Writing about worlds of wonder: strategy games, stories, and soundtracks
This week, I have a treat for you — three pieces from the Jagged Alliance 3 soundtrack that highlight both its quality and its range.
I recommend checking out the Youtube versions of “The Jagged Alliance” and “Magcina” to see the performers in action.
Enjoy!
Since I recently wrote about Metaphor: Refantazio, I thought I’d highlight two of its boss battle themes: “Rival Candidates” and “Verge of Life and Death”. This is a game with a lot of battle themes, both regular and boss — enjoy!
(Incidentally, this is also the first time I’ve highlighted Shoji Meguro, the composer, since Persona 4. He’s as good as ever.)
Happy New Year and welcome back!
We’re back to classic movie themes this week, with “Evenstar” from The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. This is the beautiful, ethereal theme that plays when Aragorn flashes back to his time with Arwen — enjoy!
For Christmas, I’ve chosen another Joe Hisaishi piece, “Bygone Days” from Studio Ghibli’s Porco Rosso. This is a movie I appreciate ever more as the years go by.
Below, I’ve linked both:
Enjoy, and may you have a Merry Christmas, a great holiday season, and a Happy New Year!
This week’s piece is “Hikari, the Warrior”, the theme of one of Octopath Traveller II’s heroes. It’s a lovely piece of music that I chose as a throwback to the early years of Musical Monday, when I tended to spotlight classic JRPG soundtracks. Enjoy!
This week’s music is the exciting main menu theme from Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. It reminds me of another old favourite, “Anvil of Crom” from Conan the Barbarian. Enjoy!
Once I decided to spotlight Sable‘s soundtrack this week, I was spoiled for choice. In the end, I opted for a dreamy, relaxing piece that I associate with what I liked about the game. Enjoy — and leave the playlist on!
This week’s piece is the warm, beautiful “A Town with an Ocean View”, from Kiki’s Delivery Service. It is as good as you would expect a Studio Ghibli soundtrack to be.
Below, I’ve linked two different versions:
Enjoy!
This week’s piece is “Ode of the Black River”, the beautiful main menu theme from the “Kingdom End” expansion for X4: Foundations.
Years after I wrote about it, X4 remains a unique, impressive game that continues to receive ongoing support. Part of its appeal is the soundtrack — the ambient music tends to be optimistic, and pieces such as this are a joy to listen to. Enjoy!
This week’s piece is “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields”, which plays as the Rohirrim charge in Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. It’s great:
Below, I’ve linked it on Youtube and on Spotify. To find it if you are searching by album, you need to look for the “Complete Recordings” for ROTK. Enjoy!
This week, I’m smuggling in one of my favourite pieces of classical music: the fourth movement (Allegro con fuoco) of Dvorak’s Symphony No 9. It plays in Legend of the Galactic Heroes as alarms blare and a pivotal counterattack unfolds — so it counts!
Below, I’ve linked two versions: one from Youtube (performed by the Orchestre Phiharmonique de Radio France and conducted by Marzene Diakun) and one from Spotify (performed by the Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by Herbert von Karajan).
This week is my favourite battle theme from Fire Emblem: Three Houses, “Chasing Daybreak”. When it kicks in, in the game’s second half, it helps shift the mood from “goofy anime adventure” to “high fantasy epic” — an epic I’m close to finishing after five years. Listening to “Chasing Daybreak” is a mighty push to get over the line.
One of Terra Invicta‘s standout features is its soundtrack, which is enjoyable and great at setting the mood. Pride of place goes to the main title theme, “Newtonian Approximations”, which builds to an optimistic conclusion at 2:20-2:30, before looping. It fits a game that’s about humanity gradually, doggedly coming from behind to fight off an alien invasion. Enjoy!
We’re back with a lovely, gentle, relaxing piece that plays on the strategic map of Total War: Three Kingdoms. While I’ve tended to feature Total War music from Jeff Van Dyck’s era (up to Shogun 2), this is a gem from the more recent games. I think it’s great ambient music, whether choosing the next move in-game or focusing on a project in real life. Enjoy!
Battletech has excellent music, and below is one of my favourite tracks — “Restoration”, the main menu theme. I love the balance it strikes — it sounds heroic and epic, without bombast. Enjoy!
It’s been more than two years – Musical Monday is back! While Civilization IV‘s “Baba Yetu” is still my favourite Civ theme, for my money Civilization VI has the best in-game music since Civ II. Below is Genghis Khan’s theme as it evolves through the ages — enjoy. It is also available on Spotify if you search for the Civilization VI: Rise & Fall soundtrack.
This week’s theme is another jaunty favourite from Tropico 4. As with the rest of the game’s soundtrack, it’s licensed music – the original can be found on the “Elementos” album. Enjoy!
This week’s song is Video Games Live’s performance of “The Secret of Monkey Island” theme (a studio recording is also available as part of VGL’s “Level 3” album). Enjoy!
This week’s song is another case of “the music is better than the game”. While I was disappointed with Endless Space 2, this track is stirring, evocative, and — as an imperial leitmotif — suitably bombastic. Enjoy!
I encountered this week’s song a number of years ago in Illwinter’s Conquest of Elysium 3. To me, it’s a very “high fantasy” song, conjuring up images of bold heroes riding out into the great wild. Enjoy!
In honour of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, this week’s music is a blast from the past. I’ve chosen three very distinct songs from 1991’s A Link to the Past – the Hyrule Overture, LttP‘s upbeat, “we’re off on an adventure” world map theme; second, the imposing Hyrule Castle theme; and perhaps the most interesting of the three, the Dark World theme, which for me always conjures up memories of Link standing atop that ziggurat, the sunset in the background. Enjoy!
In honour of the release of the Nintendo Switch, this week’s theme is the Greatest Video Game Music orchestral version of the Mario theme. Enjoy!
Musical Monday kicks off for 2017 with an orchestral performance of the Terran theme from Starcraft II. Enjoy!
Welcome back to Musical Monday! This week, I present “Scarborough Fair”, the old folk song used as the English theme in Civilization VI. There are two really cool things about the game’s music – first, the quality of the music itself, and second, how each civilisation’s theme evolves over the course of the game – you can hear the Ancient, Medieval (1:59), Industrial (6:08), and finally Atomic (10:07) themes below. Enjoy!
For years, the music of Jeff van Dyck was a crucial part of the Total War games. Some of his tracks were thrilling; others stately. This, the menu theme for Medieval 2, is sombre and thematic – enjoy!
Back in 2013, when Expeditions: Conquistador was new, I featured a gentle, atmospheric overworld theme from its soundtrack. Three years later, I still listen to its excellent music. This week’s piece is the bold, triumphant “Cadiz” – enjoy!
This week’s song is Video Games Live’s arrangement of one of my favourite soundtracks, Okami. It comes from VGL’s recently released Level 5 album, available in the usual places (and also on Spotify). I think I’ve backed or purchased every VGL album so far, and this is one of the strongest. Enjoy!
While on the whole I think the Stellaris soundtrack still represents Andreas Waldetoft’s best work, the best pieces on the HOI4 soundtrack excel at conveying the flavour of their respective factions.
The Western Allies’ music ranges from hopeful to wistful, reminiscent of the music from Band of Brothers:
Fittingly for such a unique game, Katamari Damacy also had some rather unique music (complete with rolling-themed lyrics). This is one of my favourite pieces, smooth and listenable – enjoy!
This is one of my favourite pieces of music in Stellaris, embodying the game’s – and the science fiction genre’s – spirit of exploration and discovery. At its start, it’s understated and almost ethereal; it takes on a questing, inquisitive tone around 0:45; and finally blossoms into liveliness at 2:40. Enjoy!