pick and choose
When did asking someone to “hang out” take the place of people asking someone on a date? I can understand if it’s a method to “cover all the bases” but the asked could just as easily be turned off by the indirect nature and ambiguity of the question. Though I’m not so great at all this relationship stuff, I’ll say right out that this sort of wussiness just doesn’t seem attractive…
Now onto things that I’m much better at: video game music! The Korean MMORPG market has exploded over the past six years, if not more, and among this myriad of games are the two particularly and beautiful creations of Zera: Imperan Intrigue and Granado Espada. The visual artwork, both in-game and especially concept, of these two games are striking enough, but there’s something to be said for the music as well.
Because if I were to feature music from both games in one post, there’d be too many links, therefore I shall present tracks one game at a time.
The MMORPG Granado Espada first began testing back in 2005 but didn’t begin English beta testing until just last month. The story is set in the Age of Exploration and the world mirrors one of 17th Century Europe where instead of exploring the New World, the characters explore the newfound continent of Granado Espada. Composed by a collection of composers including SoundTeMP, S.F.A, Osamu Kubota, and DJ Tiesto, the music of Granado Espada is certainly eclectic with its range of pieces from symphonic classical to songs that would fit right in a noir film to straight up rock and plenty of vocal sampling for everone. However, the entire soundtrack is predominantly techno-trance-electronica based with backseat melodies scattered around its 126 or so tracks. They could play most of this stuff over the speakers at Abercrombie and Fitch and no one would think it was out of place. Others you could dance DDR to. A few entirely instrumental pieces are on the soundtrack but many are robbed of any musical effectiveness by their synthesizers. There are some extremely fascinating rock songs which sound like they’re sung in…German?
That is not to say that there are not some true gems on this soundtrack. There are pieces of both electronic and instrumental (and a blend of both) which are truly outstanding. Seemingly the most colourful compositions of the soundtrack, however, feature said electronic spreads with sprinkles of Spanish flavours - rhythms and cadences. There is some fantastic guitar work in some of these pieces. Though Granado Espada is supposed to encompass all European styles, from the costume and environment designs, I couldn’t help but think that it was entirely Spanish based at first. The overall tone of the soundtrack certainly assisted this idea. As undecipherable as some of these dance-beat based pieces might be, the fact is clear that no piece was written haphazardly. But listening to all 126 tracks was definitely tiresome. Maybe I didn’t even get through all 126…
More information on Granado Espada can be found [here]. All files are property of their respective artists. Please support the musicians and their music! All files uploaded onto savefile.com.
Enjoy!!
+ [Granado Espada]
- presumably the theme of the game, this piece is very Final Fantasy piano collections reminiscent. Both tune and composition are very simple and beautiful. For some reason, pieces like this are just so appropriate for video games of romantic nature. This particular piece has the added bonus of grace along with its romance. Sometimes, that’s a bad thing, but here it certainly is not.
+ [Vamos Bravo]
- This Latin-flavoured piece is full of flirt and charm. I most definitely want to find someone to cover this tune with someone someday as it just seems like it’d be so much fun to perform.
+ [Trollslottet]
- suprisingly addictive European folk-rock involving a violin and didgeridoo. I can’t tell what language this is in. Any help is appreciated.
+ [Rio Tranquila]
- I’ll be completely honest: I had trouble finding an outstanding piece in all the tracks that weren’t composed by this S.F.A. creature. This is no exception as it’s one of the few pieces where I felt the electronic sounds and instrumental sounds really lined up throughout the piece create a really gorgeous blend through the entire composition.
I listened to this piece on repeat for at least half an hour when I first put it on my mp3 player. I dig just about every melodic line of the piece. One day I’ll find some techno-geeks and a guitarist or two to play this piece with me. Any takers?
June 16 2007 | games and music and relationships | 4 Comments »
