I'll have to check out both when the time comes. That does indeed sound like something from Xenogears. Nice find. Wild Arms is an interesting series, I still need to get around to playing the fourth entry which is also on my backlog. I've been listening to Wednesday Campanella lately. Love this group, and major crushing on KOM_I, their singer. The groups videos are just so creative and I love them.
Btw, since we were talking about Xenosaga music a while back - does this sound familiar by any chance?
Never listened to it, honestly. I’ve never really played a Wild Arms game but I’ve heard some good things. Might check it out one day. Meanwhile, I’ve been listening to the Devilman Crybaby soundtrack, and it has some absolute gems too. Speaking of, I’ve finished the show and it was pretty ducking phenomenal. I’ve been in tears for the last three episodes, which is something media hasn’t done to me in a long while. A lot of things there struck really close to home, honestly, and I feel this adaptation does a terrific job at making this not just another cool, watchable version of the source material - but something that has actual cultural relevance at this point in time and has the potential, in my opinion, to be a defining voice in its medium. Much like you, I don’t have a Netflix account active at all times, but I’m very happy I got in again starting last month. I plan to watch Aggretsuko, as per your recommendation, but with Devilman Crybaby and new seasons of Anne with an E, this had just been an incredible investment, as I feel enriched. And of course, I can’t leave out the very reason I renewed my account - the Witcher! What a fun, engrossing adaptation! As a big fan of both the books and the games, I’m incredibly happy with this show so far and wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone I can
Been re-listening to the OST for Wild Ams 1, and I'm still frankly amaze of its overall quality. I've been picking few a few soundtracks while I build a playlist for my novel.
I've been meaning to check it out. I sort of lost Netflix at the moment, so I'm in the dark again. You should check out Aggretsuko if you haven't.
So I’ve actually started watching Devilman Crybaby, since I reactivated my Netflix account to watch the Witcher. Binged seven of the ten episodes. It’s really good. I’m getting serious SMT vibes, along with a lot of it just feeling very arthouse in some respects. I also like how it has commentary on our current society
That's neat. Yeah, I plan on tackling my backlog a bit more this year. I figure I'll try to finish a game a month, and I may make a thread to get some ideas on which games I should focus on from a list I'll choose. Thankfully, I don't have any major new titles dropping this year, so I should be safe from new game syndrome outside of getting FFLegends II, Nier, and Wind Waker for Christmas. I'm sure Karifean is super happy with that gaming lineup though. I also want to focus more on my writing. I plan on trying to enter two contests this year, and maybe send something to a publisher as well, though I primarily want to reach a certain point in my novel before year's end. Good luck getting your own writing under control.
So I’ve beaten Torment: Tides of Numenera. It was an interesting, if flawed little titled. I think the biggest issues is that you can tell it’s really trying to be Torment, but it doesn’t come out quite as naturally as with Planescape, so the final game ends up pretty overwrought and dense, and not really in a good way. The story and setting are still great, though. It’s not everyday that you see an RPG grapple with the topic of the responsibilities of parenting through the subject of body-shifting immortality. And now I’ve started Ys Seven, and it’s been pretty cool so far. We’ll see how I like it, but I’ve already also got I and II and am ready to dive into this series - along with the Trails series, as I’ve been gifted Trails in the Sky. I do plan to replay games less this year and focus on new experiences in that regard - though my focus is still going to be writing. My wife got me this cute little notebook that I hope will help me organize my thoughts
She samples Mitsuda's version of Albedo's theme for one of the battle themes in Xenosaga Episode III as well. I feel it's always tough for a new composer taking over a series with an established musical score. Partly because the original score was likely well thought out for the work, so anything they do make is going to probably sound off to more avid fans, and partly because they may feel constricted by what they can create for it. I imagine if I ever get into the comic industry, this will be why I'll have a hard time writing for more established series.
Yeah, I do enjoy the Xenogears references in the OST myself. Also just looking at the track titles, it feels to me that the soundtrack covered more ground than just episode I - perhaps the original draft of episode I, the one that ended up being the only three games we got? But yeah, it’s definitely a good OST that was underused (though why he wrote only two battle themes is something I’ll never understand). I notice that a lot of the times whenever a new composer steps in they will just ditch all the old themes in favor of their own - this is a big gripe I have with Hamauzu, since when you look at Dirge if Cerberus, FFXIII, and his SaGa contributions, they’re all completely disconnected from the rest of their respective series in terms of music (though how much that’s his creative decision and how much a given director’s is something I’m ignorant on, admittedly, so it might not actually be his fault). I did like how Kajiura implemented the Song of Nephilim into the relevant tracks, though!
