OCR01159 - Shenmue 'Reflections'

[djpretzel]

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

[Protricity]

I suggested to the others that you should submit your website's intro flash file to ocremix, cause it rocks. Yes, the whole flash file, not just the song.

[Blake]

This theme always made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and I can totally imagine this track being at the end of each shenmue game. I love this, makes me feel really warm and fuzzy.

[Julio Jose]

Very soothing and nice. The Shenmue soundtrack is in my top 5 list for best game scores. Along with einhander and megaman x5/x4. This remix is very soothing, and all around spectacular. Great job.

[HyperZell]

Excellent work. I am very impressed by the amount of emotion behind this piece, which I feel comes from both the orignal song and the stellar arrangment. Hope to see much more like this. 8)

[Reu]

Thanks for the reviews guys, they drive me to submit more :)

Protricity: I'd submit the website song/file but err... the song's not from a game hehe.

[Ferret]

I may not be much with musical terminology, but I love piano remixes such as Noir's Jenova Remix...if you don't have that one you're a sinner and will have your ass eaten by rabid Gunbound players...but I digress.

This remix is awesomely powerful, with a subtlety that makes you want to turn your speakers up to their highest setting. Truly, this is a worthy ReMix, and though I never really got the chance to play ShenMue, I know it's a good story with even better scoring, and this ReMix only reinforces that belief.

Well done.

[vahagn]

I'm surprised by just how much emotion this piece can convey, with it's outstanding arrangement and awesome piano notes, i almost cried.

[M Funk]

This is really good! I've only played Shenmue 2, although the intro to this song sounds familiar. You got talent! :wink:

[nostalgic gen]

it's a shame it's just in 128kbps cos it doesn't really do the tune justice. All the same, a lovely piano arrangement. Look forward to hearing further submissions :)

[ThirdeYe]

Excellent remix. I always have a soft spot for Shenmue remixes. I love em all. Such an excellent game with such an excellent soundtrack.

[The Master Maniac]

I absolutely loved Shenmue--one of the Dreamcast's shining gems, and a game few have rarely matched when it comes to character complexity. Don't get me wrong--I absolutely love chewing through Marines with my trusty crowbar, turning opponents to dust with rocket launchers, what have you, but sometimes I like to enjoy a game that's had more than 5 minutes of plot thrown into it (that's not to say games like Half-Life are pointless, however...) Though some tend to disagree, human emotion is just as important in a good game as explosive action, if not more so, and Shenmue had the music style to fit its vast, nicely woven plot and interesting characters. The main theme, next to the Sha Hua song (is there a remix for that yet?) just so happens to be one of my favorites not only in the game itself, but even among an impressive list of cherished tunes. This game came at a time when just about every game was dominated by a hard rock or otherwise intentionally rough, electronic kinds of music--and it was arguably Shenmue that came along and showed people just how cool quieter music could be, even in a brutal action sequence. It's nice to see that this remix continues that "legacy," and it was even better to go back and hear a great song I probably never would have gotten the opportunity to hear again otherwise. Throughout, this is generally a soft and gentle piece, and intentionally feels less out-and-out Japanese in comparison to many of the other songs in the game. It was meant to be a somewhat solemn, emotional piece that tried to convey the somewhat distraught feelings of the main character to the player in the best way possible, while retaining a bit of mystery as to what exactly those feelings were--thankfully, to me at least, that wasn't lost in the slightest in this faithful re-realization. This is the kind of music you might find yourself getting lost in for a great while, and that's what actually makes it most difficult to describe. Although the showcase here is a gentle, mellow piano, this remix is by no means simple. It rises, it lowers, it pulls you in, just as it did in the game, and makes for a nicely enjoyable (and reasonably lengthy) song you'll want to listen to again and again. I would have to whole-heartedly recommend this one...and now I wish I still had Shenmue...

[Moguta]

it's a shame it's just in 128kbps cos it doesn't really do the tune justice. All the same, a lovely piano arrangement. Look forward to hearing further submissions :)
I agree. Kind of odd that it's a 48KHz sample-rate MP3 too... when 128Kbps compression usually lowpasses all frequencies above 16KHz.

All the same, I loved the beautiful arrangement, and the fluid fusion of the Shenmue (Sedge Tree) and Shenfa (Sedge Flower) themes. Some parts sounded very similar to the Shenmue Orchestra Version tracks.

[D2sco]

DAMN ! 8O 8O 8O this song is awesome one of my favorite ... im searching everywhere for the piano sheet but unfortunatly i didn't find it ,some one know where i can find it ?a

[Mairuzu]

Yea is there a Piano sheet music for this song? I really wanna play it, its beautiful!
It takes you back to all the special moments from Shenmue! So instead of playing the game yet again, i can just listen to this! :D

[watkinzez]

It's a crime that so few people have commented and reviewed this song. This just reeks of style and emotion (hmm, maybe 'reek' isn't the best word for that). The expansion of the main theme is done with such class, and it accurately conveys the feeling of the source and the game as a whole. Brilliant work.

[Orion_Black]

If it wasn't for his recent submission 'The Place We Knew', I probably would have never found this track or his others.
This truly is a gem though. It is definitely one of the most advanced solo piano songs I've heard on this site thus far, it being full of expression and feeling (what most piano mixes tend to be iffy at).

[avaris]

WOW people need to listen to this its amazing. Sound quality of the piano on this is the best on the site.

OMFG this might be the best unknown remix on the site! I'm saying that bc of the lack of comments. The reason I heard this bc I listened to Reuben's Naruto mix on AR and went to check out his stuff here, and I'm glad I did.

This mix accomplishes the number one aspect that a solo piano arrangement lives and dies by and thats emotion and feeling.

[Xeiros]

Simply Superb. One of the best piano remixes I've heard in a long time. Some of the best things life truly are free and this is one of them.

[Falos]

Wish I could do the arrangement. Listening to it is amazing, yes, but it'd be nice to be able to have it come from yourself and not speakers. It's sad what happened to Reuben, is the specific sheet music lost forever, then?

[Amru]

I couldn't agree more, Falos and Xeiros.

[OA]

It starts out delicate like a flower and ends up strong like an oak. This is how piano mixes should sound. :-)
It certainly helps that the source music chosen is a pair of fantastic songs from a game that had an overall phenomenal soundtrack, but as things get more interpretative, the remix ends up stronger. I loved the rhythmic changeup after the climax.

Great stuff, shame there aren't more comments on this one. Shenmue is one of the games out there that i'd never want to play, but the music is about perfect.

[_heartilly_]

Firstly, can I just say this is an absolutely amazing song! It really conveys the emotion from the original track and the games in general. I loved Shenmue and Shenmue II when they first came out and I played them on my Dreamcast. They're still two of my favourite games of all time.

It captures the emotion of the game perfectly and really makes me want to go back and play through Ryo's adventure again (as well as wish they would release the final game(s) of the series!), and I know that during my relaxing summer holidays that's exactly what I'll do.

Well done, an amazing track!

[WesternZypher]

I love OA's analogy up there about how the song transforms from a flower to an oak- delicate to resounding strength perfectly describes in my head, too. A lovely piece.