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Some Pixel Remake screenshots in Famitsu showed up on Reddit yesterday. It looks like some scenes have been redone to give it a more Octopath Traveler look? I'm excited to see more of that and the remastered soundtrack!

This post has been edited by Harlequin on 17th December 2021 15:10

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I say what I wanna say, I play how I wanna play.

The soundtracks have been really good for other PRs so I'm really looking forward to 6. I see that they've still made the character sprites slightly more "skinny" for this one, which I don't love, but this might be the first one I really look to buy because some of the other changes look pretty slick.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Quote (Rangers51 @ 17th December 2021 09:16)

The soundtracks have been really good for other PRs so I'm really looking forward to 6. I see that they've still made the character sprites slightly more "skinny" for this one, which I don't love, but this might be the first one I really look to buy because some of the other changes look pretty slick.

I haven't paid much attention at all to the Pixel Remasters (aside from noting that they exist). They haven't changed the songs at all, right? Just redone them for clarity?

Quote (Kane @ 17th December 2021 12:50)

I haven't paid much attention at all to the Pixel Remasters (aside from noting that they exist). They haven't changed the songs at all, right? Just redone them for clarity?

They're definitely rearranged and reorchestrated. I honestly don't know if they're synthesized or played live now - I'm the furthest thing from a musician. But they are different and I've really liked the ones I've heard so far. We had an ad hoc listening party for FF4 in Discord when it dropped, ha.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

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Arts

Farts

Twarts

Along with the screenshots it's been revealed that the opera scene has vocals. If you watch the promotional trailer you can hear them. Please- above all else- form your own opinions about it.

I am hopeful it is better than it sounded. A lot of people are claiming that it is because she is "A general, not an opera floozy!" but it seems like an odd choice for Square Enix to make after multiple global performances of it in an operatic fashion. Having a friend who is an opera soprano, cosplays Celes AND sings it- it has a lot of us reeling. Granted, I have my own beliefs about the characters that have me torn on the decision (I'd rather not talk about it openly) but it seems more risky than intelligent.

Like I said: trying to remain hopeful but this could be a blow to hopes of a remake one day. Please form your own opinions on it and don't let anyone drag you down on how it makes you feel.

Link to the promotional trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOkScEsyOYQ


This post has been edited by St Khael on 22nd February 2022 19:05

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I'm your Mama Terra, come hang out with me around the internet!

Retro gaming cosplayer with a focus on Terra Branford.

Quote (St Khael @ 22nd February 2022 13:03)

Along with the screenshots it's been revealed that the opera scene has vocals. If you watch the promotional trailer you can hear them. Please- above all else- form your own opinions about it.

I've just listened to four versions of the Aria: the instrumental, the English vocals, and the Italian and German vocals (the latter two largely because those are historically the two languages of opera - at least as far as I've ever known, I'm hardly a connoisseur).

I don't think it was at all necessary to add a vocal track, but since they chose to, the English one just does not have it at all, IMO. It seems to lack vocal power and seems to compete against the music more than anything. Both the German and Italian versions did not have that issue at all - and to boot, the Italian vocalist in particular just sounded like what you expect from an opera. And I think it gives proof against the idea that they did it intentionally to show that it was Celes singing and not Maria, for whatever that's worth.

This post has been edited by Rangers51 on 24th February 2022 19:17

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Apparently it was a decision on their part. According to Nobuo Uematsu they did it to highlight that Celes is not an opera singer. This has me confused as to why they gave it vocals. Square Enix probably has reasons they're not telling us and I'm not at all knowledgeable about game design or business: but it seems like a pointless choice. At least we have lovely renditions elsewhere.

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I'm your Mama Terra, come hang out with me around the internet!

Retro gaming cosplayer with a focus on Terra Branford.

Keep in mind the opera scene is a comedic one first and foremost. What makes it so memorable are the SNES synths being used to simulate vocals in a way that's simultaneously impressive in its ingenuity while also sounding like a totally crude butchering of a real opera.

So I can see them being sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place here: they're obligated to repeat the "omg they actually did that" gag if they want to stay true to the original, but the fidelity of the music this time is too high for the "synth voice" trick to really work again, while on the other hand it'd be kind of missing the point if they truly nailed an actual opera performance.

What they settled on sounds a bit like a Disney song being done in a stereotypically "operatic" way, which I think is a fair choice given the circumstances (and for what it's worth, I never once thought "wow this performance sucks" or anything like that while it was going).

Thinking about it, if it were me in charge I might have gone with the singers going "fala-la-laaaa" rather than singing the lyrics to help it feel closer to the original and also signaling "of course this is not a serious opera performance," but I've got the benefit of hindsight here.

Quote (Rangers51 @ 17th December 2021 17:08)

Quote (Kane @ 17th December 2021 12:50)

I haven't paid much attention at all to the Pixel Remasters (aside from noting that they exist). They haven't changed the songs at all, right? Just redone them for clarity?

They're definitely rearranged and reorchestrated. I honestly don't know if they're synthesized or played live now - I'm the furthest thing from a musician. But they are different and I've really liked the ones I've heard so far. We had an ad hoc listening party for FF4 in Discord when it dropped, ha.

I'm guessing that these tracks were sequenced from really high quality samples. So in that case they're not synthesized, but not exactly real, either (think of like an animated film made from actual photos of real people/things, except in audio form). I've suspected for a while now that a LOT of media is being scored this way, I feel like I'm encountering a lot of "orchestral" pieces from movies and such whose timing sound a little too perfect, like a symphony being played by machines or something.

(Again, I'm just guessing, though)

This post has been edited by Multi Bottle Rocket on 7th August 2023 02:55