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Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream - History


zircon
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Look what I wrote for my school paper! You'll have to forgive bbCode, which doesn't seem to want to format my article properly.

FINAL FANTASY VII: VOICES OF THE LIFESTREAM TO BE RELEASED IMMINENTLY

Jeremy Pesner

I’ll start off by sating any fanboy enthusiasts who might be reading this in the hopes that some heretofore unknown game, movie, action figure, or other spinoff is about to be shown to the masses. Sorry. Square Enix has no plans, as far as I know, for any new Final Fantasy VII propaganda.

For everyone else, I’ll remind them that the Final Fantasy series is the most well-known Role Playing game series and, short of Mario and Sonic, perhaps the most well-recognized game series ever. Every iteration of the series transports the gamer to a new fantastic realm, ranging from the typical medieval world of castles, dragons and dark overlords to, by the time of Final Fantasy VII, a post-apocalyptic cyberpunk future where a ragtag group of rebels must band together to save the Planet from corporate and alien menaces alike.

So what, you may ask, is Voices of the Lifestream? Enter Overclock Remix (www.ocremix.org): a strictly nonprofit site of video game fans dedicated to remixing the infectious themes you hear from these games, and hosting them on their site for all to listen to. If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite song from a video game would sound like when played in a metal band, this is the place for you. It has received a large amount of professional media attention, largely owing to the professional level quality of the mixes. Several video game composers have lent their advice and recognition to the site, and, when I accompanied members to see an orchestral concert of Video Games Live this past summer, were glad to meet us.

Though the majority of remixes are taken from only one song, occasionally a group of remixers will band together to release an album centered around a particular game, with every (or nearly every) song from the game getting its own remix. They even provide a tracklist and CD cover, so you can burn the CD, slip the cover into the jewel case, and carry it around like you would any other album. Or you could live in the 21st century and store the songs on your hard drive or iPod, like I do. Voices of the Lifestream is the Final Fantasy VII remix album.

The project is headed up by veteran OCRemixer Zircon (known as Andrew Aversa in real life), who has made a name for himself mixing such tunes as Montrous Turtles! (Super Mario World), Lover Reef (Sonic & Knuckles), and Calamitous Judgment (Chrono Trigger). While many people simply remix as a hobby, this particular mixer wishes to go into the music scene professionally, and has already released three electronica CDs that are on sale at cdbaby.com for very cheap. DJPretzel, the founder and hoster of the site, has contributed to the project, along with many other veteran mixers. This promises to be the largest mix album the site has ever released (the original tracklist for the game is over a hundred different songs… this remix album will have half that) and fans galore are waiting with bated breath. Provided there are no more delays, the project should be released within the week, so head over to the site, and once you see “Voices of the Lifestream” on the front page, click the link and enjoy.

When I brought this idea to the features editor he loved it. So yes, this will really and truly be published.

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Like the article, but if you're talking complete remix noobs, then "If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite song from a video game would sound like when played in a metal band, this is the place for you" sounds like ocremix is just a metal site, rather than incorporating a lot of different musical styles. Electronica, ambient, rock, solo piano...we have them all here. I think for clarity's sake, you said say "If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite song from a video game would sound like when played in a metal band, jazz club, or in any other style, this is the place for you." Or something like that.

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By the way, talking about errors, I was just on the FFVII project's page.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more enthralled with a video game then I was when I first saw my friend moving Cloud through the slums of Sector 9.

One is obvious. The other is not. See if you can find them both.

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