djpretzel Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Email sub file Darangen - Warriors of Light.mp3 ReMixer name: Darangen Real Name: Michael Boyd email: darangen@hotmail.com website: www.geocities.com/darangenmb Name of game: Final Fantasy 1 Name of song remixed: Chaos Temple Link to original song: http://www.ocremix.org/songs/original/Final%20Fantasy%20(1987)(Nobuo%20Uematsu%20-%20Square)(23%20Songs).nsf (track 12/23) Info: This was my submission to RPGamers' Sonic Revolution contest in February. Nostalgia... This was always one of my favorite vg themes ever, and still is to this day. I can remember when my friend down the street brought Final Fantasy 1 over, we all thought it was the neatest thing to have 4 black mages with confuse and watch the enemies hit themselves (well, the few times that confuse would work). A few weeks later, my brother and I begged our parents enough to buy the game for ourselves. We finally got it, and I've loved the music ever since, the whole Final Fantasy 1 soundtrack is amazing. Ok, enough rambling and onto something about this release This is my take on the Chaos Temple theme (which also plays in the Underwater Shrine) and my entry to RPGamers Sonic Revolution contest. I've given it a brighter feel than the original, changed the chord progression to give it a major key feel. So kick of them shoes, relax those feet, and enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
analoq Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 analoq14: at 1:53/54 we're hearing some notes in the melody that sound like they're from an unrelated key.Darangen: it shouldn't be Darangen: it's just an odd note analoq14: so you think there's nothing wrong? Darangen: yeah *shrug* still doesn't sound right to me. but otherwise, this is a fine and dandy mix. i wish the guitar tone was more subtle, it's kinda harsh given the context of the mix. i also wish the fade-out was longer, it seems to come sudden. oh well. yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcos Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 Oh, I've got those pad soundfonts from the intro! Anyway. Nice mix, but those notes at 1.53-1.58 sounded extremely wrong to me, so on that basis I'm gonna say NO Questionable notes are one thing, plain old off-key is another. Strange since the production on this is very good overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Israfel Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 No matter what your intentions were, the section from 1:53 to 1:58 will almost certainly be heard as a mistake by most people; the "odd notes," as you put it, only occur during that one section, and so it sticks out in relation to the rest of the piece. It is possible to get away with note choices like that, but keep in mind that a "mistake" that occurs once is mere novelty, while a "mistake" that occurs many times is a style. But otherwise, this sounds pretty good. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zykO Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 i love the intro. the arrangement for the entire first part of the track is beautiful and i actually prefer this intrepretation to the popular ailsean remix of the same theme... unfortunately i'm probably alone on that i love how it picks up into the lead section and that wah solo. you do use the wah a lot on your leads and i've come to associate it with your music and your style which is good (i like to be able to recognize guitarists) the acoustic guitar is recorded and produced very nicely. the leads at the end reak of satchness and are well written and performed. i'm impressed. i don't see anything wrong with the few odd notes (yes it is odd and they seem out of place but i'm not going to question what is intentional and what is not) all in all this is good and the best work yet from darangen YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted March 28, 2005 Share Posted March 28, 2005 This mix is probably the cleanest thing darengen has put out. the drums strike me as particularly crisp, although occasionally the snare will play a triplet fill which sounds rather clunky. The dynamics as a whole sound well thought-out. My overarching comment is that the song could afford to be a bit shorter. there are dynamic changes, but it seems like they come too slowly. each section sounds a bit too long. completely subjective, of course. The ending isnt very impressive; it's not quite a guitar solo, but there isnt another lead instrument playing against the guitar. there's no real point of focus; i'd either make it a full-fledged guitar solo, or beef up that piano and make it interact with the guitar more. That guitar passage everyone is talking about is a BIIIIG oops. Either his finger slipped or his ear slipped, i dont know which. either way it sounds like shit, but it's certainly not enough to warrant a NO on what is an otherwise solid, if not exceptional mix. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted March 30, 2005 Share Posted March 30, 2005 http://www.zophar.net/nsf/ff1.zip - Track 12 ("Chaos' Temple") [NES Version] http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF1_psf.rar - 108 "Chaos' Temple" (PSX Version) Held off on voting while sorting some other things out, but I've been waiting for this one ever since I played it on VGF47. It snagged third place in RPGamer's Sonic Revolution from their Sound Test area. No offense to either zircon or Trenthian, but I thought this one should have taken the win. Very nice ambient-style opening there. I immediately liked the thickness of the percussion entering in at :06. The piano work sounded a tiny (I mean tiny) bit unrealistic. The ambiance was very engaging and the guitar strumming was spot on though I wouldn’t have minded hearing it pushed up a little bit. The bassline entering in at :20 was incredibly pimped out. There's my pimp bias showing through. The e-piano at :34 fit in so well with the texture here; I genuinely loved how everything came together. Nice stuff at 1:02 moving into the electric guitar work; way to bring the power there as your iteration of the theme segued over into a nice freestyle at 1:30. Again, I'm just impressed with how the composition/rearrangement pieced together. I saw how 1:52-1:57 could be thought of as off. It was certainly very jarring the very first time I heard it. Those notes there sounded too high given the other sounds in play at the time; definitely didn't match up well. I didn't mind it too much after multiple listens; good old ear acclimation did the job. I wouldn't have gone so far as to reject the piece for one "flub," especially given the scope of the entire arrangement & performance, which was genuinely A-grade. Mike moved into a second iteration of the source at 1:57. I think some of the supporting guitar work was a little too quiet and could have used some more presence to create some nice textures with more prominent layering & harmony, but I could still hear the instrumentation there when I paid attention to it. The section starting off at 2:53 went for another iteration of the e-piano and bassline centered arrangement before the axe was brought back in at 3:18, creating in my opinion the sexiest part of the arrangement as Mike laid down some sick original guitar work over the e-piano along with a very tasteful fadeout ending (aw shut the fuck up, fadeout haters). I don't aim to sound like any type of iconoclast at all, but I've heard other people make the comparison and it's very deserved: Ailsean's own take on "Chaos' Temple" (as well as "Underwater Temple"), Subaqueous Angels of Chaos was the track that got me into the Final Fantasy 1 soundtrack in the first place, but this mix effectively blew that away personally. I'd be really interested in Sean's comments on the piece and how he felt the arrangement, production & performance came across both as an individual piece and as a comparison to his own. Superlative work, and the remix that'll truly make your name in the community, Mike. As much as I'm biased against RPG remixes (as a listener, NOT as a judge you morons out there), this brought the goods in a huge way. The arrangement of "Chaos' Temple" really expanded the instrumentation during the more straightforward section and you provided some very intelligent additive composition with all of the new sections. There were loads of variation and dynamics, both subtle and pronounced. Glad to see both zyko & Vigilante approve the guitar skills behind the performance. The VG remix community has its share of stylish instrumental rock ballads, but this one tops 'em all from my point of view. Respect. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayLightning Posted March 30, 2005 Share Posted March 30, 2005 Some of Darangen's mixes have been untapped potentials for the panel, and this mix is a perfect example why. This is Darangen in top form, and something we'd like to see more. I too thought the 1:50 section had very questionable notes. It is definitely noteworthy, but it's not enough to warrant a retake of the material considering the other good things that could be lost. Being very familiar with this theme, I'm surprised someone was able to pull out a mix that gives the original its dues while at the same time going many steps further. Arrangement as a whole is splendid, and easily the best Darangen has done. Good balance of new material with source material overall, a trouble issue for Darangen's past mixes. Production as a whole is great. I actually loved the elements beyond the guitar. They really add a complimentary texture to the mix. I actually like fade out endings, when done well. But here the ending was not pulled off too well. If you want to go with a fade out, I'd say make it slightly more drawn out and better planned. No reservations on my side at all, easy YES. Wonderful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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