I don’t even have a great introduction to this review, so I’m just going to open it up as thus; 2 years ago, Castlevania developers Koji Igarashi created a Kickstarter campaign for a spiritual successor titled Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, meant to be the Castlevania that Konami had denied him the ability to make. The campaign was so popular that it made over 3 million in just pledges and broke all its stretch goals. One of the stretch goal was for the creation of am 8-bit retro-style prequel bonus game to be made separate from the main game the campaign was created for. This game was going to be released prior to the main Bloodstained game, as a taste of what backers and fans could hope for. Recently the retro bonus game saw it’s debut, first on steam and then on consoles, titled Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon.
And let me tell you, it has every bit the classic NES Castlevania feel to it’s music that you would hope for, and more. (Warning: this review contains some spoilers)
The original soundtrack to Square-Enix’s new action RPG, Octopath Traveler, containing the songs that colorize the fantastical world that the game presents to the player, will be releasing on the same day as the game itself.
The 4-disc album contains 80 tracks encompassing the game’s music as you take control of the game’s characters and traverse the different lands of Octopath. We previewed some of the music of the soundtrack back in March with a sampler release, and now it’s come time for the full shebang from composer Yasunori Nishiki to be released.
Now with Octopath Traveler releasing this Friday, July 13th (with hopefully no big, Friday the 13th unlucky game breaks on launch), the game’s soundtrack will be releasing simultaneously. You will be able to pick up the Octopath Traveler Original Soundtrack on Amazon, Play-Asia and the Square-Enix Music store.
Finally, it’s here! The FFXIV Stormblood soundtrack is in my hands. What took them so long? Back in the PlayStation era, I guess it wasn’t exactly rare that a soundtrack release wouldn’t come until a full year after – but now, it usually takes a month.
Regardless, a year has passed since the expansion released – and much and more music has been amassed since then. I’m pleased to announce that the soundtrack contains all tracks added from Patch 4.0 – 4.3; a whopping 105 tracks in total! Does Stormblood really compare to the extremely fitting music of Heavensward? (more…)
If you haven’t heard, SoundTrack_Cologne is Germany’s largest music event on music and sound in films, games, tv and other media. The event takes place on 22 – 25th August 2018, this year. The event itself is divided into three days, separately themed as: Games (August 23rd), Film (August 24th), TV (August 25th). For this article, we’ll focus on the “Music in Games” day of the event!
Most importantly though, they recently announced what gaming composers will be attending the event – who are completely new to the event: Takeshi Furukawa (The Last Guardian), Pieter Schosser (Destiny 2) and returning guest Garry Schyman (BioShock). The day of the event will involve them talking about what makes videogames scores special (their characteristics), their personal experiences and any upcoming projects they have to share. There will also be a QA section.
By the end of the day, Gareth Coker (Ori and the Blind Forest) and Richard Jacques (James Bond 007: Blood Stone, Mass Effect, Headhunter) will be in attendance for a panel discussion. These two previously attended SoundTrack_Cologne.
Interested in attending this one-in-a-kind event? You’re able to get a discount for your ticket if you book before July 8th, EST time.
If you need to communicate with them, or just snoop in to see what else they’re up to, then here’s their Facebook and Twitter.
Back in early 2013, Jeremy Soule, composer of the scores to Guild Wars 2 and Skyrim ran a Kickststarter campaign for The Northerner. The campaign details stated that Symphony No. 1, “The Northerner” (Opus 1) will mark Jeremy’s first foray into the grand traditions of classical music. This symphonic work is planned to feature live players and singers in addition to the innovative technologies for which Jeremy has become known.
The project was successfully funded and had an expected delivery date of September 2013. Contributors eagerly awaited for the promised results and received nothing until December 20, 2017. The composer shared the liner notes for this release on the project’s Official Facebook page and I have reproduced a portion of them below:
As a composer and performer, The Northerner Diaries are my virtual orchestra and choir sketches as I work towards the completion of my Symphony No. 1. The recordings represent wild and unfiltered ideas created in the same vein as concept art you might see from an artist prior to the commencement of an oil painting. At this stage, I have not paid any attention to structural and compositional forms as abstraction from “GINNUNG” or the “MIGHTY VOID” is never a predictable process. And while the musical instruments and vocal sounds are computer generated, I performed each instrument and vocal using specialized software, digital keyboards and control interfaces. This process required me to play each element individually, one by one, while I recorded into a multi-track digital audio workstation.
Jeremy Soule, Composer
The Northerner Diaries is a 12 track album that runs just under 54 minutes. We don’t know when the Symphony No.1 will be ready, but we’re happy to listen to this until it makes itd eventual debut. Look for it this Friday across digital platforms, including iTunes.
The composer also took to Facebook during E3 this year when Bethesda announced the Elder Scrolls VI to say “While I appreciate all the questions about TES VI, I can’t comment about the game. I can only confirm that I didn’t produce the music heard in the teaser that was released today.” We can’t confirm yet that the composer is involved in the music for the upcoming game, but we hope so!
Have you listened to The Northerner Diaries? What did you think of these symphonic sketches?
Everyone has seen images of what it’s like to be on vacation at a sunny beach, ocean waves rolling onto the sandy shore. Then you have the palm trees with their bounty of coconuts, leaves gently swaying in the breeze. Let’s not forget the wildlife going about their daily routine, chirping and wailing all while you go into a peaceful state of mind. Then, there’s also the off chance that something goes wrong. The trip could get cut short for a random life event, you might get bitten by a crab as you were trying to get a closer look or maybe you just got too much sand in your pants. A somewhat similar event can be derived from Yoku’s Island Express Original Video Game Soundtrack. Let’s see how that image holds up after the jump! (more…)
Following up on the Prescription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies series of albums, Scarlet Moon Records is now releasing a series of live classical guitar arrangements of iconic video game music in their Guitar Collections, starting with Final Fantasy IV.
Guitarist William Carlos Reyes (of The OneUps) arranges and performs Nobuo Uematsu’s iconic themes from Final Fantasy IV to celebrate the game’s 27th anniversary. Key themes such as “Theme of Love,” “Welcome to Our Town!,” and the final dungeon theme, “Within the Giant,” are featured alongside an original composition by Reyes are included in the inaugural album.
I’ve always enjoyed Square Enix’s Piano Collections FINAL FANTASY series, but I have a personal preference for the sound of the guitar. I wanted to produce a series of guitar albums starting with FINAL FANTASY IV, just as the Piano Collections series did. I also knew based on William Carlos Reyes’s past arrangements that he’d be perfect for this project with his ability to layer his performances in a very natural and pleasing way, and I couldn’t be happier with the result. I want Guitar Collections FINAL FANTASY to become a series, so we hope everyone’s as eager as we are to hear more! – Jayson Napolitano, Producer
Guitar Collections FINAL FANTASY IV is currently available for pre-order on Bandcamp and will be releasing on July 19th.
