Algorithm’d again. Great song. It’s still incredible to me how this song - hell, the entire soundtracks of both games - using a made up language that we can’t and won’t ever understand still imparts such emotion. Okabe and Co. are out here carving a legacy of their own and I feel he and his team still doesn’t get as much credit as they probably deserve.
There are some attempts at decrypting some of the songs, because we can discern the source languages in some cases and in one case we have two natlang versions of the song we could, in theory, use as a kind of Rosetta's Stone (the problem being that the meaning of the lyrics of Weight of the World is already different in English from the meaning in Japanese, probably specifically to make it more resistant to decryption, or possibly to help disguise the fact that there is no decryption to be done in the first place and that the different dialects of Chaos Language are based almost solely on the phonotactics of the source languages they are meant to evoke and tailoured to fit the melody). That said, we do know that Chaos Language is at least not entirely arbitrary, because Emi Evans (a true logophile and passionate amateur philologist, which, fun fact, are two words each made up of the same two root words in opposite orders) made it clear that she interspersed words of the dying Chamicuro language in the Chaos version of Weight of the World as a means of honouring and preserving the dying language.
"using a made up language that we can’t and won’t ever understand" Chaos Language is made of several languages. If it can be put together, it can be taken apart.
I think what city ruins captures is the sadness of exploring a destroyed place. Something you don't see a lot. While it's beautiful and peaceful, it's also like you can feel the souls of the people who once lived here weeping.
As I composer myself, I spent an even more time listening to the music than playing the game, I even went through a rough study part of how to nail it, and it always comes down to one thing, humanity. the theme's especially shadowlord and song of the ancient translate their respective emotions with such human perfection. Sometimes I just listen to it and start tearing, kinda like a musical depression for me
There's a GDC presentation Yoko Taro gave one year, that I'm sure you can find if you dig a little (it's called something like "making weird games for weird people"), and if I recall correctly it was near the end of that when he said something I found heartbreaking: Namely, he said that he felt like he had failed as a game developer because he had failed to make a game that was truly groundbreaking, as a way of expressing his hope that indie developers will form a new wave of master artists and take up his mantle. It's wild hearing that from undoubtedly one of the greatest geniuses of the artforms of game design and interactive fiction writing, whose work has touched so many people in profound ways. Also hurt to hear him say in a (relatively) more recent interview that his next project would probably be a mobile game (since then he has directed two, I believe, SINoALICE and NieR Reincarnation) "because it's profitable." It came off as a cry for help because of the restrictions Square Enix places on him. On the other side of the coin, it's worth noting that he did not start as a director, he started as a visual artist. Cavia/Square gave him the chance to direct a game with Drag-On Dragoon (aka Drakengard), a game with an interesting narrative but which almost everyone agrees was ruined by corporate suits (who meddled even more than usual and gave Yoko Taro very difficult demands, basically telling him to make three conflicting games, which resulted in one very bizarre, barely-functional game, though this clash of core mechanics would become a staple of his design philosophy albeit much better-executed in his later titles; this experience led him to claim he would never work on another Drakengard, though he got sucked into working on (not directing) DOD2, and took up the director's mantle again with DOD3, though not before directing NieR Gestalt and Replicant), so it's fortunate first of all that he ever got a chance to direct games at all, and second that his career as a director didn't end with his first project but got to carry on with NieR Gestalt/Replicant/Automata and DOD3. It's also worth noting that when he said he felt he had failed, it was before Automata, which is arguably his masterpiece, so I guess there's some hope that he feels better about his accomplishments today.
I feel like this whole song represents the yorha units and how they have all the makings of being human, but they’re not quite there. That’s the reason why I believe the metallic sound you hear is there.
Well, what this song is actually about, is 2B and 9S time spent together. It's their "loving memories". When you come across 2Bs flight unit in the sunken city, a voice recording of hers plays which basically says that "the days I spent with you.....were like rays of light, in my life" So the song being called "rays of light", is essentially a sad song about remembering the good times in our lives (or their lives in this case). It's a song of remembrance, of better times. Which makes it an exceedingly sad song. The song that plays in the games city once things....change. is called shade. Why? Well let's just say rays of light cast shadows. Trying to avoid giving spoilers. But yeah this song isn't really so much about being human, yet not being granted the title of human. It's a song about 2B's and 9S's personal relationship.
@@RedBull528 no matter how you spin it or stretch it, it's still specifically about what I mentioned, and not about being more human. It may supplement into it a bit, buy its still not what its about.
@@trevorveillette8415I personally disagree. It's definitely about 2B and 9S and their relationship, but their relationship is what allows them to grow past their duties as machines and attain their humanity. So it's about their love, and how that love (instead of the violence and brutality of the other machines) help them become more.
The song is so beautiful, it always makes me want to cry. And it’s true, I have heard that song so many times, for so many hours, and I’ve never gotten sick of it. I enjoy it every time, I still get emotional every time too. Absolute masterpiece.
Same here, im very emotional person with music, and Nier Automata, Genshin Impact, Arknights and many other OSTs cause on me many things. I live the music, when I listen to it I enjoy every melody, I can't do anything else but take my time and enjoy listening without doing anything else. Music made for games is on another level to express feelings. (Sorry for my english, im not native)
City Ruins really depicts NieR: Automata for the most part in my opinion (I haven't played the whole game yet), a serene melody laced with undercurrents of desire and despair, sprinkled with reflections of ally and foe, of right and wrong, and yet, reflections are not always uniform, they are not always trustworthy.
In my opinion, songs like this tell another layer to the story in Nier Automata. I firmly believe that the story is incomplete without the music in the game. Each one is beautifully composed and they all tell their own stories; whether it is during a boss or during a specific area or segment of the game. If one listens carefully with some (doesn't need to be a lot) knowledge of the history of the world in Nier and the meaning or tone behind a lot of these pieces...evolve in a certain way. At least in my opinion.
Such a tranquil song. Keiichi Okabe is my favourite composer, hands down. Here's an interesting tidbit: A while ago, when I donated to a piano streamer to have him play the song "War & War", he pointed out that it is another version of City Ruins. It's so different that I never noticed, but it's true. I recommend giving it another listen with that in mind. I love songs that evolve over a game's playtime. Thanks for another great video. Looking forward to more videos and the NieR series especially.
Gonna listen to this today. I’m trying to find a schedule for this because I’m just excited to talk about this music. I just don’t want to burn out! But there’s so much to discuss. Glad longer videos are okay though
@@MarcoMeatball Absolutely, take your time. I can't speak for other people, but for me it's very interesting to hear your take on individual elements and changes. If I just want to listen to the song, I can do that on UA-cam or Spotify for free any time. So don't be afraid to speak your mind, imho.
Okabe tends to do that a lot where he makes songs that sound nothing a like, but they are at the core the same. Another example of this is “Emil/Sacrifice” and “Emil’s Shop”, each sounding completely different, but actually have the same notes played at different frequencies and tempos
9:15 that wilting metallic echo is really the central sentiment of the entire piece throughout the different versions of City Ruins used for game states/events (Most Automata songs are subdivided in versions, Quiet, Medium, & Dynamic, which are further branched into Instrumenal & vocal, with 8-bit versions for hacking segments). It's mainly perceived as an accent in the vocal versions, yet in the intrumental version, the metal echo remains as the vocals & various instruments are scrubbed and especially in the quiet instrumental version, becomes ever present, carrying the weight of the melancholy all the same in its tiny sound. That melancholy the groaning metallic sigh represents, can't be anything else but the tired desolation of both the city ruins & the machines of the game. After killing their masters & gaining tenuous autonomy, the machines have been searching for the meaning of life for millennia, which in irony eventually lead them to emulating the humanity they were created to destroy. So they come to same philosophical questions, conclusions, & paradoxes over and over, developing the same mental tendencies, illnesses, & psychoses. In the broader picture, the land collaterally suffers as the Machines & Yorha wage their long war. By the time of the game, these short breaths in between symbolizes an audible geographic sigh of resignation, as the land simply waits for its inhabitants to impart the newest scar upon its face.
@@MarcoMeatball Whenever you decide to do a video on Temple of Drifting Sands, I ask you reflect on the metallic echo of City Ruins. In Drifting Sands, it is present in a previous form as a rich guitar & a particularly exotic twangy strum that represents a prior nostalgic sentiment that runs along the timeline of the story, and feeds into that echo. Unlike the solitary and resigned metallic sigh from City Ruins, they go with the rest of the piece a timely reminder, that even ruins and dying cultures must be cherished and appreciated for what they are while they are still here.
Made-up languages are really interesting. How much we can relate to the song, even if it's of no real language and how much we can interpret of what is happening and what the song is trying to 'tell us'. All Nier soundtracks have such gems as this one. Another interesting franchise using it it Made in Abyss (with "abyss language" like in Hanezeve Caradhina song), as even if the style looks cutely, the stories of characters and the world itself are mostly sad, mysterious and definitely not as "advertised" by the style.
Between Emi Evans creating the Chaos Language. Keiichi Okabe's brilliance. And J'nique Nicole's incredible voice. This track is just a masterpiece, could listen to this all day. It fits so well with the setting; Walking through the grave of a long gone civilization whilst the beauty of nature has reclaimed it and the machine lifeforms have made it their new home. Good to see your channel has almost doubled in size since last video :) Edit: Have you considered making a Discord Server for the channel? Not required obviously. Would make a nice place for like-minded peeps to hang out.
Thanks as always for your input Aaron. I haven’t done anything yet 🤣 I’ve just been trying to grow this by pumping out content without burning out. I’ll sort it out. This channel went 30-200 in three days or so so I’m just trying to keep people watching stuff. I have enjoyed what I interpret as a musician to what people interpret with their imaginations!
this piece with the dynamic vocals and the vocal version of the resistance camp are my favorite pieces in the game. and it fits the area so well too! in the beginning of the game with all the chaos in the factory you don't have a moment to breathe and collect yourself. you had calm on the orbital station, but the city was actually open and lush. not only could you breathe but you had ROOM to breathe! and that's how the song feels, it feels open and it feels like i can run in a field forever like 2B can.
Wow! I didn't realize you did a reaction video for this one. I had so much fun singing it and it's also one of my favs from the soundtrack too. It's really nice to hear your take on it. Looking forward to watching your other videos as well 😊
I was listening to some lo-fi NieR earlier today and youtube decided to show me your channel. Subbed! Found Okabe back in the day because of the first NieR. Loved ever since and it has a special place in my heart. Automata has the special mood set, from City Ruins to the Desert to the Amusement Park. And a Beautiful Song, oh boy.
The metalic instrument recalls the wind blowing through empty streets with a slight echo that can be intepreted as empty metal pipes that winds blow through. Giving a ghostly and haunting feeling to the music. Which contrast the voice who despite it seemingly recounting a lost, still holds hope for life.
Agreed. To me it just adds a somberness to the soundtrack. I love how the same notes in the piano and harp take you on a whe different journey depending on if that Hollow sound is playing, or if it's just the soprano, or when the drums get added. It's a very dynamic track that shows up a lot in the game but evokes a different reaction depending on which part of the song plays
I feel like the machine sound might represent the machines and YorHa in general, the song is called city ruins so theres I feel 3 important components in the song and in the area, ruins of humans (the voice melody) the instruments (nature) and the machine sound (machines and androids)
I got this one looping on repeat in my in-game house in Final Fantasy XIV. From all the songs it got from its Automata crossover (which is a lot, including 3 new mix-up tracks) it's the one I chose as the one I can listen to for hours on end.
The first time i heard it, i was like, ah okay this is just gonna be a thing now, and it's quite random, like a bit of elevator music... 24hrs in and I'm just whistling and humming the song when I'm not even playing the game 😂
When I first heard rays of light I was completely grabbed. When I heard the amusement park theme I fell in love with the game. When I finished the game and got the E ending. It became my favorite game. I truly love nier automata
The "metallic" background noise reminds me of wind, but especially when the piano picks up, it becomes this kind of... slow breathing that adds to the overall calm, quiet atmosphere. It really drives home how both peaceful and abandoned the city ruins are. Also, I'm sure others have brought this up, but in-game, the music actually smoothly transitions between the different "versions" of the track, adding more layers when action happens and growing quieter when you're just exploring the post-apocalyptic landscape. There's also a whole different version of the City Ruins theme (called "City Ruins - Shade") that replaces this one after a certain point in the game!
I recommend listening to Pascal’s theme, City of Commerce, Prestigious Mask, Lost Forest, & Hills of Radiant winds. They all have their own small hidden why they sound like that.
So my experience with the Nier series begun as a child when I played NieR (Gestalt ver.) on the Wii. I found the game to be very peaceful but as a child I was pretty timid and scared of dark storylines, so whenever I saw something scary I passed the controller to my older brother to play for me. I loved the game and it's cemented as one of my core memories, I saw a few gameplay videos and fell in love with the music. I was overjoyed when I heard there was a sequel. During year 7, I downloaded the city ruins themes on my phone and listened to it constantly on repeat often, it was a very beautiful soundtrack that I loved. Glad we were kinda similar!
For as dumb as it sounds, I only got invested in Nier, or rather, their music, because I'm playing a gacha game that featured a collab with Nier like 2 months ago. The collab had the existentialism theme as part of the story; and the music featured was similar to Nier. It made want to tackle the original source and, good lord, it's beautiful. City Ruins has become my favorite theme so far due to the many feelings in it: somber, emptiness, a sense of duty to carry out... but doing so among the vestiges of a long gone civilization. It really makes me emotional. And I agree with most of your takes in this theme. It really is like something that feels like you could put in the background for hours. The "gibberish" in this reminds me so much of part of the soundtrack from the Kara No Kyoukai movies that involve made up language
I only just a few days ago heard this song for the first time, it wasn't even in Nier, i modded a game (Sekiro) to use the soundtrack of the nier series, this song played on the first area of that game with that mod and it made it so magical. Love this song so much now even though i've never played any of the Nier games, but now i think i will in the future
I always liked to think that the breathy machine sound that's playing in the background of the gentle, organic-sounding piano is kind of like how the machines and androids are sort of 'breathing' life into this humanless world where only remnants of humanity once used to be, which is now overtaken and teeming with plant-life and animals. It also sounds like something that's trying to imitate human breathing or gasping, but it just sounds mechanical or machine-like rather than natural.
I think this is one of the most beautiful pieces of game music I've ever heard. When I first heard it in the ruins I thought there where English lyrics going: "staaaay wiiiiith meeee, plaaaay wiiiith meee. Motionless love, empty inside", And I could never catch anything else. I never caught that it was completely in another language until I tried looking up the lyrics to it.
Your vids on this game earned my subscription and just the rawness and honesty you bring out not to mention just talking about music I LOVE and games I ADORE just YESS I love your vids and takes and we need more of you
This song just hits differently after you beat the game fully. It's so depressing, but also peaceful. My favorite track is "Wretched Weaponry: Dynamic". Would love to hear your reaction to that or "A Beautiful Song" at some point in the future!
I remember listening to this song when in the screen the city is just appearing and showing the huge trees in between the ruins, and thinking of the implication of how much time has passed and how peaceful it looked despite the destruction. And it was just the start of the adventure.
I love how you mention that City Ruins sounds like English. I love how there are songs that sound like different languages, even though none of them actually are said language. It just gives it an extra little push of "familiar, but unknown" that persists in so many aspects of the game.
Is this the ac blowing on me or is it the music? Either way, I get chills with the music from nier no matter how much I listen to it. It takes me to a different world. It relaxes me, enables me to focus to write in my journal. The nier gestalt soundtrack was my favorite for years, and nier automata is no different. The nier gestalt soundtrack was what got me into the series. I don't think I have cried so much while playing a game. I love amusement park. That song I always imagine a ballerina-jester dancing in the snow.
I'm really happy that you decided to really dive deep in this OST! Like I said in your last video, I love both NieR's OST so much, it's exactly like you said, some pieces you can just hear all day without stop. Gonna watch all your videos about it! Great analysis, btw! Best wishes from Brazil! :D
I'm of the opinion the 'mechanical' wind pad represents the emptiness of the ruins and a reminder of what used to be there. The song starts with it, builds to the bustle of a city, then returns to the empty field full of nothing but wind that it started as.
Days of Ancient Glory, Clinging to Our Past, Remember .... Never Forget. Also the "mechanical" like you mention is like ..... an ancient guardian vibe who will keep guarding the sacred place, for centuries to come. An eyes who look you behind the darkness
Had the pleasure to play Automata a few years ago, I wasn't the least prepared to what I found there. I couldn't get outside the city just to feel it's atmosphere and how it varies to what's happening with your character. It changed and somehow awakened something inside myself, so much so I've seen gameplays for Nier Gestalt, and of course I went to play the 1.22... version as soon as it came out. There's so much lore akin to that world, that connects both games and expands on those characters since Ending E of Drakengard. Truly interesting readings, fortunately there are people who took the effort to translate it from Japanese. I remember being told as a young age that any form of art, if it had the power to make you question and think about what said work of art transmitted, that was how you know that was a great work. Aside from put me into a new perspective, the amount of philosophy made me think that, at 15, I wasn't mature enough to properly study the subject and give it the deserved credit. Both soundtracks are such genius pieces and emotional rollercoasters, and even helped me coping with difficult times or grievance. Even if I don't listen to them for a long time, they'll always have the same feeling, I just can't grow tired of them. Even on the Tokyo Olympics opening, with that beautiful videogame medley, Nier is there. I teared up once I saw the ceremony, not only for it being "Song of the Ancients - Fate", but for how happy I felt to see the series well acknowledged. On a more technical side, both Nier Gestalt (and Replicant 1.22) and Automata have most of their music files layered to add to it's dynamism. It adapts to your play session and transitions smoothly, and that adds to your personal experience. Unfortunately that can't be replicated (pun intended) with a conventional soundtrack release, but hey, not that I'm complaining 😜 If you're interested you can get those files and play them with audio software and not only see how everything was arranged (even for tracks that needn't), as you can play around and build your "custom" version for those songs.
Man for real, i love your work, i always listen to Nier soundtrack and it is beautiful, all the songs, the significance for me of this videogame and Nier Replicant makes even better, in a way this games teached me a lot of things about life and give me a time of depression, but i really feel grateful that i am alive in this time, this games and this music means a lot for me and then you appear giving some explanation about some of my favorite songs made me in a certain way happy, i haven´t listen to City Ruins in like two months and listening to it again almost made me cry, because damn the game is so beautiful, the soundtrack is amazing and always made me feel like the first time i played it, the impact of the story and all the affection i take to the characters, just have to say thank you for giving me more information about the music that i love, and thank you for all of your work, you really are great man.
Thank you Luis!!! I really appreciate this and enjoyed reading a little bit about your story. Thank you for sharing. I'm just winging it over here! Much obliged!
I've spent the last hour or so watching Marco's content because the Algorithm is doing a great job today. This pieces always makes me feel as if maybe this ravaged mess of an Earth isn't that bad of a place to live in at all. In game you could easily just walk around casually without getting into any fights with machines if you don't feel like it. You may have to put a few metres of distance between you and machines occasionally but they stop chasing you after about 75m of a gap.
That metallic sound has always made me think of breathing, so I interpret it as the song referencing that these metallic robots are breathing. That they’re very much alive and sentient, despite being artificial. It would also match up with one of the story’s plot points, too
oh you definitely should listen to vector to the heavens from kingdom hearts 358/2 days or even better the orchestral version. it's so rachmaninov or joe hisaishi esque. Even if you don't make a video on it, I highly recommend. It gives me shivers every single time. also interesting how they incorporated the dearly beloved leitmotif in minor instead of major.
i'm loving your take on not necessarily how you dissect the track bit by bit, but how it you felt about it personally. i'd definitely love to hear your opinions about more music of this game!
Thank you! Yes I don’t feel I can appropriately analyze music like a composer or music producer. But I can can give some insight into how it makes me feel from the perspective of a performer and my experiences on stage and off as well as how it makes me feel. I appreciate that but if feedback I try to not get lost in the weeds :)!
I beat this game recently. I cried like a baby. This game instantly became my favorite game of all time and this song in particular has always felt so lonely to me yet peaceful. It’s fitting for it to play in the city ruins.
The one that did it for me was Peaceful Sleep. I literally spent to much time just sitting there, in the Resistance Camp. I played the game during the tougher moments while I was in College. It helped me to calm down and relax when I most needed it.
I really love the City Ruins Shade version, at first there's this calm one called Rays of Light really setting a mood of being almost alone in a destroyed city though having a positive sounding name, and then there's Shade which has a more negative sounding name, but the song itself sounds more uplifting during the chaotic battle it played in. Maybe the names can also describe the moods of the persons being played as when they are first heard, Rays of Light for the calm 2B, and Shade for 9S when he's pretty much gone insane
I couldn’t really get into Nier, but I will admit that the soundtrack is superb. Whenever I run groups for the RPG Numenera, the Nier soundtrack is my go-to for background music to our sessions.
I was watching your other nier video and this one just popped up! As a fellow singer I adore the drakengard/nier music with all my heart. If you choose to delve further please look into Silence is Mine from drakengard 3! It’s sang by Chihiro Onitsuka and composed by Keiichi Okabe! Or please do Kuroi Uta (also from drakengard 3) sang by Emi Evans and composed by Keiichi Okabe! Thank you for these raw analyses!
Hello fellow singer! Good recccc I will. And you’re welcome! Thanks for watching. I want to keep them about the emotions and not like detailed breakdowns because that’s not where my expertise is anyway
Also those metallic soft flowing noises are most likely there to convey 2 emotions or ideas at the same time, that are just different interpretations of 1 thing. On 1 side the city is peaceful, and quiet. On the other side it's lonely, and eerie. But the 1 constant of these 2 is that it sounds like a flowing breeze through the city. And a way I've personally thought of it is a void. It's a void. The city is void of conflict for the most part. The machines are strangely peaceful until upset. This city is also a void separated from the world of pain and suffering that 2B and 9S constantly suffer from. It's their little void of happiness and peace, spent with each other. But that's only my personal take. I do think it very much IS meant to sound like it's both peaceful, and lonely. I think, and again, this is just my enterpretation of creator intention. But I think this song is meant to be about the characters, as well as the players perspective. It's peaceful because 2B and 9S feel at peace here with eachother,, and so does the player, because this 1 of few time we get to see them not suffering. But its lonely. 2B and 9S both harbor their own forms of loneliness inside of them. And the player is wandering through the mass grave of his species. Not a human in sight. So it feels lonely to us. And this ties back into peacefulness and loneliness. Have you ever had the thought that you just wish you could be away from humans? Be somewhere by yourself. To enjoy the peace and quiet. Here you get that. You're alone. At peace. Not a human in sight. But wait....not a human in sight? It's eerily lonely without humans around. It feels wrong. Something feels very wrong about this lonesomeness, this peace and quiet. Just my 2 cents.
For me, that song is the embodiment of the duality that I could only describe as " Peacefull desolation " and "strangest familiarity" .The music itself, the location it's played at. In the begining of the game when you arrive in the first part of the game where you actually get to freely explore what used to be a residential district which brings that feeling of familiarity anyone can recognise what used to be and it brings a feeling of security in an unknown world you've just been thrown into , which in turn brings a certain peacefullness. But those are ruins, meaning something happened and desolation and decay has been brought on that landscape you gaze upon and yet it's still just not that, is it ? No, nature took back it's place, whereas before when those building where still standing nature might only have been slightly present if present at all. But in a strangest of way a symbiotique relationship between nature and artificial (man made) undeniably exist which again goes back to making the whole ambiance peacefull. Peacefull yet desolate, Strange and unknown yet somehow familiar. And those theme can be found again in the chaos language use for the song mixed up languages all together with made up words like the knowledge of languages have been lost and forgotten (ruin again) yet some of it remains and feels familiar, mixed up in a strange way with unknow words and yet sung in a soft and peacefull way as if it had always been that way which again brings the comfort of familiarity through a weird sens of structure. Then there the "mettalic music" that to me sounds like a hollow whisper of the past blown by the wind through the cracks of a decaying building and accentuate the feeling of desolation of what was (which could explain the artificial sens to it , since what was, was the artificial infrastructure and machinerie build by the man that used to live in it ) and isn't anymore. But it's in the background and it's soft, not aggressiv which again makes the whole piece feel desolate yet peacefull, strange yet familiar. I hoped what I tried to convey made sens, and it's only my interpretation of it. But no matter how you feel about it that song is a masterpiece despite the different interpretations possible which makes it trully remarkable as if it wasn't already. On another note just stumble upon your videos it's really entertaining and insightfull. So thanks for the work you put into it and I love the vibe you bring on that corner of youtube. Great work mate.
Im pretty sure you already know but you really REALLY should check out their concert albums, what they did to hills of radiant winds -at the 2016? 2018 concert? i dont remember which- is almost beyond description, its so epic, uplifting and beautiful. For the release of the remastered replicant, they also intertwined some original songs, like kainé salvation and escape. Those are spectacular too.
Nier Automata's OST got so little recognition, the first piece that I love from the game is this song. The song made me feel calm at first, when the drum comes in the mode changes into an adventure/journey of self discovery.
Admittedly I prefer the Shade version over Rays of Light, though I very much prefer how the OST arranged Rays of Light. While I like the instruments used for Shade, plus Emi Evans on vocals is always great, I found Rays of Light had the better transitions from the three ingame versions. Anyways, happy to see you react to anything Drakenier.
I was playing and turned it on in the jukebox, I was immediately encaptured. I play fingerstyle guitar, I immediately tabbed it out on guitar pro and started playing along side it.
If Nier Automata would have been a fresh game, we would talk about how the characters look like out from a Balenciaga fashion reel. And by that I just want to compliment the character designs.
Ive recently started playing the game again go try to get the platinum trophy and the music just hit me so hard had to go to the ingame jukebox and just listen to it for a few minutes
I'm eager to listen to your opinions on other pieces from Automata, specially _Pascal_ and _Peaceful Sleep_ . when the algorithm works, it does it well (btw liked and subscribed)
I like your vide 'cause i can't put it in x2 or x1.5 or the music would hear bad, so, i only can sit and enjoy the music with you friend Also, what i love of this song is that, it is not a loop. For example, there is a soundtrack of nier replicant called "his dream" that i love with all my kokoro, but the problem is that it repeats and nothing new happens. In the other hand, this song is telling you something and not leave you alone. I like that because it is the soundtrack of a "City in ruins" but this song makes you company
I feel that mechanical sound isn't just there because of yorha. I feel and from what I've come to learn is that. The world is completely fused with metal and organics as andriods and Adam and eve have been bluring the line between something being alive and mechanical. Robots slowly gaining coniousness. Like the first thing we see when we enter is the robots and so much over growth and trees and nature over taking buildings. Again the game askes the question how do you find meaning in a meaningless world as well as how do you know when something is really alive and I feel rays of light always helps you think about that mote everytime you come out of an area and back to the city ruins.
the metallic whine throughout reminds me of whalesong, if the whale was made of concrete, which i guess makes sense for an abandoned city. it's just this big lonely inorganic -thing- with its own weird life. idunno, maybe i have too much context to have an original idea.
I think the phrase you were looking for is "peace with purpose". Might be wrong, but that's the feeling I always got. Peace, but also you have a purpose to work toward.
Have you considered analyzing "Grandma" (Destruction), the automata version? Ive always loved that piece of mix and the mixture of female and male orchestra. The song tells a story by itself.
The metallic sound you're talking about stuck out to me a lot too. Except, for me I didn't associate it with metal or machines, it always reminded wind blowing, or the sound of breathing, or sighing. There's a similar sound that plays throughout "A Fleeting Dream" from FFX, and I think it's interesting that both themes play in areas of ruin, because I think that sound lends itself to a sense of dereliction, of aftermath-ness.
Hey! You could also listen to Song of ancients, is from Nier Replicant, I think you could like that one too, I feel like the feeling of Devola and Popola are present on the song
Its a sense of wonder... Its what the androids feel :) and the music changes throughout the series accordingly... that's what I feel and think :) What do they do in the amusement park... ? how is the music :) ? ...they play :) NieR Automata is a masterpiece :) NieR - Drakengard that is :)👍
To me this song feels like "no matter the current state of the world and no matter if we're the only humans remaining : this is yet another sunrise and there will be many more, even long after we're gone"
Might be completely wrong and out of place But in the game the city ruins is on top of something that later collapses and becomes opened up to explore in the story. Maybe the 'non natural' instrumental sounds represent wind or what's in the space below the ruined city xD ? Weird thing to try tie together but this game has that kind of commitment to its art o.o But I also understand listening to this without playing the game wouldn't get that message across so who knows o.o
Whenever i hear city ruins i can hear 2B’s Heels tabbing “tak tak tak tak tak”
Algorithm’d again. Great song. It’s still incredible to me how this song - hell, the entire soundtracks of both games - using a made up language that we can’t and won’t ever understand still imparts such emotion. Okabe and Co. are out here carving a legacy of their own and I feel he and his team still doesn’t get as much credit as they probably deserve.
Full stop. Super underrated. Also so excited this was an algorithm find 🤣
snow in summer is one of my favourites of the NieR OST next to city ruins of course.. something about it just amazes me
There are some attempts at decrypting some of the songs, because we can discern the source languages in some cases and in one case we have two natlang versions of the song we could, in theory, use as a kind of Rosetta's Stone (the problem being that the meaning of the lyrics of Weight of the World is already different in English from the meaning in Japanese, probably specifically to make it more resistant to decryption, or possibly to help disguise the fact that there is no decryption to be done in the first place and that the different dialects of Chaos Language are based almost solely on the phonotactics of the source languages they are meant to evoke and tailoured to fit the melody).
That said, we do know that Chaos Language is at least not entirely arbitrary, because Emi Evans (a true logophile and passionate amateur philologist, which, fun fact, are two words each made up of the same two root words in opposite orders) made it clear that she interspersed words of the dying Chamicuro language in the Chaos version of Weight of the World as a means of honouring and preserving the dying language.
"using a made up language that we can’t and won’t ever understand"
Chaos Language is made of several languages. If it can be put together, it can be taken apart.
Imo it actually adds more emotion by not concentrating on the lyrics. You get to fully feel the emotion of the music.
I think what city ruins captures is the sadness of exploring a destroyed place. Something you don't see a lot. While it's beautiful and peaceful, it's also like you can feel the souls of the people who once lived here weeping.
As I composer myself, I spent an even more time listening to the music than playing the game, I even went through a rough study part of how to nail it, and it always comes down to one thing, humanity. the theme's especially shadowlord and song of the ancient translate their respective emotions with such human perfection. Sometimes I just listen to it and start tearing, kinda like a musical depression for me
You’re so right! Excited to hear your music :)
There's a GDC presentation Yoko Taro gave one year, that I'm sure you can find if you dig a little (it's called something like "making weird games for weird people"), and if I recall correctly it was near the end of that when he said something I found heartbreaking: Namely, he said that he felt like he had failed as a game developer because he had failed to make a game that was truly groundbreaking, as a way of expressing his hope that indie developers will form a new wave of master artists and take up his mantle. It's wild hearing that from undoubtedly one of the greatest geniuses of the artforms of game design and interactive fiction writing, whose work has touched so many people in profound ways. Also hurt to hear him say in a (relatively) more recent interview that his next project would probably be a mobile game (since then he has directed two, I believe, SINoALICE and NieR Reincarnation) "because it's profitable." It came off as a cry for help because of the restrictions Square Enix places on him.
On the other side of the coin, it's worth noting that he did not start as a director, he started as a visual artist. Cavia/Square gave him the chance to direct a game with Drag-On Dragoon (aka Drakengard), a game with an interesting narrative but which almost everyone agrees was ruined by corporate suits (who meddled even more than usual and gave Yoko Taro very difficult demands, basically telling him to make three conflicting games, which resulted in one very bizarre, barely-functional game, though this clash of core mechanics would become a staple of his design philosophy albeit much better-executed in his later titles; this experience led him to claim he would never work on another Drakengard, though he got sucked into working on (not directing) DOD2, and took up the director's mantle again with DOD3, though not before directing NieR Gestalt and Replicant), so it's fortunate first of all that he ever got a chance to direct games at all, and second that his career as a director didn't end with his first project but got to carry on with NieR Gestalt/Replicant/Automata and DOD3. It's also worth noting that when he said he felt he had failed, it was before Automata, which is arguably his masterpiece, so I guess there's some hope that he feels better about his accomplishments today.
I feel like this whole song represents the yorha units and how they have all the makings of being human, but they’re not quite there. That’s the reason why I believe the metallic sound you hear is there.
Wowwwwwwwwwwwwww this is a goooood take
Well, what this song is actually about, is 2B and 9S time spent together. It's their "loving memories".
When you come across 2Bs flight unit in the sunken city, a voice recording of hers plays which basically says that "the days I spent with you.....were like rays of light, in my life"
So the song being called "rays of light", is essentially a sad song about remembering the good times in our lives (or their lives in this case).
It's a song of remembrance, of better times. Which makes it an exceedingly sad song.
The song that plays in the games city once things....change. is called shade. Why? Well let's just say rays of light cast shadows.
Trying to avoid giving spoilers.
But yeah this song isn't really so much about being human, yet not being granted the title of human. It's a song about 2B's and 9S's personal relationship.
@@trevorveillette8415 and yet, 9S and 2B’s relationship still perfectly represents the original point about wanting to be more human
@@RedBull528 no matter how you spin it or stretch it, it's still specifically about what I mentioned, and not about being more human.
It may supplement into it a bit, buy its still not what its about.
@@trevorveillette8415I personally disagree. It's definitely about 2B and 9S and their relationship, but their relationship is what allows them to grow past their duties as machines and attain their humanity. So it's about their love, and how that love (instead of the violence and brutality of the other machines) help them become more.
The song is so beautiful, it always makes me want to cry. And it’s true, I have heard that song so many times, for so many hours, and I’ve never gotten sick of it. I enjoy it every time, I still get emotional every time too. Absolute masterpiece.
Glad you share my feelings about it!
100% agree. I can't believe how great this game is !!! best OST ever too !!
Same here, im very emotional person with music, and Nier Automata, Genshin Impact, Arknights and many other OSTs cause on me many things. I live the music, when I listen to it I enjoy every melody, I can't do anything else but take my time and enjoy listening without doing anything else. Music made for games is on another level to express feelings. (Sorry for my english, im not native)
City Ruins really depicts NieR: Automata for the most part in my opinion (I haven't played the whole game yet), a serene melody laced with undercurrents of desire and despair, sprinkled with reflections of ally and foe, of right and wrong, and yet, reflections are not always uniform, they are not always trustworthy.
In my opinion, songs like this tell another layer to the story in Nier Automata. I firmly believe that the story is incomplete without the music in the game. Each one is beautifully composed and they all tell their own stories; whether it is during a boss or during a specific area or segment of the game. If one listens carefully with some (doesn't need to be a lot) knowledge of the history of the world in Nier and the meaning or tone behind a lot of these pieces...evolve in a certain way. At least in my opinion.
Such a tranquil song. Keiichi Okabe is my favourite composer, hands down.
Here's an interesting tidbit:
A while ago, when I donated to a piano streamer to have him play the song "War & War", he pointed out that it is another version of City Ruins. It's so different that I never noticed, but it's true. I recommend giving it another listen with that in mind.
I love songs that evolve over a game's playtime.
Thanks for another great video. Looking forward to more videos and the NieR series especially.
Gonna listen to this today. I’m trying to find a schedule for this because I’m just excited to talk about this music. I just don’t want to burn out! But there’s so much to discuss. Glad longer videos are okay though
@@MarcoMeatball Absolutely, take your time. I can't speak for other people, but for me it's very interesting to hear your take on individual elements and changes. If I just want to listen to the song, I can do that on UA-cam or Spotify for free any time. So don't be afraid to speak your mind, imho.
Okabe tends to do that a lot where he makes songs that sound nothing a like, but they are at the core the same. Another example of this is “Emil/Sacrifice” and “Emil’s Shop”, each sounding completely different, but actually have the same notes played at different frequencies and tempos
I've spent so much time listening this and just walking through city ruins in Automata...
Thank you for reminding of it's beauty)
Thank you for saying something so kind
9:15 that wilting metallic echo is really the central sentiment of the entire piece throughout the different versions of City Ruins used for game states/events (Most Automata songs are subdivided in versions, Quiet, Medium, & Dynamic, which are further branched into Instrumenal & vocal, with 8-bit versions for hacking segments). It's mainly perceived as an accent in the vocal versions, yet in the intrumental version, the metal echo remains as the vocals & various instruments are scrubbed and especially in the quiet instrumental version, becomes ever present, carrying the weight of the melancholy all the same in its tiny sound.
That melancholy the groaning metallic sigh represents, can't be anything else but the tired desolation of both the city ruins & the machines of the game. After killing their masters & gaining tenuous autonomy, the machines have been searching for the meaning of life for millennia, which in irony eventually lead them to emulating the humanity they were created to destroy. So they come to same philosophical questions, conclusions, & paradoxes over and over, developing the same mental tendencies, illnesses, & psychoses. In the broader picture, the land collaterally suffers as the Machines & Yorha wage their long war. By the time of the game, these short breaths in between symbolizes an audible geographic sigh of resignation, as the land simply waits for its inhabitants to impart the newest scar upon its face.
beautiful beautiful words here. Thank you for sharing your insight and thoughts on this with me
@@MarcoMeatball Whenever you decide to do a video on Temple of Drifting Sands, I ask you reflect on the metallic echo of City Ruins. In Drifting Sands, it is present in a previous form as a rich guitar & a particularly exotic twangy strum that represents a prior nostalgic sentiment that runs along the timeline of the story, and feeds into that echo. Unlike the solitary and resigned metallic sigh from City Ruins, they go with the rest of the piece a timely reminder, that even ruins and dying cultures must be cherished and appreciated for what they are while they are still here.
Made-up languages are really interesting. How much we can relate to the song, even if it's of no real language and how much we can interpret of what is happening and what the song is trying to 'tell us'. All Nier soundtracks have such gems as this one. Another interesting franchise using it it Made in Abyss (with "abyss language" like in Hanezeve Caradhina song), as even if the style looks cutely, the stories of characters and the world itself are mostly sad, mysterious and definitely not as "advertised" by the style.
Between Emi Evans creating the Chaos Language. Keiichi Okabe's brilliance. And J'nique Nicole's incredible voice. This track is just a masterpiece, could listen to this all day. It fits so well with the setting; Walking through the grave of a long gone civilization whilst the beauty of nature has reclaimed it and the machine lifeforms have made it their new home.
Good to see your channel has almost doubled in size since last video :)
Edit: Have you considered making a Discord Server for the channel? Not required obviously. Would make a nice place for like-minded peeps to hang out.
Thanks as always for your input Aaron. I haven’t done anything yet 🤣 I’ve just been trying to grow this by pumping out content without burning out. I’ll sort it out. This channel went 30-200 in three days or so so I’m just trying to keep people watching stuff.
I have enjoyed what I interpret as a musician to what people interpret with their imaginations!
this piece with the dynamic vocals and the vocal version of the resistance camp are my favorite pieces in the game.
and it fits the area so well too! in the beginning of the game with all the chaos in the factory you don't have a moment to breathe and collect yourself. you had calm on the orbital station, but the city was actually open and lush. not only could you breathe but you had ROOM to breathe! and that's how the song feels, it feels open and it feels like i can run in a field forever like 2B can.
Wow! I didn't realize you did a reaction video for this one. I had so much fun singing it and it's also one of my favs from the soundtrack too. It's really nice to hear your take on it. Looking forward to watching your other videos as well 😊
Hey!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I was listening to some lo-fi NieR earlier today and youtube decided to show me your channel. Subbed!
Found Okabe back in the day because of the first NieR. Loved ever since and it has a special place in my heart. Automata has the special mood set, from City Ruins to the Desert to the Amusement Park. And a Beautiful Song, oh boy.
Aw yay! It sure does. So many bops! I’m gonna slowly work my way through with some tunes I want for fun too :) it’s all so fun tbough
I really love the NieR soundtracks.
May I recommend 'Song of the Ancient'?
It's so beautiful and has different versions
it's on the list!
The metalic instrument recalls the wind blowing through empty streets with a slight echo that can be intepreted as empty metal pipes that winds blow through. Giving a ghostly and haunting feeling to the music. Which contrast the voice who despite it seemingly recounting a lost, still holds hope for life.
You’re absolutely right
Agreed. To me it just adds a somberness to the soundtrack. I love how the same notes in the piano and harp take you on a whe different journey depending on if that Hollow sound is playing, or if it's just the soprano, or when the drums get added. It's a very dynamic track that shows up a lot in the game but evokes a different reaction depending on which part of the song plays
This is personally my favorite ost in Nier Automata, such a fantastic song.
I feel like the machine sound might represent the machines and YorHa in general, the song is called city ruins so theres I feel 3 important components in the song and in the area, ruins of humans (the voice melody) the instruments (nature) and the machine sound (machines and androids)
Great insight! There’s so much to interpretation. I’m just winging it usually so it’s great to hear your thoughts
I got this one looping on repeat in my in-game house in Final Fantasy XIV. From all the songs it got from its Automata crossover (which is a lot, including 3 new mix-up tracks) it's the one I chose as the one I can listen to for hours on end.
The first time i heard it, i was like, ah okay this is just gonna be a thing now, and it's quite random, like a bit of elevator music... 24hrs in and I'm just whistling and humming the song when I'm not even playing the game 😂
Hahah too true
When I first heard rays of light I was completely grabbed. When I heard the amusement park theme I fell in love with the game. When I finished the game and got the E ending. It became my favorite game. I truly love nier automata
The "metallic" background noise reminds me of wind, but especially when the piano picks up, it becomes this kind of... slow breathing that adds to the overall calm, quiet atmosphere. It really drives home how both peaceful and abandoned the city ruins are.
Also, I'm sure others have brought this up, but in-game, the music actually smoothly transitions between the different "versions" of the track, adding more layers when action happens and growing quieter when you're just exploring the post-apocalyptic landscape. There's also a whole different version of the City Ruins theme (called "City Ruins - Shade") that replaces this one after a certain point in the game!
Whenever I listen to this song for the first time ever playing this game, I felt like I was being spoken to by an Angel.
Probably my fav from this game. Such an atmospheric and beautiful experience.
Absolutely
Nier has some of the top game OSTs. Hope they make another game with this composer
I recommend listening to Pascal’s theme, City of Commerce, Prestigious Mask, Lost Forest, & Hills of Radiant winds. They all have their own small hidden why they sound like that.
So my experience with the Nier series begun as a child when I played NieR (Gestalt ver.) on the Wii. I found the game to be very peaceful but as a child I was pretty timid and scared of dark storylines, so whenever I saw something scary I passed the controller to my older brother to play for me. I loved the game and it's cemented as one of my core memories, I saw a few gameplay videos and fell in love with the music. I was overjoyed when I heard there was a sequel.
During year 7, I downloaded the city ruins themes on my phone and listened to it constantly on repeat often, it was a very beautiful soundtrack that I loved. Glad we were kinda similar!
One of my favorite pieces from the game is definitely "Mourning". The first half is entirely a cappella.
Gosh I know I want to react to it
That is one of my favorites too! Gives me chills every time.
For as dumb as it sounds, I only got invested in Nier, or rather, their music, because I'm playing a gacha game that featured a collab with Nier like 2 months ago. The collab had the existentialism theme as part of the story; and the music featured was similar to Nier. It made want to tackle the original source and, good lord, it's beautiful.
City Ruins has become my favorite theme so far due to the many feelings in it: somber, emptiness, a sense of duty to carry out... but doing so among the vestiges of a long gone civilization. It really makes me emotional. And I agree with most of your takes in this theme. It really is like something that feels like you could put in the background for hours.
The "gibberish" in this reminds me so much of part of the soundtrack from the Kara No Kyoukai movies that involve made up language
I only just a few days ago heard this song for the first time, it wasn't even in Nier, i modded a game (Sekiro) to use the soundtrack of the nier series, this song played on the first area of that game with that mod and it made it so magical. Love this song so much now even though i've never played any of the Nier games, but now i think i will in the future
I always liked to think that the breathy machine sound that's playing in the background of the gentle, organic-sounding piano is kind of like how the machines and androids are sort of 'breathing' life into this humanless world where only remnants of humanity once used to be, which is now overtaken and teeming with plant-life and animals.
It also sounds like something that's trying to imitate human breathing or gasping, but it just sounds mechanical or machine-like rather than natural.
I think this is one of the most beautiful pieces of game music I've ever heard. When I first heard it in the ruins I thought there where English lyrics going: "staaaay wiiiiith meeee, plaaaay wiiiith meee. Motionless love, empty inside", And I could never catch anything else. I never caught that it was completely in another language until I tried looking up the lyrics to it.
Your vids on this game earned my subscription and just the rawness and honesty you bring out not to mention just talking about music I LOVE and games I ADORE just YESS I love your vids and takes and we need more of you
Not going anywhere. :) in fact Nier Fridays are a thing until I get through the majority of the songs.
This song just hits differently after you beat the game fully. It's so depressing, but also peaceful. My favorite track is "Wretched Weaponry: Dynamic". Would love to hear your reaction to that or "A Beautiful Song" at some point in the future!
I remember listening to this song when in the screen the city is just appearing and showing the huge trees in between the ruins, and thinking of the implication of how much time has passed and how peaceful it looked despite the destruction. And it was just the start of the adventure.
I love how you mention that City Ruins sounds like English. I love how there are songs that sound like different languages, even though none of them actually are said language. It just gives it an extra little push of "familiar, but unknown" that persists in so many aspects of the game.
Grandma is basically a French chanson. Have a lot to talk about with grandma
Yoko Taro and Keiichi Okabe are a blessing to the gaming world.
Is this the ac blowing on me or is it the music? Either way, I get chills with the music from nier no matter how much I listen to it. It takes me to a different world. It relaxes me, enables me to focus to write in my journal. The nier gestalt soundtrack was my favorite for years, and nier automata is no different. The nier gestalt soundtrack was what got me into the series. I don't think I have cried so much while playing a game.
I love amusement park. That song I always imagine a ballerina-jester dancing in the snow.
I really appreciate your natural responses and dive into the emotions developed through the composition. Thank you!
Thank you! Sometimes I feel stupid! But then again my profession was to interpret music from an emotional place!
I'm really happy that you decided to really dive deep in this OST! Like I said in your last video, I love both NieR's OST so much, it's exactly like you said, some pieces you can just hear all day without stop. Gonna watch all your videos about it! Great analysis, btw! Best wishes from Brazil! :D
Obrigado!!!!! Thank you :) :)
That’s literally my favorite song of nier, it made everything seems so calm, serene, eerie and beautiful in a collapsed and broken world
I'm of the opinion the 'mechanical' wind pad represents the emptiness of the ruins and a reminder of what used to be there. The song starts with it, builds to the bustle of a city, then returns to the empty field full of nothing but wind that it started as.
That’s beautiful. ❤️
Days of Ancient Glory, Clinging to Our Past, Remember .... Never Forget.
Also the "mechanical" like you mention is like ..... an ancient guardian vibe who will keep guarding the sacred place, for centuries to come. An eyes who look you behind the darkness
Had the pleasure to play Automata a few years ago, I wasn't the least prepared to what I found there. I couldn't get outside the city just to feel it's atmosphere and how it varies to what's happening with your character.
It changed and somehow awakened something inside myself, so much so I've seen gameplays for Nier Gestalt, and of course I went to play the 1.22... version as soon as it came out.
There's so much lore akin to that world, that connects both games and expands on those characters since Ending E of Drakengard. Truly interesting readings, fortunately there are people who took the effort to translate it from Japanese.
I remember being told as a young age that any form of art, if it had the power to make you question and think about what said work of art transmitted, that was how you know that was a great work.
Aside from put me into a new perspective, the amount of philosophy made me think that, at 15, I wasn't mature enough to properly study the subject and give it the deserved credit.
Both soundtracks are such genius pieces and emotional rollercoasters, and even helped me coping with difficult times or grievance. Even if I don't listen to them for a long time, they'll always have the same feeling, I just can't grow tired of them.
Even on the Tokyo Olympics opening, with that beautiful videogame medley, Nier is there. I teared up once I saw the ceremony, not only for it being "Song of the Ancients - Fate", but for how happy I felt to see the series well acknowledged.
On a more technical side, both Nier Gestalt (and Replicant 1.22) and Automata have most of their music files layered to add to it's dynamism.
It adapts to your play session and transitions smoothly, and that adds to your personal experience. Unfortunately that can't be replicated (pun intended) with a conventional soundtrack release, but hey, not that I'm complaining 😜
If you're interested you can get those files and play them with audio software and not only see how everything was arranged (even for tracks that needn't), as you can play around and build your "custom" version for those songs.
Man for real, i love your work, i always listen to Nier soundtrack and it is beautiful, all the songs, the significance for me of this videogame and Nier Replicant makes even better, in a way this games teached me a lot of things about life and give me a time of depression, but i really feel grateful that i am alive in this time, this games and this music means a lot for me and then you appear giving some explanation about some of my favorite songs made me in a certain way happy, i haven´t listen to City Ruins in like two months and listening to it again almost made me cry, because damn the game is so beautiful, the soundtrack is amazing and always made me feel like the first time i played it, the impact of the story and all the affection i take to the characters, just have to say thank you for giving me more information about the music that i love, and thank you for all of your work, you really are great man.
Thank you Luis!!! I really appreciate this and enjoyed reading a little bit about your story. Thank you for sharing. I'm just winging it over here! Much obliged!
I've spent the last hour or so watching Marco's content because the Algorithm is doing a great job today. This pieces always makes me feel as if maybe this ravaged mess of an Earth isn't that bad of a place to live in at all. In game you could easily just walk around casually without getting into any fights with machines if you don't feel like it. You may have to put a few metres of distance between you and machines occasionally but they stop chasing you after about 75m of a gap.
This is also one of my favs from Automata
That metallic sound has always made me think of breathing, so I interpret it as the song referencing that these metallic robots are breathing. That they’re very much alive and sentient, despite being artificial.
It would also match up with one of the story’s plot points, too
You’re so so right!
oh you definitely should listen to vector to the heavens from kingdom hearts 358/2 days or even better the orchestral version. it's so rachmaninov or joe hisaishi esque. Even if you don't make a video on it, I highly recommend. It gives me shivers every single time. also interesting how they incorporated the dearly beloved leitmotif in minor instead of major.
Will!!!!!!
City ruins is such a beautiful song, has me tearing up everytime i listen to it
The vibe what i got is
the beautifull scenery of nature combine with ruin of abandoned city
but also depressing
i'm loving your take on not necessarily how you dissect the track bit by bit, but how it you felt about it personally. i'd definitely love to hear your opinions about more music of this game!
Thank you! Yes I don’t feel I can appropriately analyze music like a composer or music producer. But I can can give some insight into how it makes me feel from the perspective of a performer and my experiences on stage and off as well as how it makes me feel. I appreciate that but if feedback I try to not get lost in the weeds :)!
I beat this game recently. I cried like a baby. This game instantly became my favorite game of all time and this song in particular has always felt so lonely to me yet peaceful. It’s fitting for it to play in the city ruins.
The one that did it for me was Peaceful Sleep. I literally spent to much time just sitting there, in the Resistance Camp.
I played the game during the tougher moments while I was in College. It helped me to calm down and relax when I most needed it.
i really like this song but i prefer the other version for A2, where there's Emi Evans and feels so exotic... i love it (city ruins (shade))
Panzer Dragoon Saga also has some unique, mystical tracks. A soundtrack that should not be forgotten.
I love this song, it always brings great tranquility to me.
Me too. And weirdly motivation too.
4:20 Well yes that's exactly what happened for two days straight after first hearing this song.
1:45 - *Adriano Celentano has entered the chat*
I really love the City Ruins Shade version, at first there's this calm one called Rays of Light really setting a mood of being almost alone in a destroyed city though having a positive sounding name, and then there's Shade which has a more negative sounding name, but the song itself sounds more uplifting during the chaotic battle it played in.
Maybe the names can also describe the moods of the persons being played as when they are first heard, Rays of Light for the calm 2B, and Shade for 9S when he's pretty much gone insane
I couldn’t really get into Nier, but I will admit that the soundtrack is superb. Whenever I run groups for the RPG Numenera, the Nier soundtrack is my go-to for background music to our sessions.
I don't know much words and I cannot convey what I feel but... Thank you. Thank you
I was watching your other nier video and this one just popped up! As a fellow singer I adore the drakengard/nier music with all my heart. If you choose to delve further please look into Silence is Mine from drakengard 3! It’s sang by Chihiro Onitsuka and composed by Keiichi Okabe! Or please do Kuroi Uta (also from drakengard 3) sang by Emi Evans and composed by Keiichi Okabe!
Thank you for these raw analyses!
Hello fellow singer! Good recccc I will. And you’re welcome! Thanks for watching. I want to keep them about the emotions and not like detailed breakdowns because that’s not where my expertise is anyway
@@MarcoMeatball I agree! Emotion is where it’s at! The emotions evoked from these OST’s is what got me into the franchise after all!
This Silence is Mine is SO GOOD. So much raw emotion.
At some point in the game, when this game started playing, I started to cry. No lie, this game is beautiful.
I love the NieR soundtrack, I enjoy listening to it at work and while I'm playing Stellaris
Remembering when I arrived the first time in the city ruins, i literally put the controller down to just enjoy this song in repeat
Also those metallic soft flowing noises are most likely there to convey 2 emotions or ideas at the same time, that are just different interpretations of 1 thing.
On 1 side the city is peaceful, and quiet.
On the other side it's lonely, and eerie.
But the 1 constant of these 2 is that it sounds like a flowing breeze through the city.
And a way I've personally thought of it is a void. It's a void.
The city is void of conflict for the most part. The machines are strangely peaceful until upset.
This city is also a void separated from the world of pain and suffering that 2B and 9S constantly suffer from. It's their little void of happiness and peace, spent with each other.
But that's only my personal take.
I do think it very much IS meant to sound like it's both peaceful, and lonely.
I think, and again, this is just my enterpretation of creator intention.
But I think this song is meant to be about the characters, as well as the players perspective.
It's peaceful because 2B and 9S feel at peace here with eachother,, and so does the player, because this 1 of few time we get to see them not suffering.
But its lonely. 2B and 9S both harbor their own forms of loneliness inside of them. And the player is wandering through the mass grave of his species. Not a human in sight. So it feels lonely to us.
And this ties back into peacefulness and loneliness.
Have you ever had the thought that you just wish you could be away from humans? Be somewhere by yourself. To enjoy the peace and quiet.
Here you get that. You're alone. At peace. Not a human in sight. But wait....not a human in sight? It's eerily lonely without humans around. It feels wrong. Something feels very wrong about this lonesomeness, this peace and quiet.
Just my 2 cents.
Love it! Thanks for sharing this. It’s beautiful
For me, that song is the embodiment of the duality that I could only describe as " Peacefull desolation " and "strangest familiarity" .The music itself, the location it's played at. In the begining of the game when you arrive in the first part of the game where you actually get to freely explore what used to be a residential district which brings that feeling of familiarity anyone can recognise what used to be and it brings a feeling of security in an unknown world you've just been thrown into , which in turn brings a certain peacefullness. But those are ruins, meaning something happened and desolation and decay has been brought on that landscape you gaze upon and yet it's still just not that, is it ? No, nature took back it's place, whereas before when those building where still standing nature might only have been slightly present if present at all. But in a strangest of way a symbiotique relationship between nature and artificial (man made) undeniably exist which again goes back to making the whole ambiance peacefull. Peacefull yet desolate, Strange and unknown yet somehow familiar. And those theme can be found again in the chaos language use for the song mixed up languages all together with made up words like the knowledge of languages have been lost and forgotten (ruin again) yet some of it remains and feels familiar, mixed up in a strange way with unknow words and yet sung in a soft and peacefull way as if it had always been that way which again brings the comfort of familiarity through a weird sens of structure. Then there the "mettalic music" that to me sounds like a hollow whisper of the past blown by the wind through the cracks of a decaying building and accentuate the feeling of desolation of what was (which could explain the artificial sens to it , since what was, was the artificial infrastructure and machinerie build by the man that used to live in it ) and isn't anymore. But it's in the background and it's soft, not aggressiv which again makes the whole piece feel desolate yet peacefull, strange yet familiar. I hoped what I tried to convey made sens, and it's only my interpretation of it. But no matter how you feel about it that song is a masterpiece despite the different interpretations possible which makes it trully remarkable as if it wasn't already.
On another note just stumble upon your videos it's really entertaining and insightfull. So thanks for the work you put into it and I love the vibe you bring on that corner of youtube. Great work mate.
Loved reading this and thank you!
This for me is like Enya survived and is up and making music in the devastated world of NieR.
For me this "sound of Yorha" is feel like literally "Rays of Light" in rainy day
Im pretty sure you already know but you really REALLY should check out their concert albums, what they did to hills of radiant winds -at the 2016? 2018 concert? i dont remember which- is almost beyond description, its so epic, uplifting and beautiful.
For the release of the remastered replicant, they also intertwined some original songs, like kainé salvation and escape. Those are spectacular too.
Oh man I haven’t heard the live concert albums!!!
I had never hear of NieR and then one day this song played on a chess stream. I fell in love instantly.
Voovey philaitisa...
Nier Automata's OST got so little recognition, the first piece that I love from the game is this song. The song made me feel calm at first, when the drum comes in the mode changes into an adventure/journey of self discovery.
Yup! Same
Admittedly I prefer the Shade version over Rays of Light, though I very much prefer how the OST arranged Rays of Light. While I like the instruments used for Shade, plus Emi Evans on vocals is always great, I found Rays of Light had the better transitions from the three ingame versions.
Anyways, happy to see you react to anything Drakenier.
I was playing and turned it on in the jukebox, I was immediately encaptured. I play fingerstyle guitar, I immediately tabbed it out on guitar pro and started playing along side it.
If Nier Automata would have been a fresh game, we would talk about how the characters look like out from a Balenciaga fashion reel. And by that I just want to compliment the character designs.
You should make a video for Forest Kingdom though.
How about “City ruins ( Shade )” ? Even the lyric is completely different.
This piece is magical.
It makes you imagine an empty apartment complex on a hot, sunny day.
Ive recently started playing the game again go try to get the platinum trophy and the music just hit me so hard had to go to the ingame jukebox and just listen to it for a few minutes
I'm eager to listen to your opinions on other pieces from Automata, specially _Pascal_ and _Peaceful Sleep_ .
when the algorithm works, it does it well
(btw liked and subscribed)
isn't it amazing that video game music got to the level where it may considered a music album that comes with a free game with it?
I like your vide 'cause i can't put it in x2 or x1.5 or the music would hear bad, so, i only can sit and enjoy the music with you friend
Also, what i love of this song is that, it is not a loop. For example, there is a soundtrack of nier replicant called "his dream" that i love with all my kokoro, but the problem is that it repeats and nothing new happens. In the other hand, this song is telling you something and not leave you alone. I like that because it is the soundtrack of a "City in ruins" but this song makes you company
I love when people appreciate how great Nier Automata is 👍💓💓💗👍👍
I don't think I would love any game like I love it 💓
I feel that mechanical sound isn't just there because of yorha. I feel and from what I've come to learn is that. The world is completely fused with metal and organics as andriods and Adam and eve have been bluring the line between something being alive and mechanical. Robots slowly gaining coniousness. Like the first thing we see when we enter is the robots and so much over growth and trees and nature over taking buildings. Again the game askes the question how do you find meaning in a meaningless world as well as how do you know when something is really alive and I feel rays of light always helps you think about that mote everytime you come out of an area and back to the city ruins.
Nier Automata is masterpiece of ART
the metallic whine throughout reminds me of whalesong, if the whale was made of concrete, which i guess makes sense for an abandoned city. it's just this big lonely inorganic -thing- with its own weird life.
idunno, maybe i have too much context to have an original idea.
A beautiful song
I think the phrase you were looking for is "peace with purpose". Might be wrong, but that's the feeling I always got. Peace, but also you have a purpose to work toward.
Have you considered analyzing "Grandma" (Destruction), the automata version? Ive always loved that piece of mix and the mixture of female and male orchestra. The song tells a story by itself.
I will probably deep dive all versions
The metallic sound you're talking about stuck out to me a lot too. Except, for me I didn't associate it with metal or machines, it always reminded wind blowing, or the sound of breathing, or sighing. There's a similar sound that plays throughout "A Fleeting Dream" from FFX, and I think it's interesting that both themes play in areas of ruin, because I think that sound lends itself to a sense of dereliction, of aftermath-ness.
ooooo great point :)
Hey! You could also listen to Song of ancients, is from Nier Replicant, I think you could like that one too, I feel like the feeling of Devola and Popola are present on the song
Absolutely! Up next!
I've made a Discord server if you'd like to talk with other folks about game music or make requests!
discord.gg/wvzEZTBkf7
Its a sense of wonder... Its what the androids feel :) and the music changes throughout the series accordingly... that's what I feel and think :) What do they do in the amusement park... ? how is the music :) ? ...they play :) NieR Automata is a masterpiece :) NieR - Drakengard that is :)👍
big time!
To me this song feels like "no matter the current state of the world and no matter if we're the only humans remaining : this is yet another sunrise and there will be many more, even long after we're gone"
Shade variant is my favorite.
reminder that it's not just keiichi okabe, plenty of other composer worked on these games, included keigo hoashi who did A LOT of them
Might be completely wrong and out of place
But in the game the city ruins is on top of something that later collapses and becomes opened up to explore in the story.
Maybe the 'non natural' instrumental sounds represent wind or what's in the space below the ruined city xD ?
Weird thing to try tie together but this game has that kind of commitment to its art o.o
But I also understand listening to this without playing the game wouldn't get that message across so who knows o.o
I think you're right :) But also who knows! :D