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Post by Max Galactica on May 1, 2016 20:03:06 GMT -5
I figured I'd make a thread for everyone to share some songs that you enjoy (whether others have already heard it or not). Whether it's from a video game, movie, anime, or general music, it doesn't matter. I'd love to hear what songs everyone else enjoys, and I'd love to be introduced to some amazing music that I haven't heard before.
I guess I'll start with a song. This is the World Map theme from a game called Krater (never played it, so I don't know anything about the quality of the game). But I love how the whole song is just a huge buildup. The synth effects are really incredible as well. Just an incredible, ambient theme.
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Post by DarknessLink7 on May 3, 2016 6:47:58 GMT -5
This is a great topic idea! The song you posted was awesome, Max Galactica! It had this feeling of mystery and glory that made me feel relaxed but also excited at the same time.
I'll probably have more songs to show you guys, but this was the first thing that popped into my head. It might just be due to the game this song is from having such a special place in my heart, but I always tear up a little when I listen to this. And that's saying something, since I usually don't become very emotional. Though I don't know if this song is classified as a "good" or even "decent" video game song... Anyway, the game this song is from, "Virtue's Last Reward", is my favorite game of all time and if you think the premise of nine people trapped in a game of betrayal sounds interesting, definitely play it (or preferably first play its predecessor "999" for the DS)! Just beware of the comments to the video, since people are spoiling it like crazy there.
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Post by Max Galactica on May 3, 2016 17:22:32 GMT -5
Loved the music box feel to that song, DarknessLink7 ! The piano at 2:25 was lovely as well. I've got another one. This one is from another game that I've never played. But the accordion, piano, and violin are absolutely gorgeous in this theme.
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Post by Primulus on May 3, 2016 17:46:49 GMT -5
Excellent songs, you both!
I suppose I'll share one song as well, despite the fact that I could probably come up with like a list of 15 songs to share. For the time being, let's go with Ys 7, since that's what I'm playing through now.
I had a hard time choosing between this and the boss theme, but this is the desert area theme of the game. I'm not sure what to say about it, other than the fact that I completely fell in love with it when I first got to this area.
The game itself plays a little like Xenoblade Chronicles, where you have one party member in the lead and others controlled by an AI following behind. Unlike Xenoblade Chronicles, you're always considered to be in combat while in exploration, so it's a bit more like a traditional action RPG (perhaps more similar to the Secret of Mana series) in that regard. It's also a more traditionally action RPG in the sense that you get mildly Souls-style roll (but no immunity frames during it) and parry commands and you're expected to manually evade and block enemy attacks rather than let your stats and armor do it. It's pretty fun, but the difficulty is intensely high, to the point where the first boss in the game on the hardest difficulty is tougher than anything I fought in the original Xenoblade or XCX.
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Post by Max Galactica on May 3, 2016 18:12:54 GMT -5
Definitely very different for a desert theme. It was super catchy, though.
This song initially caught me off guard. But as it builds, it gets better and better. It's a French-Canadian folk song, used in the game Sang Froid (another one that I've never played).
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Post by Primulus on May 4, 2016 5:51:14 GMT -5
Definitely very different for a desert theme. It was super catchy, though. This song initially caught me off guard. But as it builds, it gets better and better. It's a French-Canadian folk song, used in the game Sang Froid (another one that I've never played). That is a very interesting song, and I've never heard of the game before, so I can't even imagine what context that may have been used in. I should probably look it up at some point this week. For this post, I'm posting two more songs. Another one from Ys 7, and another song from another game I love dearly. First, here's the Ys 7 song, which is an alternate boss theme. It plays in what might end up being one of my favorite JRPG boss fights ever. Still reeling from this moment in the game as we speak from how cool it was (although I was stuck on the boss for about an hour or so and got well acquainted with this particular boss theme as a result). Actually, it's a remix of said song, but much of the difference seems to be that it's all real instruments played by a band as opposed to synthesizers. It's got a surprisingly catchy melody though. In addition to that, I just wanted to share one more song that I hold as one of my favorite JRPG compositions of all time. Like the above, it's also a remix, but it's a much, much different song entirely. This is a particular dungeon theme in Legend of Mana, and is probably one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard in my life. Composed by Yoko Shimomura in her prime.
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Post by Max Galactica on May 4, 2016 10:27:18 GMT -5
Those were both excellent songs, although the second one was really something else. Just gorgeous. Réel à Bouche was actually used for the loading screens in Sang Froid, so you didn't get to hear the whole song in-game. For my next songs, I'll do one song from each game in this series. I think it was you, Primulus , who said this was your favorite soundtrack of 2015. The Hotline Miami series uses a very different style (New Wave, to be specific) from traditional video game music. But I love it so much. Once again, I've never played either game, but I love both soundtracks. From the first game, my favorite song was Knock Knock, and New Wave Hookers was my favorite from the second game. Other highlights included Paris, Miami, and Hydrogen from the first game; and Divide, Technoir, and Roller Mobster from the second game, if you want to look those songs up.
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Post by Rathlion on May 4, 2016 11:13:35 GMT -5
Great songs, everyone! I haven't really posted in a long time, since I haven't had much to say at all. But I might as well post some songs here, since I do have a few I'd like to share.
The first song I'd like to share is this beautiful piece from a game called Braid. It's a fairly short game, but the artstyle and story (once you figure out the meaning of it) are amazing. And the soundtrack perfectly reflects the beauty of the game. I chose this piece simply because it's one of the first ones you hear, and therefore it won't spoil the soundtrack too much for those that might want to play the game.
The second one is a song called Pierre de Lune from the game 'Endless Legend'. I love the peaceful mood that this song has, and it definitely fits the strategy gameplay and calm nature of the entire game. Some really great instruments in this one. One of the main reasons I chose this song is because it's not a very known game, so you might not have heard this song at all.
And the last one (at least for now) is probably the best song in Dark Souls 3. I've been playing that game for a very long time now, and being a huge Souls-fan, the piano at 2:15 was absolutely amazing in-game (if there's any Souls-fans here, I'm sure you know exactly why). The first half of the song is fairly basic for a song from this soundtrack, although there's some really good parts in it like the one at 1:48. I think this song is tied as my favorite song from the Soulsborne games with the song 'The First Hunter' from Bloodborne (which I also recommend checking out). Be wary of spoilers, though, in case you want to play the games for yourself.
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Post by Primulus on May 4, 2016 15:55:38 GMT -5
Max Galactica - Yep, XCX was second place for me after Hotline Miami 2's soundtrack. I played both of the Hotline Miami games and am a pretty huge fan of them and their soundtracks, and I have about the same favorites on both games. If I cite my own favorites from the soundtracks, it would probably be Miami Disco from the first game and then She Swallowed Burning Coals and Sexualizer are tied as my favorite from the second. Roller Mobster, Le Perv, NARC and Technoir (also all from the second game) are definitely up there though. Rathlion - Fantastic songs! I've never played either of those games, but Endless Legend is a genre I'm familiar with. I've played a considerable amount of Civilization V, at least. I've also played a very little bit of the first Dark Souls, but I was having trouble running it on my PC, so I gave up playing it for the time being, but will probably try again after I get a new computer. (It was running at about 15-20 FPS, which is near unplayable for an action game like that.) In any case, those three songs were excellent suggestions, and the Dark Souls III song in particular is hauntingly beautiful, particularly at the part where the piano comes in. I don't know what meaning that part has for the series or the game itself, but I'll take your word for it. I've decided to post two more favorites from games I'm currently playing through at the moment, concurrently with Ys 7. The first up is the main hub city theme of Shadowrun: Dragonfall, which is a tactical RPG with a heavy degree of focus on roleplaying a custom avatar character (not unlike sidequests in XCX, but the variety of options and roleplaying opportunities are far greater than XCX). The hub city is a section of Berlin, Germany in 2055 in Shadowrun's universe, which has fallen to complete anarchism. I feel this song in particular really captures the almost wild west feel of what Berlin has become. The second song I have here is from BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, the "true final boss" theme. As I post this, there's an interesting little bit of trivia here: The character this song plays for was voiced by Cristina Valenzuela in the English dub of the game, who did the Peppy voice in XCX (which is the voice option my avatar uses).
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Post by Rathlion on May 4, 2016 17:32:49 GMT -5
I've also played a very little bit of the first Dark Souls, but I was having trouble running it on my PC, so I gave up playing it for the time being, but will probably try again after I get a new computer. (It was running at about 15-20 FPS, which is near unplayable for an action game like that.) The PC port of the first Dark Souls is really awful, and if anyone wants to play it at acceptable framerates, they have to download the DSFix mod. I'm not sure if you did that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't run properly even with that. Despite it's technical problems, it's definitely one of the best games out there in my opinion. As long as you can get it to run properly, that is (which I managed to do, after a bit of tweaking and all that, and it was definitely worth it). And you linked a BlazBlue song, which makes me very happy. The songs in those games are so good, and the one you linked is no exception. I never played any of the games (mainly because it's not really the type of genre I enjoy), but I won't deny that the music is amazing. I might as well link my favorite BlazBlue song here.
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Post by Primulus on May 4, 2016 18:37:59 GMT -5
I've also played a very little bit of the first Dark Souls, but I was having trouble running it on my PC, so I gave up playing it for the time being, but will probably try again after I get a new computer. (It was running at about 15-20 FPS, which is near unplayable for an action game like that.) The PC port of the first Dark Souls is really awful, and if anyone wants to play it at acceptable framerates, they have to download the DSFix mod. I'm not sure if you did that, but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't run properly even with that. Despite it's technical problems, it's definitely one of the best games out there in my opinion. As long as you can get it to run properly, that is (which I managed to do, after a bit of tweaking and all that, and it was definitely worth it). And you linked a BlazBlue song, which makes me very happy. The songs in those games are so good, and the one you linked is no exception. I never played any of the games (mainly because it's not really the type of genre I enjoy), but I won't deny that the music is amazing. I might as well link my favorite BlazBlue song here. I believe that was with the DSfix mod, but all things considered, I'm not surprised it couldn't run that well. I spent $5 to buy the PC version though, so I don't consider it too much of a loss. My computer is old and in need of replacement anyway, and can barely run a lot of games that are less intense on a system than Dark Souls. BlazBlue is one of my favorite game series, along with Guilty Gear. It's been said (although I've never seen an official source for it) that the BlazBlue storyline was originally conceived as a JRPG, but it was switched to a fighting game series during the time that Sega was holding the rights to Guilty Gear IPs hostage. This is quite believable with how complex the story of BlazBlue is. I think Lust SIN II is actually a better version than Lust SIN overall. One of the few cases where the Chrono Phantasma version was objectively generally thought of as better than the original. And honestly, even if you're not big on fighting games, BlazBlue is pretty easy to get into for the story, although you need to approach it as a visual novel with some fighting game style gameplay as opposed to a fighting game with some visual novel style story. There's a lot of story though, I remember spending like 20 or 30 hours doing Chrono Phantasma's story alone. It barely had any fighting at all during that time, and most of the fights were easy enough that I never felt particularly challenged until Chrono Phantasma's final boss fight. (EDIT: Changed some wording on my post because I have decided that phrasing it that way was kind of stupid of me.)
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Post by flameheadshero on May 4, 2016 20:32:26 GMT -5
I listen mostly to video game music but one artist I particularly enjoy outside of them is Angelique Kidjo; I grew up listening to her music:
I also really love Miles Davis' music:
You probably wouldn't expect it but the Senran Kagura series has some really awesome music. I own two of the OSTs.
Anyway, sorry for the music dump. I could post about music all day.
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Post by Rathlion on May 5, 2016 6:54:29 GMT -5
I believe that was with the DSfix mod, but all things considered, I'm not surprised it couldn't run that well. I spent $5 to buy the PC version though, so I don't consider it too much of a loss. My computer is old and in need of replacement anyway, and can barely run a lot of games that are less intense on a system than Dark Souls. BlazBlue is one of my favorite game series, along with Guilty Gear. It's been said (although I've never seen an official source for it) that the BlazBlue storyline was originally conceived as a JRPG, but it was switched to a fighting game series during the time that Sega was holding the rights to Guilty Gear IPs hostage. This is quite believable with how complex the story of BlazBlue is. I think Lust SIN II is actually a better version than Lust SIN overall. One of the few cases where the Chrono Phantasma version was objectively better than the original. And honestly, even if you're not big on fighting games, BlazBlue is pretty easy to get into for the story, although you need to approach it as a visual novel with some fighting game style gameplay as opposed to a fighting game with some visual novel style story. There's a lot of story though, I remember spending like 20 or 30 hours doing Chrono Phantasma's story alone. It barely had any fighting at all during that time, and most of the fights were easy enough that I never felt particularly challenged until Chrono Phantasma's final boss fight. Well, I might try the games at one point. I'm personally just not the type of person to play games where I only care about the story (I just watch LPs of that type of games), but it's possible that the gameplay might grow on me after a while. And Lust Sin II was excellent, but I don't think it surpasses the first one. I think it's tied as being just as good as Lust SIN. That's just my opinion, though. I'm glad to see another Miles Davis fan on this board. I never heard that song that you linked before, though, so thanks for linking it, flameheadshero . And since we're linking BlazBlue songs which tend to be fairly intense, I'll use this post to link a song from another soundtrack with a ton of intense rock/metal tracks that some people on this board might be familiar with.
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Post by Primulus on May 5, 2016 11:17:32 GMT -5
flameheadshero - I like 'em all! I'm not as big of a listener to either of the non-video game performers you listed (Angelique Kidjo or Miles Davis) as I feel like I should be from those samples, but I definitely like the songs you posted. Miles Davis' work in particular is something I should dive into sometime. Also I think until you posted we were actually all posting exclusively video game music. If we open this topic up to non-video game music, that could get messy! I listen to a lot of non-video game music in addition to video game music. In regards to the video game music you did post, part of me wants to say "Senran Kagura? Really?" but that would be jokingly. Instead, I shall say this: "I see your Senran Kagura: Estival Versus and raise you one Sengoku Rance." Rathlion - I've altered the way I've phrased the original statement about Lust SIN II being superior, since I feel like I probably came off too strongly about it. I haven't heard that many people actually preferring the original Lust SIN, although the second versions of all the songs tends to vary between love and hate compared to their originals. Lust SIN II is definitely one I feel like is an improvement though, along with Plastic Night II. Between BlazBlue, Ys and now metal is starting to hijack this thread. That said, I intend on posting something you might not have heard yet, from BlazBlue. Of the three songs I have coming up in this post, I'm first posting something from a hentai game. The video and song should be completely and totally safe for work (and for this website), and for the record I've never played a single game in this series nor looked that deeply into it. I was just reminded of it when flameheadshero mentioned Senran Kagura's soundtracks being pretty good. That said, I would stress that this series may be a rabbit hole some of you are unprepared to dive into, and I do not hold any recommendation for researching or playing the games themselves. It has some amusing background trivia, though. But anyway, I just wanted to put this little disclaimer here, just in case. Song #1: Sengoku Rance's "Rebirth the Edge"
Because this is from a hentai game and I haven't played it, I have no real comment. I could go into interesting trivia about this game, but I'm not sure this is a good place to do it considering the subject matter. Great music, though. Well, there is a lesson here: whether it's a game full of fanservice like Senran Kagura or something like Rance, you can bet if it's a work of true passion on the part of the creators, there will be good compositions to be found.
Song #2: BlazBlue Central Fiction's "Walpurgisnacht"
Nine's theme from Act I of Central Fiction. Really good stuff. It captures the character perfectly, not to mention just sounds appropriate to the story and is probably one of my favorite themes out of BlazBlue in some time.
Song #3: Wild Arms 3's "Fate Breaker"
Probably not the best example from this game, but one of my favorites. Also, I wanted to post something with a little less metal, after realizing how much metal is in the two previous songs in this post. This is an old favorite of mine, and a highly recommended game for those who are fans of older JRPGs. If you missed out on it or Wild Arms 2 and you like old PS1 and PS2 JRPGs, I certainly recommend you seek both games out and play them.
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Post by ancientrune on May 5, 2016 11:53:37 GMT -5
out of curiosity i checked out the actual gameplay of the games i never heard of especially trying to figure out how a song like that would be in a hentai game. Gameplay is basically Romance of the Three Kingdoms (war sim srpg) while Endless Legend, Krater, and Sang Froid are like Civ, Diablo, and Deception 4 (trap based action game) respectively.
as for music to post since I am a giant Metal fan especially on the extreme side of things ill post one of my favorite lesser known genres which at this point may be considered dead since very little releases have been seen in this last decade. It called Pagan metal.
I will not go into the details of the genre because it doesnt have a defined style as it can range from pure black metal to being not very metal at all but the video posted below are what I enjoy the most and is the most rare to find nowadays.
This is Menhir which are the pioneers of the said sound
and this is from the last album they recorded and is the most accessible sound the genre has
also dont let the name pagan metal deter you as most bands are not about racism which many will lead you to believe, not saying there arent some but for the most part they tend to go to more straightforward genres and also have their own genres called RAC/NSBM
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Post by flameheadshero on May 5, 2016 17:16:43 GMT -5
Primulus Ah I've heard of Rance; great music can come from anywhere. Haven't played it either but honestly I listen to a lot of music from games I've never played. I do play Senran Kagura though - whatever one might say about the games, they can't say a lot of passion didn't go into it. That passion reflects on the soundtrack. I actually preordered Estival Versus even though I don't have a PS4 to play it yet because the special edition came with the whole OST on disk. Such a great bonus - unlike a certain flashdrive bonus for a certain game... Rathlion MGSR has an amazing OST. I love the boss themes and how they change between instrumental and vocal versions depending on the phase of the fight. I love when video game composers and sound designers go the extra mile to make the music dynamically change to suit what's happening on screen on a more moment to moment basis. I've never played the Atelier series but they always have deceptively badass music. I see the cutesy girls and flowery imagery and then get floored by rocking guitars.
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Post by Max Galactica on May 6, 2016 2:54:18 GMT -5
I've never been the biggest fan of metal. Although I did enjoy Walpurgisnacht. Metal is pretty much hit-and-miss for me. Miles Davis is always great. I love pretty much everything that I've heard from him. And Wild Arms has legendary soundtracks. I've never played any of them, since I don't own any PlayStation consoles, but I love listening to the music from them. If you liked the Hotline Miami soundtracks, then you'll probably also enjoy this album by Trevor Something. Rathlion introduced me to Trevor Something a few months ago, and I've loved them since. The atmosphere given by this album (and the New Wave genre in general) is just unreal. If you don't have time to listen to the whole album, then I'd especially recommend Summer Love (starts at 5:55), Into Your Heart (starts at 32:09. This song happens to be a remix of Miami from Hotline Miami), and Enjoy the Silence (starts at 44:10. Remix of a song by the same title by Depeche Mode, although I prefer Trevor Something's version).
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Post by Primulus on May 6, 2016 12:30:40 GMT -5
I've never been the biggest fan of metal. Although I did enjoy Walpurgisnacht. Metal is pretty much hit-and-miss for me. Miles Davis is always great. I love pretty much everything that I've heard from him. And Wild Arms has legendary soundtracks. I've never played any of them, since I don't own any PlayStation consoles, but I love listening to the music from them. If you liked the Hotline Miami soundtracks, then you'll probably also enjoy this album by Trevor Something. Rathlion introduced me to Trevor Something a few months ago, and I've loved them since. The atmosphere given by this album (and the New Wave genre in general) is just unreal. If you don't have time to listen to the whole album, then I'd especially recommend Summer Love (starts at 5:55), Into Your Heart (starts at 32:09. This song happens to be a remix of Miami from Hotline Miami), and Enjoy the Silence (starts at 44:10. Remix of a song by the same title by Depeche Mode, although I prefer Trevor Something's version). As it happens, I'm already subscribed to NewRetroWave's channel and have been for a long, long time. I've pretty much heard almost every song on the channel at one point or another. Personally, I think my favorite act associated with the channel right now is Electric Youth, but I'm also a pretty big fan of Dance With The Dead and Mega Corp (who definitely don't produce nearly enough material for how talented they are). Related to all of this, however, I'd like to recommend the soundtrack to the movie Drive. As well as the movie itself, as long as you don't mind action movies with a little bit of violence and grit to them. (Electric Youth was actually used in the soundtrack, quite well might I add.) For this thread though, I'll post Kavinsky's Nightcall, which is used in the movie's opening. In addition, since you enjoyed Walpurgisnacht, I'll post another song from BlazBlue that may be up your alley as well. Then I'll cap it off with another song I'd like to throw into this post. First though, flameheadshero - I've heard so many good things about the Atelier series and yet I know almost nothing about it. But pretty art and good music is usually a great combination, so these songs might be the tipping point I need to check out the Atelier series. I may do so after I get through some of the Ys games (mainly 7, 2, 3 and 6). ancientrune - Reminds me a little bit of Rhapsody of Fire. I didn't know what to quite expect, but I liked what I heard, for the most part, as far as the overall sound goes. Can't understand a word they're saying, but I'd recommend you check out Rhapsody of Fire if you haven't heard them already. Rhapsody of Fire isn't, as far as I know, considered Pagan Metal but most of their songs seem to be dedicated to what as far as I know must be the band's Dungeons and Dragons campaign. (I mean, that's probably not far off from the truth.) I also might be inclined to recommend Iced Earth, but that might be too much of a departure from the style presented by Menhir. In any case, here's some songs. Kavinsky's "Nightcall", from the Drive movie soundtrack
This movie actually greatly influenced the plot, setting and music of the Hotline Miami series, and you can pretty clearly tell just with this song's sound. It was influential enough that I'm pretty sure the main character of the first game was even at least partly based on or inspired by the main character of Drive.
BlazBlue Chrono Phantasma's "Six Heroes" This particular song is the theme of the Six Heroes, which plays whenever you have two characters who are the Six Heroes duel on another in gameplay. In any case, I've always had the impression that the composer of the BlazBlue series was actually a great influence on ACE+ when they wrote songs like You Will Know Our Names and Mechanical Rhythm, and this particular song seems particularly apt for the comparison to the more guitar-heavy works of ACE+ (although, I will note this song itself came well after Xenoblade Chronicles). Amusing bit of trivia though: The six heroes themselves aren't even all playable. Only five are currently, as the sixth has been (according to developer interviews) deemed impossible to implement into gameplay because he would likely be a nightmare to implement into balanced gameplay. That character can be seen in the images below. Why yes, that is a badass samurai cat with an eyepatch and a deep, gravely voice. The Protomen's "This City Made Us"
This particular song is a sample from Act III of the Protomen's decade-long running storyline based loosely on the Mega Man games. It's particularly one of my favorite songs they've done, but if you like what you hear, I highly recommend checking out Act I and Act II. Act III itself isn't released yet, but the premise is that their main albums (Act I, Act II and the upcoming Act III) are chapters of a rock opera that, as I said already, is loosely based on the Mega Man games. Act I presents a gritty, desolate world that has been turned into a dystopian nightmare by Dr. Wily and Mega Man's fight to free mankind, while Act II is a prequel that looks back on how things got to be the way they are in Act I.
The rock opera itself is much darker and more grim than the games ever were, both in tone and story events. It delves into the nature of heroism and what it means to be a hero of the people, as well as taking a grim analysis on the nature of people when ruled by a dictatorship. I don't want to spoil anything, but I don't expect a happy ending when Act III is fully released. If there is a happy ending, it will have to be hard-earned, for just about everyone.
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Post by Max Galactica on May 6, 2016 13:22:56 GMT -5
Primulus: Those were all pretty good songs, especially the first one. I probably won't have time to check out Drive before I leave later this month, but I'll be sure to listen to at least a few of the songs in the soundtrack. I'd have to find an edited version, too, since it's rated R (those are a no-go for me). Next, I'd like to spotlight Rush, a band that I enjoy listening to. They're probably most popular for their drummer, Neil Peart, who is widely considered the best drummer in the world. They have their popular songs, like Tom Sawyer, The Spirit of Radio, and Limelight. But they also have these lesser-known songs that are absolutely incredible. I especially like this one, which is a mostly instrumental piece. The synths and drums are just great in this piece, called "The Camera Eye". It is fairly long, at 11 minutes, just as a forewarning.
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Post by Max Galactica on May 7, 2016 10:28:08 GMT -5
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