Jump to content

OCRA-0014 - Final Fantasy IV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption


Recommended Posts

hey, it's an album. take what you want, ditch what you don't. just don't complain unless you make your own music.

was mine one of the ones that was true to the source? because i used all the original chords and ripped the melody straight from the midi. i'm guessing it wasn't one of your midirip gems, because i attempted to add other stuff in there that wasn't originally part of the track. does that make it worse? no, it doesn't.

also, commies run this place so i'll bet they love you :<

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's been a long time since I played this game, but I remember just how great the battle themes were. Watching my brother play the DS version makes those fun nostalgic memories come back. That being said, I did not like the treatments to the battle themes.

Of Fiend and Man

Standard battle theme that you hear throughout the game. The original theme was faster than this version. I thought the guitar effects were fun, but the song started to sound a bit like Kashmere, and that's bit slower than what I wanted.

Virtually the same beginning measures are repeated and elaborated, but you don't progress to the rest of the battle theme. OR, if you do, it wasn't in a noticeable way, and that was disappointing, since that is one of the more memorable moments in the song.

Survival Instinct

The song starts out very Britney Spears 'Hit Me Baby One More Time' ish. The electronic sounds are interesting, but I was disappointed at the sound effect used for the main theme. It made me think of some strange electro-circus. Listening to early Depeche Mode albums would help understand to this.

The countermelody that ran the same time as the main was overpowering for me, and took me away from the main melody. This would've been fine had the countermelody been interesting to me. It, however, wasn't, so it proved annoying.

The quiet breakdown around 2:40 is neat, but then the instrumentation that I didn't like from before comes back in, so I am disappointed once more.

The beginning measures of the theme seem to play a lot, and there is not enough of the second half of the melody present. Much like Battle Theme 1, I think this wasn't expressed enough.

Overall, I agree with a sentiment that was expressed earlier. These songs are well done and demonstrate a thorough understanding of music composition and generation. However, I believe it did not convey enough of the original songs to make me happy. I didn't get any goosebumps listening to these.:sleepzzz:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i really enjoy tweek's track when i get the image of a battle that just doesn't want to end hehe - it's a pretty unrelenting aggressive take on the source

and anyone who doesn't like depeche mode isn't a friend of mine ha - jk

We also have interviews for the remixers of the project at:

http://highermusic.wordpress.com/

there will be more going up over the weekend - check it out and get an inside scope of the album

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I respect your opinion, Wander, because everyone (except Hitler) is entitled to their opinions. But, why would you visit this site if you like the originals and don't like when people remix them? I like this site because I like the original tracks, and seeing how other people have interpreted said tracks and made them their own is pretty darn cool. The original OST is one of my favorite soundtracks too. And, ever since discovering this site (for the fifth time), I love the work here. Sure, there are some tracks I don't like, but all in all, what they do here is pretty cool. And the video game music industry obviously likes it. Regardless, I hear your opinion, and I respect. My own opinion? This album kicks ass!

That is all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a bit amused by some of the people who aren't so interested in remixed versions of VG music, yet they decided to download the album, and even bothered to register to post in the forum. It's really simple: If you don't like remixes, don't even bother coming to this site. You can listen to the original tracks if that's what you really prefer. The remixes on this site are the reinterpretation of the remixers, and sometimes the results are incredibly different from the original. If you don't like a person's interpretation of a song, you are perfectly capable of not listening to it.

If you're expecting the remixers to basically follow the songs 100% faithfully, with only the instrument samples updated, this is the wrong site to visit. It's all about the remixes and creative reinterpretation. Over the 8 or 9 years I've been visiting OCremix (I can't believe it's been that long!), it's always been like that.

Of course, there are times when a certain remix just doesn't work for me, but I just go on with my life and delete the file. It's not a big deal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a bit amused by some of the people who aren't so interested in remixed versions of VG music' date=' yet they decided to download the album, and even bothered to register to post in the forum. It's really simple: If you don't like remixes, don't even bother coming to this site. You can listen to the original tracks if that's what you really prefer. The remixes on this site are the reinterpretation of the remixers, and sometimes the results are incredibly different from the original. If you don't like a person's interpretation of a song, you are perfectly capable of not listening to it.

If you're expecting the remixers to basically follow the songs 100% faithfully, with only the instrument samples updated, this is the wrong site to visit. It's all about the remixes and creative reinterpretation. Over the 8 or 9 years I've been visiting OCremix (I can't believe it's been that long!), it's always been like that.

Of course, there are times when a certain remix just doesn't work for me, but I just go on with my life and delete the file. It's not a big deal.[/quote']

I've been here in the past as a guest and I've found some pretty cool remixes of the songs that I liked, though some of them would be better named "arrangements" than remixes. While I did say I generally disliked remixes, FFIV's soundtrack is one of my favourites and I saw an ad posted on Kotaku for it and felt obligated to take a listen.

Also, people who say "THEN DON'T LISTEN TO IT" really piss me off. It's like when I try to review someone's bad fanfic and someone tells me "WELL IF U HAET IT SO MUHC THEN DUN REED IT". I'm entitled to listen to songs that I don't like, even if it is solely for the sake of reviewing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's nothing wrong with stating that you were disappointed with the album, or even that you don't like it.

But it's absolutely retarded to download a REMIX album, put out by overclocked REMIXERS, and then complain that you don't like REMIXES and just want straight covers (as someone else has done here).

That's where I find this whole thing to be pretty dumb. If you don't like remixes in the first place, what are you doing downloading a remix project?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are several examples on this site of great remixes by many artists. I was disappointed in hearing how some of the remixes from this album seemed to deviate so much from the source material, that the recognizable melodies become lost in the remixer's interpretation.

I suppose it becomes difficult to decide whether you're enhancing an original piece or polluting it.

I'm a bit amused by some of the people who aren't so interested in remixed versions of VG music, yet they decided to download the album, and even bothered to register to post in the forum.
I thought it was important to post my opinion in the place where the artists would see it. Some obscure board in Internetland has very little chance of being seen by the remixer, no? :-o
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been here in the past as a guest and I've found some pretty cool remixes of the songs that I liked, though some of them would be better named "arrangements" than remixes. While I did say I generally disliked remixes, FFIV's soundtrack is one of my favourites and I saw an ad posted on Kotaku for it and felt obligated to take a listen.

Taken directly from the site's FAQ

OverClocked ReMix is a not-for-profit site that accepts high-quality submissions of arranged or "ReMixed" video game music from talented ReMixers the world over. These arrangements are more than just updated versions of the original tracks, but are reinterpretations, often in an entirely different musical genre than the source material. What sets OverClocked ReMix apart from other video game music sites is the breadth of its content. We offer music from almost any style imaginable. Hillbilly, techno, rap, orchestral—you name it—we accept ReMixes from virtually any console or computer game soundtrack. Anything from Shinobi to Portal is fair game.

In reality, OCReMix is an arrangement community. The term "ReMix" has been coined by the site.

Also, the full name for the album is Final Fantasy IV Arrange: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption. It is stated that it was an arrangement album from the beginning.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think most people have a problem with people reviewing the album and giving criticism, even if some of it is negative, but it shouldn't be a generalized statement of how much you don't like the album. I think people would prefer to have constructive criticism backed up by examples of the problems you had with certain songs. "Executives" at least made an attempt to do that, and that allowed people to see what his/her problem was with some of the songs.

You can try to talk about differences between the terms "remix" and "arrangement" all you want in order to sidestep the issue, but the truth is that if you've visited this site before, you should have an idea of what to expect, no matter the term used to describe the music on this site.

Of course, everyone is entitled to like what they like and hate what they hate. I'm not saying it's absolutely wrong to dislike this album. After all, preferences are preferences. However, if you really don't like anything about it, you really don't have to listen to it. Is it really so wrong to say that?

I mean, I personally don't think mayonnaise is fit for human consumption, but I don't try to push people to stop eating it. I just don't eat it myself, even if I'm the one who made it.

If you want to do a review for something you don't like, then, at the least, do it properly. In all honesty though, it seems a little ridiculous to try to do a review when one wanted the original source material, rather than the remixed/arranged versions that OCremix is known for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

durr the only good musics are the country ones everything isn't bluegrassy enough

Yeah, this whole album sucks ass. Fixed for no particular reason.

Question time! Can someone (AeroZ?) please provide a breakdown of sources used in Tellah's Prophecy? I've heard five for certain (listed below in secret writing!!!), but I know I've missed some and I absolutely, positively, need to know what other source tunes were used. I know OA is sick of my fanboyish enthusiasm by now, so can someone else help me here?

holy crap he wasn't lying: main theme, fight 1, within the giant, cry in sorrow, long way to go

Also, can I draw out others' ARness in determining what other sources were used in various tracks? Here's what I've found unlisted thus far:

102: The Prelude

105: ......

106: Into The Dark

302: The Prelude

If no one else cares then ok, fine, I'll stfu. But I really enjoy placing every source tune used, so if you're like me in that regard then... let's do this! [if this really pisses people off we can do this in another forum]

Finally, track-by-track love is forthcoming. I should have each one sufficiently adored in two week's time (job interference next week, sorry).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm in the process of doing a track-by-track checklist-style review, for those of you that can appreciate the feedback of someone who knows next-to-nothing about music :P Here's my two cents on the first disc.

1-01: Nutritious – Full of Courage

+ Typical Nutritious-quality samples and arrangement

+ Flute at 2:16 was exquisite

+ Appropriate song to start off the album

- Doesn’t take many stylistic risks –very solid song but doesn’t particularly stand out compared to other orchestral arrangements by Nutritious (if you can really count this as a negative. I suppose this just comes with the genre, I'm not sure what else could have been embellished or added without possibly ruining what you've already got here.)

1-02: audio fidelity – The Might of Baron

+ Drums, marching sounds, and rhythm guitar create excellent mood during intro

+ All samples are extremely well used

+ Keyboard (?) at :53 onward adds a nice touch

+ Orchestral and rock sounds have rarely, if ever sounded so good together!

+ Great flow throughout the song - Interlude at 2:40 fits nicely in context, then transitions perfectly back into the rock verse without a hitch.

+ One of the best songs on the album!

1-03: AeroZ – Overture ~ Tellah’s Prophecy

+ Cello at 1:53 was very enjoyable, reminded me of something from Bond.

+ Outro was well done, this is where the cello playing seemed the best to me.

- Took a long time for the song to really click with me. Didn’t have me fully convinced that the song was going anywhere until 1:53, and then it kind of meandered back into questionable territory a few times after that

- Not as solid as AeroZ’s other contributions to the project, in my opinion

1-04: avaris – Journey to Solace

+ Loved the evolution of the percussion throughout the song

+ Transition at 1:02 felt perfectly natural and took the song in a wonderful direction

+ 3:04 piano was a nice instrument choice, and also sounded nice for the outro. Good piano sounds for both sections.

- Parts of the song felt a bit lacking melody-wise (though this might be a result of the source.)

1-05: AnotherSounscape – Ana(pro)logue

+ Somehow even happier and bubblier than Anso’s usual work.

+ Source tune works PERFECTLY for this style of music

+ Great use of different synth sounds, each one seems suited for the notes that it is attached to

+ Hilarious cameos!

- Lolwut @ the robotic “1-2-1-2-3” voice

- Fadeout?

1-06: John Revoredo – The Flying Machine

+ At just over 2 minutes, it came, did its thing, and didn’t overstay its welcome. One of those times where shorter is better

+ Beautiful samples and mixing, song sounds wonderful

- Arrangement felt a bit repetitive even for such a short song

1-07: Mazedude – Read the Sine

+ Typical Mazedude quality work – song is completely out of left field and is structurally weird, but it totally feels cohesive and almost beautiful.

+ 1:43 was unexpected but a completely awesome transition

- I keep getting this god-awful buzzing noise on the low frequencies regardless of where I listen to this. I can’t determine if it’s something in the song that’s off, or if I’ve just got cheap speakers/headphones :P

1-08: Cyril the Wolf – Emerald Beauty

+ One of the most beautiful arrangements on the album – establishes a mood early on and sticks with it, but switches things up often enough to stay fresh throughout the whole song

+ All of the live instruments sound wonderful, especially the sax

+ Good bass writing

- The fake violin brings down the mood of the whole song, unfortunately. Everything around it sounds so natural and organic, so this one element does put a damper on an otherwise-amazing song. I’d kill to hear a version of this song with a live violin by nonsensicalexis or someone else willing to offer their talent.

1-09: Children of the Monkey Machine & audio fidelity – RDX Necklace

+ The Bomb Ring “explosion” in the beginning was pretty awesome, established a great mood

+ CotMM does what he does very, very well.

+ The guitar adds a nice industrial sound to the song

? I’m no expert in the genre so it’s hard to objectively review something where I don’t truly understand the intricacies of the music being created. Therefore, I’ll refrain from offering criticism here.

1-10: Tweek – Of Fiend and Man

+ Nice drumming after 1:47

+ The outro at 1:15 was awesome.

- The outro sounded like it was leading into something completely awesome and the song was finally about to take the song to the next level, but instead, it just… ended.

- Lead guitar sounds too drowned out, though I can see how that might have been intentional

- Honestly, this song didn’t sit well with me. It seemed to hover in the same mood/range and never really progressed anywhere except for a few spots. It never really captured my attention.

1-11: DragonAvenger – Interlude ~ Yay!

+ Um… yay?

- I think this would have sounded better after Audix’s track, personally

1-12: Level 99 & audio fidelity – The Skies Hold No Angels for Us

+ The subtle vocal samples in the intro were cool

+ Great guitar tones, playing all across the board

+ 2:03-3:17 was absolutely awesome, the dueling guitars sounded beautiful together!

+ The piano came in at just the right time, and the children samples in the back reminded me of Skrypnyk’s “A Moment of Tolerance”

+ One of the best songs on the album, hands down! Bravo to both of you!

- The lead guitar at :50 felt like it came in just a bit too abruptly (this is the only negative I can find for this track. I had to really be picky about things here :) )

1-13: Abadoss & James George Edward’s Dream Quartet

+ The mixture between live and synthesized instruments was completely seamless, I couldn’t tell the difference!

+ Page flipping effects between segments was a nice touch that only adds to the realism created by the wonderful samples

+ Good job expanding the mood of the song as it progressed. It had a nice balance between ‘sticking close to the source’ and ‘going off on tangents so the song doesn’t become boring’

+ Plucked strings were definitely a good choice for the 4th section of the song, nice job mixing things up a bit!

- It’s too long for casual listening, so this probably won’t be going on my playlist. However, I can still appreciate what the two artists brought to the table here, it’s clear that a lot of talent went into this one!

1-14: Golbez ‘N Goblins

+ The drum buildup at :13-:14 (that appears numerous times later in the song, too) always struck me as plain awesome!

+ Nothing less than I’ve come to expect from bLiNd in terms of production and arrangement

- My least favorite bLiNd track from the album (which isn’t really so much of a shot at this song as it is a compliment to his other two contributions!)

- I’m not a fan of the short vocal clips used

1-15: OA, Nutritious & The Fabul Men’s Choir

+ Completely unique, original effort that was epic in scope and didn’t even seem doable to me, but it panned out in almost every way imaginable!

+ While the choir is the most amazing part of this song solely for the amount of effort that went into planning it, the rest of the instrumentation is flawless and should definitely be acknowledged too!

+ OA’s synth/guitar work is as stellar as ever!

+ It’s nice to see Nutritious put his talents into different styles of music, he’s just as good with this as he is with traditional orchestral arrangements!

+ !!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why is it that if someone comes on here and leaves a comment that isn't 100% positive about the compilation, they're attacked from all angles? It's garbage. Those of us that didn't particularly care for it as a whole are just as entitled to our opinions as the rest of you are. Nobody attacked any of the composers that I saw, yet we get accused of not being able to appreciate art and are basically told to leave the site. I think both strong opinions against the album (Wander and myself) were posted in a very diplomatic way. If you don't like something, you don't like something, end of story, and according to the homepage, this is the place to post about it.

And by the way, to the ass that joined up just to comment on my post, this is for you: Have you ever bought something or been given something that you were looking forward to and after you got it, it didn't quite meet your expectations? That's what happened here with myself and at least one other, so don't you dare insult our taste or our opinions. We're capable of appreciating art and creativity as much as you are, we just didn't like this work as a whole. Now go stick your head back in the sand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why is it that if someone comes on here and leaves a comment that isn't 100% positive about the compilation, they're attacked from all angles? It's garbage. Those of us that didn't particularly care for it as a whole are just as entitled to our opinions as the rest of you are. Nobody attacked any of the composers that I saw, yet we get accused of not being able to appreciate art and are basically told to leave the site. I think both strong opinions against the album (Wander and myself) were posted in a very diplomatic way. If you don't like something, you don't like something, end of story, and according to the homepage, this is the place to post about it.

And by the way, to the ass that joined up just to comment on my post, this is for you: Have you ever bought something or been given something that you were looking forward to and after you got it, it didn't quite meet your expectations? That's what happened here with myself and at least one other, so don't you dare insult our taste or our opinions. We're capable of appreciating art and creativity as much as you are, we just didn't like this work as a whole. Now go stick your head back in the sand.

You're entitled to your opinion, expectations, but it's one thing to say it didn't meet your expectations, another to say talent was misused. Kind'a like saying I recognize that you're thinking but then say you're wasting brain power having thoughts. Not respectful, so don't be surprised or take it personally when some of the responses you get are just as disrespectful.

Especially when, if you're the least bit familiar with ocremix, you should know what we do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you all retarded, or did you just not read my post properly?

I did not say that I came here expecting rehashed songs. I merely stated that remixes did not sit well with me. I never once stated that I wasn't going to give it a try, or expect otherwise.

I don't think most people have a problem with people reviewing the album and giving criticism, even if some of it is negative, but it shouldn't be a generalized statement of how much you don't like the album. I think people would prefer to have constructive criticism backed up by examples of the problems you had with certain songs. "Executives" at least made an attempt to do that, and that allowed people to see what his/her problem was with some of the songs.

I reviewed it as an album. I don't have time to sit around and point out my problem with every single song.

In reality, OCReMix is an arrangement community. The term "ReMix" has been coined by the site.

Also, the full name for the album is Final Fantasy IV Arrange: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption. It is stated that it was an arrangement album from the beginning.

Was this supposed to back me up, argue against me, or was it a a piece of information?

But it's absolutely retarded to download a REMIX album, put out by overclocked REMIXERS, and then complain that you don't like REMIXES and just want straight covers (as someone else has done here).
I've been here in the past as a guest and I've found some pretty cool remixes of the songs that I liked, though some of them would be better named "arrangements" than remixes. While I did say I generally disliked remixes, FFIV's soundtrack is one of my favourites and I saw an ad posted on Kotaku for it and felt obligated to take a listen.

It's usually a good idea to read posts. For the record, the title of the album says "Arrange" in it. For the last time, I did not say I wanted straight covers. Nor did I have much clue what I was in for when I downloaded the album.

Good job on making yourself look like a douchebag by putting words in my mouth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...