the main ones throughout the game are obv The Edge of Dawn (which from an analytical perspective i understand to represent both the naivete/excitement/newness of the officer's academy and edelgard's own tragedy), Guardian of Starlight (for Rhea and her tragedy), The Spirit Dais (for Sothis; its "final battle" version obv. being Awakening, since that cutscene is more or less the finish to most of Sothis' character arc) and Those Who Slither in Darkness (for TWSITD, and the Javelins, culminating in Shambhala - Area 17 Redux (and no, the one thing i can't tell you is why the track is named that)

anyway i just really really love this game and its music *holds gently*

#fe3h #fire emblem three houses #fe3h analysis #THE MUSIC IS JUST SO GOOD OK #I REALLY REALLY LIKE IT #I HAVE SO MANY FAVOURITES

10 notes · View notes

atelier-slime · 2 years

Text

The Music and Story of Dragon’s Dogma

Or: How To Make The Best of a Shoestring Budget and Hamstringed Development

(tons of spoilers for Dragon’s Dogma and Dark Arisen ahead.)

links to music included throughout, pls listen if you can

If you’ve never played/heard of Dragon’s Dogma before I’ll sum it up quickly: It’s an open world RPG developed by Capcom that came out in 2012. It has some pretty massive enemies and features Shadow of the Colossus-esque climbing combat that allows you to clamber all over the massive bosses and hit their weak points for massive damage. The story follows the Arisen (your customizable player character) who is called arisen because they are brought back to life after attempting to battle with a massive Dragon named Grigori. Grigori revives you for showing courage in battle, but steals your heart and tells you that you must kill him to take it back. The Duke of the land is also Arisen himself, and tasks the player with slaying the dragon and bringing peace to the land. Very standard RPG fare.

A year later Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen came out. It included a postgame dungeon and a bunch of new content, and also a small change that fans absolutely fucking detested: The title screen theme was changed from “Flying Into Free” by j-rock group B’z to the much less interestingly named “Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen Main Title Theme”. I specifically remember threads at the time where people would complain about how “generic” or “soulless” they thought it was compared to the original.

t. redditor

I’ll grant that the Dark Arisen title theme does sound more like what you’d expect from a typical fantasy RPG from a purely surface level perspective, but it’s always been funny to me that “generic” was the word of choice for people whining about it, because it’s probably the most poignant and specifically tailored title theme you could possibly have for the game, and I’ve yet to see another game come anywhere close to the amazing shit they pulled off with the music and themes in Dragon’s Dogma.

The lyrics to DA’s title theme are a snippet of the first verse from “Eternal Return” (more on that later) which goes:

'Neath a faulted sky; cross loamless plains, and watered blight Ah! Where gone those days, once Glory shone so bright? Fallen 'neath baleful wings dark as night. Ah! A moment give to me Hark! Shall none hear this soul's tale, Of a land, benight?

After the verse the music trails off, with occasional notes here and there but no real melody. It may not be as hype as Flying Into Free, but what they’re doing here is none the less really cool. It’s the musical equivalent of “Once upon a time” or “A long, long time ago in a galaxy far away.” The singer is a storyteller, bringing you into the story with the song, and she’s waiting for you to press start to begin the next verse.

Now let’s check out “Eternal Return”. Eternal Return is the main leitmotif of the whole soundtrack. I’m too lazy to check every single song, but I’d be willing to guess that anywhere from 1/4th to 1/3rd of all the songs on the OST feature a portion of it in some manner. After the first verse heard in the title, the music swells and the middle 1/3rd of the song is all instrumental, with multiple changes in tempo and instrument including some fucking sick electric guitar riffs. It conjures up the idea of different events and trials on your adventure, both positive and negative, before it reaches the second verse which goes:

Pitiful man whom death has undone, Leaned upon a broken blade, looks too, skyward. Prithee above (Almighty One) Be this thy word? Cried out, begged for truth but no answer's sound be heard.

The “Pitiful man” being you/the PC. At this point in the story your character has been through the wringer, probably fought several of the dragons and other massive boss monsters scattered throughout the world and died a few times. They’re tired, ragged, at their wits end, and is basically just:

And while they don’t get a response from heaven, they do eventually find a deeper meaning:

Yet, now he sees the dragon's dogma, Unbound by time; all-binding, grand design. Land and skies, and seas yearn, Finish the cycle of eternal return. Finish the cycle of eternal return.

Boom! Title drop! I don’t think any character in the game ever mentions the “dragon’s dogma” or even uses those two words together in a sentence. It’s only ever used in the lyrics.

This is where we get into super spoiler territory, so if you don’t wanna get spoiled turn back now. I would very VERY much encourage you to give the game a try if you haven’t before and are even the slightest bit intrigued, because it’s a truly unique experience and even as just a game it’s really fun and satisfying to climb up a giant ogre and stab it in the head.

Anyway.

If you’re played the game you’ve probably got an idea of what the dragon’s dogma is. For anyone who hasn’t though: While slaying the dragon is hyped up as the end of the game, it’s actually only the halfway point. Throughout the game you meet several other Arisen, including the Duke, but none of them seem all that interested in slaying the Dragon. Being arisen means eternal youth, so they don’t mind letting Grigori hold onto their hearts. You eventually find out that The dragon offers all Arisen a choice: Grant a wish in exchange for the life of their beloved, or do battle to regain their heart but potentially die in the process. All of the other Arisen you meet took the wish, leaving their beloved to die. When you kill Grigori, all of their hearts return, but it causes them to lose their immortality. A massive rift called the Everfall tears open the center of Gran Soren, releasing monsters into the sky. The Duke is reduced to a feeble old man. Another Arisen called the Dragonforged has been alive so long that when his heart returns he turns to dust. The Duke accuses you of conspiring with the dragon to curse him and his city, and the guards give chase. With nowhere else to run, you are knocked into the Everfall.

The Everfall is called the Everfall because you can fall forever. All along the walls of the endless pit are ruins filled with monsters which you learn come from different places and points in time. You eventually discover that your true purpose as an Arisen is to travel the Everfall and gain enough power to challenge and eventually replace the Seneschal.

this asshole

The Seneschal is essentially the god of Dragon’s Dogma. They keep the universe from collapsing through sheer willpower. But they were once Arisen just like you, and they became the Seneschal by killing the previous Seneschal, who was also once an Arisen who killed the Seneschal, etc. etc. ad infinitum. Grigori, as well as multiple other drakes that you meet during the first half of your adventure, were also Arisen that failed to become Seneschal. (You can even become a dragon yourself if you die during the final battle.)

And that’s what the Dragon’s Dogma is. It’s their duty to challenge Arisen after Arisen until one strong enough emerges to keep the universe going. The infinite cycle of Arisen to Seneschal to Arisen again is the “Eternal Return” referred to.

The thing that’s so cool about the lyrics is that they pull double duty for the story. Are the “baleful wings dark as night“ the wings of the Dragon, or are they the wings of the countless monsters that pour out of the Everfall? Are the “days once Glory shone so bright” the era of peace before the Dragon came, or are they the days before you learned the true nature of the universe? Are you “crying out to the almighty one” because of the hardships of your travels, or because they were once the same as you, and you don’t want to kill a kindred spirit? Despite having two distinct parts of the story with very different tones, the lyrics fit either way.

If you go back through the game a second time you start to notice all sorts of little details that tie into this, my favorite of which is the song “Star of Heaven”. It’s barely a song, only 30 seconds long, and is just the last 2 lines of Eternal Return, but context is everything. Star of Heaven plays when you step out into the overworld in the evening/at night. It blends seamlessly into the soundscape of the game (I never even realized the churchbell was part of the song until I looked it up later.) It comes whispered across the wind, often times drowned out by other sounds nearby:

Land and skies, and seas yearn, Finish the cycle of eternal return.

The world itself is urging you onwards to save everything oblivion. Star of Heaven threads the needle directly between diagetic and non-diagetic music. Is there a literal woman singing the song next to your character? No. But is it something in-universe that your character feels and understands? Absolutely.

Another bit is the credits sequence that plays when you get the “true” ending. After you defeat the old Seneschal, you are given the Godsbane, the only weapon capable of truly ending their life. You become the new Seneschal, and if you continue playing the game all you are allowed to do is travel around the game world intangible and unable to interact with anything. The only other option available to you is to use the Godsbane on yourself, potentially ending the cycle once and for all. You get a nice little storybook montage of all of the characters you adventured with, but the last few notes are unmistakably the same lines as are in Star of Heaven.

If you play all the way through a new save on new game+, a new Seneschal will be there. If you’re connected to the servers, it will be someone else’s Arisen who became Seneschal, but if you’re offline, it will be your character from the previous game. “Naught lasts forever, yet all persists unto eternity.“ Finish the cycle of Eternal Return.

“Ok Slime,” you say, “That’s all well and good and extremely fucking cool, but why did they wait until Dark Arisen to change the title theme?”

For that yall will have to wait for part 2 because this post is already long as fuck.

#dragon's dogma #dragons dogma #music #game design #long post

8 notes · View notes