Video Game Music

I have a long history of listening to video game music. Probably because I have a long history of playing video games - and listening to its music simply goes along with it. Sure, you could mute it and play something else (or not), but what's the point of that? It seems detrimental to the experience.

On occasion I'll play a game without sound or music, but this is usually in a situation where the game I am playing is one I can safely play without sound (either its some kind of puzzle game, or an RPG where the soundscape hasn't really grabbed me, or a game with no music at all - although a game without music is a sad thing indeed), but more often than not, I need my game musics.

What pops into your head the moment you hear this? Yes, the guy in that video is playing TWO guitars, but that's not the point. The point is, the game is instantly recognisable from the song. Well, to people from the generation who would have played the older games anyway (do the new ones even have that song? It would hurt my soul if they didn't!)

Of course, there are lesser known song and game combinations that are just as awesome, for other reasons. One of the boss battle themes in Ys 7 sticks in my head every time I hear it. It just fits the tone of the game so perfectly that it just works. I can't really explain it any better than that.

I went to see a show a few years ago, in the Sydney Opera House, titled "Play: A Videogame Symphony". It's pretty much exactly as it sounds like - the orchestra played a bunch of videogame songs, spanning multiple generations. They opened with Mario, played through a variety of songs from games including Halo, Silent Hill (they had Akira Yamaoka there to play the guitar section of the Silent Hill 2 Theme!), Blue Dragon (which convinced me to buy the game, although that turned out to be a horrible purchase), and, of course, Final Fantasy.

This man is better at making music than you ever will be at anything

Nobuo Uematsu (for those who don't know, the composer of almost all the music, for almost the entire Final Fantasy series) is a god among videogame music composers. Hell, simply put, his music makes me happy. Very, very happy. Lately, his tunes have been sticking in my head more so than usual, likely due to a whole bunch of them being remixed and put into Dissidia Duodecim Final Fantasy - a mashup game where many of the heroes and villains of the Final Fantasy series come together to bash each other. Kind of like Smash Bros, except with an overblown plot, and a more... well... "proper" fighting engine is the best way I can think to put it.

Face it, Smash Bros isn't a real fighting game. Its a game where you kick each other off cliffs. Possibly while shouting "This is SPARTA!"

Your average Super Smash Bros. player

Fortunately for geeks like me, who recognise the true awesomeness of Nobuo's efforts, there is a worldwide touring show, titled "Distant Worlds: Final Fantasy", which features a symphony orchestra playing a selection of Final Fantasy music for the enjoyment of all. Well, the enjoyment of all who turn up to the event, having purchased tickets anyway. Of course I'll be there, are you insane?

And even better, Nobuo is in attendance, and holding a "Meet n Greet" event afterwards. To which I have purchased tickets for.

I will be meeting Nobuo-sama.

So, so happy :)

My Ears Actually Work... sometimes

I tend to watch a lot of anime, and play a lot of video games. This is what I do. However, there are times where it tends to trip me out a little bit - in particular relation to the voice acting.

Occasionally it so happens that when I'm playing or watching something, I will recognise someone's voice, and practically jump out of my seat. Then, at the nearest opportunity, I will run off to Google, Wikipedia, and occasionally IMDB if things get desperate to double check. And more often than not, my gut feeling on who actually did the voice is correct.

For example, last night I was playing Dragon Age, as is my want nowadays so that I may play Dragon Age 2 - of which a certain review I read tells me in no uncertain terms that playing it is something I want to do.
For anyone who hasn't played Dragon Age, and doesn't care, this next part will sound like gibberish.

I was in the Circle of Magi Tower, trying to deal with their demon problem, when a demon put me to sleep and entrapped me in The Fade. For those who don't know, the Fade is a dream world from which stems all magical power, dreams, emotions etc. Nothing there is as it seems. In there, I met another mage named Niall. As he spoke to me about being trapped by the Sloth Demon, I recognised his voice from elsewhere. It eventually dawned on me that it was Ieyasu from Sengoku Basara!

Same.

The problem with this kind of thing is, it tends to create a stigma in my mind, character-wise. I discovered the other week that Trishka from Bulletstorm - the somewhat psychotic, foul-mouthed female space-marine from Bulletstorm had the same voice actress as Sheena from Tales of Symphonia. Now when I return to playing ToS with Sarah, Sheena will be typecast as someone who should really have a machine gun!

Though, usually, this subliminal typecast relies on what material I saw first. Another one I picked up on is, again involved with Tales of Symphonia. Ambiguous "is he good is he evil" swordsman Kratos happens to have the same voice actor as Liquid Snake, from the Metal Gear games - a fact I picked up on within seconds of the introduction video! This immediately typecast Kratos as an evil badass, in my mind. I have no idea if he is truly a bad guy - even at the late-ish stage of the game that I am up to, but he just seems that way because he's not Kratos, he's Liquid Snake.

And he should be in a HIND so I can shoot him down with Stinger Missiles.

A few others I picked up on:
- The character which got cast as Yoda in Family Guy's Star Wars parody is Bob from Bob's Burgers (which I saw first. So now, I have a legitimate reason to rename Yoda to Bob).
- Date Masamune from Sengoku Basara is Dante from Devil May Cry. Surprisingly enough, the typecast in my head here fits perfectly!
- Sanada Yukimura from Sengoku Basara is a lot of people, notably Vash the Stampede (Trigun), Lelouch (Code Geass) and Ichigo (Bleach). He sounds most like Ichigo though - in fact I never picked up on Vash until I did some research.

Of course, this effect gets much, much more creepy when it starts happening in a language other than your own, that you barely know. Which is why it creeped me out when I started picking up on a few voice actors in this way while watching anime. IN JAPANESE. Particularly when I picked up that (yet again, Basara) Date Masamune in Japanese was voice acted by Mugen from Samurai Champloo. Or that Isaac in Baccano is actually Vash the Stampede (a fine choice, actually - the character typecast made in my head by this one is actually accurate).

I could mention the Konata vs Haruhi one, but really, I didn't pick up on it without having known beforehand that it was the same actress - besides, half the joke in that series is that its by the same people.

I realise that voice acting is like any other industry, and that the same people get around because its what they do for a living. However, it still tends to freak me out that I can recognise someone I've never met, and seen only in highly unrealistic cartoon/3d model forms, purely from their voice and prior roles.