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Week 1: Pokemon Black & WhiteIn week 2 I will take a look at a more obscure game named Radiant Historia, developed by Atlus Inc. Because it is obscure I will give as much background as possible.
It's a JRPG in a steampunk setting, where legends of the Apocalypse are foretold and the main character, Stocke, is given the ability to alter the course of time to prevent it using a book known as the White Chronicle. It's intriguing because it involves two timelines that Stocke must hop between - one in which he becomes a spy working for a man named Heiss (the agency is known as Specint) and the other in which he joins a faction of the military led by his best friend Rosch (known as the Rosch Brigade).
The OST is very compact (~25 pieces) so I will sample around 8 pieces for you guys, and of course Kay can chime in again with more pieces she likes.
This piece is known as Radiant Historia which is, of course, the title of the game. The flavor text reads as follows:
The Chronicle tells of history engraved by man into the memories of the stars above. The Chroncile searches these engraved histories for a pen that will rewrite them. It falls to thee to become the time's master and carve a path to the future.It gives a serene yet sorrowful vibe, and the background seems to attempt portray a clock. This is what Historia (which is a place in the game) looks like:
Mechanical Kingdom is the theme of the first town in the game, and Stocke's hometown, Alistel. Much of the plot of Radiant Historia centers around Alistel or coming back to Alistel, and it's where both the army and Specint are located. It's a very steampunk-y town but it's where a whole bunch of people seem to exist - including the prophet who will save humanity from the apocalypse. At any rate, here's a picture for reference.
Blue Radiance is the name of the primary battle theme. I'm not quite sure why it's called Blue Radiance, but it's quite melodic and it's relatively fast paced. It seems to get more urgent as it progresses through, and to top it all off it's one of those few themes that doesn't get on your nerves after a while.
The boss battle theme, The Edge of Green gives a very heavy militaristic vibe while remaining with the melodic theme of the soundtrack. A lot of pieces here seem to give a sense of urgency but they are also very smooth and flowing, which seems to fit with the feel of the game.
The Garden Where the Celestite Lies is the town theme of Celestia, where the Satyros live. A big theme of the game is the war between the beastkind and the humankind, and the Satyros are among the beastkind that live in isolation (due to their hatred of humans). They're also magical beings; I guess that sense of wonder is in the background (I can't recognize the instrument). At any rate, you can kinda feel it; it's a bunch of pissed off people that just want to be left alone. It doesn't help that you hit the village at a rather depressing part of the game, where Rosch became severely injured and Alistel is in a state of chaos.
Fun fact: around a minute in (thanks to a youtube comment) it changes time. They say 3/4 but it has a very triplet-y vibe, and it feels more like a 1/4 or 3/8 to me.
I can't find any good shots of the village so here's the inn.
Where the Wind and Feathers Return is your typical "sad moment" theme. At the beginning of the story, for instance, two of your party members are killed so Stocke uses the White Chronicle so he could change history in a way that prevents their deaths. There are also many bad endings that this plays in, and I can't list any of them in fear of spoiling the game, but some of the bad endings involve a party member's death or someone losing hope. And by the way, there is a lot of death in this game, so this piece ends up playing quite a bit.
An Earnest Desire of Grey is the final boss theme and it's quite possibly one of the most powerful final boss themes I've heard. You can tell it's the pinnacle of all of this chaos created by the Chronicles just by the music, and it's definitely a pumping song that leaves you with a lot of emotion. This boss fight is long but not too repetitive, and the piece is capped off by one of the best endings in a JRPG I think, and I'm definitely not going to spoil it - play the game yourself and get all 270 nodes like I did! Or look up an LP. It's really an amazing game.
The final boss says
"He is the only hope left in the world... If I can't protect that hope, then what other use is my life?" Doesn't make much sense out of context but it's the most powerful quote in the game.
-Historia- Words of Songs is the credits theme. I'm not huge at all on japanese music but this one is something special. It's very soothing, very smooth, flowing, and her voice is ethereal. Not aggressive, not trying too much, just soothing to listen to and beautiful.
Here's a rough translation of the lyrics if anyone wants to see them.
There you go. Hopefully you guys have some context behind the music if you've never played the games, but at the worst just enjoy the music; it's really really nice.