Category: English 12

My Top 5 Gaming OSTs

There are multiple people who play games and enjoy the original soundtrack brimming from within the game. This is demonstrated in any game, in any genre, but like anyone else, there are specific ones that are my favourite and would recommend for others to listen to. Below, you will find my top 5 video game soundtrack from different genres (although most of them are from my three favourite series Fire Emblem, Persona, and Ace Attorney.)

These are no particular order

You can click on the links to get to the soundtrack.

*This blog post may contain spoilers for you as I introduce the background behind each OST. 

#1 Rivers in the Desert (Persona 5) 

Rivers in the Desert is a special boss theme that plays during different battles such as the velvet room attendants (plus Jose), Shadow Masayoshi Shido, and The Holy Grail. The title symbolizes how the adventure that the Phantom Thieves go through is difficult as they are considered to be the rivers and the public/society the desert. When this song plays, the Phantom Thieves are fighting the impossible or the toughest of the tough as this is for special bosses. This song introduces us with a little pop and rock, giving us a great time on the battlefield.

Similar OSTs to Rivers in the Desert that you may like…

Life Will Change: Persona 5 OST 04 – Life Will Change – YouTube

Blooming Villain: Persona 5 OST 26 – Blooming Villain – YouTube

Throw Away your Mask: Throw Away Your Mask – YouTube

 

#2 Gina Lestrade – Lost Messenger of the Slums / Gunshot from the Downtown (Ace Attorney)  

‘You got it! Good, innit? Inspector Lestrade! Sounds like somefin’ out of a book, eh?’ – Gina Lestrade in The Return of the Great Departed Soul.

This special piece is played for the one and only Gina Lestrade (she is a reference to Inspector Lestrade from Sherlock Holmes as Great Ace Attorney has lots of references to Sherlock) which showcases Gina’s tomboyish personality. In the beginning, she seemed like a grumpy young pickpocket who didn’t trust anyone, including the protagonist, Ryunosuke Naruhodo and his entourage, with her defense when she gets arrested in the final case in the first Great Ace Attorney (Adventures). She actually didn’t trust anyone as she only thought of herself first due to her being a pickpocket living on the street. She is considered to be a tsundere type of character. Gina is also my fav character as she gets loads of character development in where she grows up and changes in the second Great Ace Attorney game.

Similar OSTs to Gina Lestrade – Lost Messenger of the Slums/Gunshot from the Downtown that you may like…

Herlock Sholmes – Great Detective of the Foggy Town: Sherlock Holmes ~ Detective of the Foggy Town – Dai Gyakuten Saiban Music Extended – YouTube

Tobias Gregson – The Enemy of the Great Detective/Rival of the Great Detective: 48 | Tobias Gregson: The Enemy of Great Detective (Dai Gyakuten Saiban Soundtrack) – YouTube

#3 Lost in Thoughts All Alone / Hitori Omou (Fire Emblem) 

‘You are the ocean’s gray waves…’ -Azura singing Lost in Thoughts All Alone 

This, also known as Azura’s theme at times, is a slow, melancholic song, which a character named Azura is known to sing from time to time in Fire Emblem Fates. This is the full version of this song and what I really like about it is how it incorporates the different paths from Fates (Birthright, Conquest and Revelation) which are the three choices that the main character, Corrin, can pick from. Corrin (there is both a male and female option and you can also change the name but Corrin is the placeholder name) is split between both nations, Hoshido and Nohr after realizing that they have blood related siblings in Hoshido but have lived their whole life in Nohr. The lyrics are beautifully crafted from the sadness of Anankos (Corrin father). This song plays during the credits of the game.

English – Lost in Thoughts All Alone

 

Japanese – Hitori Omou 

 

A small sections of the song in game (ENG and JP)

 

Similar OSTs to Lost in Thoughts All Alone/Hitori Omou that you may like…

Edge of Dawn (Seasons of Warfare) : Fire Emblem Three Houses 

JP Version – Edge of Dawn (Seasons of Warfare) (JP) – Fire Emblem: Three Houses – YouTube

ENG Version – FE Three Houses OST – 4. The Edge of Dawn (Seasons of Warfare) (English) – YouTube

Heritors of Arcadia: Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

JP Version – The Heritors of Arcadia [Japanese Version] – Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia Extended – YouTube

ENG Version – Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (OST) – The Heritors of Arcadia (English Credits Theme) – YouTube

#4 Tiki’s Themes (Fire emblem)

‘I know that to love another, I must watch the world move past him. But such short years make an eternity worth living’ – Tiki’s S-Support with Male Robin

Tiki’s themes hold some of the most depressing yet mysterious pieces of music in the Fire emblem series. With Tiki appearing in many games, her theme has been remixed quite a bit, but the melancholic melody never makes the player forget the sadness that Tiki went through due to her being a manakete which means she lives for a long time. Tiki had to see her friends die throughout her 3000 years of living in Fire Emblem Awakening but passes the wisdom and stories from her journeys to Nah, a young half-manakete, and talks about her adventures when she lived alongside Marth. Even in the title of theme in Awakening, ‘You have Power… Like Mine’ shows how she is still struggling with her immortality. She has to live longer than her friends who are mostly humans and doesn’t have any friends who are manakete or that can live long. When she says that to Robin, she realizes that they are going to struggle with outliving all of their friends too.

 

Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem: Legend of the Divine Dragon – Old Saga

 

Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem – Legend of the Divine Dragon – New Saga

 

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon- The Little Divine Dragon

Fire Emblem 7/Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade – Legend of the Dragon God

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem – Divine Child, White Sage

 

Fire Emblem: Awakening – You have Power…like mine

 

There was a battle remix for the theme in Fire Emblem Warriors titled The World Tree.

 

Similar OSTs to Tiki’s themes that you may like…

The Poem for Everyone’s Souls/Aria of the Soul/Hymn of the Soul – Persona Series: Persona 5 OST 08 – The Poem of Everyone’s Souls – YouTube

AI Heart – Persona 5 Strikers : AI Heart – Persona 5 Scramble: The Phantom Strikers – YouTube

All of Ace Attorney’s Reminiscence themes: Ace Attorney: All Reminiscence Themes 2021 (contains spoilers) – YouTube 

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Justice for All – Cross Examination (Moderate): Examination ~ Moderate 2002 Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney Justice for All Music Extended – YouTube 

 

#5 Ema Skye’s themes

‘Yes! Isn’t it amazing? Ah, the power of science. It’s my life.’ -Ema Skye in Turnabout Corner (Apollo Justice Ace Attorney)

Like Tiki, Ema has multiple themes and I enjoy listening to all of them from the musical retro beats in Ema Skye – Turnabout Sisters Theme to Ema’s more grumpy melancholy style in Apollo Justice to the happy version of Spirit of Justice’s. These different versions of Ema’s OST show Ema’s growth throughout the series with her just being a amateur high school student in the first game to her being what she always wanted to be, a forensic scientist in the latest release, Spirit of Justice. It is really hard to pick a favourite since Ema is one of my favourite characters in Ace Attorney (alongside Gina who I mentioned above. I somewhat have a thing for detectives.)

 

Ema Skye – Turnabout Sister’s Theme

Played in Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney and Miles Edgeworth Investigations 1+2

Ema Skye – Scientific Detective 

Played in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney

 

Ema Skye – Forensic Scientist

Played in Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice 

 

Similar OSTs to Ema Skye’s themes that you may like…

All detective themes from Ace Attorney: Ace Attorney: All Detective Themes 2021 – YouTube

All of the Fey’s turnabout Sisters themes: Ace Attorney: All Fey Turnabout Sisters’ Variations 2016 – YouTube

 

It was hard choosing my top 5 gaming as I enjoy playing and listening to multiple different type of soundtracks and all of the games I like are from series. I have multiple other favourites, so I put an honourable mentions section below. Enjoy!

 

Honourable Mentions

Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There (Original Persona 5’s opening): Persona 5 OST 01 – Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There – YouTube

Mass Destruction (Persona 3): Persona 3 OST – Mass Destruction – YouTube

Kazuma Asogi – Samurai with a Mission (The Great Ace Attorney Duology) : Asougi Kazuma ~ Samurai with a Mission – Dai Gyakuten Saiban Music Extended – YouTube

Professor Layton theme:  PLvsAA OST – 1-15 – Professor Layton’s Theme ~ VS Arrange ver. 1 – YouTube and Professor Layton’s theme [Extended] – YouTube 

 

 

Overcoming Hardships: The Mysterious Adventures of One’s Psyche

*Warning this article has massive spoilers for Persona 5 and the remastered game Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 Royal Box art: https://gameir.ie/news/listen-to-the-talent-behind-persona-5-royal/

Overcoming Hardships: The Mysterious Adventures of One’s Psyche

One of the best modern JRPG games to date

By Carissa Wong

“…You are held captive. A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advance. This is truly an unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you… …I beg you. Please overcome this game… and save the world… The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds—the truth that you and your friends grasped. It all began that day… when the game was started half a year ago… For the sake of your world’s future… as well as your own… you must remember…” -Lavenza

Lavenza: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/435793701440076793/
The Velvet Room Attendant and youngest of the four siblings, Lavenza:https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/435793701440076793/

Intro

Persona is a series that I had come into contact with in 2020 due to the release of the popular JRPG Persona 5 Royal. I decided to watch a playthrough of the game which led me to fall in love with the characters such as the first-year gymnast, Kasumi Yoshizawa, and the young velvet room attendant, Lavenza, who was split into two beings, forming the twins that you see at the beginning of your journey. Today I’ll be talking about the superb Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal.

Summary

The story takes place within Shibuya where the nameless protagonist (also known by his codename Joker) is transferred due to an incident involving a man and a woman. He lives with a man named Sojiro Sakura, who owns a café that he lives in. He later discovers that he has the power of the wildcard which allows him to use multiple personas (the other persona main protagonists have it as well).

Ann Takamaki, Morgana and Ren Amamiya (his true name): https://www.flickr.com/photos/151181921@N04/26513969068/

After meeting an individual dubbed Morgana, the protagonist goes on this adventure along with their group known as the Phantom Thieves to reform society and get back at the nasty adults who are ruining other peoples lives. What I enjoy about this story would be that they are considered to be the ‘bad guys’ to the public however most of the adults who the Phantom Thieves change the hearts of are ‘good’ in society’s eyes.

The story has a lovely but dark theme about the difficulties within life for a lot of the individuals and how they overcome them. All of the main characters experience different types of conflicts within the game and that is how they all awaken to their personas. I really like experiencing the main characters rise up from the bottom to the top. Atlus makes a lot of the individuals within the story relatable and I’m able to relate to some of the characters such as the technological Futaba Sakura and the gymnast Kasumi Yoshizawa.

I overall liked the story that Persona 5 Royal provided to me and seeing some of my favourite characters overcome and obtaining that freedom from the chains of their roles in society. Though there were dark moments in the story, there are some comical moments as well with the dialogue showing its funny moments through the characters interacting with each other.

Ren awakening his Persona, Arsene: https://smashboards.com/threads/when-will-joker-sneak-into-smash.481213/

Personas are the manifestations of one’s psyche and in Persona 5 at least, the main characters awaken to it due to rebelling against the situation they were brought into. For example, one of the main characters, Ann Takamaki, is stuck between rejecting her sexually abusive teacher and having her best friend off of the volleyball team. Another would be Yusuke Kitagawa with his art teacher (Sensei) who steals ideas from his pupils and ruins their lives if they were to leave or rebel against him.

This is also part of every Persona game but the way that they summon their Personas are different. In Persona 4, they use the Tarot Cards belonging to their Social Link which are the same as the Confidants in Persona 5 and the Persona 3 main characters use Evokers.

Great Gameplay and Combat

Entrance to the horrific Mementos: https://www.blogger.com/blogin.g?blogspotURL=https://histobis.blogspot.com/2020/01/persona-5-money-farm-mementos.html&type=blog

The overall gameplay is split between a social sim (as people call it) where you as the main character who you are to name (Ren Amamiya is the correct name) and the fighting which is in dungeons known as Palaces. Overall, there are nine palaces within the game (I’m talking about Royal). I’m also including Mementos which is also a palace but not like the palaces that they infiltrate.

In my opinion, I am not a fan of Mementos and there are multiple others who agree with me. Mementos manages to change the dungeon’s layout every time you are to enter, getting lost within the mini dungeon. It is also where the side quests take place.

Classroom Lectures: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53705511

The social sim part of the game, you [as the main character] have a choice to up the something known as a confidant which is the same as the social links in the past games. This has you go and get involved with some characters around Shibuya. All of the confidants go to stage ten except for Kasumi who I won’t talk a lot about due to huge spoilers. I also advise people to focus on maxing out the confidant for a school councilor named Takuto Maruki, a detective named Goro Akechi, and the gymnast, Kasumi Yoshizawa. Maxing those allows you to access an optional dungeon at the end of the game which means more content!

Not only are the confidants there to learn more about the characters, but you can also romance them as well (only the females). My go-to romance option has always been Kasumi as she is the one that I feel is close to Joker and I personally ship them. In the ninth confidant, Kasumi literally confesses her feeling to him and she is the only one who does that.

Not only do you get to roam the streets of Tokyo, but you also get to go to school (Yay!). School is from Monday to Saturday with Sunday being a day off where you can roam the streets in the morning instead of the afternoon. While you are in class, however, you have to answer questions based on different information from history to random facts. This can up your knowledge skill.

At certain points in the game, there are exams which consists of the things that you answered in class plus other information that was not covered in class (fun!). Exams, I feel are useless as the only thing you really get from it is the increase on the charm stat and it takes all of the time during those four days so you can’t get confidants up during that time.

Gameplay in Kaneshiro’s Palace: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=53705511

The combat is turn-based. You have four characters that fight in the battle which the other Phantom Thieves are off to the side. Joker always has to be in your party as the only way to get a game over is when Joker loses all of his HP (Hit Points). You’re able to switch the characters but you had to have started the confidant with a Kosei student by the name of Hifumi Togo. The first part of the confidant allows only Joker to switch out the party members on his turn but when you get to ten, anyone can switch anyone out.

 

Introduced in the Royal version of the game, there are these special moves called Showtime attacks which allow two of your party members to do a specialized attack. Overall, everyone in the  PT group gets two each except for Futaba who doesn’t fight, Akechi, and Kasumi.

Catchy Music

The music is one of the best things about the game. The Jazz, the rock…it’s some of the best video game music I have heard. Between Life Will Change and the slow rendition of No more what ifs, the music doesn’t have any bad moments and allows me to listen to them consistently without ever feeling tired of hearing them. My favourite beats consist of the boss theme, Rivers in the Desert, the quiet Hymn of the Soul (also known as Aria of the Soul), the opening to the original Persona 5, Wake Up, Get Up, Get Out There, and much more.

The music is one of the best things to listen to within the game and I highly recommend listening playing the other Persona games for their music as well. Persona 4’s music is considered to be the best out of the Persona music but for me, all of the music is equal. Also you can check out my other blog post showcasing my favourite gaming original soundtrack (ost) and I inserted some Persona 5 ost so you can give that a listen.

Awesome References

Rise! https://www.polygon.com/2017/4/11/15263198/persona-5-references

I love how there are multiple references to the past persona games referenced all over the game including Persona 4 main characters, Rise Kujikawa and Naoto Shirogane (with the former having her own poster hanging around which you can hang up in your room). There are also very vague references to characters such as Akihiko Sanada, Yukiko Amagi and Tohru Adachi which are nice to see. There are also actual references to real life such as movies, songs, and different types of products such as ‘Second Maid.’

King Oberon and Queen Titania, leaders of the realm of fairies in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf9mPo6aRkM

One of things I enjoy seeing within each of the Persona games would be how the personas are actually from different literature and myths like Titania and Oberon from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Athena from Greek myth, Thor and Loki from Norse Myth, etc. I like how I can see some of my favourite mythological creatures and characters in the game (we must protect Jack Frost, hee ho!). I would also like to point out that Persona is a spinoff of the Shin Megami Tensei series which also includes these.

Reviews/Reception 

Persona 5 along with its rerelease Persona 5 Royal demonstrated to the public that they were one of the best games during this generation. Multiple review platforms complemented it and giving it a high tiered score such as NintendoLife  and its sister site, PushSquare giving Persona 5 Royal a beautiful 10/10 and IGN giving the original Persona 5 a 9.7/10 and Royal a 10/10. With it now rightfully released on Nintendo Switch, the groups of people who didn’t get to play it due to only owning Nintendo consoles, get to play this masterpiece.

Persona 5 and It’s Spinoffs

The Persona 5 (series) consists of the original, Royal version, Dancing game, and Strikers. Persona 5 Royal is the enhanced version of Persona 5, Persona 5 Strikers is a sequel to the original, and Persona 5 Dancing in Starlight is a spin off that plays as a rhythm game.

The adorable AI, Sophia: https://gamingbolt.com/persona-5-scramble-the-phantom-strikers-trailer-showcases-sophia

Persona 5 Strikers takes place after the original Persona 5 and has Joker, who had went back to his hometown, coming back to the city to see his friends during the summer break. He finds himself in trouble again once he and his best friend, Ryuji accidently get sucked into the Metaverse. As at the end of Persona 5, the Metaverse/Palaces are supposed to be gone. They realize after meeting a young AI girl by the name of Sophia (Sophie is her code name) that they are in a place called a Jail.

Ann Takamaki dancing to a song (P5 Dancing in Starlight): https://fivestargames.com.au/product/persona-5-dancing-in-starlight/

I liked this story as we got to see the journey that Sophia went through from not knowing much about the human heart to actually having a Persona herself which are suppressed feelings being released. 

The dancing game is more straight forward with it being a rhythm game with them just tasked with a dancing competition with the Velvet room siblings (Elizabeth and her group). With both Persona 5 Dancing and Persona 3 Dancing releasing at the same time, both are somewhat linked to each other.

Conclusion

Overall, the game is one of the perfect games for me. It takes place in modern time, the main characters are teenagers, there are tragedies and drama within the game, and they have lots of references to literature. Those kinds of tropes are ones that I enjoy. The game also has wonderful characters who have amazing character growth and how they interact with each other doesn’t seem forced and weird. The game’s combat is awesome and how they got rid of issues that were present in the original P5 like how your gun would be refilled after battle. I enjoyed experiencing the adventures and hanging around the Phantom Thieves.