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Post by Nester the Lark on Jul 9, 2019 22:14:29 GMT -5
BUMP!!
Switch now has its own sizzle reel, and you guys know I love a good sizzle reel. (Although it feels more like an E3 recap.)
Compared to the Wii U video above from nearly five years ago, it shows way more games in less than half the time.
Also, I think the term "sizzle reel" is obsolete (even when this thread was started), but whatever.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jul 8, 2019 22:14:34 GMT -5
All of my examples did, in fact, come from the ending credits of their games, which I think is a convenient place to put vocal songs. But as you're saying, using vocal music in other parts of a game can be tricky. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is filled with examples. The song "Drifting Soul" is another pop-like song sung by Jen Bird, but I always felt that the ways it's used in the game were kind of awkward. It plays during cutscenes with intense action and dramatic plot points, and it just feels out-of-place and off-tone to me to have a ballad playing in the background. ( Chapter 3 spoilers!) On the other hand, there are also a number of songs sung by the Irish choir group Anúna that play when you're in certain areas of the game, and they fit the atmosphere of those areas extremely well. Yet, the songs are still beautiful enough to stand on their own. There's even an official music video for one of them. Although, perhaps vocal music that plays during gameplay is better if it's wordless, as lyrics can be distracting. Using yet another example from XBC2, hearing the chorus suddenly come in during the daytime music for Gormott is quite exhilarating, even if it is entirely synthesized. But yeah, it's also true that even if a song is kinda cheesy, or not necessarily a song that you would listen to outside of the game, it can still work within the context of its game. I think Smash Bros gets away with having a lot of vocal music just because the whole game is a cacophonous mess anyway, and it was intended that way.
But anyway, yeah, the reason I started this thread was because I was curious to know what other people consider good vocal music in games.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jul 8, 2019 0:26:05 GMT -5
A week ago, I posted in the Breath of the Wild 2 thread about the idea of having a vocal song in a Zelda game. I mentioned how vocal songs in video games can often be cheesy, but sometimes they can add a nice touch to a game's soundtrack. I got to thinking of my favorite video game vocal songs, and admittedly, there are only a few I think are genuinely good, and stand up on their own outside of the game. (Although, there are others I like despite, or even because of, their cheesiness.) So, I wondered if you guys have any favorites. Also, I want to note that I'm talking about songs made specifically for a game. Not licensed music.
Here are a few of mine: "A Moment of Eternity" From Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Torna ~ The Golden Country Music by Yasunori Mitsuda Lyrics by Tetsuya Takahashi (English lyrics by LYSSA and Castro Satoshi) Performed by Jen Bird Obviously, this is a very recent favorite, and it might just be because it's a lavish vocal version of the main title theme, which is probably the most beautiful title theme I've ever heard in a video game. (And I thought it couldn't get any better than the title theme from the main game.) The lyrics are free form, and feel more like words just laid over the music, but they're still fairly poetic and work for what they are. The composition is so lovely that it all just clicks together for me. More so, at least, than the vocal themes from previous Xenoblade games, in my opinion. "Moonless Starry Night"From Final Fantasy Crystal ChroniclesMusic by Kumi Tanioka Lyrics by Donna Burke Performed by Donna Burke I've mentioned this song before on the forum (probably several times), and it still ranks very high on my list of favorites. The Japanese version is titled "Hoshizukiyo," with lyrics by Masahiro Kataoka, and performed by Yae. It used to vaguely remind me of Annie Lennox's "Into the West" from the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which came out in 2003, although the game actually came out in Japan first, so it's obviously not an intentional imitation. It's a beautiful song, with, in my opinion, actually good English lyrics, and a gentle performance by Donna Burke, who wisely keeps it low key. I hope the Remastered Edition of FFCC includes a higher quality recording, as you can hear some distortion in the original. Until then, there's always this live version from 2013, as well as (oddly enough) a smooth jazz version from 2018. From Sonic and the Black KnightMusic and lyrics by Crush 40 Performed by Crush 40 I've actually never played Sonic and the Black Knight. I discovered the song independently of the game, so it has the distinction that I appreciate it entirely on its own merits. That has to count for something. Crush 40 can be hit or miss, but they can crank out some memorable (if cheesy) rock songs (mainly for the Sonic series). "Live Life" is a power ballad rather than a flat out rocker like they normally do, and I'm guessing Johnny Gioeli is more responsible for the composition than Jun Senoe, but I don't know for sure. Either way, I always found it a nice inspirational song with a catchy refrain, and I like the orchestral backing. Also, I do think Johnny has a great voice for rock music. So, yeah, that's about it for now. I might talk about some others in the future. What do you guys think about vocal music in video games? Do you have any favorites?
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jul 5, 2019 21:14:17 GMT -5
Here's another interview from Perfectly Nintendo that's much more detailed. Here are the online features: Rankings: the game allows you to see which choices the other players made during the game, such as choices related to teaching for example. That way, you can see which choices were the most popular, in case you’re really lost and don’t know what to do;
Exchange students: you can send one of your students to other players as an exchange student. You can give them a gift to deliver to the other player. As for exchange students you end up with in your game, you can add them as support units, though it seems there’s restrictions about their use in battle;
Lost Souls: in battles, there’s cases known as “Lost Souls”, which are places where many other players struggled. If you managed to survive on those cases, you will get some bonuses. Yokota also says that the weapons triangle is still present, but "not nearly as prevalent." Take that with a grain of salt, game devs often overstate the length of their games. I remember Aonuma doing that too on the press circuit for Twilight Princess. Yeah, IIRC, he said something like 50-100 hours? He wasn't wrong, although my playtime was much closer to 50 than 100. I think it would take longer for someone who's not very good at it, and frankly, I don't consider myself the best Fire Emblem player. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jul 5, 2019 15:13:17 GMT -5
Here's an interview with Three Houses' director, Toshiyuki Kusakihara. It mainly discuses Koei Tecmo's involvement and influence from Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but he also mentions that he doesn't know why Awakening was so popular, particulary outside Japan. It's not in this interview, but I also saw somewhere recenly that a single playthrough of Three Houses could take about 80 hours (not skipping cutscenes), and all three routes could take upwards of 200 hours. This has me a little concerned, knowing that I tend to get burned out on Fire Emblem after a while (although I'm usually ready to come back after a break). With other big games, like Breath of the Wild or Xenoblade Chronicles 2, there are so many different things to do that if I get tired of one thing, I can always do something else, so I don't get burned out easily. With Three Houses, I'm wondering if the school/base portions between battles will be enough to break up the gameplay to keep me interested for the long term. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jul 4, 2019 10:18:09 GMT -5
Here's a rundown of the DLC according to Nintendo Life: Wave 1: Officers Academy outfits for female and male Byleth available Day 1 (July 26th)
Wave 2: Additional Auxiliary battle maps, helpful in-game support items, and more will be released by 10/31/2019
Wave 3: Additional quests and costumes will be released by 12/31/2019; plus, another free update
Wave 4: Discover new story content, with additional playable characters, locations and more will be released by 4/30/2020; plus, another free update Sounds like a similar release pattern to Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I'm still gonna wait and see how much I enjoy the core game first. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jul 3, 2019 21:11:23 GMT -5
The expansion pass is going to cost US$24.99, and will include four waves of DLC, plus alternate costumes for male and female Byleth available day one.
That's a little bit pricey for me, so I'm gonna hold off until I see more of what's included and decide whether or not it's worth it.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jul 3, 2019 12:42:08 GMT -5
River City Girls was announced some time ago, but now it's been officially unveiled with a trailer. Here are the details at WayForward's website. It basically sounds like a gender-reversal of the original River City Ransom, with the girlfriends of the original protagonists having to rescue their kidnapped boyfriends. This looks pretty cool. It's grabbed my attention more than Streets of Rage 4, to be honest. It's coming out pretty soon, too. Gonna keep an eye on it.
EDIT: The Japanese trailer shows different footage. Interesting that they kept the River City Girls name for the Japanese version, and added Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun Gaiden. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jun 30, 2019 10:56:14 GMT -5
So, just as a brief conversation topic, I was wondering how you guys would feel about a Zelda game having a vocal theme song. Since Breath of the Wild was the first canon Zelda game to have proper voice acting, a vocal theme song seems like the next logical step. Also, its contemporaries (Xenoblade Chronicles, Fire Emblem, even Super Mario Odyssey) have them. Not that it necessarily has to have vocal music because of that. They can often be cheesy, and it might feel out-of-place for a Zelda game. Personally, I feel a good vocal theme song can add a nice touch to a soundtrack, even if it is a little cheesy. Admittedly, my feelings are being influenced by Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and in my mind, I can't help but think of XBC2 and BotW as companion games. So, I would like to see a Zelda game try a vocal theme song at least once. Perhaps BotW2 could be the one to do it.
Any thoughts?
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jun 28, 2019 10:07:45 GMT -5
According to Nintendo Everything, the online functionality is occasionally seeing "transfer students" in the courtyard of the academy. Basically, they're characters that represent other players around the world, and you can buy and sell items with them. A Nintendo Switch Online subscription is required. This seems very reminiscent of the kinds of things we'd see with the old Spot Pass feature on Wii U. I imagine it's probably not super useful. I wonder if it only works with random people, or if something special happens if friends show up in your courtyard. Also, does this feature go away in the second part of the game?
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jun 28, 2019 9:53:19 GMT -5
So, it turns out that if you could drain the water out of Hyrule, the landscape would be quite gorgeous.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jun 27, 2019 21:30:47 GMT -5
I've never played a Katamari Damacy game, although I was somewhat interested in it when it first came out in North America. I didn't have a PS2, though. I know it's on Switch now, but the moment has passed.
The interesting thing about the game, though, is that it was a surprise hit when it was originally released in North America, especially since it was the kind of quirky Japanese game that would normally stay in Japan. It led to a brief trend of lots of quirky Japanese games being localized (like Odama). Of course, few, if any, repeated the success of Katamari Damacy, so niche Japanese games went back to being niche Japanese games.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jun 27, 2019 11:10:11 GMT -5
Here are a couple of recent interviews with Kazuma Kujo on Disaster Report 4. The first is from Niche Gamer. Kujo explains how the PS4 version is mostly the same as the original PS3 game. Also, they spend a silly amount of time talking about "gross" things, like characters feeling sweaty or not using the bathroom enough, or Kujo originally thinking of having dirty bathrooms in the game, but deciding it was too gross. Ew. And here's a more interesting interview from Jeremy Parish, whom I remember also interviewing Kujo way back in 2011 right after Granzella was founded. It's brief, but more insightful. Parish also asked bout Steambot Chronicles 2. |
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jun 25, 2019 18:02:46 GMT -5
Yeah, maybe that was a misunderstanding. Here's a video by Kevin Cassidy of GoNintendo describing the contents of the book, and it sounds more like a reflection on Iwata's life. Still sounds pretty good, tho.
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Post by Nester the Lark on Jun 25, 2019 17:54:42 GMT -5
That's disappointing. Reviews for the game, in general, have been positive so far.
If they actually are able to salvage the Switch version at some point, then maybe it'll be worth picking up later for a cheaper price.
EDIT: GoNintendo has a video discussing some of the issues.
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