Seiken Densetsu 3: Songs of Light and Darkness - History

[zircon]

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

There are some new developments that every remixer should be currently aware of and will make some differences to the final product. I have only learned this today, and even though we have time on our side, I want to get it out ASAP all the same.

As part of OCR's agreement with Square-Enix, there are new restrictions making album projects from their game catalog and we need to check to make sure every facet and asset of the project is compliant with those restrictions.

These include:

1. No use of ANY official artwork or logos - fan art is ok, but we can't use anything they developed at Square Enix.

2. No use of ANY samples from SD3 itself. ALL REMIXERS NEED TO CHECK THEIR REMIXES to make sure they don't have any of the sound effects or instrumentation they programmed at their offices. I myself have a remix with the Whale Call sample from Secret of Mana and this needs to be edited out.

3. No use of ANY gameplay for the video trailer. Sort of ironic considering how long we tried to get some for the video, but we need to make do without it.

There might be more, but that's what I have for right now.

Additionally, there was another surprise we were going to get for the project that I'd been hinting at and trying not to disclose publicly. Right now, as another result of Square-Enix not being too thrilled with OCR, that surprise is looking pretty unlikely to happen. It still might, which is why I'm still not saying what it is/was, but right now we're likely going to go on ahead without it.

So, everyone involved, PLEASE CHECK YOUR REMIXES or your contributions to the project and make sure none of it is using any IP that came from their offices. We cannot use any of them.

Thank you!

The bit about gameplay footage is not 100% correct; gameplay footage is OK *IF AND ONLY IF* it is non-direct footage. For example, a video of someone playing FF8 is fine. Direct-out from the TV or emulator, that's not fine.

[Brandon Strader]

The bit about gameplay footage is not 100% correct; gameplay footage is OK *IF AND ONLY IF* it is non-direct footage. For example, a video of someone playing FF8 is fine. Direct-out from the TV or emulator, that's not fine.

Just to be totally clear cause it's still a bit confusing, you mean the gameplay footage we can use is this?

Or like this

[Meteo Xavier]

The bit about gameplay footage is not 100% correct; gameplay footage is OK *IF AND ONLY IF* it is non-direct footage. For example, a video of someone playing FF8 is fine. Direct-out from the TV or emulator, that's not fine.

Pretzel himself did not give me that distinction - probably because a video of someone playing the video is not useful in a trailer format.

That comes off nasty when I don't intend it to, but I'm not sure why you're even giving that clear. A video of someone playing it on their TV screen is no good, what would use it for? Who would even have the cart to play it on?

(Actually, if I bought a cheap copy of it, I could on my modded SNES)

[Mikeaudio]

What a terrible company. And they just announced a $500 box set of all FFs between 1 and 13. Still just monetizing the older properties they inherited and have no idea what to do with, and keep diluting and ruining their reputation. Oh well. I didn't use any sampling or anything that would be an issue.

You should use footage from mistwalker games for the trailer. (Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, The Last Story, etc). It wouldn't make sense but at least they would understand the fan service.

Koichi Ishii who directed Secret of Mana quit Square-Enix a long time ago. Hiromichi Tanaka who directed SD3 quit Square-Enix in 2012. If you follow the names you'll probably see that most people who were involved in any of the good Squaresoft games have up and left Square-Enix. I'm sorry for the ranting but Square-Enix has really become a terrible and reprehensible corporation, not because of what they're doing to OCR primarily but because of the last few years of what they have been doing, their constant monetization of re-releases and disrespect for fans. Bloated productions that take 10 years (FF Versus 13) then a game that is somehow a complete disjointed mess (FF13) shows a tough future for the developer. They've published some good stuff though but it's easier to say they've been lucky as a publisher. I think they are out of touch which would explain why their own games and business ethics are poor.

Sorry for the rant. But seriously, just have the trailer be black with white text on it. But Square-Enix would probably C&D you for that too, saying you are ripping off a Cloud Strife dream sequence.

If this is how things are going to be going into the future, I'm expecting to see a lot more artistic trailers that have little to no visual connection to the game they cover. And in a way that is VERY SAD, but it's also interesting. I'm excited to see how you guys tackle this.

I think too much compromise has taken place with this new deal. I think September should be support OCR month and the new Kickstarter should be cancelled and any negotiations and compromise with Square-Enix should be reversed. "If you give them an inch, they'll walk all over you" -- it sounds like Square-Enix has already been given a mile.

No offense intended at all towards OCR or djp. I'm sure you know more about working with companies than I do. But this really bites, you know? And it's setting a really bad precedent.

I agree with you Brandon. I think supporting OCR should be the primary focus from now on. Not just because of square per say, but more so because djp and everyone else who has/had a hand in the operation of this website have done so (at least from what I understand) for the sake of the music and nothing else. I find that much more worthy of supporting than a video game company that in a sense loaths video games and the people that make them popular i.e. the video gaming culture. Also I won't be doing the reincarnation track for this album.

[Rozovian]

It was bound to happen sooner or later; if not SE then some other game company would respond to ppl making money using their ip, even if that money is going to ocr. Multi-ip albums like BadAss would be especially sensitive to this kind of action, but with SE we're dealing with a substantial number of tracks and albums, a significant portion of ocr. Dunno much more about the deal than what Meteo's posted, but I'm not surprised. Also, I didn't have any moneys on my paypal for this earlier. OCR +$50.

On a smaller scale, this means that the preview I've been planning is running short of video material. We have a lot of art, but much of it is incomplete and even then it's not the greatest fit for a long preview (better for a short trailer). I'm not quite sure how important visuals are in the preview, but it just feels lazy to do some basic pans over few of pics for a 5+ minute thing.

We'll either get that as a preview, or wait until we've got a few more artists. I have an idea for the preview graphics, I just need a handful of artists with a couple of hours (or so) of spare time they wanna give to the project. Thoughts welcome, here, pm, whatever. We'll see.

Ultimately, I don't think this changes much for the album, it just changes how we do some of the marketing/advertisement for it. Summer's over, work's started, I want tracks for my commute (and for the project).

[Meteo Xavier]

Also I won't be doing the reincarnation track for this album.

Is this related to the rest of your post, or is this a side note to it? If it's as a result of Square-Enix bollocks, there's really no reason not to contribute if you wanted to - we're not celebrating Square-Enix, we're celebrating an awesome craft of work by an awesome composer.

Also, from here on out, let's keep the Square-Enix kicking to a nonexistence. There's so much of that across the internet that this project thread doesn't really need to be a station for it either. It's a subject that, quite frankly, makes me want to puke and I think we should save our posts for better project construction instead of repeating the same love-hate complaints people have been posting about SE for the last 7 years.

It's redundant, pointless and may serve more negative needs down the road. We don't need it here.

[Mikeaudio]

Is this related to the rest of your post, or is this a side note to it? If it's as a result of Square-Enix bollocks, there's really no reason not to contribute if you wanted to - we're not celebrating Square-Enix, we're celebrating an awesome craft of work by an awesome composer.

Also, from here on out, let's keep the Square-Enix kicking to a nonexistence. There's so much of that across the internet that this project thread doesn't really need to be a station for it either. It's a subject that, quite frankly, makes me want to puke and I think we should save our posts for better project construction instead of repeating the same love-hate complaints people have been posting about SE for the last 7 years.

It's redundant, pointless and may serve more negative needs down the road. We don't need it here.

It was a side note. No I wouldn't turn done a remix because of a company's decisions . Its because I'm not going to be able to get the mix wip out anytime soon, I just don't have the time to do it. Thats the reason why I highlighted that statement in blue. But thanks for giving me a chance to apply, I hope you guys get this project finished soon, I'm excited to hear it!

[Rozovian]

Gah, I end up with the last post of the page again. Oh well...

I put the finishing touches (I think) on one of my mixes, and turned it blue. Anyone else care to do the same this weekend?

Also, anyone who can do art (you can be colorblind, but you must be able to sketch), get in touch. We gotta work around a little snag in getting material for the video preview (which is not the same as the trailer), so we need more art, and we want it quick and sketchy. Feel free to pm me contact info for any artists you know that might be willing to help.

(somebody quote the art stuff in the first post of next page plz, I don't wanna double post just to do that.)

[Dj Mokram]

I put the finishing touches (I think) on one of my mixes, and turned it blue. Anyone else care to do the same this weekend?

Ahem, well if I may be so bold to ask, whatever happened to:

Listened, and it's all good. Feel free to take sd3 off your list, I'll blue it next update. Great work.

Unless of course some WAVs matter more than others.

(somebody quote the art stuff in the first post of next page plz, I don't wanna double post just to do that.)

sure, leave it to me...

Also, anyone who can do art (you can be colorblind, but you must be able to sketch), get in touch. We gotta work around a little snag in getting material for the video preview (which is not the same as the trailer), so we need more art, and we want it quick and sketchy. Feel free to pm me contact info for any artists you know that might be willing to help.

Assuming direct control of your thread to make big, bold announcements like real, manly directors with beards do.

[Rozovian]

Ahem, well if I may be so bold to ask, whatever happened to:

Unless of course some WAVs matter more than others.

I officially have no idea what you're talking about.

[Blaine]

Sent in my WIP for Black Soup. I'm excited about a chance to contribute to this album, even if I'm joining in at the tenth inning.

[Rozovian]

I don't know about sports metaphors, but there's still time to swing some hoops with the pigskin. There's still tracks left to do and wips to finish. Come on ppl, don't let the other Mana projects finish before we do!

Stuff due October 25th. Old wips better be pretty much complete by then, and new one quite far along plz.

[Meteo Xavier]

We should be making more headway on Usa's other track here soon. My brother's going to do some more guitar work on it, so don't open that one yet.

Also, need Rozovian to hit me up since I think every other method I've tried to contact him with has failed. I have some news and he needs to get with me on Facebook chat or AIM. Thank you.

[Rozovian]

Reminder: 25th, and then stuff happens.

We should be making more headway on Usa's other track here soon. My brother's going to do some more guitar work on it, so don't open that one yet.

Also, need Rozovian to hit me up since I think every other method I've tried to contact him with has failed. I have some news and he needs to get with me on Facebook chat or AIM. Thank you.

Dude, a means of communication doesn't fail just because I don't reply right away.

Also, the news is pretty kickass. You'll all see.

[Meteo Xavier]

Also, the news is pretty kickass. You'll all see.

If we get it to work. Can't make any promises just yet, but we'll give it a damn good try.

[Rozovian]

Got a wip from Blaine, who apparently was the only one to read that I wanted wips a few days ago. Guys, we're a handful of tracks from completion. I know I haven't been the most proactive project lead around here, so I understand if you've lost faith in this project, but consider how much is actually done, and how little is left.

I'll be sending out a general call to arms to every remixer who's ever been with us once I've sorted out some preview-related things. We're finishing this.

edit, cuz I like to be discrete and not announce cool stuff, instead keeping it secret for the ppl WHO ACTUALLY READ THE THREAD AS YOU ALL SHOULD! *ahem* So...

I've got some cool ppl lined up for additional art, and we'll soon have art for the preview and can finally release that. In the mean time, it'd be nice to have this thing done by xmas, cuz I'm sort'a kind'a getting a life and a behemoth like this sitting unfinished is a little heavy on me. Anyway, messages to remixers coming soon. Probably PMs, cuz ppl have been horrible about giving me their emails. Not all of you, and I appreciate that. A lot.

Edited October 29, 2012 by Rozovian

[keiiii]

So I'm in NJ, and Sandy took electricity from me for 140+ hours. Got power back a couple of days ago, and internet back late last night. I am alive and back to work!

[Meteo Xavier]

After several mistarts on my part, I really am available to get back to work on getting stuff done.

Still working with Usa's track, we're getting some additional guitar stuff done on it. I need to do a new version of Karth's piano track as I can't find the most recent one I did (and it could stand some more fixing up anyway), I need to get some other stuff ready for later this month, and I need to get caught up with our artwork and what we're doing for some of the teaser media, because no one's told me anything yet.

I'm also going to be getting caught up with people who are missing .WAVs we could use and I'm going to be an irritating asshole about it. That's my job. Projects don't get done without someone pushing for it and you signed up for that when you joined this project and made a near-finished track with it. Now that IMPULSE is out of the way for me, I can get back onto focusing here and we can finally finish this up.

The rewards will be worth it for those willing to stick it out and get it done. I have a shit-ton of press names I got from my stint with IMPULSE and I'm fairly sure they would be a lot more willing to post on us with an actual SQUARE-ENIX item as opposed to an indie game soundtrack. We still have some other stuff up our sleeves too.

So there it is. I've waited long enough, I need to get back into the swing of things here. Keiii, Rozovian, I'm going to be looking for you two particularly to get caught up on what I need to get caught up with.

[Meteo Xavier]

We can BLUE Beckett007 and ilp0's tracks, they sent in their consent and that's two more tracks complete.

[Rozovian]

We can BLUE Beckett007 and ilp0's tracks, they sent in their consent and that's two more tracks complete.

ilp0 is now blue. Still waiting for a wav of Meridian Child tho. Rich?

[Meteo Xavier]

I have the WAV and it should be in your email too. If not, I'll send you a link to it. Go ahead and blue it.

[Rozovian]

That was in April. What is wrong with me?

Blueing him now.

We're pretty blue now.

[Brandon Strader]

The Dual Dragons have signed the ocr consent form.

[Meteo Xavier]

The Dual Dragons have signed the ocr consent form.

KICK ASS

We just made a brickload of progress in not too much time .

I think that brings us up to about 55 finished tracks.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Meteo Xavier

[Rozovian]

Got consent for another track now, that means it's blue. +1 blue.

Looking over the tracks, the following tracks lack a name:

Beckett007's 212

Chris | Amaterasu's 119

Reuben Cornell's 310

Rozovian's 218

zyko's 201

Can't be that hard to come up with a name for your track, right? In case I've missed it, just point it out. I'm juggling 60 tracks here, details can go missing. plz help me out here.