ReMix: Illusion of Gaia 'Will is the Lord'
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- Game: Illusion of Gaia (Enix, 1994, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Scaredsim
- Composer(s): Yasuhiro Kawasaki
- Song(s):
- Posted: 2008-05-03, evaluated by the judges
Scaredsim follows up his Eternal Champions ReMix from January with this most excellent mixage from Illusion of Gaia AND Brain Lord; Simon writes:
"This song was used in my Enix Month for Dwelling of Duels. I re-worked it for OCR, especially the first part, in fact. It's cleaner, I removed the synths and played the melody at guitar. I recorded again the accoustic guitars of the second part, too."
First, let me just say: awesome game/music choice from Simon, who's thus far covered games that, while not obscure, don't tend to get as much TLC. The first 1'13" here is straight-up rock, but then there's a piano solo and segue into lyrical, rock ballad territory. Judges dug the piece, though some were mixed on this transition in particular. Jimmy came down on the pro side:
"Coverish this may seem, there's a lot of instrumental expansion that I don't feel the need to clarify on. The drums are absolutely wicked throughout. Expertly sequenced. Lots of energy, and I love the whole Van Halen/Journey feel of the Brainlord portion. I was actually really happy with the transition. Not many people pull off such a quick transition so well, especially when the style and mood changeup so completely."
CHz didn't dig the transition that much, but was feeling the piece overall, and also appreciated the Brain Lord OST tip:
"You know, I've never checked out the Brain Lord soundtrack before listening to the source for this mix, and that track is pretty good. Definitely going to listen to the rest later, so thanks for that. Right off the bat, I'm liking the percussion more in this version than the DoD one. Nice introduction of the melody on guitar, which sticks pretty close to the original, but has a couple of changes. The multiple guitars were used pretty effectively, especially at the climax."
The combination of themes works fairly well, I'd say; the piece doesn't necessarily feel 100% cohesive, but rather it seems like it's telling a story, with a fast-paced introduction followed by a more dramatic, deliberate body. Performances are great across the board - not too showy, perhaps, but appropriate to the composition - and as BGC points out, the drums are hot. I dig this piece in particular because I feel like it can work equally well as both foreground and background music. The stereo mix feels a little left-heavy to me, but otherwise production is solid an unobtrusive. Ultimately I agree with Vinnie that the last third of the mix is the best:
"Very different feel to the material, and I thought the melody wasn't even that coverish, with some flourishes and harmonizations. Love the last third of this song, which combines the first two thirds in many ways."
Great follow-up mix from Simon; his DoD piece was excellent to begin with, but his modifications have improved the overall track in addition to making it more attuned to OCR.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the What Scaredsim does, he does extremely well. The soft and cuddly rock context is always tricky, but this transcends the negatives and makes lame rock balladry cool again, much due to Scaredsim's centrepiece guitar work. As a spine for the mix, it does keep it relevant to itself, but I don't hear all that much communication between the three stages.
Regardless, it's not every day you hear a cheerful rock mix that's guilt-free and actually stimulating to listen to. It's not like I'd ever pass up the opportunity to hear Scaredsim play out some great melodies; I just think that those melodies could have clicked more to create a more robust singular piece. Highly enjoyable, though.
- Marmiduke on October 22, 2009
I think you could probably make an entire mix out of just the first part and make it like some kind of crazy 80's pop/rock thing. But that's just me.
- Lucentas on December 6, 2008
- chanq on July 8, 2008
Good song, but less would have been more.
- Martin Penwald on May 19, 2008
- LuigiFan on May 14, 2008
- BlueMage on May 9, 2008
The first part, while being upbeat, still has a lot of emotions (it reminds me of the Lufia 2 soundtrack).
The second part makes me cry almost every time I listen to it......!!! It's a good thing believe me ;) I love songs who can move me like this...
And then the last part lift my heart and my soul to new heights ;)
Thanks a lot for this magnificent piece of art!! I will listen to it for the rest of my life!!!
- YoshMaster on May 9, 2008
I like the piano transition. I thought it was a nice way to quickly change moods. I don't know if I feel the piece fits together cohesively, however, so it's a strange bit of music for me overall.
Last 1/3 is definately very sweet. I would have liked more of that.
- DragonAvenger on May 8, 2008
I remember never being able to get past the first boss...
anyhow, this medley is SOLID. it has nice interrupting trensitions that make you wonder what's coming next.
the third movement was epic with it's altered sample and well timed guitar overlay that was well timed.
- Jabberbox on May 6, 2008
I really do like Illusion of Gaia (called Illusion of Time in Germany) very much.
Listening to this tune reminds me of those days playing the game and dive into the atmosphere it was spreading.
Awesome work!
- AtomicP on May 5, 2008
More like Simon is THE MAN!
This was my favorite from the DoD month it appeared in (and it seems that recently there has been a lot of DoD love in OCR; a good thing, as far as i'm concerned), and I think the way it was redone is beautiful, with excellent source tunes chosen and some great drum programming and melodic/harmonic choices.
c'est vraiment magnifique!
- OA on May 3, 2008
Nice mix. First I have downloaded from OCR in ages. I agree that the best bit is the last third.
- Miletus on May 3, 2008
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