ReMix:Illusion of Gaia "Will Is the Lord" 4:00

By Scaredsim

Arranging the music of 3 songs from 2 games ( view all )...

"Road to Toronto", "Town", "Village"

Primary Game: Illusion of Gaia (Nintendo , 1994, SNES), music by Yasuhiro Kawasaki

Posted 2008-05-03, evaluated by the judges panel


Scaredsim follows up his Eternal Champions ReMix from January with this most excellent mixage from Illusion of Gaia AND Brain Lord; Simon writes:

"This song was used in my Enix Month for Dwelling of Duels. I re-worked it for OCR, especially the first part, in fact. It's cleaner, I removed the synths and played the melody at guitar. I recorded again the accoustic guitars of the second part, too."

First, let me just say: awesome game/music choice from Simon, who's thus far covered games that, while not obscure, don't tend to get as much TLC. The first 1'13" here is straight-up rock, but then there's a piano solo and segue into lyrical, rock ballad territory. Judges dug the piece, though some were mixed on this transition in particular. Jimmy came down on the pro side:

"Coverish this may seem, there's a lot of instrumental expansion that I don't feel the need to clarify on. The drums are absolutely wicked throughout. Expertly sequenced. Lots of energy, and I love the whole Van Halen/Journey feel of the Brainlord portion. I was actually really happy with the transition. Not many people pull off such a quick transition so well, especially when the style and mood changeup so completely."

CHz didn't dig the transition that much, but was feeling the piece overall, and also appreciated the Brain Lord OST tip:

"You know, I've never checked out the Brain Lord soundtrack before listening to the source for this mix, and that track is pretty good. Definitely going to listen to the rest later, so thanks for that. Right off the bat, I'm liking the percussion more in this version than the DoD one. Nice introduction of the melody on guitar, which sticks pretty close to the original, but has a couple of changes. The multiple guitars were used pretty effectively, especially at the climax."

The combination of themes works fairly well, I'd say; the piece doesn't necessarily feel 100% cohesive, but rather it seems like it's telling a story, with a fast-paced introduction followed by a more dramatic, deliberate body. Performances are great across the board - not too showy, perhaps, but appropriate to the composition - and as BGC points out, the drums are hot. I dig this piece in particular because I feel like it can work equally well as both foreground and background music. The stereo mix feels a little left-heavy to me, but otherwise production is solid an unobtrusive. Ultimately I agree with Vinnie that the last third of the mix is the best:

"Very different feel to the material, and I thought the melody wasn't even that coverish, with some flourishes and harmonizations. Love the last third of this song, which combines the first two thirds in many ways."

Great follow-up mix from Simon; his DoD piece was excellent to begin with, but his modifications have improved the overall track in addition to making it more attuned to OCR.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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TillyFun
on 2013-03-12 00:44:31

I understand what people are saying about the transitions not being perfect. But to me the whole mix comes off as a credits medley. I especially feel the 'credits medley' at 2:40 when the music picks up in a sort of victory dance then it starts to cool down around 3:20 until The End scrolls across the screen.

For credits, I think it works. It's also lovely everywhere. Memories. c: My favourite section is the village from ~1:35-2:35. :)

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Samildanach Emrys
on 2011-06-12 19:10:46

The preview has been removed... Not a big problem since I can just download it, but I do like to check the preview first.

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Polo
on 2010-09-21 00:55:40

Road to Toronto kicks things off with a fresh, adventurous vibe. Destination's planned out, provisions are packed, and the first steps are taken toward the first major landmark. The guitars' prominent, tenuto notes bring out the bravery in the source. At 1:11 victory is claimed over a mountaintop or other high point. Following that...

...a Charlie Brown-like piano cleans up the plate like a brief intermission, and then Itory Village/Blessing of Nature paints openly peaceful days, with the piano and a smooth bass guitar providing mutual mellow support. No worries, just sun and shade and nature encompassing the listener. 1:48-1:57 adds a joyous little quip to the original song. It looks to the sky...

...and then South Cape/Lively City jumps in saying, "dance! Swing from side to side! It's a party!" The guitar solo certainly endorses this statement. 3:17 prefigures the end by toning it down a notch, and when the guitar plays its last note, the piano is but a gentle twinkle.

Each section ends on a high and longing note as if waiting for a supplementary section (with a matching synth set and source assignment) to finish what it's started. Maybe that's why the parts don't gel too well - the mix seems to want to be three separate songs instead of one composite whole. But it still rocks.

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Marmiduke
on 2009-10-22 07:51:39

I think cohesion, or lack thereof, is the one enemy of this mix. It's pretty apparent that every movement in the song exhibits some fine remixing, but as far as pacing and flow goes, it doesn't quite nail the sweet spots.

What Scaredsim does, he does extremely well. The soft and cuddly rock context is always tricky, but this transcends the negatives and makes lame rock balladry cool again, much due to Scaredsim's centrepiece guitar work. As a spine for the mix, it does keep it relevant to itself, but I don't hear all that much communication between the three stages.

Regardless, it's not every day you hear a cheerful rock mix that's guilt-free and actually stimulating to listen to. It's not like I'd ever pass up the opportunity to hear Scaredsim play out some great melodies; I just think that those melodies could have clicked more to create a more robust singular piece. Highly enjoyable, though.

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Lucentas
on 2008-12-06 21:47:48

I really love the first part, it sounds like something out of Megaman with somewhat of an 80's vibe. The transition to the more ballad-like second part is somewhat awkward, but things quickly pick up again.

I think you could probably make an entire mix out of just the first part and make it like some kind of crazy 80's pop/rock thing. But that's just me.

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chanq
on 2008-07-08 19:46:02

Too bad there wasn't more of what you had going on between 00:44 and 01:13. It kicked ass. Huge ones.

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Komoriuta
on 2008-06-27 02:27:38

I have had this song on repeat for the past ten days. O_O

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Martin Penwald
on 2008-05-19 16:27:04

I'm kinda torn on this one. While every single one of the parts is done very well, with the third one (starting at 2:38) being my favourite, they just don't gel that well. Every part is rather short, and the transitions aren't as fluid as I'd like them to be.

Good song, but less would have been more.

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LuigiFan
on 2008-05-14 16:48:42

This was really good. I agree that the transition into the piano was a little shaky, but it wasn't bad, and overall the song has a really nice feel. You do a really good job on this - I'm looking forward to more.

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BlueMage
on 2008-05-09 16:56:44

Holy. SHIT. Comparing this version to the DoD version ... man, such an improvement in this one. I enjoy practically all of ScaredSim's DoD work, but man, if you get the opportunity, please please please go back and redo all your previous DoD entries to the same level as this one.

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YoshMaster
on 2008-05-09 02:42:43

I find this song to be very touching...

The first part, while being upbeat, still has a lot of emotions (it reminds me of the Lufia 2 soundtrack).

The second part makes me cry almost every time I listen to it......!!! It's a good thing believe me ;) I love songs who can move me like this...

And then the last part lift my heart and my soul to new heights ;)

Thanks a lot for this magnificent piece of art!! I will listen to it for the rest of my life!!!

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DragonAvenger
on 2008-05-08 12:16:59

I only know Illusion of Gaia, and that part immediately brought back memories. I liked the epicness of that part of the track.

I like the piano transition. I thought it was a nice way to quickly change moods. I don't know if I feel the piece fits together cohesively, however, so it's a strange bit of music for me overall.

Last 1/3 is definately very sweet. I would have liked more of that.

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Jabberbox
on 2008-05-06 17:46:24

I love this remix, I still have this game somewhere, actually.

I remember never being able to get past the first boss...

anyhow, this medley is SOLID. it has nice interrupting trensitions that make you wonder what's coming next.

the third movement was epic with it's altered sample and well timed guitar overlay that was well timed.

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AtomicP
on 2008-05-05 06:46:45

*thumbs 2 miles up!*

I really do like Illusion of Gaia (called Illusion of Time in Germany) very much.

Listening to this tune reminds me of those days playing the game and dive into the atmosphere it was spreading.

Awesome work!

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OA
on 2008-05-03 22:17:17

Will is the lord?

More like Simon is THE MAN!

This was my favorite from the DoD month it appeared in (and it seems that recently there has been a lot of DoD love in OCR; a good thing, as far as i'm concerned), and I think the way it was redone is beautiful, with excellent source tunes chosen and some great drum programming and melodic/harmonic choices.

c'est vraiment magnifique!

Sources Arranged (3 Songs, 2 Games)


Primary Game:
Illusion of Gaia (Nintendo , 1994, SNES)
Music by Yasuhiro Kawasaki
Songs:
"Town"
"Village"
Additional Game:
Brain Lord (Enix , 1994, SNES)
Music by Masanao Akahori
Songs:
"Road to Toronto"

Tags (7)


Genre:
Pop,Rock
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Acoustic Guitar,Electric Guitar,Piano,Synth
Additional:
Origin > Competition > Dwelling of Duels

File Information


Name:
Illusion_of_Gaia_Will_Is_the_Lord_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
3,922,558 bytes
MD5:
09d2c7c3b3bbfb30d39fa4a01ec940c4
Bitrate:
128Kbps
Duration:
4:00

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