#yes i also have the 06 soundtrack

[trashcreatyre]

For whatever reason the one post I made last year about the mephiles tech deck is getting attention, and I would just like to inform you all that he is in my home

I'll do a kick flip with it once I figure out how to do that lol

[kindaorangey]

do yall even know about the loumand piano motif. maybe you do maybe you don't i mean the soundtrack team are a fucking geniuses either way but there's this specific motif that plays at key points throughout the unravelling of armand's lies, a few times in 2×05 and one time in 2×08. frustratingly i don't think it was released as part of the soundtrack so i can't put it here, but it's the track playing in the background when louis walks into the sun:

this is one of two times the track plays to completion. the other times, it's just a single note on a piano, repeated a few times. this is when it plays in 2×05:

when daniel asks louis why armand spared his life, and louis gives his "armand could see i was partial to you" spiel

when daniel stops dancing around what he's trying to do and says he wants "one hour, for me" to figure out what happened in san francisco

at the end of the 1973 interview, when louis is recounting his suicidal ideation after claudia left and daniel flippantly says "and then what?" after which point the interview derails completely

after the loumand argument, when armand says "but she [claudia] didn't love you" and louis says "i know". this is where the track plays to completion, leading into louis running out the room and walking into the sun

at the end of the episode, when armand returns, and he gives word-for-word the same spiel as louis did about why he saved daniel's life

i think what we see here is the key moments in what armand is hiding. point 1 and 5 are tied together, obviously, representing the tangible evidence of armand messing with louis' memory. point 2 is daniel being the wrench in the works that he is, derailing the dubai interview so he can get closure*

and so we delve into the past, despite armand's meddling (point 1), and we see how the 1973 interview went down. but we keep cutting to the present, and daniel keeps noting how unstable louis was in this interview, because he knows how it ends for louis, though louis does not. and so when we get to point 3, louis' remaining tether to sanity (re: he's using daniel as a lifebuoy) is tangibly cut. he loses it at daniel, drains him, armand shows up and puts a stop to it.

the loumand argument ensues, appearing at first as though armand will be able to manage louis' coked-up spiral (the flippancy with which he says "and here come the drugs"), but their hostility to each other eventually leads them to point 4. they're equally matched in the argument, until they aren't, and louis is sent over the edge and attempts suicide

point 4 being one of the only two moments where the track plays to completion is very significant. louis' suicide attempt, along with what armand said to him that triggered it, is the key point of this string of moments.** there are a lot of things that happen in san francisco that louis doesn't remember, and the removal of all of them is in itself an abusive act on armand's part, but the high point is the suicide attempt (and, tbh, if louis hadn't attempted suicide, i doubt armand would have felt the need to remove the memories like he did)

and so point 5 is the chilling end of the episode, confirming that yes, it was armand who removed these memories, and furthermore that he would reinforce that mind-manipulation in a heartbeat***, but i also think it represents armand maintaining the upper hand. because we get to 2×06, and though there's tension in the air, the dubai interview continues as normal, and armand convinces louis that he asked for his memories of the suicide attempt to be removed. even with all that comes out in 2×05, it's ultimately not enough on its own to topple the house of cards armand has built.

but there's one last moment where the piano motif plays, and that's in 2×08. this is the only other time it plays to completion.

it begins when daniel points out that lestat also had the power to save louis at the trial. and armand tries again to smooth it over, to rush things along to dinner, and louis gets up to do just that, until, until daniel presents him with the script from the show trial. and as louis flicks through it, the track builds and builds in the background, harkening back to everything in 2×05 that armand barely managed to smooth over and adding it to the pile of everything we just witnessed with the trial. it creates a very necessary garland of armand's manipulation without calling back to san francisco explicitly. and it's yet another in a long line of subtle and intricate storytelling that this show is so good at<3

*side note, i think daniel isn't just looking for closure here, he also suspects louis remembers his suicide attempt in 1973 full well and wants to needle louis about his true intentions with doing the dubai interview

**this isn't to say i think armand is responsible for louis' suicide attempt. i think the episode makes a great effort to show that louis is spiralling before armand shows up, before he meets daniel, even. armand saying what he said was just the final nail in the proverbial coffin

***it sort of reads as foolish for armand to repeat verbatim what he put in louis' head about saving daniel's life. but i have to assume that repeating it would reinforce the false memories, had it not been for louis and daniel's recovery of the real memories of what happened

[lvminae]

After having time to not be miserable from an early morning and a proper relisten, I retract my statement on fist bump being bad

It sounds bad when they are playing the chorus on its own, esp with how overplayed it is (seriously, your main theme should be used more sparingly than Every Friend Boost)

But. As a song by itself/as a main theme? It do be slapping.

Listening to the Sonic forces soundtrack to pick out the songs I like and god I am reminded how weak fist bump is. Like genuinely this main theme sucks.

[ivyial]

RIGHT SO

after my previous reblog, i feel compelled to write a "short" post (love letter) about (to) this game

so for those of you who haven't played it, or never even heard of it, professor layton vs phoenix wright: ace attorney is a crossover game between the two franchises (you'll have guessed it from the title) and it is PAINFULLY underrated :,) (i also hear that it is now hard to get physical copies of this game at a decent price so i'm glad i kept mine)

essentially used to be my favourite game of all time before it got dethroned by the resident evil 4 remake (but i will forever remember it fondly). i remember my parents gifted it to me for easter back in 2014 (so i was around 12 back then) and i don't think they realised how much this would change me. like this is one of the reasons why i started thinking about studying law later LMAOO.

essentially layton and phoenix both end up helping this young girl, espella (i played it in french back then and her name is aria so their english names are a struggle for me) who is being hunted by witches and then put on trial in london for the assault of a ship's crew member. then the wildest thing happens and they get sucked into a book and are sent back to medieval times. yes it sounds insane. but in this small town called labyrinthia, witches are real, and so are witch trials (DOESN'T IT SOUND COOL AS FUCK??).

they've all forgotten who they are, though. phoenix doesn't remember being an attorney and layton doesn't remember anything either. they find espella again, and she's put on trial AGAIN, for witchcraft this time. the game alternates between the usual layton riddles and ace attorney's investigation/trial phases. the odds are high this time around, because those found guilty of witchcraft are shoved into a metal cage and plunged into a pit of fire. they're not messing around.

of course, it wouldn't be layton or ace attorney without a massive plot twist at the end. i'd argue this one is probably the most insane out of all layton games (it's even a bit far fetched tbh, but just saying, you do not see it coming) (okay it's even full of plot holes and i haven't revisited the ending in years but if i did, i think it would be detrimental to my mental health).

the art style is amazing - i'm in love with the later ace attorney art styles, starting from dual destinies and this game, and particularly the latest great ace attorney chronicles. here are a few of my favourite character designs from the game:

but overall, one of the best things about the game has to be the soundtrack. it is the perfect mix of both franchises' music and it is a CRIME that neither level 5 nor capcom have released this on spotify (capcom i know you have all other AA soundtracks on this app. add this one. i am begging you). if you've never played an ace attorney game before, then you do not know the sheer adrenaline of phoenix shouting OBJECTION and the music speeding up. here's one of my favourite tracks:

tell me this doesn't make you immediately want to confess to 47 crimes you haven't committed.

it's kind of the perfect crossover game if you're into the genre, it's perfectly balanced between riddles and trials. the stakes are also a lot higher and there's actual executions. maybe i shouldn't have played this at the age of 12 actually - at some point (spoilers ahead), maya is wrongly executed and the scene will forever haunt me for some reason:

(go to 18:06 if the youtube timestamp doesn't work) i chose the french version of the cutscene because it's the one i played back then and i find that the french dub is a lot more compelling than the english one (somehow? the french haven't produced a good dub in decades so). also maya's screams are downright heartbreaking and the scene was traumatising asf when i was a kid

ANYWAY. please play this game, it's so much fun. for the AA enthusiasts, there's an edgeworth cameo at the very end. i very much fear that this game will be forgotten eventually, but it warms my heart to see that there are still people talking about it on the internet.

[things-about-cars-in-posts]

Any favorite Car Games™ of yours? Forza, GT, Beam, Automation, etc.?

Auto/Beam are particular favorites of mine and also i have 10,000 hours logged between them

Since I wasn't a spoiled bitch, I can literally just list all the car games I had in my childhood. All for PC that is, because since I wasn't a spoiled bitch I didn't have a console. Okay actually there was NFS Carbon: Own The City and Herbie for DS but that was it. We were saying.

Colin McRae Rally 04 You've no idea what pain I brought to those poor little cars. Frequently I got to the end of one of those 2/4m stages with the car dying every 10/15 seconds. Such a good game. It also ran without having to insert its CD, which was very cool at the time, and very useful when I was gaming on the go on Father's Dell. idk if I also played it on his Toshiba but no such memory surfaces. Man I loved Father's Toshiba. I should try to retrofit it with new internals sometime.

Colin McRae Rally 2005 Liked that one too, but memories are hazier since at one point I was no longer able to play it for reasons I cannot recall so I just moved to 04 instead.

Test Drive Unlimited Got it recommended and didn't like it much. In hindsight it was an absolutely gorgeous game structure, but I just didn't care because I didn't like the way the cars drove. It collected dust.

Race Driver GRID For a long while, by far the latest racing game I ever had. Enjoyed it quite a lot! I even submitted an absolutely incredible gameplay clip to FailRace, though unfortunately it never did get featured. Bullshit, I say. And yes, for the longest time, I think until like 2020?, I had one single game that was younger than '06. See the part about not being a spoiled bitch. <-absolutely green with envy

GT Legends Played it a little during my youth, then tried to reinstall it years later to see if it lived up to my few memories of it and if I could get more out of it then by being less of a stupid baby. It corrupted the entire operating system and made the computer unable to start. A solid "no" to both.

And of course, who could forget, the Need For Speed series! In their chronological order:

Need For Speed Underground In my early childhood I didn't play it much, because I was still using the auto gearbox like a PLEB and you couldn't map controls in that game so when I got to the first drag race I couldn't figure out where the shift up key was nor could find it or remap it in settings and just abandoned the game. It should be noted as a child I was, in absolute, cosmically stupid. Later on I did pick it back up and see it to completion, loving it throughout (except for the part where you unlock the final boss' Civic you were neck and neck with on an R34 Skyline GT-R and they tell you it was stock. Sure honey now if you wait how did this bag of Fuck Off get here?). If only it had free roam, more races, a more varied environment, refillable NOS, the ability to have different cars simultaneously, and you get where I'm going with this don't you.

Need For Speed Underground 2 Man I loved this game since I started playing it at some ridiculously low age and I never stopped loving it and I was right throughout. I love love LOVE this game. I know the map by heart, the soundtrack by heart, the circuits by heart, the upgrades by heart, the starter cars specs by heart, you have no idea. This has been my childhood. This is by far and away the one I played and loved the most, even though due to the needlessly convoluted and completely obscure progression mechanics that childhood never saw me finish it - although I guess that helped me keep playing it, as when I got stuck with no way to progress further I'd just start from scratch again with no clue what to fix. I was able to pick it back up and finish it later on in life, through middle/high school, and later on still through the power of mods I squeezed and crushed and stretched that game like Tumblr did with Danny Phantom episodes. I modded it so much it crashed every ten minutes. I ran it off an iPod Nano. I messed the cars up so bad I'd essentially created new game modes. I managed to make a good desktop computer over a decade younger than the game itself run it at seconds per frame just by editing four wheel coordinates. And now you spoiled bitches can download it for free on somewhere like MyAbandonware (dot com, of course) and give it a try. And I can't recommend it enough. Literally; because if I could, friend of the blog @demoness-one would have done so by now >:(

Need For Speed Most Wanted The best Need For Speed game of all time, according to everyone. Everyone but me. I mean, I did go through it, but it looks bleak, the cars just seem to want to bounce from wall to wall, and I just don't like police chases - it's a game, why would I want a limited number of attempts? Also, they madly stressed me out, so, and here begins a funny story, I abandoned it when unable to rack up enough chase points to challenge the final boss. I picked it back up a while later to find out if it was just me being a baby, and no, I still didn't like it - but luckily I'd learned of the bug where if you park on a certain railing all the cop cars will pile up under you but never bust you, and decided to actually finish what I'd started so long before. Those points racked up, I worked myself through the good hour of bullshit unfairness of the duel with Razor (I have to win every race to win but he can win any race to win? Understandable. hey the bag of Fuck Off's back), even quitting the whole shebang three races in over a wrong input and having to start again, until, after hours of unsaveable progress, I finally was able to win the last race. And did you know that after that, just when you think you're done, you get the biggest, most intense car chase of the whole game? :) Well, I sure didn't, because right after I finished the race the game crashed and I had to do all those five races over again. :) And then I did that and it crashed again and I uninstalled the game and watched the ending on YouTube. :)

Need For Speed Carbon The takes get hotter still: I like this one more than MW. The colors got fixed, I liked the handling better (while obviously not as good as the mighty Underground 2 OF COURSE), drifting, my favorite race mode, replaced drag racing, my least favorite*, and yes, the car chases, and I may even like the soundtrack better? Nah, that's bull, I don't remember much of those two soundtracks at all off the top of my head. But I saw this one to the end and enjoyed it very much. *For the unaware, in every NFS game I played in my childhood, drag races did not give you steering control - to avoid traffic or obstacles, you tapped the arrow keys and the car would switch lanes. So you told the car to move out the way and if it did, good, if it instead took too long and/or had an unappealable loss of control and crashed automatically terminating your race, too bad.

There were also a couple other games there's not much to say about (Ford Streetracing, loved it, V-Rally 3, I think it had some issues and I never did play it, London Racer World Challenge, I recall nothing)... and now we move on to the car games I played since.

Assetto Corsa I've only ever dabbled in it a couple of times, but it's very fun when it works. My hardware is limiting on this front and I think I've some config issues, but when I'll have time to solve those I will be very glad to jump into it - especially because I really love driving simulators. Where with other games you kind of need some external validation of how hard it was to win with the tools the computer gave you -because it's not inherently cool that you beat a game, it was made to be beaten from the start- proper simulators just chuck you into an experience where no accommodation has been made for you (short of the damage level set, that is) and whatever you manage in it is your own accomplishment, not something the game let you accomplish. And on that note...

Richard Burns Rally This game is absolutely fucking incredible. "It's a 2004 game, how engaging a driving experience can it be" enough to make many still call it the best rally simulator out there and one of the best driving simulators period. Enough to motivate thousands of people to keep making a plethora of mods for it every day (which i've never been able to make work lol). Enough to make me seriously recommend buying yourself a wheel with force feedback* just to play this abandonware game (because using anything but a wheel for it is like using anything but a spoon for soup). And to be clear, this game is HARD. It just gives you a brief but extremely good rundown of how to master the driving basics and then have fun around rally stages where, again, the road has not been widened for you, the ditches not been filled, the car has not been programmed not to roll over too easily… essentially, the main way in which they are substantially easier than driving them IRL is the luxury of trial and error. So when, through however many days of trial and error it'll take you, you finally glide through those bumps smoothly enough to wipe the red off that time delta, this commercial flop the dozen-people-team from the Animaniacs GBA game developed when RAM was measured in megabytes becomes the most exhausting, intense, rewarding experience a computer has ever provided me. And a computer has gotten me laid. *I recommend the Logitech G25s, found for well under a dub, and the G27s, a small revision of the G25 with more buttons and a better shifter usually found for not much more (I found mine for 80!). They're from 2004 and 2010 respectively, and the wheel Logitech sells today is just a G27 with more buttons which says it all about how good a budget wheel it is.

TrackMania Nations Forever I hate this game, I fucking despise this game. "Alright, it's the same game we made two years ago with new tracks, and it has no story, opponents, traffic, cutscenes, or really any dynamic beyond checkpoints, a finish and a timer. But even still, there are so many fun mechanics to master anyway, like jump distance control, which you hopefully figure out you have because it's not like there is any tutorial to tell you! Or drifting, which is necessary to beat the best time in one of the last levels - you do it by pressing brake, accelerator and a steering direction simultaneously. Hope you randomly decide to do it autonomously to see what happens and find out that can be faster! And if you don't have a specialized keyboard with more than the normal 2 key rollover, hopefully something possessed you to map one of those controls to a completely different keyboard zone than all the others, or pressing all three will make only two register and you never will find this out! But at least not making any tutorials or the likes and keeping the interface absolute garbage allowed us to have the driving on absolute lock! Well, except for that bug where if you take the fastest line through a corner your car may decide to ragdoll and fuck your run. Oh and also the one where if you land a jump on all four wheels you may randomly lose your speed. Good luck!" I now get why they hate French people. Unfortunately, as for a lot of destructive hatred of mine, it manifests in yet more determination to conquer the little shit. I've gotten author times on every single one of the tracks except the last one, not because it's eight times longer than by far the second longest at an entire goddamn hour but because I wanted an effort that lengthy to be a special occasion and that never manifested. ...Maybe a stream?

Actually, I visited MyAbandonware to check the NFSU2 page and apparently they include a mod that puts the uncensored edits of the songs in the soundtrack and honestly I hella want to play it again just to hear that, so that could also be a cool stream idea if it wasn't a criminal deed to play copyrighted music on stream (I've not kept up with that whole mess, can you do it if you don't keep a VOD?). Or I could stream myself playing Richard Burns Rally and make you go "oh this is HARD hard".

Links in blue are posts of mine about the topic in question - if you liked this post, you might like those!

[threebooksoneplot]

Episode 30 - "Team Leatherface" (Show Notes)

listen along here

General New Moon content warning about ongoing discussion of suicide!

[00:00:32] James’s totally real phone number, for all the single moms out there: (248) 434 - 5508

[00:01:40] Disclaimer that G recorded this episode in a larger, more echoey room than usual, with more background noise. Some of the thumping you hear throughout is Beth chopping up peaches to make a delicious peach cobbler. We offer you the recipe for it in penance for making you listen to very faint Peach Cobbler ASMR

[00:01:50] James’s bespoke 15-hour playlist, including such hits as the Benny Hill theme, All I Want For Christmas is You, and some 3B1P episodes (you’re welcome James)

[00:04:43] Listen to Beth's previous episodes, Catgirl and Pigboy and Straight History, on any of our usual platforms!

[00:10:01] The Teen Wolf soundtrack, including "Catherine Beta Jones" and "Dude Dies" as named by James

[00:12:44] Shannon's beloved Locked Tomb audiobooks, narrated by Moira Quirk

[00:12:55] Nickelodeon Guts

[00:17:02] The Nightmare Before Christmas Hot Topic merch [00:17:38]

[00:17:50] "Vampire kickball" as depicted in What We Do in the Shadows (TV)

[00:21:54] Disney Adults don’t @ us. Beth would like the record to show that she is one of you and stands in solidarity. Also, here are some images of G, Shannon, and James having a pretty good time

[00:27:14] James's beautiful illustration

[00:27:53] “Leatherface”

[00:40:04] Live James Reaction

[00:40:11] “The South Park episode where Cartman’s eating Scott’s tears”

[00:44:18] G's research into the origins of “loca” revealed that Taylor Lautner doesn’t even remember saying it. But from some light further research, it does not appear to originate in the screenplay, so it’s likely that it was either improv or Lautner was indeed handed a list of phrases to choose from like rpattz and “spider monkey.” If you know more, drop us a line!

not a "loca" in sight in this draft of the New Moon screenplay

[00:44:46] “Built like an Easter Island statue”

[00:47:10] Wide Grasp Billy, probably

[00:56:42] “You’ve been lying to everyone: Charlie.” (Chronologically, this scene takes place in the equivalent of our future Episode 34.)

[01:02:13] Yes, G is eating (probably a peach that Beth handed her.) Sue her

[01:23:15] Parentification

[01:24:26] “An ancient man”

[01:39:06] Notorious blonde-hater Stephenie Meyer on Lauren’s pixie cut

[01:41:56] G’s "Loose Bear in the Neighborhood" chronicles

[01:42:57]

[02:06:33] Find James @ jbshotthis on IG or venmo him @ brokejb to make him listen to your Teen Wolf grievances

Thanks for sticking with us for our first-ever multi-guest episode, gang!

[beevean]

And onto Rush Adventure now:

-Tbh at first i wasnt sold on the materials grinding for ships but later liked how it gives you a reason to improve your scores on the levels so you can get more. Idk i usually dont care abt scores but w the external motivation? Yea

-Same w the misions, good way to have lil extra stuff to do (that said why did they block the sound mode songs behind misions. Game pls my internet makes opening youtube an odyssey and now this too? Cruelty 😔)

-Oh and also the ship minigames! Its fun to have a map you can explore, and the races w Jhonny for the chaos emeralds are way better than the Surely Existing special levels (also srry if i got his name wrong lmao)

-Onto the soundtrack; its more broad compared to rush, and each song does matches well the enviroment. I like the tropical coastal vibes of the main town n training level, and oh man. Sky babylon and deep core my beloveds who literally got engraved in my neurons so hard i was struggling reading hours later bc the darn tunes kept playing in the background of my skull. Well scratch that all the tunes keep playing on the bg of my skull rn, what kind of eldritch curse is this). So yes good ost 👍

-Overall the aesthetic n vibes are also more broad with that tropical relax overtone, its quite nice. The difficulty is also way more forgiving (i mean i played on easy but that's the mode the game came in) and the tutorials with the controls are helpful (yes i struggled with the jump dash in the previous game how can you tell)

- The story is also more calm and silly goofy but in a good way (can def see what ppl mean by the diff eras in sonic writing there). I also liked Whisker being the main but kinda dumb villain for funnies vs the eggmans being a bigger threat)

-I liked the scene in the coral cave where Blaze appears bc my mind was half "haha i knew we were in Blaze's world, neat" and " weeee hi Blaze, game of the year :D"

-Marine was also neat, liked her silly dynamic of cheerful kid who is a bit too full of herself and is kind of a brat abt it, and how she later learns to admit her own limits :) And the koala villagers were neat too i like their designs :)

Overall thank you for letting me ramble into your ask box abt these games, its been fun :D

lmao yeah it's a nice incentive! I think the only other game that gives you a reward with higher ranks is Unwiished (another Dimps game), where the higher the rank the more medals you get.

also sonic 🤝 hector:having to earn their crafting materials

The missions are a good way to extend the gameplay, but IIRC some of the Sol Emerald missions were brutal... I have flashes of the Blizzard Peak mission.

The waterbike was genuinely really fun and I hated that it was considered the "worst" vehicle for travel :( I don't like the submarine, let me travel the world on my tiny waterbike while the best music plays :( also yeah the Special Stages with Johnny are original! Certainly more than Half Pipe 50.0

SRA'S OST was composed by veterans Tomoya Ohtani and Mariko Nanba while trying to recreate Naganuma's style. Definitely unique and underrated. Sky Babylon used to be my favorite too! But there are so many tracks that IMO deserve more love, like Haunted Ship, Blizzard Peaks, the boss theme and Whiskers & Johnny <3

Funny to think SRA came out one year after '06, widely criticized at the time for being too melodramatic :P Whiskers is also a nice case of Eggman being the twist villain for once! Although the credits of the "bad" ending spoil him and Nega, lol. Not that Whiskers looks mysterious himself... eh you get it.

Marine seems to have been reevaluated recently, like many things from the 2000s. I remember that back then no one could stand her and her Aussie accent lmao, precisely because she was an annoying brat. She is still mildly underrated, but I think the modern fandom generally "forgave" her because they understood that she was meant to be a foil for Tails, who is more insecure.

(two fun facts: in some countries, SRA initially got a 12+ rating because Marine says "bugger", which is pretty mild for Aussie slang but is much stronger for American standards. Also, Marine is Australian because in original she speaks in Kansai-ben, and I guess that was a way to recreate the cultural connotations! That and koalas :P)

You're welcome, you're free to rant at any time <3

[maxwellpaws]

Creatures for the PSX OST review

okay so today I'm going to go in a little bit more in depth with this topic because even among fans of this series this seems to be quite obscure.

Creatures is a series of video games of the pet simulator genre were you take care of Norns and makes sure they don't die.

If that description raises your curiosity here's video that goes a bit more depth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swxtKrVb0m0&t=58s

Now at some point in time someone got the bright idea to make a "port" of it that turned into a entirely different game that's weird like the environments are mashup of landscapes from the first three game that range from something that could pass as a mockup for an environment to cursed images, and from what I've seen the game (and it's sequel) looks tedious and unfun.

(here’s a playlist of the console game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swxtKrVb0m0&t=58s)

and because it's a game it has more traditional background music compared to the the other games (technically the first game doesn't really have a sound track)

and that's why were here today: Is the creatures PS/PSX "port" soundtrack good despite the games quality is it just as bad as the game?

Let's find out!

(note because I’m lazy here’s a playlist of the whole OST instead each title having an individual link. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZyFjGv7qIjmll7noNNuAP7hj-gUJch0R)

Track 01:

Yes that's what it's called, none of them have names.

So I'm going to give them one this one's name is Phil, anyways this is the logo song.

It's okay and does it's job.

5.5/10

Track 02: Julie

Okay this is anything personal, but I don't really like Julie, She's kinda tedious.

and it doesn't help that according to the playthourgh I watched this plays 95% of the time!

It's not a bad song I quite like parts of it, like the chimes and it's feeling of finally on a warm summer's evening and I like the strings and chimes, and while writing this I realized this song isn't that bad when you're doing something else so I guess it's not THAT bad but not something I'd return to any time soon.

7.5/10

Track 03: Joey

Joey is great he's peppy, I like the clapping sound and guitars, and while listening to this all I can think of are cowboy norns in the west, and lucky for me songs like this are present throughout the album!

best part about this is the accordion.

7.5/10

Track 04: Jenny

Jenny is like Joey's more somber sibling.

I like the slow plucking of the guitar and the other strings,

it gives off the vibe of a town practically destroyed by a gang an a lone guitarist is free styling alone and is slowing getting into it, as it slowly cuts to a scene of the hero running through the field.

9./10

Track 05: Goober

Okay so I believe this the track for one of the minigames in the game Pac norns

(BTW having a biome dedicated to arcade game parodies feels like something I'd do to poke fun at how creature fans like to mod the games especially the third one in any way they can)

but if that isn't the case than this is the most unfitting track in the game and the person posting all this is probably right about this being stock music.

back on track I like this song especially the main two synths and the chimes and the final boss energy, also it's nice and short but not something that could get annoying on multiple replays.

10/10

Track 06: Timothy

I like Timothy even tough all I can think of while listening to him is maybe the opening of RPG involving dragons he's probably the closet to a creatures song.

(that's not saying much tough)

7/10

Track 07 Nicki

Nicki is very similar to Julie with their feeling of closure and finality but less tedious.

and I really like the recorder used in this.

7.5/10

Track 8: Jeremy

Jeremy is okay it's kinda plain.

It makes me think of that one Nick jr. browser game that was like those old PC games (the playroom types) but it was with Dora.

Hey did you guys know that at some point later on in the show they gave her two younger siblings?

I don't think I ever saw any episodes with them in it, mostly because I didn't watch Dora much my mom didn't like the show.

3/10

Track 09: I'm running out of names, so I'm going to call you Mc fucker.

Mc fucker is a nice song, love the whoop thing.

7/10

Track 10: Milo

Milo is good.

I like the guitar, sounds like a journey is happening and any minute now we'll hear the main character's mother sing hoping for there kid's return.

also I like the flute.

8/10

Track 11: Cofee cup

Coffee cup is one of the songs that is more aligned with what the series has to offer when it comes to OSTs.

(even more so than Timothy)

I quite like it, and the ascension is neat.

7/10

Track 12: Ned

Ned sounds a lot like Jeremy but more fleshed out like the long guitarist really got into it and made it into a son expressing it's sorrow about the destruction of his town.

10/10

Track 13: Suzanne

Suzanne is very skycore, jk jk.

Sounds very uplifting, The synths that accompanied the guitar is nice, and the ending melody is great.

So far this is my favorite track.

9.5/10

Track 14: James

James is some nice stereotypical eastern sounding stuff with a hip-hop beat.

All I can imagine is some norns rapping, and then they get sued because of the sample they used or something.

this is my second favorite.

7/10

track 15: Teddy

Teddy sounds exactly like a mashup of Julie and a minecraft song. which I quite like, honestly I'm quite floored with how this sounds like minecraft music BEFORE minecraft was a thing.

Also cool reverb.

7/10

Track 16: Nemo

Nemo is another single noise song that just plays in a loop for longer than it should...and it's not even as long.

From what I've seen from playthourghs I'd say this sums up the experience.

but hey at least it was only two minutes.

1/10

Track 17: Jake

Jake is very energetic sounding like marching music and it sounds quite nice despite it being a single beat for only a minute.

7.9/10

Track 18: Lou ann

I love this one.

the long synths the choir that just drones on and and the bass

and from the sounds of it I assume it plays during whatever that games has close to a graveyard (if it has one)

I also enjoy how the droning slowly fades away to reveal a guitar that plays along.

and the lone synth at the very end playing a simple melody is the cherry on top.

THIS IS THE BEST SONG THIS GAME HAS TO OFFER.

10/10

Tack 19: South

It's fine.... sounds like a wiggles song.

Can't really say anything about it beyond that.

6/10

Track 20: Leroy

This song is cool. cool riff.

BUT CAN LEROY BEAT THE ROCK SONG FROM THE FIRST GAME?

Track 21: N

N is the intro cut scene song that explains what were supposed to do in game and why, but not why the game is a bizarre mash up of assets of assets from previous games or unique one or if whether or not the unique ones are from a previous build of the PC games.

Or if this is the untold origin story of the creatures adventures feather thing because it's the same character but it looks different.

uh anyways the song exists.

5/10

Track 22: Jean

The beginning is very muffled compared to the rest of the song and I don't know why.

this also feels like something from a DS game but this time a LPS one.

it sounds okay but I feel like it went on longer than it should.

8.5/10

Track 23: Nya

I like Nya?

I think it sounds like something I'd hear in a breakcore so-

OH NO I'M TURNING INTO THAT MEME!

4/10

Track 24: Taffy.

Back to the topic of songs from this game that sound like songs from games that didn't exist till a decade or so later this sounds like the Core from Undertale.

it's okay.

5.5/10

Track 25: Flute

I like flute sounds like a companion piece to hip-hop thing I covered earlier and hey it appears were out of the kinda boring short song slump!

8/10

Track 26: Shitty porno

There's a reason why had this be the title card music for Melvil and Minestro enter the Webtoon boyfreinds omegaverse.

4/10

track 27: Cool villain song

Before the drop it sounds like the song for a villain in one of those animated movies like the "were back dinosaur's tale" were you (at least me) keep thinking it's a Don bluth film but it's not.

but after the drops sounds like DVD menu music for some generic cowboy film from the early 70s.

7/10

Track 28: Fred

Fred I'm pretty sure is Shittporno's brother.

But this time he mostly works as transition music as we go to the house to the beach.

this is slightly better.

8/10

Song 29: Bun

Bun is totally related to Shitty porno and Fred in some way.

but she's a lot more eurodance-y and is a more pleasant experience on the ears.

9/10

Track 30: qwertyyterwwqwertyu

Orchestra. I like it I guess? it exists.

5/10

Track 31: Dingo

HOLY SHITE! WERE AT THE END!!!!

Let's see what masterpiece awaits us at....

*this music plays*

Most of the animals are sooooo stupid.

7/10.

Final thoughts! Even if this is just a collection of stock music I'd say for the most part it's a very good collection of stock music and in fact I quite like it, i totally recommend listening to this at some point.

but for the game itself not sure I might play it (and it's sequel) some day....Probably for some sort of milestone.

Tune in next time were maybe I’ll talk about the OST for the other games maybe.

(spoilers Creatures 2 OST is actually pretty good and Creatures 3 dying music should be a meme)

final score is 8.9/10

[rey-jake-therapist]

Wow, I feel like I dropped this bomb and fell asleep shortly after without seeing the reactions. You all had so many interesting things to say! I'll try to adress most of them.

@kiddypool88 Honestly, I don't like the half Maiar theory very much, and I don't think I ever will. The only scenario where it would work for me would be if she made the choice of being pregnant with Sauron's child, because she'll accept that she loves him and wants to create this life with him and that... I don't think it will happen, not in canon anyway. No hate against the theory! I understand where it comes from and I wholeheartedly respect it, it's just not for me.

Besides, according to the lore, it's technically impassible for Sauron to have conceived a child as Halbrand, because it would have bound him to his human form. And as we know, it didn't happen, since he shapeshifted into an Elf form to become Annatar for Celebrimbor. So unless the writers decide they throw that part of the lore out of the window to make this pregnancy happen, Galadriel can't be pregnant with his child.

@moo1982 Yeah, I guess you're right and that's what I defended for a long time actually: that falling in love with him could explain the shame she feels now, because it would prove furthermore how blind she was to all the warning signs he displayed. But if she never gave into these feelings, it would also prove that a part of her saw the red flags and resisted the temptation, and this for me should make easier for her to reveal the truth to her friends... Falling in love with the wrong person but not giving in is pretty much like wrongly considering someone a friend to me: it all came down to the fact that Sauron deceived her about who he was. If she gave in while she had those doubts, however... It would be a more plausible explanation for that shame, imho.

But yes, she definitely let the work proceed because she convinced herself that it was the right thing to do. She ended up doing exactly what Sauron wanted from her: forging the rings (three instead of two, but that doesn't change much as far as he's concerned), and hiding his identity to everybody, which allowed him to approach Celebrimbor later on. It probably came from her hope that his intentions were good when he worked on the rings with Celebrimbor, yeah.

@fatcatlittlebox I'm still not sure that the Sauron = Elrond reveal will ever happen, even for me it's quite obvious according to the music that played during this kiss. I mean, there are other details that hint that this scene may not be what it seems, but they could all be considered as plot holes/bad writing. However, the fact that Elrond's theme doesn't play at all during the kiss... It's the one thing that made me take this theory seriously. Usually, when two characters kiss/share a meaningful scene like Elrond and Galadriel did under Adar's tent, both of their themes can be heard. But here? There was only Galadriel's, for what I can say.

Elrond's theme

If someone can hear Elrond's theme in this scene, please let me know, maybe I just can't? Maybe I'm too biased to hear it? If someone can prove me that Elrond's theme is playing somewhere in the background of this scene, that will be the end of this theory for me tbh. I believe in plot holes, I believe in bad writing, but music... Music doesn't lie. Not with Bear McCreary at the helm, anyway. This man's a genius. If he didn't include Elrond's theme in there, he had a reason imho.

Elrond's theme blasts during almost all the soundtrack of the Battle of Eregion, which makes sense since it was Elrond's battle.

There's also Adar's theme, which also makes sense. But at 4:06, there's another theme playing, which corresponds to the moment Elrond (apparently) sees Galadriel in a cage. It's a theme that I remembering hearing twice in the TROP soundtrack: when Galadriel drowned in season 1, both times she did. The first time, Halbrand saved her, the second time Sauron let her drown. Anyway, each time it was about him, even if it's a variation on Galadriel's theme. It may be just the music that Bear McCreary chose to accompany scenes where Galadriel is in danger tbh, but I find this coincidence interesting.

This theme then evolves towards the music that preceeds the kiss, a music which is also a part of Galadriel's theme. There are choirs with low male voices playing in the background, which are slightly different from the choirs that play in the background of Galadriel's theme; these are sung by women, and seem more... idk, lighthearted, less present too? It may not mean a thing, but I can't help remembering Bear McCreary saying he wrote Galadriel's and Sauron's themes to be quite similar.

Anyway, I can't hear Elrond's theme anywhere during this break which matches the kiss scene, which I find very sus considering the intense moment he's believed to share with Galadriel.

And now the entire scene:

(edited the post because I got one music completely wrong... It was Adar's theme not Sauron's. Sorry about that.)

But still, I can't hear Elrond's theme anywhere in that scene, not even during his interaction with Adar. It was an Elrond scene, why can't I hear his theme?? When Elrond speaks, Adar's theme seems to switch to another theme, but it doesn't sound like Elrond's theme at all...

Call me crazy, but I find the music more similar in those moments to Sauron's theme (the break between 1:20 and 1:40)... No??

By the way, this is Sauron's theme:

I find the choirs in the background quite similar in some parts of music to the choirs we hear during the Elrond/Galadriel kiss (behind Galadriel's theme), but I wouldn't stake my life on it tbh.

I didn't expect this post to turn into a music analysis, but here we are lol.

Regarding this Morfydd's quote about handsome men... I'd tend to think she was generalizing in relation with the Galadriel/Halbrand dynamic: "beware of handsome men girls, they'll often lead you on and break your heart"... It's a tale as old as the world lol But to me, it's one of these quotes that told me that all these claims that it was a platonic friendship was bs. If Galadriel never saw Halbrand as more than a platonic friend, he could have had rotten teeth and a weird face that it wouldn't have had any impact on how she felt for him. Pointing out the fact that he was handsome was clearly hinting at the fact that Galadriel was physically attracted to him = it was not just a platonic thing.

@izalith-witch I agree that the way Gil-Galad and Elrond treated sounded like slut-shaming. Also, the first thing that came to Galadriel's mind to explain her deception was... "He is no man. He has been masquerading as one. Appearing in fair form to hide his true self". I mean, hello? She basically said she had been fooled because he was hot, here, lmao. It isn't a confession that she slept with him or kissed him of course, but it gives us an inkling as to why she let herself be fooled: she wanted that dick she found him attractive.

Personally, I don't need a sex scene to be shown on screen to imagine that something physical may have happened between them. Sauron stayed for weeks in Eregion... He and Galadriel definitely interacted, talked, kept nurturing that bond they already had. She started distrusting Halbrand after Celebrimbor mentioned the "power over flesh" that, she thought, could have been whispered by Halbrand, but she didn't have any proof that if he did, it was with bad intentions. That's why she asked for Eregion's archives about the Southlands: she wanted to check if Halband was who he claimed to be, but up until Sauron admitted who he was, she was in denial.

And until she got her answer, well, who knows what happened? Sauron immediatly felt that something had changed in her attitude, and that led him to be particularly flirty and touchy.

It's of course tempting to think that Galadriel kept her distances with him, waiting for her answer, but did Sauron let her do that? I doubt very much so.

Charlie said that Sauron felt she was ready to know the truth. I'm a bit curious to know what made him think that. And even if he wanted her to know, he wanted to forge the rings first. He needed her to keep believing in him before the big reveal, or all his plan would crumble (and as a matter of fact, they did). He was not happy when the Elf came back with the rolls, because it was too soon.

@skelethereals I don't think that Galadriel was ever written as a Virgin Mary figure in the show or in the books (it's lorebros' nonsense), but there's no doubt that Galadriel's temptation for power translates into temptation for Sauron, on a physical level I mean. There's a lot of Catholic guilt in Galadriel's behavior in season 2, which is very Tolkien.

@neyafromfrance95 I'm rather with @fatcatlittlebox on that if they ever make such a reveal, it won't be before the end of the show, when they dgaf anymore. We'll have to be patient I'm afraid lol It could happen when she lets him go for good, a walk on Memory lane.

Controversial opinion, but today I don't care. I'm way too excited by all this Morfydd/Charlie new content to care about what anyone, be it fellow shippers or antis, will think reading this post. Anyway:

If it turned out that Galadriel and Halbrand slept together before she found out he was Sauron, it would make her reluctance to tell Elrond and Celebrimbor the truth about him much more understandable to me. If Halbrand was just a friend to her, I don't really see what was the problem in admitting that he deceived her. I mean, he's Sauron the Deceiver©, everybody knows it's his game! Anybody would have been deceived in her place, as a matter of fact.

Granted, Galadriel is proud, and I understand this is the reason why she didn't tell anyone. But still, they were going to forge rings of power with material Sauron had touched, in a forge where he had worked for weeks, putting his filthy hands everywhere... That was worth at least discussing the matter with them, asking them if they thought they should let the work proceed or not! Elrond would have probably voted against, but Galadriel would have probably convinced Celebrimbor, the same way she convinced Gil-Galad that the Rings were safe from his influence (hahaha lol, erm)! They would have asked Gil-Galad' to decide; he would have probably greenlighted the projet because it was the only way for the Elves to remain in Middle-Earth. If he accepted that the Elves wear the rings, he would have accepted to forge them as well imho.

Now, if at some point Galadriel crossed a line with Halbrand she was not supposed to cross... And everybody knew it or suspected it (Elrond definitely did... "The lost king who could ride you to victory" and the ironic smile... he was barely subtle here)... I could buy the idea that she was too proud to admit she had been fooled *that much*. Let's not forget that acording to the laws of the Eldar, Galadriel was still married to Celeborn even if he was presumed 'dead', which for an Elf doesn't mean what it means for a mere mortal, because their spirit is immortal. If people came to think that she slept with Sauron, it would be really, really bad for her reputation. And I could see Galadriel unwilling to face that shame and thus, do as much damage control as she could.

There, I said it.

[sonknuxadow]

thoughts on Sonic 06? like is there anything you would have changed about it?

ok so ive never actually played it bc . i dont have any of the consoles that can run it and i dont know if my computer would be able to handle it if i tried to emulate it.but i have watched all the cutscenes and some gameplay and i think its neat and kinda over hated tbh

like im not saying it has nothing wrong with it at all but i think a lot of its issues wouldnt have been there if the developers were just . given enough time to finish the game

will continue my ramble in the tags bc i dont wanna clog up ppls dashes with me ranting abt a 15 year old game that most people dont like anyway

[poofi-moved]

[ID: The 'I've only had Arlo for a day and a half' scene from the show Brooklyn Nine-Nine turned into a meme format. There are two panels, Rosa in both of them labeled as 'Me' with pictures of Sonic, Shadow, and Metal Sonic next to her. The first panel is captioned saying "I've only been delving into the Sonic franchise for the past three days and a half," that continues in the second panel with "but if anything were to happen to them I'd kill everyone in this room and then myself." End ID]

[queermetalgremlin]

A Serbian Film’s soundtrack review

Yes. I’m dead serious.

To be honest, it’s really not bad, regardless of the movie it���s in. It’s got vibes, eerieness and a certain edgy... well, edge. And since i have nothing else to do (aka i’m drained of any energy i had today) i’ve decided to review every track on this godforsaken movie.

01 - The End

The most chipper and upbeat track of the whole soundtrack. The bass sounds like a fart and it can drag a bit, but other than that it’s a pretty catchy tune, that heavily invokes the ‘80s, mindlessness, consumerism and cheap porn. Speaking of which...

02 - Cheaporn 

One of my favourites. Haunting, menacing, with an almost obsessive vocal sample, that reminds me of an authoritative figure barking orders to a confused and vulnerable employee, like Milos is, doesn’t overstay its welcome, short and “sweet”. The perfect theme song for a character like our protagonist. 

03 - Tone Deaf

Pretty chill track, but boy is it repetitive! It just becomes a drag after a while. Also the random rises in volume are annoying af.

04 - Decollection

Eerie, desperate, hopeless, dark. It has an unreal level of desperation, and the vibes give it all away. Amazing.. but i still like Cheaporn more. Can’t control personal music tastes /lh

05 - Radio Waves

It’s nos as music as it is creepy ambient music. Pretty repetitive, can become boring, but gives off the oppressive atmosphere pretty well.

06 - Fancy Porn 

Another ‘80s-sounding bop. Way more mindless than The End, but still retains some shades of dark vibes. Unironically good dance music.

07 - Serbia

Sounds like a track that someone could find in a horror RPG. Captivating and mysterious, it prefectly carries the recurring themes of desolation, with some surprisingly touching and solemn sections.

08- Unsee It

It’s a gut punch. The peak of desperation, despair, hopelessness. Some scattered piano key smashes, very reminiscent of Suicidemouse.avi, and synths that punch your feelings while still being subtle create a very uncomfortable feeling, that stays with you long after the track ends, which is surprisingly soon. It plays in its favour though, it doesn’t overstays its welcome, its looming and despairing welcome.

09 - Rigor Mortis

Harsh yet really damn catchy, with some surprising indian sounding instruments to soothe the mood, before another wave of electronic crudeness hits. Pretty long, but entertains nonetheless. 

10 - Le Club Filth

Despite the name, it has little to nothing to do with the feelings associated with clubs. It’s dry, cold yet hard-hitting. 

11 - W.F.S.

The most cinematic track by far. Despite this, it’s not music. I mean, it has some musical elements, but this is ambient noise. Still kinda disturbing, though, even if it’s wayyy too long.

12 - Balcan Sex God

The return of the fart bass! Bullshit aside, it’s a pretty solid track overall. It’s catchy, still retains the themes of the album, and it may just be my autistic ass, but it sounds... sarcastic, sardonic. Like “Oh boy, you’re not ready , are ya?” and “Here we go, i hope you enjoy it” while knowing you’ll come out of it horrified. It’s a perfect fit for the credits of this movie. So, that concludes-

13 - Pazi Sta Radis

...Seriously? It’s the same fucking song as Balcan Sex God. I tried to listen to these back to back, and i shit you not, it’s the same song. I’ll never get why it’s listed as a “Bonus track”.

So, that concludes this pointless review of the soundtrack of this damned movie. The conclusion? It’s a pretty intense listen, that tends to get too drawn out at times, but is capable of evoking heavy feelings, with a shit ton of vibes and charm. Underrated soundtrack, if you ask me. Don’t watch the movie if you’re sensitive though, i’m not exaggerating.

[naktigonis]

Hi naktigonis! I was wondering if you enjoy using leitmotif in your music? Do you like to put references in your work? Thanks!

yes, actually! i love using musical motifs to establish the presence of themes, places or characters in the soundtrack. much like writing prose, writing music is another method of creating a coherent narrative. the only difference is, you read the musical narrative with your ears! B)

i'm about to launch into a lengthy ramble about the use of motifs in the Deepwoken OST, and also in my other musical work. i'll also ramble about musical-cultural references. buckle the hell up.

there's a TL;DR at the bottom if you're not interested in reading this wall of text >:)

if you listen closely to the currently released Deepwoken OST tracks, you can already hear some hints of musical motifs being offered. the first and most obvious one, of course, is the main theme of Deepwoken. this melody has become so emblematic of the game, that i've basically ended up incorporating it into almost every track within the OST. and although i didn't have a single set meaning for this leitmotif when i started haphazardly slapping it everywhere in the soundtrack, i think the melody symbolises a deep connection to history, a defiant hope (listen to the piano part in Contour 3 - doesn't it sound so hopeful?), and the inevitability of fate. though, i do also like to think that the real meaning of this motif is ultimately up to the player. this motif is Deepwoken. what does Deepwoken mean to you? that's what the melody really means.

but that's just one song. yet, the main theme does feature in many tracks: if you listen closely to Solivagant at the 1:32 timestamp, you can actually hear the main theme of the game slowly play out! it builds up, takes a long contemplative pause (about 20 seconds or so, if i remember correctly!), and then unravels.

-------------------

on the same song, there is another leitmotif directly after the fragment discussed above. at the very end of Solivagant, around the 2:06 timestamp, you can hear this melody play.

that's the Etrean theme! this motif represents the island and kingdom of Etrea, the city of Etris, and the Etreans themselves. essentially, whenever you hear this melody within a song in the soundtrack, you can expect an Etrean presence in that area of the game.

and if you listen closely in other (currently publicly unreleased) tracks, you can hear their motif too - like in this theme for an area next to Etris, or this theme for a certain place directly related to the Kingdom of Etrea.

-------------------

but the Etrean motif isn't all that common outside of areas of Etrean influence. a motif that is a lot more common throughout the game, and is in fact an elaborate reference to something from real life culture, is the motif of death.

this motif features almost everywhere in the Deepwoken OST. it's a melody that originates from a mediaeval Christian religious hymn about the apocalypse, and the Day of Judgement. it has been used since around the mid-19th century by various composers to signify death. if you're a devout Catholic of sorts, a fan of the Youtube channel Sideways, or are generally trained in the history of musical compositions, you may already know what i'm talking about here.

that's right. i'm talking about the Dies Irae. no, not the symphonic rendition by Mozart, nor the symphonic rendition of another part of the same chant by Mozart. i am instead talking about this:

vigilant eyes reading the full lyrics of the hymn may have noticed that the text seems a bit familiar. and if you've listened to Contour 1, you've already seen part of it! there is a part of one of the chant's verses in Contour 1's description: "Lacrimosa dies illa, / Qua resurget ex favílla / Iudicandus homo reus". or, in English, that'd be: "Tearful [will be] that day, / on which from the glowing embers will arise / the guilty man who is to be judged".

unlike what many have theorised, 'lacrimosa' isn't some sort of lore character. it's just a part of a hymn's lyrics, a somewhat esoteric reference to the Day of Judgement and the apocalypse. the Dies Irae hymn has fascinated me for years with its symbolism and meaning, and given those factors, i felt it was only appropriate to incorporate it into the musical narrative of a world such as Deepwoken. B)

i initially wanted to provide more than one example of the Dies Irae motif being used in the soundtrack. unfortunately, i've woven the melody of it so deeply into most of the OST, that it's difficult to extract a clean patch of it from any song! most of the time the motif is either slow and prolonged, or is incorporated into another melody very closely. so, i felt like pulling the motif from such tracks would reveal a bit too much.

so instead, i bring only one example: the motif being played in the general sailing track of the game.

you might expect that hearing the Dies Irae in the game would signify some sort of immediate danger being present. that is sometimes true. however, only sometimes. in truth, the motif is almost always there in the background, perhaps even more often than the main theme of the game. keep an ear out for the Dies Irae in the soundtrack when you play, and unmistakeably, you will almost always find it. it represents death, danger, a looming sense of doom, hanging overhead like a dark cloud. forever, and always.

to wax a bit philosophical, death is a kind of ending, isn't it? i think in some cases in the soundtrack, the Dies Irae also signifies an ending. nothing is infinite - all things must come to pass.

-------------------

...wowee that got sombre fast!

on a much lighter note, although this is not a motif that appears anywhere as frequently as the main motif, or the motif of death, it is still one of my favourites. this right here is the motif of the mysterious 'hive' you may have seen mentioned a few times.

and, just for fun, here's a little instrument demo test i did recently with this motif. here i am testing the Sulphur Wind mixer preset i made myself some time ago. here's before the preset, and here's after the preset. pardon my poor playing!

-------------------

as for my own personal work outside of Deepwoken, i don't use continuous leitmotifs to establish a narrative per se (it wouldn't really make sense in the case of separate albums or tracks), but i do tend to recycle melodies from time to time. more often than not, i do this due to some sort of connection between the track that a melody originated from, and the track a melody is being recycled for.

for example, my old D&D character Sophion F. Umbassa had a character theme, which was basically just an old recycled melody called 'Faustus' Theme'. 'Faustus' here references Goethe's Faust, a 19th century German play where a scholar sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for the knowledge of the world. in parallel, my D&D character Sophion Faustus Umbassa entered the servitude of the archdevil Asmodeus in pursuit of greater power:

or, alternatively, my currently most popular track Ex Nihilo also uses a reused melody! in this case, there is a symbolic, motif-like connection here, in addition to an external reference. the original melody was called 'Lullaby of Chaos', and it was repurposed for a song called 'Ex Nihilo', the ex nihilo here referencing creatio ex nihilo, or the creation of the world from nothingness. in ancient Greek cosmogony, the void from which the universe was born was called chaos. so all in all, it all checks out. B)

-------------------

wow, i really just rambled for ages, huh. whoops!

well, i suppose to give a TL;DR answer to your question: HELL YES i enjoy using leitmotifs in my music, and HELL YES i put references in my work. hope that answers it! B)

[darkqueenofshadows85]

My Top 5 Unpopular Sonic Opinions

Greetings, mortals! Today, I'll be doing a list of my top five unpopular Sonic opinions.

Please keep in mind, this is MY OPINION! You don't need to agree with it, but please don't complain in the comments section if you disagree with this list.

Anyway, let us begin! ^^

5. Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) and Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) Are My Two Favorite Sonic Games

Yes, you read that correctly. I unironically love ShTH and Sonic 06. They are two of the most overhated and underrated games in my opinion. I played both of these games a lot as a kid, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Their storylines are two of my favorites in the entire series, alongside SA2, Unleashed and Black Knight.

Also, both their soundtracks kick ass 😎

4. Black Doom is THE Best Sonic Villain

As I'm sure many of you know, I LOVE Black Doom. He's a great villain with a motive that actually makes sense. In my eyes, he is THE best villain in the entire Sonic franchise, far surpassing the likes of Dr. Eggman and Mephiles (although Mephiles is a great villain too, don't get me wrong)

I made a post explaining why Black Doom is an amazing character:

3. I Prefer Modern Sonic (specifically the 1998-2009 iteration) Over Classic Sonic

Oh boy... The fanbase is going to break me for this one...

I find the Classic Era to be low-key overrated to be honest. Sure, the classic games themselves have charm, but at the time, the lore/continuity hadn't been properly established yet, and it seemed like nobody was on the same page.

Take the old DiC cartoons for example. There wasn't much to work with in terms of continuity at the time, so the writers basically had to make up their own interpretation of the series. And then there's the small minority of Classic Era elitists who overpraise the Genesis games to jawdropping extremes and think that every Sonic game after S3&K is trash (with the exception of Mania).

And don't even get me started on how much SEGA has been milking Classic Sonic in recent years...

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the classic games are bad by any means, they are enjoyable in their own right, but I always found the 3D Sonic games (specifically the Adventure/Dark Era titles) to be more enjoyable in terms of both narrative and gameplay.

2. The Meta Era Is The Worst Thing That Ever Happened To Sonic

I've already made an entire post a while back ago explaining in detail why I hate the Meta Era, so I'll keep it brief.

To me, the Meta Era feels like Sonic in name only. Sonic was originally created as the antithesis of Mario, but after SEGA hit the reboot button in 2010, he essentially became a Mario clone, which goes against EVERYTHING the Sonic franchise stands for. The Sonic games from 1991-2009 all had complex themes/messages, while the Meta Era games only cared about jokes, and really shitty jokes at that. When such stupid lines as "Baldy Nosehair" & "No copyright law in the universe is going to stop me" are considered the height of comedy, you know you're in for a shit show.

Speaking of....

1. Sonic Boom Is The Worst Sonic TV Series Ever Made

I've heard a surprising amount of people say that Sonic Boom is a one of the best animated Sonic shows, and I honestly don't know why.

What do people see in this lame ass show that turned almost all of the characters (ESPECIALLY Knuckles and Shadow) into complete jokes?! I know a lot of people praise the show for its "smart, witty, self aware" humor, but to me, most, if not all, of its attempts at humor usually fall flat on their face.

Maybe it's just because I'm not in the target demographic for this show, but I find the meta humor and the series as a whole to be cringeworthy and annoying more than anything. In my eyes, Sonic is meant to be a serialized, story driven franchise, not an episodic sitcom. The entire Sonic Boom branding is a negative stain on the Sonic franchise that I do not want Sonic to be remembered for. If you happen to like this show, that's fine, more power to you. It's just not my cup of tea, personally.

Thanks for reading! I hope you guys enjoyed this list and I'll see you next time!! ^^

[crusherthedoctor]

Can we have some unpopular Sonic opinions?

I tried to cram in a lot, so I hope this satisfies you. :P I tried to stick to the ones that I haven't brought up quite as often, since by this point, we all know that I think IDW's storytelling is dire, SA2's story is overrated, X Eggman is an embarrassing portrayal (at least from season 2 onwards), Blaze shouldn't be handcuffed to Silver, Shadow's backstory had issues with or without the Black Arms, Neo Metal Sonic looks silly, etc. But anyway, here we go:

- Knuckles may be tricky to incorporate into plots that don't relate to Angel Island, but making him obsessed with his duties is no better than having him forget about Angel Island entirely.

- I like Marine, and never found her annoying. Oh, I understood what they were trying to do with her, but I honestly wasn't put off by her, and found her Aussie lingo more endearing if anything. Since her debut was during the period in my life where where I couldn't stand Sonic himself, I instead thought he was irritating (and hypocritical) for getting annoyed with her for doing shit he would often be guilty of.

- Silver is just as guilty of being shoehorned into games and plots as the Deadly Six are. Having more fans than the latter is irrelevant, since we're still talking about a character who constantly has to time travel in order to be present.

- Speaking of Silver, if he has to stick around, please do something different with him. They've pulled the doomed future routine multiple times now, and it's been boring every single time. I wasn't interested when it involved Iblis. I wasn't interested when it involved Knuckles drinking the edgy Kool Aid. I wasn't interested when it involved a council of dumbasses... give it a rest already.

- The Tails Doll can work as a mildly creepy thing, with maybe more to it than meets the eye when it's time for a boss fight or what have you. But the memes about him stealing your soul are just dumb, and I thought it was dumb even back in my teenage youth.

- “Eggman is supposed to be clownish!” Yeah, well he's also meant to be a genuine villain with a 300 IQ. These qualities don't have to be mutually exclusive.

- “Sonic is supposed to have attitude!” Yeah, well that's not the same thing as being an absolute cunt. Sonic was only ever meant to come off as having an edge compared to Mario. He was never meant to be a GTA-tier protagonist.

- Rouge is not a villain, and never was a villain. Literally the whole point of her role in SA2 was to reveal that she was working against Eggman and Shadow the whole time, albeit using sneakier tactics to do so. You'd think all those people who exult SA2's story would remember this, but apparently not. She barely even qualifies as an anti-hero, since aside from stealing the Master Emerald, she rarely does anything morally questionable otherwise. She's got a lot more good in her than people give her credit for.

- Captain Whisker is a better Eggman Nega than the actual Eggman Nega. And as far as robot characters in this franchise go, Johnny's design is pretty underrated.

- I don't like Iblis or Mephiles, but I DO like Solaris, and it annoys me that it was out of focus for most of the story due to all the time spent on its less interesting halves. Had they kept the backstory with the Duke and his experiments, and worked from there, I think they could have provided an interesting contrast with Chaos (since Solaris can also qualify as a monster with a sympathetic backstory) instead of recycling the surface level schtick.

- Black Doom may technically be just as bad as Mephiles, Nega, Scourge, Mimic, etc, since he's yet another villain with one-note characterization and fucked over Eggman. But because he never gained a disproportionate fandom, he doesn't annoy me to the same extent. It's easier to ignore him by comparison, and his Dr. Claw voice and face shaped like a lady's delicate part make him enjoyable to mock.

- Likewise, while Lyric is also on the same level as these other villains, it's easier to dismiss him because I was never invested in the Boom games anyway, and being an obvious alternate universe (compared to Sonic X or IDW, which retain the Modern designs and plot elements), it never had an effect on the main series. I also unironically like his design, and if nothing else, at least this snake didn't start a hypnotism fetish across the internet.

- Sally - and the rest of the Freedom Fighters for that matter - have had their importance in the franchise severely inflated. They may have been lucky to be the face of popular media (SatAM and Archie), but they're not these magnificent entities that the game characters are but a speck of dust in comparison to. Having a “legacy” doesn't make them more entitled to shit than any other character, old or new.

- Conceptually, the treasure hunting gameplay is one of the better alternate gameplay styles IMO. But it was let down in SA2 by its one track minded radar (the levels may have been big, but I don't think that would have been an issue on its own if the radar was better). If they brought it back and made it more like SA1's treasure hunting, I'd be all for it, although it would probably be better suited for a spinoff title.

- This goes for a lot of games, but when it comes to 2D, I prefer sprites over models. Not that the Rush models are bad (though the ones in Chronicles sure as fuck are), but the sprites in Mania and the Advance trilogy are just so charming and full of character.

- I actually like Marble Zone. Yeah, the level design is a bit blocky, but I love the concept of an underground temple prison, mixed with lava elements in a zone that otherwise isn't a traditional volcano level.

- I also like Sandopolis Zone. Again, completely understand why it's not the most popular zone around, but I've been a sucker for the Ancient Egyptian aesthetic since childhood (you can thank Crash 3 for that), and Act 1 is visually stunning.

- I prefer the JP soundtrack for Sonic CD over the US version overall... but I also prefer Sonic Boom over You Can Do Anything.

- SA2's soundtrack isn't bad by any means - I love Rouge's tracks, and The Last Scene is one of my favourite pieces of music - but as far as variety goes, it's a step down from SA1's soundtrack.

- If Sonic X-Treme had been released, it probably would have been unenjoyable and confusing. Whatever your thoughts on SA1, it was probably the better option between the two as far as Sonic's first legitimate translation into 3D goes.

- I have no qualms with Modern Sonic and the other Modern designs and characters, but I also fully acknowledge that changing gears from Adventure onwards - and doing it with a great amount of fanfare - was always going to create one of the biggest divides in the fandom, and fans shouldn't act surprised that this happened. The fact that they felt the need to hype up a new design and direction in the first place (compared to Mario, who has mostly been the same since the beginning, with only the occasional minor change with little fanfare) also indicates that they weren't confident enough in Sonic and his universe being the way it was, which often gets ignored by all the “SEGA have no confidence!!!” complaints you see with their recent games.

- Unleashed did not deserve the incredibly harsh reviews it received back in the day... but it doesn't deserve its current sacred cow status either. It had more effort put into it than '06 to be sure, and I can respect that, but much of it was misguided effort, and even if you like the Werehog, you have to admit that the idea came at the absolute worst time. The intro cutscene may be awesome, as is the Egg Dragoon fight, but 2% doesn't make up the entire game. Chip was also quite annoying, and I wasn't particularly sad when he pressed F in the chat at the end.

- On the other hand, while Colours definitely has its shortcomings, and people have every right to criticse those shortcomings, a lot of its most vocal detractors tend to have a stick up their arse about the game because people actually enjoyed it, and it had a gimmick that people actually liked. Yes, it may have been the first game to have those writers everyone hates, but then SA1 was the first game to give the characters alternate gameplay styles and have other villains upstage Eggman, so...

- Forces is absolutely not on the level of '06. It's nowhere close. A game being flawed does not make it the next '06, clickbait YouTubers. Or should I say, the game they want to retroactively apply '06's reception to, since they've been trying hard to magically retcon '06's own quality...

- To echo @beevean, ALL of the 3D stories have their issues. SA1 is probably the most well-rounded of them on the whole, but even that one isn't perfect.

- To echo another opinion, although I do love SA1, I'm not crazy over the idea of a remake, and would prefer them to just take Sonic's gameplay from SA1 and work from there. Because with a remake, you're stuck in a hard spot: Do you keep it the way it is bar the expected graphical upgrades, and risk accusations of not doing anything to actually improve the experience? Or do you try to address past criticisms, and risk the wrath of the fans who will inevitably go on a #NotMyAdventure crusade about it? What people fail to consider is that the Crash and Spyro remakes were accepted gracefully because their original iterations were still unanimously beloved for the most part, whereas SA1 - and especially SA2 - have always been divisive, and have only gotten moreso over the years.

- People take their preferences for the character's voice actors too seriously. I have my own favourites like anyone else, but I don't make a big deal out of it.

- And with fandom voice actors, they usually focus too much on doing a basic impression of their preferred official voice actor, and not enough on the acting. So you end up getting a lot of fan voices who sound like decent impressions of Ryan Drummond or Jason Griffith on the surface, but they sound utterly empty beyond that impression, because there's no oomph or depth to the actual emotions. They think about the actor rather than the character, when it should really be the other way around.

- The thing with Ian Flynn is that he is capable of telling a decent story, and he can portray some characters well. But he's proven time and time again that everything will go off the rails if he's given too much freedom (ironic, given how quick he is to point the finger at mandates when something goes wrong).

- Ian Flynn and Shiro Maekawa are not the only people in the world who are allowed to write for Sonic. I understand that one should be cautious when seeking out new writing talent, but for all the fandom's accusations of playing it safe, they sure aren't in a rush to experiment outside of their own comfort zone.

- And of course, the big one: You don't fix the franchise's current problems by crawling back to its previous problems. It's much more helpful and constructive to discuss the good and bad alike with each of the games. Less “THIS GOOD, MODERN BAD”, and more “This could work, but maybe without that part...”

[nelson-riddle-me-this]

Film soundtrack: Camelot

I have not seen this film or listened to the album before, so here are my live thoughts as I listen for the 1st time.

NEVER HEARD BEFORE | want to listen to | the worst | BAD | whatever | not my thing | GOOD | great | favorite | masterpiece

01. "Prelude and Overture"

Something about how this begins - it feels like they cut an intro, it just starts and I feel out of the loop. Also, as is usual with Broadway-film adaptations of this era, the orchestrations are larger and a little bite'ier. Pretty strings. Got that 20th Century Fox string sound - but wait, this is a Warners movie -OOOHO WAIT IT'S Alfred Newman conducting [longtime head of the Fox music dept.] heheh so I *am* right. Pretty ballads - "If Ever I Would Leave You". OOH these strings on "If Ever I Would Leave You" are GORGEOUS. And tail out. Beautiful!

02. "I Wonder What The King Is Doing Tonight?"

Richard Harris is a lot friendlier than Richard Burton was in the role of King Arthur on Broadway - and I'm into it. Also, I dig the brighter tempo here - makes it feel like we are indeed on the eve of a momentous occasion (wedding). Okay I wish they'd play with dyamics more - especially on lines like "he's wishing he were in Scottland fishing tonight" or "he's searching high and low for someplace to hide". Missed opportunities for text-painting.

03. "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood"

I can't help compare Vanessa Redgrave to Julie Andrews. Redgrave doesn't have an unpleasant sound, but she's lacking personality. I dig the 'Bolero'y millitaristic snare drum. Much of the joy in Julie's performance is how she mixes surface-level sweetness, and conniving seduction (think Betty White as 'Sue Ann Nivens' on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW). But Redgrave's performance doesn't seem to be all that thoughtful. Also, not a fan of that ending, it doesn't feel like an ending, "Oh, it's over! That was it?", but perhaps it makes more sense with picture.

04. "Camelot and the Wedding Ceremony"

Nice bassoon. ?harpsichord?? So far this arrangement is the closest to the Broadway. I wish the strings were legato/slurred on "by order Summer lingers through September". Maybe I am too mickey-mouse'y with the text painting I want, but I prefer specificity. I like the pulling back the tempo a bit there. Love these woodwind lines! Oooh love it again, we're pulling the tempo down, dynamics, and slurring. Love it. Build. Build back up! YES! Lovely! OOoh this little Medievel winds passage! And the chorus! Oh those woodwinds are gorgeous. I need to learn more about them - recorders??? At first the singers didn't sound especially English, more American. As I listen more, their pronunciation is pretty English. But perhaps the harmonies are very American - like what you'd hear in a Disney movie or Mancini score of the era - so even sung with appropriate pronunciation they sound American?

05. "C'est Moi"

Frano Nero. Never heard of him. He's fine, but feels like a step-down from Robert Goulet. He lacks that clear strong edge that Goulet has. He's not as commanding. When Goulet praises himself, I buy it. Like he has the confidence and strength to really sell what he's singing. This man isn't selling me. Maybe that's a choice - maybe they want us to see him as a phony who's over-selling himself. But I feel like I still have that with Goulet and it's better because you feel like you're reading beetween the lines a little more - like resisting an extremely good/slick car salesman.

06. "The Lusty Month of May"

Nice opening. Pretty. I love the slower tempo for this - enhances the seductivness. Gorgeous strings. And we accel! Nice! Good ?harpsichord? Now I still don't like her as much as Julie, but Redgrave works better here than in "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood", staightforward lustiness is a little easier. This 3' section is nice, though I wish it were faster - a merry-go-round, but slightly unhinged.

07. "Follow Me and Children's Chorus"

Gorgeous, tinkly. Gorgeous chorus. They're stereo ping-ponging the choirs!!!! It's really effective. Oh and the childrens chorus is so sweet. This is a completely different approach than the OBC, but it works so well. Helps that this is an utterly divine song. Favorite track on the album so far, probably to remain so. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS TRACK.

08. "How To Handle A Woman"

Oooh he's upset and we're fast! This works! Even if he's generally warmer than Burton, Harris can still do angry! And pull it back, sweet and intimate. Oooh this whisper'y smolder bit O.o and now we're past the intro. I kind of like Harris better than Burton - his warmth is really an asset for this character. Oh yikes that Merlin line is very sexist :/.

09. "Take Me To The Fair"

The tempo is - not sure if it's even slower, but it's looser, and I don't like that. The precisely on-the-beat phrasing of the OBC (both vocally and instrumentally) communicates that Guenevere has this all planned out, it's an act, it's a trap, she's manipulating these silly men. Oh, the transition from "well, Sir Sagramore" to "you may sit BY me at the ball" is awful - either she just keeps going through it (but in a weird way) or they did a pickup and spliced her in there so she's slightly overlapping. Sorry Alfred Newman, but this is not IT. Who cast Redgrave? Who thought casting a non-singing actress in a role originally played by a remarkably strong actress-singer? I like the little harpsichord section. Worst Redgrave number so far. An insult to the OBC. I promise this is a good song, got listen to the cast album

10. "If Ever I Would Leave You"

Oh, so we're right into it! Nero's lack of boldness as compared to Goulet kind of works here - sweeter and softer for this intimate love song. Lots of this arrangement is just imitative of the vocal - which is nice but can get a little tiresome when it's not really in-the-pocket. Still this man doesn't have the presence that Goulet does. He just doesn't command your attention. Like this string interlude. Different. Flute :) adding ?oboe? under it. Violins. Now violas? I like it. Oh and I think the violins are doing finger tremolos. Great! The new interludes on this album are gorgeous, when the film people really get to go off and do their own thing, it's great. And are we back to the vocal? Yes, this works. Oh these strings are GORGEOUS. I miss the ?timpani? hits of the original, but actually given that Nero is not as powerful a vocalist, letting the strings lead those hits is a good choice.

11. "What Do the Simple Folk Do?"

Oigg Redgrave. Like the harpsichord and very 'royal' woodwinds. And tambourine. Very medieval. Yay, we DO get a whistling section! This is adorable :) I like this. BOOO Vanessa!!! Oh, I like the "their own folk - throne folk" rhyme, don't remember that from the OBC. Oh and Harris can get big and bold too!!! I really love Richard Harris in this. HE HAS THE RANGE. Oh, is that Marni Nixon? Sounds like her. Did you know the film composer Bronislau Kaper gave her her first break? He needed someone to dub ?Virginia O'Brien?'s singing voice for some picture, and looked in vain until some paige at the studio recommended her fellow-paige, Nixon, and the rest is history! I like this ending! Harris really carries this song on his back.

12. "I Loved You Once In Silence"

The guitar is neat, very different from the OBC - though I confess I don't remember this song as much as the others. See this is something Redgrave can do. Her soft kind of weak voice works for something intimate and straightforward like this. Still, I don't like her voice and every once in a while something in her tone feels so amaeturish that it bugs me. Oh dear, only Redgrave and Nero together. :( they just both seem like space-cases. They're not compelling. Perhaps they have screen presence, but they don't have audio presence.

13. "Guenevere"

Oooh love these ?string harmonics?! Eerie. Like this! The studio chorus is great. Some of the strings are too loud - I suspect that's just a mix issue. Oh I love the tambourine on 2 and 4! I love how large this sounds! That ?horn line? kinda steps on the male vocalists there. Oh I really love every spot the tambourine is here, huh! OH YES! BUILD! GLORIOUS!!!! Oh and the bell.... let the bell toll....... yesesssssssssssss........ fade..... Second-favorite track!

14. "Finale Ultimo" [Camelot (Reprise)]

Aww, Dicky Harris is sad :'( but I love the harp here playing the brass/w.w. figures we heard in "Camelot". Nice clarinets. And the guitar. Nice snare rolls. And here's the big finale! Big chorus! Oooh these harmonies have such body. Love hearing them linger. Get soft. BIG AGAIN! BIG DISNEY MOVIE ENDING!!!!!!!!

-------------------------------------------------

Ultimately it's not as tight or well-cast as the original Broadway cast album. Vanessa Redgrave is not a good Guenevere - she lacks the spark, sacharine underhandedness, deliberateness, and vocal chops that Julie Andrews brought to the role; and she doesn't supply anything meaningful in their place. Franco Nero is a watered-down Lancelot and lacks the commanding presence and powerful voice that made Robert Goulet so effective [I did some research and it seems Lancelot's singing voice was dubbed by Gene Merlino]. -2 for them, but +1 for Richard Harris, who brings a warmth to King Arthur that Richard Burton lacks, and yet he is powerful, commanding, even angry when he needs to be. The studio chorus is GORGEOUS and truly one of this album's great strenths. The arrangements/orchestrations are very pretty, though don't always feel as thought-out as the OBC. It's likely a larger orchestra, so I understand that things might not be as tight and you might want to take tempos down for that reason, but it really waters down a few numbers. Ultimately this is an uneven album, the OBC is far better. But at the very least I recommend this version of "Follow Me".