the Hearth @Felthry@awoo.space

#FelthrysVGMSelection

I did one from Baten Kaitos Origins just a little bit ago, but fuck it, when I think sad music I think of this track, To the End of the Journey of Glittering Stars, from the soundtrack to Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean, composed by Motoi Sakuraba.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XARPxxfAeUc

It just feels so emotional and sad... We don't even remember when in the game it plays, but it's one of our favorite tracks.

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#FelthrysVGMSelection

This one gave me some trouble at first, but then I remembered.

The game that first introduced us to Zachtronics' games, the Codex of Alchemical Engineering, had a fantastic soundtrack in four movements, composed by the French composer Evan LE NY.

The game (a free flash game) can be found here: http://www.zachtronics.com/the-codex-of-alchemical-engineering/

and its soundtrack, titled "Rêver... Peut-être...", which google translate suggests translates to "A Dream... Perhaps...", can be found on its composer's website: http://www.evan.fr/blog/2014/11/04/rever-peut-etre-2/

It's a lovely mix of different elements, going from soft and dreamy music, to heavy music that makes one think of steampunk factories, to almost techno-like beats, to operatic vocalizations and sweeping symphonic melodies. And that's just within the first movement.

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#FelthrysVGMSelection

This one didn't take much thinking, until I started thinking about it. Do I go with music from Bravely Default? From Wild Arms? From Xenoblade? From Final Fantasy?

But I figure I might as well go with a comparatively unknown RPG with excellent music: Baten Kaitos Origins. This track is titled The Valedictory Elegy, and plays during non-boss battles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-SO2X6J83k

This game's soundtrack was composed by the legendary Motoi Sakuraba, also the composer for the entire Tales series, Golden Sun, Dark Souls, and, oddly enough, Mario Tennis.

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#FelthrysVGMSelection

The very last Game Boy Color game ever released was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, a game that by rights shouldn't be anywhere near as good as it is. It's not an outstanding game, but the music is where it really shines. The soundtrack was based on the music from the other versions, which was composed by Jeremy Soule, but this soundtrack is primarily composed by Ian Stocker, including the track below, which I believe to be entirely original.

It's hard to pick just one track, honestly, but I think I'll go with Battle (The Burrow). A portion of this track was also used in the GBA version of the game, but that version does not appear to credit Stocker--though it does credit a "Semi-Precious Studios" that I can't find much information about online; Stocker may have been a part of this studio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4PlBzkTdhE

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#FelthrysVGMSelection

This is perhaps not the most shootery of shooters, but Metroid Prime is one of the few shooters that we enjoy, so I'm counting it.

This track is Hall of the Elders, from the Metroid Prime soundtrack, by Kenji Yamamoto and Kouichi Kyuma.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkSnzvCh2lk

In true Metroid fashion, sci-fi sound effects permeate the track, but they actually don't hurt its feeling of reverence at all. Instead, you get a feeling of both futuristic high technology and respectful spirituality combined together--perfectly capturing the Chozo this track represents.

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#FelthrysVGMSelection

A track from Undertale or Touhou would be the obvious choice here, so I'm not going with the obvious choice.

Instead, I'm getting very obscure, and going with two tracks (intended to be played in immediate sequence) from a fan-made music expansion to an indie game: Tankard Basher and Danger Room, both by Simon Swerwer, from the Soundsense mod for Dwarf Fortress.

Both of these tracks have lyrics in the actual dwarven conlang used in Dwarf Fortress, and they fit into the world incredibly well. Not only the lyrics and melody, but the ambient sounds around it are added to give the distinct impression of this being a performance put on in a dwarven tavern, playing traditional dwarven music, with an audience clapping along and cheering. And it works incredibly well. The lyrics even give you a sense of dwarven culture, the things they find important and what they consider to be honorable.

CW for morbid lyrics (in Dwarven, but subtitled in english) below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1gF0uhHsqk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02nLHpSLTxo

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#FelthrysVGMSelection

This one took some thinking to pick one. There's so much good relaxing music out there!

But I ended up deciding on A Person's Warmth, from the soundtrack to Wild Arms 3, composed by Michiko Naruke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5hQyqKRZCk

It's just so calm and relaxing and it feels like it's reassuring you that everything will be okay. This is one track we come back to when stressed; it helps a lot.

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#FelthrysVGMSelection

There are a lot of good candidates for this one, but lately, I've been enjoying Overworld Adventure, from the soundtrack to The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, composed by Koji Kondo, Tōru Minegishi, Asuka Ōta, and Manaka Tominaga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izbMZay_8Dk

Spirit Tracks is an underrated game in the series, really. It's not the best zelda, sure, but it's better than people give it credit for. And the music is, as always, excellent.
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