[PB67] Charriu promotes the arts

[Charriu]

I have plans to go up there, especially if we don't get the Pyramids

[Charriu]

The song

https://ffdistantworlds.bandcamp.com/tra...-fantasy-v

Music: Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY - Distant Worlds IV: more music from FINAL FANTASY "Main Theme of Final Fantasy V"

If you are looking for any concerts regarding Final Fantasy chances are very high you first find Distant Worlds. It's a concert series touring all around the world with excellent arrangements of the themes from all different Final Fantasy games. They started staying very close to the original composition, but with each album they brought up the courage to bring in something of their own to the arrangment.

The song I chose here of course is the main theme and beginning of Final Fantasy V. We start with an awesome intro that is definitely not present in the original, but is certainly fitting for those epic Final Fantasy games. I love how every part of the orchestra has its short moment to shine in this intro before we actually fall back to the original composition at 0:20. From here on out we stay fairly close to the original, but the arranger always found moments for some nice additions or embelishments like the strings in the background of 0:32, the xylophones and strings at 0:47 or the woods at 0:56.
We stay true to the original almost to the same point in which it normally starts to loop. But we make a hard turn thanks to the strings at 1:28 and start a longer journey back to the beginning of the original. Here the arrangeur shows what he can do by returning to their own introduced motives from the beginning of the piece like in the lower brass at 1:37 and following. And we here another little part from the beginning (0:13) during this transition at 1:57. A really expertly done transition.
We return to the original at 2:07 beautifully presented by the flutes and other wood instruments, but underneath the main theme something new is happening within the strings or later in the wood instruments at 2:40. We finish our second run through the theme at 3:06 and start with the outro. Here we hear that Final Fantasy V can also sound like jazz at 3:12. This almost ends the piece, but before that we finally return on last time to the new motives from the beginning at 3:27.

This was a great piece by Distant Worlds and I think a very fitting start for this game. You can buy this song directly from bandcamp. Now one last thing. Should you ever attend one of their concerts a little hint. They do like to show moments from the games on video during the concerts. I know people love those, but I noticed that looking at a video during the song diminishs ones ability to listen properly to the song itself. So I usually close my eyes during the video parts so I can fully concentrate on the music.

T0:

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And the Musical Empire is going!!!

As you can see I moved the scout to the PH spot. And I think the mapmaker made it easy for us. This doesn't look like a promising spot for our capitol, so I settled in place. Scout will go N-NE next and trys to get further away from the capitol. Thanks to CRE we can expect the second border pop at T25 a few turns before our first settler. Oh and as you can see the capitol revealed another interesting 4 foodhammer tile in the west.

I renamed the capitol to our first video game composer and who else would be fitting for that then Civ 4s very own:

Christopher Tin

I doubt the man needs a lot of introduction. You know him for composing the great "Baba Yetu", Civ 4s intro theme, and also Civ 6s "Sogno di Volare", which personally I like even better then Baba Yetu. I can also highly recommend his first album "Calling all Dawns". Mr. Tin might not have a big track record like some other big names in VGM, but the things he has done so far are awesome. I think we can expect a lot more from him in the future and I'm looking forward to that.

[Miguelito]

huh, maybe settling on that elephant we'll get seafood? Seriously, it's a 2 hammer tile with 2 lighthouse lake if that is sea. Not at all a 2nd city though.

[Charriu]

Thought so too, we'll see what exploration will reveal about that.

[Charriu]

The song



Music: Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra - Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon - "And Here's A Little Waltz"

Some of you may know that Japan always was a step ahead when in comes to video game music and their representation in the concert halls. This 1993 recording is a good example and to add to that this isn't even a piece from the main Dragon Quest series but rather a smaller spin off. How rare is that. To be honest I haven't played the game myself, but I have played the Mystery Dungeon series, but because of that I'm not totally aware of the original composition named "Eternal Happiness". For those looking for the OST that should be it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec-aWGQO1Bw

I chose this piece because for me I felt it fits the exploration phase quiet well. The little quiet parts stirring the urge for adventure giving to lovely outbursts at 1:04, 1:40 and 2:20 are just very charming. I also think I heard the ship theme from Dragon Quest in there from time to time adding to the sense of exploration and all. Unlike other pieces from this concert series, this piece stays closer to the original composition, which is totally fine if you remember that this is a piece rarely arranged or even played.

As for buying this piece and the albums of the Orchestral Game Music Concerts. You are most certainly out of luck. These are very rare albums and hard to come by, so get them where ever you can. I myself attended some other concerts am still hoping to get some sort of recording of those some day.

T3:

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As you can see the scout moved east and we got our first border pop. Someone certainly likes putting forests on food resources.

Miguelito it looks like a city on the elephant looks more likely, but like you said not for second city. As for the second city my eyes are for a spot by the river either north 1W of rice or south at the river by the wheat, both because of their immediate food resource and the trade connection. Most likely I'm going for the southern spot, because I can farm the wheat immediately, remember Bronze Working comes some turns after the first settler is done. Thankfully the second border pop at T25 will get us the hill south of the pig revealing more of that position.

As for the scout it will continue along the coast northward most likely 1NW rather then stepping on the rice. There is another land tile north of the rice, but I think that part is a peninsula. Have to have a look at that via free flying camera next time.

[Miguelito]

I think the PH by the wheat should also connect through lake +river? Wheat is dry though and maybe we just don't want to miss out on sharing the pig.
North looks like a decent 3rd city, sharing either rice or sugar, but with all the forests it requires at least a second worker.
Alternatively N of elephant misses out on the 2h city square but shares wet rice. You are the expert, is it connected through lake+river?
Still not plausible as 2nd, but maybe 3rd

[Charriu]

PH by the wheat. Do you mean the one 1N of wheat? That's not a possible city spot because of distance to capitol. The one 1S of wheat might connect. Depends on the river and lake underneath the fog of war.

Yes, north might be a 3rd city with another worker.

1N of elephant as well as elephant itself are not connected to the capitol for trade. But 2 roads W of elephant will connect it.

[Miguelito]

Yes I meant 1S of wheat. 2h plant is of course attractive for a second city, but it looks like we have to decide between that and food sharing.

[Charriu]

The song



Music: Video Games Live - Civilization IV - "Baba Yetu"

"Yeah, right" you may think: "I know that song". But do you really. As soon as 0:11 hits I expect you to think, well that is new. If I understood it correctly then the arrangeur of this piece is non other then Christopher Tin himself. We all already know what a great song this is and that it rightfully earned Tin a grammy. But I think he managed to make this song even better with this opening.

You certainly recognize some themes and motives like in the brass section of 0:44 or the upward movement at 1:14. The new and lovely opening will end at 1:38 with the very familiar regular opening. From here on out we here what we already know with only really minor additions and embelishments.

So why did I chose this song. Well this turn I met Tarkeel and I figured why not take a song from a game the players like, when I first meet them. Tarkeel obviously chose Civ 4 and I only regret giving everybody a song of their own, if they all choose Baba Yetu. 

As for buying this piece and attending concerts. You can find all the infos here: Vide Games Live.

T9:

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As you can see I uncovered more of the north. The eastern part looks to be a land bridge with good terrain. That obviously can't be said about the land west of the land bridge. Desert all the way.

If you've read the song part you already know the important event this turn. I met the very first player: Tarkeel. His scout came from the west and is currently on the same tile as my scout. We already started some diplomacy:

Greetings Mr Music, it seems that our scouts have made contact
As a starter, are you interested in share which direction our capitals lie from the meeting point?

Well hello Mr Tabletop.

Yes of course we can share that. My capital lies south of my scout

Excellent. Mine is almost due north of my scout, there's a landbridge to the west
I hope we can have a fruitful sharing of the land between us

...

But as you can assume from my comment there's also what seems to be a landbridge in the east

I think there's going to be a few landbridges in this game; it's the best way to keep distances up and tilecount down

I'm very happy with Tarkeel being my neighbor. Not only is he more of a peaceful player type, but he also shares the same time zone with me, which makes communication a lot easier. Yes, there is the slight issue of him playing Rome, but as I've stated in the beginning, I think that was a defensive pick.

Last thing I also realized that we are playing without barbarians, which I totally had forgotten and was afraid of loosing my scout to some animals in the desert. I would have love to play with barbs, but alas the players were against it. Honestly on a bigger map like advertised playing without barbs takes out a lot of the early game and makes farmers gambits way more likely. If Tarkeel is correct and we are connected via land bridges then that makes defending even easier.

By the way let me know if the style for diplo messages works out for you.

[Charriu]

The song



Music: Wurtzel - Zelda: Breath of the Wild - "Riding (Day/Night) Medley"

This piece combines the two songs played, when you are riding for a longer time in Breath of the Wild. We start with the night theme. Wurtzel keeps their interpretation in the same minimalistic style from the original, but with some beautiful changes. First you will notice the background layer consisting of xylophones and strings, giving this arrangment a lot more warms. Then Wurtzel had the brilliant idea to give the main melody to the harp, which fits just perfectly. But listen closely to what the wood instruments start doing at 1:04. Yes that's the main melody from Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Another beautiful twist comes at 1:56 when after a short but very nice transition we are in the other day version of the riding song and this time xylophones take over the melody from the harps. Then at 2:39 we get the iconic Zelda theme played by the strings. Normally this is played in the night theme, but it works just as well in the day version. But that's not all because Wurtzel has another trick up their sleeve, when at 3:00 the song takes up some pace and the great trailer theme from Breath of the Wild starts playing in the background. All in all a beautiful arrangment of these themes.

As for buying this piece you best check out Wurtzel's patreon linked in the video description.

T13:

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As you can see I uncovered more of the north west, which looks better then the direct north, but not amazing. The land bridge Tarkeel was talking about looks to be bigger then expected.

But of course the important thing for this report is already hinted by my song choice. I discovered horses in a nice position. Second city down south by the river looks more likely.