All the themes, in their tight loops, tell the journey each character will take, changing or growing by their respective ends. Conversely, Therion’s theme hints at a life of mystery (and possibly pain) in its opening notes on the clarinet, before it too becomes something more aspirational. Ophilia’s theme features the flute and is as tender and contemplative as the cleric herself, but it also becomes hopeful, suggesting she seeks more out of life as she knows it. With a robust cast to draw on, Nishiki needed to make each of them stand out in their own way, which he does wonderfully by assigning a specific instrument to feature for each carefully crafted motif and theme. What is wonderful about these themes is, again, the nod to classic RPG soundtracks, when brilliant composers like Nobuo Uematsu, Hiroki Kikuta, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and others were limited in the amount of information a console could handle and had to distil a character’s being down to a single musical moment. The protagonists themselves are given their own motifs, which are heard throughout the game but culminate in individual themes as well. The piece perfectly sets the tone for this game as a grand adventure that builds with each step, as the player’s experience builds with each path they walk as these eight heroes. If nothing else, Octopath Traveler’s “Main Theme” proves Yasunori Nishiki’s mettle as a composer, and I am grateful he stuck to his work.
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I feel the main theme is a triumph that leaves you almost breathless, having run a marathon alongside such a driving piece of music. The finale builds with sweeping brass that gives way to a more explosive bass that thunders along with the heavier percussion, joined by thrilling woodwinds that end with such an impressive orchestral flourish that you are left with goosebumps. The track continues to build in grandeur, becoming truly exciting as the woodwinds barrel through the melody, punctuated by blasts from the brass section, with some exotic percussion from bongos that run the listener to a rising crescendo. Punchy strings really emphasize the sense of adventure off the top and hint at something getting started before they open into a sweeping rise that soars with the rest of the woodwinds before returning to the melody once more. In a post on Nintendo’s official blog, the composer admitted he struggled with putting the main theme to paper: “To be honest, at this point I was in complete disarray….I honestly considered resigning from the project (even though I’d already composed half the soundtrack!).” Thankfully, this did not occur, and in the crucible of stress and pressure, Nishiki pulled from his prior work to derive what is the now rousing and memorable main theme. The journey of these eight travelers begins with a piece that plagued Nishiki up until the final days of the soundtrack’s delivery. While it is not without its minor flaws, the Octopath Traveler Original Soundtrack does so much right.
HOW MANY SONGS IN OCTOPATH TRAVELER OST FULL
Instead, I arranged the orchestra instruments in a style akin to simple, catchy vocal songs with strong melodies.” It paid off, evoking nostalgia for the short motifs from gaming yore, but with the backing of a full orchestral suite to create a sweeping sound that the small 64 KB of RAM on the SNES could not.
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In an interview with Video Game Music Online (with our dear friends Stephen Meyerink and Derek Heemsbergen working on the translation!), Nishiki revealed that his orchestral roots needed to change, and thus, he shifted his approach to this soundtrack: “I tossed out, to some extent, the traditional method of arranging for orchestra. He was brought on board to compose for Square Enix’s then latest title, and this work became what will likely be known as his breakout project. Helmed by Yasunori Nishiki, a composer largely unknown for his work at KONAMI, at least in North America, Octopath’s soundtrack is no exception.Ī graduate of the Tokyo College of Music with a degree in Film Scoring, Nishiki went freelance in 2015. Square Enix was a frontrunner in the aforementioned period of gaming history, so it is no surprise they executed every aspect of the era expertly while freshening it up in their HD-2D hit, Octopath Traveler. With the continued development of retro-style roleplaying games, studios seem to be attempting a return to the “golden age” experienced in the mid to late ’90s. Largely at the hands of indie developers, the gaming industry has seen a return to form.