OCR01058 - Breath of Fire 'Flames of Valor'

[djpretzel]

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

[Kaleb.G]

Frankly, it sounds great. The orchestrated sound enhances the overall feeling and experience without ever taking away from the original melodies. My only gripe: despite being six minutes long, it still seemed to be over too quickly. ;) An excellent song and tribute to Breath of Fire.

[Jon]

Never played BoF, but this is a damn good mix. I really like it. :D

[Kamikaze Noodle]

Whoooa this is some hi-quality orchestral. Especially the percussion. The timpani hits, snare rolls, and cymbal crashes are all well articulated and well-placed. The samples as a whole could be better, but I find the arrangement is so well done, it overcomes it well. I think the oboe section is the best part, because I love oboes. But of course the whole mix is good, even if I wouldn't give it a highly reccomended. But maybe I just don't know enough about orchestral to really know what pushes something over the bar. I noticed during transitions, there's often a really long high note that is kind of annoying, but other than that, all good things outta this mix.
:nicework:

[Trenthian]

It sounds a little muddy in places... but that is to be expected...

there are also moments that i feel that the sound image is a little empty...

a little heavy on the reverb....

Kamikaze said it before I could... The samples are a little weak.

the string pads feel a little out of place for me.


But this IS a great arrangment... (Bonus points for using a harpsichord.)

and its worse than that hes dead jim.... I rarely get to hear an english horn. (its not an oboe.)

I play the oboe and English horn... not enough music really uses the more beatiful tones they are capable of, rather it tends to use the honky and more undesirable imo articulations... You capitalize on the VERY best of the double reed sound.


But largely I wish it were longer!!!


(VHD was this made with eridol? I feel like ive heard these samples before.)

[Blizzard Wolf]

I love this. I have no complaints really, but I know all of these melodies and I'm a huge fan of the BoF series. I just want to thank you for covering this game. Now somebody get to work on another BoF mix :)

[GrayLightning]

Samples are weak? :roll: This sounds like Miroslav or Squidfont.

Quality samples. Amazing arrangement and orchestration. But I can't say I personally enjoyed this mix, it was too meandering for my tastes. It feels like it moves through several themes way too quickly without immersing itself in one for too long. I prefer VHD's previous mixes at vgmix. Despite not personally enjoying this mix, the technical aspects of this mix is most impressive. At the end of the day that's all that matters. Excellent job as always VHD.

[Fieari]

First thing I thought when listening to the opening of this... "AWSOME! I LOVE IT!" The drums in particular sound amazing.

Second thing I thought when listening to the opening of this... "That horn sounds fake."

Unfortunatly, it is really noticible. When the above reviewers said some of the samples were weak, it's true. Some of them are... that one horn in the beginning specifically. In my opinion, most of the other samples hold their own quite well though, but that one sample just spoiled the opening for me.

The arrangment, the sheet music so to speak, is lovely, beautiful, stirring, wonderful. And this mix is as well, throughout. If the one single half-arsed sample I heard was near the end, or in the middle instead of at the beginning... well, you know what they say about first impressions. Once I heard the first not-so-perfect sample, I started PAYING ATTENTION TO THE SAMPLES... which is something you want to avoid.

The transitions were perfect, by the way, in my opinion. And this is quite a rousing peice, and I'm VERY glad it was accepted at OCR, and I'm keeping it, and I will likely listen to it quite a bit. Just... ooh, I wish there had been a better horn sample at the beginning. Just at the beginning, really.

...

Oops, I was typing this while listening for the first time, and it just ended. Argh! Even though it's six minutes long, it's still too short!

I think I know why too, although you have perfect transitions (well, perfect from where I'm standing, YMMV) this peice is really just a collection of songs from BoF strung together. You didn't develop any individual theme very much... each theme was really rather short! I heard themes I definitely recognized, not so much from the game (which I played YEARS ago) but from other mixes on this site... consider 'Epitaph of Alan And Cerl' (http://www.ocremix.org/detailmix.php?mixid=OCR00678)... DarkCecil took just one of the themes you explored (and let me say, for the short amount you touched this theme, you did it just as well as he did) and yet managed to pull it out for a full three minutes, not the minute twenty seconds (3:38-4:58) you had.

All and all, great stuff. I have to keep interspersing my critisms with comments that I love this mix... because I do. The only complaints I can muster (though I mustered them verbosly indeed) is the one sample I didn't like, and the lack of extra development for each individual theme.

I hope to hear lots more from you on OC here! I like what I hear. I like what I hear indeed.

[Blake]

:( :( :( :( *throws away his ff5 medley.*


Seriously, is this recorded?? If not, WHERE DO YOU FIND THAT TRUMPET SAMPLE!!

[Night10194]

Excellent work! Bringing already wonderful music to a beautiful orchestral arrangement is always a good thing. And the sound and musical qualities are fantastic. A wonderful piece. Congratulations to the mixer!

[osamasmama]

ThE UnInViTeD I dont see how this could be anyone's favorite song, personally i didnt like it all. In the begining i thought i was listening to a cheap mario rip-off and it just got worse from there...I am disappointed!

[DarkCecil13]

"Whoo, a Breath of Fire arrangement" is exactly what I thought when I saw this. This mix, however, is both disappointing and satisfying. Although I felt that the first 1:22 proved to be a great introduction, the arrangement of the first overworld theme that follows lacks depth. The mix really shines when the beautiful "Alan and Cerl Forever" part comes in. Couldn't have done it better myself :wink:

[artemisjaeger]

I feel that the samples were somewhat lacking, but I really don't care much about the samples. Some of them actually surprised me in the quality, while some left me a little disappointed.

What really disappointed me was that the mix seemed to spend very little time on each song. It just danced across tons of tunes instead of picking a few and sticking to them. Because of that, it changes ideas way too rapidly for me. Of course, all of the transitions are very smooth, so at least it gets from one tune to the next very smoothly.

It also felt like there was too many moments of just melody and chord. I would have loved to see a lot more movement going on at a lot of points, while some I feel it was just right.

[Vampire Hunter Dan]

What really disappointed me was that the mix seemed to spend very little time on each song. It just danced across tons of tunes instead of picking a few and sticking to them. Because of that, it changes ideas way too rapidly for me. Of course, all of the transitions are very smooth, so at least it gets from one tune to the next very smoothly.

I do appreciate the reviews thus far, and I'm glad to see that this arrangement seems to be fairly well enjoyed overall. There is a point, however, that I feel bears mentioning: there are actually only three pieces from Breath of Fire used throughout this arrangement; I can certainly understand how someone might not realize this, though, as two of the themes are arranged in "pieces," with the first part of the theme being presented in one way, and the second part presented in a rather different way (an example of this would be the last minute or so of the arrangement, which is simply the second half of the BOF Intro which begins "Flames of Valor"). Anyway, most everything I've read so far has been very insightful, and I thank those who've taken the time to listen.

[smh]

This sounds like Miroslav or Squidfont.

haha. sorry man, but there is a vast difference in quality between Miroslav and Squidfont :( i barely even use squidfont because it's nothing special. however, if i had miroslav, i'd be overwhelmed with happiness.

unless that's not the point you were trying to make.
uhh
yeah

[smh]

oh and this mix is really good. i didn't have any problem with the samples used. i never complain about brass samples because i know there does not exist a perfect brass sample.

i'd guess it's miroslav, for those of you asking about the samples, maybe with a few other more specialized libraries for certain instruments.
but Dan could probably give you the best answer as to what they are.

[OmegaPhoenix128]

There are parts in the remix I love and parts taht are good. Overall, this remix was pretty good stuff :D

[GrayLightning]

This sounds like Miroslav or Squidfont.

haha. sorry man, but there is a vast difference in quality between Miroslav and Squidfont :( i barely even use squidfont because it's nothing special. however, if i had miroslav, i'd be overwhelmed with happiness.

unless that's not the point you were trying to make.
uhh
yeah

This has been discussed somewhere before. If I remember from past threads squidfont is miroslav mini, or an edited version of it. Several people and even judges in the judging panel have also confused the two. A lot of the patches do sound alike. Of course the full miroslav version has more articulations and stereo patches, etc over squidfont.

[Raiden_Zer0]

I've been downloading remixs left and right for a while now and this is my first post......unlike nearly everyother remix...I have only one complaint....it is way too short lol.
This is probably the sweetest thing my ears have heard for sometime now.




Rai

[13370Burrit0]

Contrary to my post count, I've been coming to this site for years, and thus I can confidently say that this is an exceptional remix.

This is really just an exciting, refreshing, and deep piece to listen to. Great care went into every aspect of this song, which is saying a lot considering it's just over 6 minutes in length. Just a few days ago I burned an OCR MP3 CD for my MP3 CD player, now I'm wishing I had waited to put this song on there.

It is songs like this that make OCR so great. Awesome work!

[djBOB]

Like a breath of fresh air man..

I particularly like the climax ordering.. I'm a big one for climax ordering.. this song is definitely one of the best at that, if not the best....

As for creative inspiriation and originality, I'll give you an OK, it sounds similar to the old track, but much improved in many ways, when I first listened to this, I thought.. no way did you make this for no money.. but on second thoughts, I've said that of many tracks made by DJpretzel and MCVAffe...

I've been coming to the OCR for a while, had my acct for less than a week, but this is probably the best orchestral piece on the site.. I like the horns.. I don't care what you say!

Props on the the sound from about 4:05 thru 4:30, And i'm lovin 5:20.. has a Howard Shore feeling to it


EDIT: Songs like this DO make OCR great!

[fisherman]

Shameless adoration:
Fan-farkin-tastic! Definitely on /my/ top-10 list, if I had to make one! The arranging is superb. The use of instruments was masterful and the innumerable subtle touches made it FEEL like a reach orchestral arrangement. It never gets too much of that cheesy film score feel either.

The use of the harpsichord was brilliant. Not too much and always in the right context.I love the section around 1:40 where there's a soft interplay between the instrumental sections with snare on the offbeats. Great technique. And the rhythms of 2:33-3:10 made me want to jump around with happiness. The use of interesting rhythms is /everywhere/ in this thing.

Constructive criticisms:
Using the windchime thing twice in the same piece was just too much.
:P I mean, generally I have a hard time stomaching its cliche-ness even once.

The patches were a bit on the artifical side for my liking. The brass patches weren't so bad for me. The exposed sections at 2:50 5:30 were really very good. They captured very well that brass "blend" thing, the way brass instruments are supposed to blend in chords the way only brass can. The strings patches were what irked me. I remember the first minute or so blended a little awkwardly because of them and that 10 second exposed section at 3:32 was downright out-of-tune.
But you have to take those with a grain of salt, I've had a lot of firsthand orchestral experience, especially with brass and strings. =P

[Jarrid]

This actually surprised me. I didn't think it would turn out this well, to tell you the truth. Boy, did it surprise me. This is one of the best orchestrated pieces I've listened to on the site, and being there is a lot of them, that means a lot. Thanks for the tune.

[sirion]

This mix is fantastic, The orchestral remixes are my favourite, and this is one of the most beautiful i ever listened! 8)

p.s. coff coff ah-ehm sorry for my english :oops:

[DragonFireKai]

Being a massive fan of the Breath of Fire line back to the begining, I love the way that VHD takes us on a epic journey, The opening theme is increadible, and blood pumping, but Alan and Cerl's theme provides a soft juxtaposition. just magnificent.

[benevolensaurus]

This mix is very nice. I love orchestrals, and this is one of the better ones around.

[Bummerdude]

How many songs contains this remix? I heard sad melody, the world map theme or something, and surely there is one more at the end, what´s the limit?

However, great stuff. I´m a big fan of philharmonic and orchestral and stuff, and this was clearly one of the best I´ve heard. Although it´s long, it doesn´t do the same melody over and over again and again, maybe that is why you remixed that many of them.

Anyway, this was AWESOME! Strings, all kinds of drums, trombones, surely some kind of trumpet. I can hear this took awhile to do this, and I´m gonna reward you by giving full points for it and download it myself. A very sucky reward, I know, But keep remixing, I don´t wanna let something like this go to waste.

Loved the sad melody mix in the middle, hunter-dude.

[wolfdude359]

Seriously, if they made a movie for Breath Of Fire, this could be the overture. Awsome piece. I love how smoothly each section trasects with another.

[DJ Pili]

I love this ReMix! To me, those drums sound like 'military'.

[avaris]

Ah this was one of the first OCRemixes I ever heard. Really brought me back to the world of BoF and still does the same today. I think this mix is an excellent showing of how much potential VHD has as an arranger. It has all of his trademark excellent writing. Although his newer arrangements show some big improvements in areas this mix still does not dissapoint. I would have liked to see some more epic climactic sections to capitilize on the militaristic feel of the song.

[DragonAvenger]

I think the transisitons from styles/sections/themes are all excellent. Great work there. I like the orchestral work with these themes in general, they work well in this context, and again VHD did a good job with them.

Unlike what seems everyone else, I think the mix is just as long as it needs to be. I feel like I went through a complete piece, not feeling like it was unfinished, or overdone. I think the shift of styles really helped in that aspect. Simalarly, I think the samples are pretty decent. Not the best around, but I had no issue listening to them.

[Dj Mokram]

I still hold memories of the first Breath of Fire, and its soundtrack.
So I decided to set on a heart-warming journey back in time with Flames of Valor.

Production wise, I've found it very difficult to critique, being absorbed by the numerous musical marvels,
and captivated by the beautiful orchestration of the original source.
The song, despite clocking at a little more than 6 minutes, flows at light speed pace, and almost seems too short.
The transitions are seamless and appropriate, and it seems almost as if the whole story is unfolding before me.
After a few listens, I was speechless at how powerfull and evocative this piece is.
This is not just a remix of a song or two. This is a tribute to an entire game, to its story, world and characters.

These flames will continue to burn of a fiery glow for a long long time.
A grandiose and timeless hommage.

[OA]

ohhh VHD's OCR debut! The perfect mix for me to spend my 3000th post on. ;-)

As usual for Dan, the articulations are excellent, and there is a lot of really cool transitions and countermelodies.

Super stellar stuff, Dan is the man!