August 2022 Version Update

I can live with the look. I'll defend art as I have for 30 years, and I'll critique honestly based upon the training of those 30+ years and those who taught me. I have very little in my life that I'm actually confident enough about to die on a hill for, but this is one that I am quite ok with.

Plenty more as well https://vgmdb.net/artist/10764

The group in general has a bit of experience (Takuro Iga https://vgmdb.net/artist/14548 n' Naoshi Mizuta https://vgmdb.net/artist/610 ).

Not like they pulled people outta nowhere for it.

Fine as it seems to me, the backing track (at least) seems pretty generic. /shrug

not my vid

The problem is not that you're critical of the piece, but that you aren't actually making the criticisms. You say her technique's bad; okay, how so? Use those thirty years of training and educate us.

Is it because you worry we wouldn't understand, or you worry you couldn't explain it? If either is true, that's not exactly making a great case for the future of formal music training!

EDIT: I mean, I think the piece is a little dull, sure. It's what, 12 measures without changing chords? wack, but it's not like I need philip ***' glass for running around beating up monsters in Sortie

I don't have a lifetime of musical analysis.

but I think it sounds pretty funky. I like it. Prefer some of the other XI tracks but it's good.

Play me a violin

They shoulda let BLM body force all nukes to be critial. A set of armor for nukes that are not MBs would be nice? idk, not a BLM

It might take me a while to realize it on this subject, but I can eventually see that I'm trying to have a conversation just not desired by the majority in a thread not meant for it in the first place^^ but I will at least try to delve into a few comments you made here in hopes of clarification.

No, I would never avoid a discussion out of fear that those I am conversing with wouldn't understand. That's often one of the cheapest excuses to hold an opinion and avoid challenges to it- I'm with ya there.

Regarding the criticisms of the player's technique I made: 100% admit I am a bassoonist and conductor, not a violinist. However, I can observe her bow angle and how flat it is and that results in breaks in the line when changing between strings. A higher bow angle reduces those breaks to create what strings are most known for- long phrases that due to not being a wind instrument are only possible on a bowed string instrument. Her chin angle also creates a very nice visual of her facial expressions while playing, but hampers the resonance of the whole instrument- she's basically cutting off half the wood's natural vibrations just to smile at us.

Regarding the "baseness" of the composition itself: its just aggregated rhythms and re-hashed melodies rather than something new and worth celebrating. Now, in a video game just like in a movie, having memorable themes that get re-used throughout is a common technique and one that makes sense- we as the audience should associate certain melodies with characters as that auditory connection adds a layer to our processing. Think of any iconic moment in a movie, and you probably mentally hear the music that was paired with the visual, and splitting the two becomes almost impossible. But re-hashing "safe" things is not the same as theme and variation techniques used in composition.

Lastly, your "Philip ***' Glass while running around Sortie" made my entire week^^ Personally, I play all my FFXI to the tunes of John Cage's 4:33 :P

Uhhh the price of Etched Memories didn't increase after patch and now I am holding about 800 that I paid 18m for. Wonder if available stocks for sale will diminish soon and the price increase...

it won't increase, not on Asura at least, there's always bots farming dark matter and other stuff from vagary and there's always plenty of supply of memories

Okay, I'm sorry, but you get that this isn't an actual recorded performance of the song you're watching, right? It's a promo video with the actual recording dubbed over it. They aren't miked or soundproofed and there's a dude with a camera tromping around. If her technique is terrible and you can get that from the audio recording, fine, but it's a little odd to criticize her for mugging for the camera when she was most likely directed to do exactly that - why even have this video otherwise?


Yeah, I agree the composition's extremely whatever. Mizuta's pretty mediocre IMO but that's hardly news. Video game battle music has always been rhythmic and repetitive, though: it's basically serving the same purpose as a military march.

hmm with wardrobes up to 8 I might actually enjoy playing Odyssey bosses. I did plan to come back when the empy upgrades came out

changing jobs sucked really badly when I cannot carry all my gear.

There was a really good study done a few years ago about video game battle music, and how its purposely written to increase pulse rate in hopes of causing mistakes by the player- really fascinating stuff on the mixed-meter favoritism and offbeat accents that are so common. I get the analogy of a military march, but in a very real sense its purpose is actually the exact opposite of that. A march is at its core designed to instill repetition and organization, while gaming battle music wants to break that organization into chaos to increase the difficulty of the encounter without actually changing anything in gameplay :)

yeah the violin community is not toxic at all

ain't that the *** truth lmao. Lemme tell you stories some day about the razor blades stuck between keys on the pianos in Julliard Practice rooms sometime^^

Damn, are they running 24/7? At least I only paid 22k each and can probably use a couple hundred of them for myself.

No, a march is designed to instill ENDURANCE. The organization comes from trained discipline and the music gives you something else to concentrate on so you can perform that repetitive task for hours.

I don't know what this study found, but you could ask literally anyone who does any kind of cardiovascular exercise whether hard-rhythm music makes sustaining a regular pace easier. If battle music is designed to make battles harder it's because the battles themselves (supposedly) require mental engagement marching music is designed to shut off.

I know I was guilty of this too... but ffxiah be like.

Its not just the raw rhythmic aspect of battle music that I reference- its the purposeful use of mixed-meter time signatures and off-beat accents that while giving the player a sense of rhythmic predictability also mess with that predictability. Its not all just 4/4, essentially- and when it is, its not given a standard 2-4 strong beat feel.

So I do agree completely that if the rhythm of the music is standard, it is perfect for repetitive tasks and focus. But take those same aspects and mess with that predictable aspect just a hair, and its like walking with an uneven pace.

Ok, ok, I'll just say what EVERYONE is thinking. *** VIOLINS. METAL PLZ.

hey its better than $600 statues of 14 year old gaming heroes.

I always find myself with worse focus with battle music off than with it on. I don't notice any difference in the differing meters and such, but the thematic and/or blood pumping music helps me tune out other distractions and get into a good pace.

I'm curious as to how said study figured out said intended purpose (as in it's actually taught as a goal in video game composing), rather than it being an incidental result of what is popular in battle music for other reasons.

I'm digging- a friend in composition shared it with me about 3 years ago I believe. But it is an interesting chicken/egg debate- are composers purposely composing in a style designed to add tension (and thus increase mistakes) via the music, or does the desired/expected style of battle music result in those things naturally?

so you're saying i could be saving a ton of money on those little blue pills just by blasting the washington post march? more like John Philip SEX!

I find Washington Post a little too slow. Personally I'd opt for a Karl King march for bumpin' uglies myself, or better yet if in the mood for some sweet luvvin' "March of the Belgian Paratroopers" is my go-to.

This video feels like a one-man podcast reading the wiki for 30 minutes, but I have to hand it to the guy for this deadpan delivery a few minutes in:


Comedy gold.

Goddess....peed... D=

I knew when I posted that reply this would happen when I tucked myself into bed..

Ffxiah trolling 101

SE should just delete blm at this point... no love at all

I think the linchpin here is that RPG battles are easy. Maybe hyper-rhythmic music would throw you off if you routinely had to make difficult, split-second decisions, but you almost never do.

On reflection, Tetris is a much better example of a game that's noticeably easier with the music off and think that's pretty much exactly the difference.

This was DEFINITELY an episode of some mid-to-late 2000's sitcom episode or another. Like, I distinctly remember it but I'm blanking on the show.