Liontamer Posted May 9, 2010 Share Posted May 9, 2010 Title: Heroes Remixer: ziwtra Game: Final Fantasy Legend 2 (Saga 2 in japan) [1] Original song: The Legacy Composer: Nobuo Uematsu / Kenji Ito FFL2 is one of the gems of the gameboy and had one of the best soundtracks on the system. In terms of personal videogame music nostalgia, this game was one of the earliest I played as a kid. The recent remake of FFL2 for the DS made me curious as to how the soundtrack had fared. I was disappointed, but not surprised, to find that most of the tracks were updated without much creativity whatsoever. There was only one thing to do of course -- start remixing the soundtrack myself : ) It should be no surprise to OCR listeners by now that the artists on OCR are constantly influencing, challenging and learning from each other. In particular, I'd like to give a shoutout to two classic tracks that influenced this mix: the peerless big beat of tefnek & zircon's Waste Water Wipeout [2] and the lo-fi infectious groove in Fragments of Gold [3] by beej. This mix takes the original and gives it the lo-fi symphony treatment with some attitude. yh --- [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Legend_II [2]: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01280 [3]: http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00791 -------------------------------------------------------------- Final Fantasy Legend II - "The Legacy" The source arrangement was fine, just to establish that first. Before Vinnie shows up to poo the sequencing, it's purposeful, so it's fine. Really weird having the string parts separated in the left and (mostly) channels. I thought the beats were spartan without filling out the soundfield, and that they didn't have synergy with the rest of the instrumentation. Overall, the soundscape felt too disjointed, IMO. No hate if this passes, and it's surprising for me to go NO, but I just don't think these textures ever clicked. Besides making the beats work more cohesively with the rest of the instrumentation, other parts could use some volume & stereo adjustments so everything glues together more effectively. Good luck with the rest of the vote. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OceansAndrew Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 The panning in the mix matches the panning in the source almost exactly, so I am certain it is a specific decision, but i'm not really sure about the choice even for the source. I think it was done that way due to the super-close speakers on the Game Boy itself, and if it had come out on any other system, it would have been panned differently. That being said, the soundscape on both doesn't really hold up that well on speakers or headphones. The arrangement itself and treatment was really nice, with a lot of creative dips and dives, and though the beats start out matching the melodic content really well, as the song progresses, it starts to feel like the percussive elements end up ad nauseum'd. The bass breakdown worked well, and i thought all of the string work was good, though near the end, when the brass elements came in, I felt things fell apart a bit. It was like a really intricate etching suddenly got covered with a huge glob of varnish; what started out as very purposeful and controlled choices just got smeared. Overall there is a lot to love in this mix, but I feel that it's not quite there. I think making the beats slightly more punchy, and in some cases, playing more unison with the strings (even if just for brief instances, before going back to doing their own thing), and making the ending more focused, and this one is good to go. I can respect the panning choices made as well, but I think a more balanced approach would also improve this. It's really close, but i'm leaning No, please resubmit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted May 27, 2010 Share Posted May 27, 2010 The source arrangement was fine, just to establish that first. Before Vinnie shows up to poo the sequencing, it's purposeful, so it's fine. You laugh, Larry, but I'm gonna say the same thing here I have about Young's other subs. The stiffness of the SNES-style strings sounded off to me, though it's a better fit here than in the other subs we've heard recently from him. The reverse and slowdown effects definitely play up the purposeful angle, but I think I'd still prefer realistically sequenced strings in their place. Now that I've wasted a paragraph on that, I'll say it actually wasn't that big a deal to me, whereas the beat definitely was. The beat plods along, doesn't keep the energy going. It definitely needed more punchiness to it, I think you went too far with the compression. You could also bring it up in volume. I agree that the arrangement never gelled either, it always feels like a lot of disparate elements. The ending also lost me a bit, it got crowded and lost focus. I really am a fan of your ideas, Young, though it seems like I'm always picking on your songs. It's just the execution that gets me. I hope you resubmit this. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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