MIDI Week Singles: "Zoness" - Star Fox 64 (N64)

"Zoness" from Star Fox 64 on the Nintendo 64 (1997)
Composer: Hajime Wakai
Record Label: Pony Canon PCCG-00421
Game Developer: Nintendo

First off, did you know that with this song (and 22 others), this was Hajime Wakai's first soundtrack that he composed?  Sure he worked on Yoshi's Story doing sound effects, but this, right here is his first soundtrack.  Damn.

That aside, the music used in the Zoness stage in Star Fox 64 was probably my favorite track from the entire game.  Coupled with the fact that Zoness was one of those stages that you had to make the conscious decision to go to meant that you either enjoyed the level, enjoyed the music or you hated it and wanted to get to Sector Z to finally destroy both of those damn missiles before one of them collided with the Great Fox.  

But for me, it was the music in Zoness.  After completing the game you were awarded with being able to listen to the soundtrack and I don't know why I never got around to purchasing the soundtrack when I first had the chance, but since then I've been able to acquire the whole thing and this was the first song I listen to upon fixing all the ID3 tags; or maybe I made that part up, but it sounds good anyway.



~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
Instrumental

MIDI Week Singles: "Disused Military Depot" - GoldenEye 007 (N64)

AAAAAAAHhhhhhhhhh!!

We're late today and it's all my fault, but moving on.

"Disused Military Depot" from Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo 64

No official soundtrack release that I am aware of.

Composers: Graeme Norgate & Grant Kirkhope

Game Developer: Rare.

Sure, sure.  There could have been any number of tracks from this N64 gem of 1997 you say.  "What about the 'Mission Briefing' theme or the hard hitting tunes from the 'Severnaya Installation?"  And you know what, you're right on both counts, those are both great tracks and I may just have to go and do a Game Scores article, now that you've talked me into it.

But we're here today to listen and hear me talk about "Disused Military Depot" which y'all may remember from the "Depot" level about 2/3rds of the way through the game.  Upon hearing this, I immediately become nervous about having to go through this damned level on 00 Agent difficulty.  Even during the song I can hear the rapid fire of the DK5 Deutsche (fictional version of the HK MP5K if you're at all interested) and the "click-chick" of reloading after every tenth shot fired throughout the majority of the level.  I know for certain that I will make a mistake as the warehouse doors are opening, misfire at the Russian soldiers and end up taking one more point of damage that I knew I could have avoided, which leads to the inevitable restart.

What I find great about this song is that it starts off with your typical "spy in a dangerous action situation," but by 0:48, some MIDI trumpets come in and semi-heroic motif and you start to think that things are swinging your way.  Then at 1:02, deeper resonating and more heroic MIDI horns come in to let you know that America (or in this case Britain and MI6) is here to save the day.  

Oddly enough, this is one of the few tracks from the game that doesn't contain that hollow pipe break-drum sound that was so prominent in both the game and the movie that spawned this glorious child.  It also doesn't contain any inkling of the traditional Monty Norman James Bond theme.  This tune is a lot more militaristic, possibly because of the setting and the prominent use of snare drums throughout most of the song.

So even if this isn't you're particular favorite track from Goldeneye 007, maybe it will be covered in the future or if Dr. Potts wants to compose his own MWS using a track from the same game.  Until next week then.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian
How Did It Ever Begin?

Whatever Impressions: Fallout (PC)

I say "Whatever" not because this game came out 17 years ago or because its graphics are dated, but because I have started various characters in Fallout, the first being about four years ago after Vorlynx bought the game for me while we were browsing around Best Buy (I have since forgotten our reason for being in Best Buy in the fist place though).  

Anyway, my first run through, I thought I had beaten the game when I acquired the computer chip required to fix the water filtration system and brought it back to Vault 13 before the 150 day time limit expired.  People who have played before know that this is not the way to win the game.  I then did something very stupid.  I found a gun that I did not really care for, only later realizing that said gun happened to be one of the rarest guns in the game and can only be found by a random encounter with an alien saucer.  That gun, I sold for a paltry sum, so I created a new character, intent on finding that gun again.

That was when I found out that the gun could only be found by random chance and was not a static item in the world.  Needless to say I became a bit discouraged having scrapped my first character and now finding out that the super awesomely powerful alien gun was simply random.  So I continued playing until I reached an underground military-type facility full of things that wanted to kill me that I could not escape.  I think it had to do with the Brotherhood of Steel.  So I had to start over.

My third character, I did a lot of similar actions and stories that I did with my first two characters, but this time I found a dog as a companion that fought along side me.  I went on a mission to oust a bandit that was raiding in the nearby area.  At some point during the umteenth time I tried taking out all the bandits, the dog was killed.  I of course did not realize this until after I had been successful in taking out all of the bandits.  I was seriously at a crossroads as to whether or not I should restart for the sake of my digital dog.  After some time to grieve, I decided that the death of the dog was a character building moment and went on with my life.  The last I saw of this character, I was in town that had some kind of rad-creature infestation in a warehouse area that I was trying to clear out so that I could potentially have better gear/weapons/money.

Then Conklederp and I moved up to Portland and I rediscovered Diablo II.  A few months later I poured a pint of Guinness on my computer.  I have not played or attempted to play Fallout since that dark time.  Until today (today being October 23rd as opposed to the 27th).

What I have noticed so far, and it is something that is leftover from the previous times I have played, is that I am constantly afraid that I am going to do something that will fuck up the story.  I am not referring to the 150 days I have to fix the water filter in the vault or the extension you can buy from the water supplier, although those deadlines do not help.  I am referring to the many stories and side quests that exist within this game.  I want to be successful.  I want to save the people in Vault 13.  I want to not have my dog (wherever it may be) die.  I want to explore the world and I want to build the best character I can without the help of a "Build the Best Fallout Character to Have the Most Fun or You Suck at Gaming" guide.  

Wasting time in Junktown, or finding a way to save the people back in Vault 13?

I just feel that I am doomed from the outset.  It probably has a lot to do with the time limit established at the beginning of the game, and even knowing that I can extend that time limit by an extra 100 days.  I honestly do not know what happens when Vault 13 runs out of water.  Does the game end the same way as if you were killed?  Do you just go on exploring the world knowing that everyone you grew up with has died from dehydration?  But I love this world.  I want to know what happens to the people in Vault 13 and all the other Vaults that I have yet to come across.  However, there is this constant nagging feeling that I am wasting time and that I have not done something correctly.  That is probably not the best feeling to have going into a game for the fourth time.

Yet on I play.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Like Pawns On A Distant Shore