*NO* Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 'The Triforce Needs Five More Minutes'

[Gario]

Good Evening,

      Attached is my submission for a remix of "The Temple of Time" from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I have also posted this track on SoundCloud here: 

 

Thank you for your consideration.

v/r

Joe

 

Contact Information

ReMixer Name: Joe November
Real Name: Joe Thomas
Email Address: 
Website: n/a
Forum Profile ID: 34557

Submission Information

Game Name: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Arrangement Name: The Triforce Needs Five More Minutes
Song Name: The Temple of Time
Composer: Manaka Kataoka
System: Wii U (I know it came out on the Nintendo Switch as well, but this was the system I played it from)
Original Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfHyKWnk9JU

Inspiration: I absolutely love the minimalist piano used throughout the game, and the first area to really catch my ear was when I visited the ruined Temple of Time. I loved the haunting yet serene melody that you could hear, as if it it was reminded you of a great period of time that has long since past. I also love hip hop, and I felt like I could pay homage to the melody by merging it with a bouncy head-nodding beat and a funky bass line. The vocals and sound effects are used to simply add emotion and color to the track, so that those who've played the game can relive some key moments. The vocals also serve to tell a bit of the story of Breath of the Wild as well. The pace of the song attempts to illustrate when Link first awakes in the Shrine of Resurrection, learning of the plight of Zelda from the King, fighting (and dying) in numerous battles, acquiring the aid from the four champions to conquer the Divine Beasts, and marveling the power and the prophecy of the Master Sword.

 

Edited June 7, 2017 by Liontamer
closed decision

[Gario]

I didn't know how this was going to be approached, considering the source is so sparse. It's a smart choice, making variations with the chords that the source makes up with those short notes, and using the actual textures and sprinkling it throughout the arrangement. The overall track is smooth as silk, with that hip hop beat and well placed e-piano against the regular piano. The near seductive quality of Zelda's voice in the beginning paired with the title of this track made me think this was going to be unsafe for me to finish listening to at work, but it doesn't quite go that route (for better or worse).

I think the SFX and voices being handled in this are a mixed bag. I enjoyed them in the beginning, and while they're a little corny as they continue to be used it's not too bad. At 2:26 the SFX really cause the track to get muddied up, though. Since it's all just Link and item SFX it would be pretty safe to remove them for the sake of cleaning up the production without losing the original intent of reliving moments from the game itself. Later in the track the delay that's applied to the clips is excessive, so I suggest toning that down as well for the sake of cleaning up the track.

You do a lot with so little, and I love it. The only thing that's holding this back for me is that middle section and the muddiness caused by the SFX, which I consider a dealbreaker, so get rid of them and clean that section up to flip my vote on this. Toning down the delay on the vocal clips would improve this further, and lightening up on the vocal clips would help make this more broadly appealing for those that don't have the memories to fall back on (like myself - I haven't played BotW). Clean it up and send it back our way - it's otherwise a well produced hip hop track that I'd love to see on the front page.

NO

[MindWanderer]

I actually wasn't a big fan of the voice and SFX usage before the 2:26 mark.  I'm fine with them used melodically, but here the voices are just used as voiceover for the most part, and at 0:48-1:00 they're just thrown in seemingly at random.  They don't add anything to the music.  At 2:26-2:50 they're more a part of the music, but that section is massively overcrowded and chaotic, very muddy, crowded, and loud.

It's actually still kind of crowded and loud from 2:50-3:05 or so, too; it's not just the SFX.

It's worth noting that the "Temple of Time" theme from BotW is itself a remix of the Song of Time from OoT, with the gaps significantly lengthened and the melody simplified for solo piano.  I'm not willing to count just the first two notes of that as source, and I can only pick out more than that in 0:49-0:58, 1:13-2:25, 2:51-3:14 (interpreted liberally), and 3:14-end = 142-165 out of 255 seconds, or 55.7%-64.7%.  But it's worth mentioning that a lot of the source is literally silence, and every time it repeats its main 6-note refrain, there's a 3-second gap after the second and after the sixth notes.  Even though yes, the source is present in more than half the remix, if you count the gaps, I'd be hesitant at best to say its use is "dominant."

As a sidenote, the vocal clips do contain story spoilers.  Not a whole lot, and the biggest reveal is something most players will learn within the first hour or two of the game, but still, that's kind of uncool IMO.

Gario's crit about the muddy middle section is more than enough to be a dealbreaker, but I'm not 100% sold on the arrangement with all the SFX in general, or with the source usage.  I'm a little more on the fence about those aspects, but regardless this is still a

NO

[Chimpazilla]

I have been playing this game quite a bit so I wanted to hear this.  The BotW Temple of Time is such a sparse melody I figured it would be very hard to interpret, and I am struggling to hear it here.  I really like this arrangement and the vibe, but it is very hard to hear the source.  Waaaaaay too many vocal clips, mostly dry, and the soundscape is much too busy when they are playing.   "Revali's Gale," "Daruk's Protection," "Urbosa's Fury" and "Mipha's Grace" I actually really dislike those sound bites even in the game.  The kick drum you have here is quite distorted, I am guessing this is a stylistic choice but I find it too distorted and it sounds overcompressed to me.  The drum groove overall is repetitive.  

I think vocal clips are fine if used sparsely and smartly.  You could take 75% of them out and make the rest count, and mix them well into the track so they aren't a focal point.  When you resubmit though, we will need to do a significant source check to make sure there is enough in the track for our standards.

NO