MAJOR SPOILERS: the real names of all XC3 tracks that play in this video, with a short description where useful. ... ... 0:00:00 Brilliant Wings (remix of TtF! BS) 0:00:12 Enemies Closing In (XC1) 0:00:31 #51 Battlefield ~ The Scramble for Life 0:01:30 Young Warriors (prologue) 0:01:38 Confronting Our Past (Taion’s ouroboros) 0:01:42 In the Morning Mist (exchanging flutes) 0:01:51 Lost Days of Warmth (babies!) 0:02:01 A Life Woven Together (Vandham’s death) 0:02:07 Life's Fading Flame ~ Holding These Thoughts (attempted heroic sacrifice of vs. N) 0:02:12 That to Which the Defeated Cling (N’s impossible choice) 0:02:15 Congregating Lives (reinforcements against the final boss) 0:02:19 The Two Off-seers (Noah vs. Mio, other times) 0:02:22 Hope for the Future (Mio gets the pendant, Nia tells about infiltrating Origin) 0:02:25 Ferronis 0:02:43 #50 Moebius 0:03:41 #49 Malevolent Hollow (cave) 0:04:02 #48 Ribbi Flats 0:04:20 #47 Origin Ascending (cutscene on the way to the final area) 0:05:02 #46 Urayan Tunnels 0:05:29 #45 Captocorn Peak 0:05:43 #44 Battle on the Seas 0:07:00 #43 Great Sword’s Base 0:07:29 #42 City 0:07:56 Composers 0:10:07 #41a How the Future Endures (end of the final boss) 0:10:21 #41b Something's Beginning to Move (right after) 0:10:34 #40 Agnus Castle 0:11:07 #39 Keves Castle (Battle) 0:11:27 #38 Melia ~ Ancient Memories (but spelled “Meria”) 0:11:41 #37 Elaice Highway 0:12:00 #36 Keves Colony 0:12:53 #35 Soldier’s Paean 0:13:34 #34 Erythia Sea 0:14:36 #33 Iris Network 0:15:27 #32 Off-seer (a very indistinct name for the title screen) 0:16:13 #31 Shining Aspiration ~ Inherited Melody (probably) 0:16:28 Off-seer ~ Miyabi, Crys, Noah, Crys, Miyabi, Mio 0:19:56 #30 The Bereaved and Those Left Behind 0:20:43 #29 Yzana Plain (for Everblight Plain) 0:22:58 #28a Fort O’Virbus/Night 0:24:57 #28b Fort O’Virbus/Day 0:25:18 #27 The False Queens (as spoilers go, probably top 5) 0:26:45 #26 Alfeto Valley 0:27:34 #25 Origin Depths (Section A) - the non-A version is pretty good too in the middle 0:31:04 #24 Ouroboros Awakening 0:33:17 #23 Hostile Colony (Dynamic) 0:35:07 #22 Where We Belong (when the worlds separate in the ending) 0:35:35 #21 Nia ~ Toward the Heavens (starts playing when her hideout appears) 0:36:39 #20 Feelings Risen to the Sky (Mio’s hair has gotten kinda long) 0:38:06 #19 Showdown With Z, Act 2 (Act 1’s fine but lacks guitar) 0:40:13 #18 Eagus Wilderness/Day 0:43:02 Eagus Wilderness/Night 0:43:19 Sailing the Seas (which I didn’t want to spoil) 0:43:51 #17 The Great Sea Stirs 0:45:56 #16 Ultimate Enemy 0:48:03 #15 Agnus Battle 0:50:02 #14 Words That Never Reached You 0:50:50 #13 Milick Meadows 0:51:59 #12 A Step Away 0:53:11 #11 Homecoming (when she dies) 0:55:24 #10 Impending Threat (probably) 0:58:07 #9 Noah and N 1:01:09 #8a Tactical Action (Dynamic) 1:02:02 #8b Origin Battle 1:03:49 #7 Kaleidoscopic Core 1:06:25 Off-seer ~ Noah 1:07:08 The Two Off-seers 1:07:48 #6 A Life Sent On 1:10:16 Off-seer ~ Crys 1:11:28 #5 A Formidable Enemy 1:14:02 #4 Chain Attack! 1:16:24 #3 The Weight of Life (or Carrying the Weight of Life) 1:20:30 #2 Keves Battle 1:23:29 #1 You Will Know Our Names 1:24:27 Moebius Battle 1:27:38 Moebius Interlink Battle 1:29:34 Moebius Interlink Battle ~ Climax 1:30:09 Moebius Interlink Battle ~ End 1:30:34 Moebius Battle/M (multiple phases) 1:31:07 Brilliant Wings × TtF BS (a mashup I made)
Ah but there are reasons for that! 1. I am working on a video with all the YWKONs, comparing their structure and how the sequels added to the formula. 2. As soon as I announce YWKON as #1, half my audience is no longer listening, they're just confused and angry at the Moebius Battle snub; I have one minute before I lose them, gotta move fast! (Mind you, had any of YWKON, Keves Battle, Weight of Life or Chain Attack been missing from the top, I'd have had a riot on my hands anyway.)
It lost the popularity vote. No hate on GOW, but the music in Ragnarok is just mid and it only won because it received more votes from people that didn't listen to the soundtracks of all the games nominated.
xenoblade not winning any ost awards is pure popularity vote in Game Awards. Every single one of the games had an astoundingly good soundtrack, with hours upon hours of amazing music. A game like GOW wins with a 2 ~ hour soundtrack that is by all means not bad, hell some made into my playlists. But the 8 ~ hours of Xeno 3, or every other itteration before 3 outclasses pretty much ever other ost. Red dead redemtion 2 had a good ost for sure. Better then Xeno 2 ? hell no!! 2012 xenoblade chronicles wasnt even nominated for the score, who was ? COD black ops2, sure guys. X lost to DOOM soundtrack, wich in all honestly can be explained since DOOM had a amazing effect of "WHAT IN THE UNHOLY IS THIS MUSIC" effect. Everyone that knows even an ounce of music theory and has learned a little bit about composing or style fusions in music knows that they all got rigged out of ost awards.. sad reality
To be fair, properly appraising a game's soundtrack is a huge undertaking, especially for a soundtrack of Xenoblade's sheer magnitude (~8 hours without repeats). We're commenting on a *92-minute video* that does exactly the sort of analysis you need, and that's just scratching the surface because it's just covering Nicolas' 50(ish) favourite tracks out of the ~150 in the base game (and another 20 in FR, though FR wouldn't have been a factor in 2022). Not only do you need to listen to most/all of the soundtrack, you need to understand how each track relates to the game, to each other, and even to previous games in the series (in XB3's case). Without that, you just aren't going to pick up on the aspects that go deeper than "this song sounds cool." That kind of in-depth appraisal, however, is only something you're going to do if you already love the game and its soundtrack. None of us would be watching this video without first loving XB3. It's not something a reviewer is going to do before voting at an awards ceremony. The best OST award is usually more a matter of just throwing a bone to a game that the reviewers feel deserves some recognition, but which didn't win any other awards. In 2022 in particular, though, I think the most salient consideration is that GoW had a "real celebrity" composer. The Game Awards are not shy about their efforts to pretend to be the Oscars, jumping at every chance they get to rub elbows with industries they consider more prestigious than gaming. Just look at this past year and how often the actual people responsible for the games receiving awards were chased off the stage to give more time to celebrity cameos. McCreary's most known for his film and TV stuff (specifically Western film and TV). In the eyes of TGA, that makes him more worthy of recognition than composers like Mitsuda that are mostly only known for their contributions to game music (however monumental those contributions are). I don't think GoW winning best OST had anything to do with anyone's opinions on the soundtracks themselves so much as it was just another chance for Keighly to slobber all over a non-gaming celebrity.
As someone wise already mentioned, "90% of the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 OST sounds like they told the composer this could be the last song they can ever make". It's just so good and over the top.
1:25:55 A cool detail in this section of the Moebius Battle theme is that if you're wearing headphones, you can hear the choir looping around you in such a way that it makes the shape of the Moebius/infinity symbol.
When I first realized that my neurodivergent musical brain was emitting *all of the dopamine.* This game’s soundtrack is in contention for my favorite of all time.
I just love how during the "Words That Never Reached You" at 50:00 he ends it by interrupting it with a chain attack...this is 100% proof someone actually played the game.
I like Bear McReary's work a lot, but it breaks my heart that XC3 OST did not won best music at The Game Awards. It is by far the best soundtrack out of all the games released this year in all aspects from composition, to arrangement and recording quality.
they should make it so it isn't a popularity contest and provide actual samples or full tracks for people to listen to and compare. also include when it's used in game with context
@@Cryosxify It is not really a popularity contest since the votes only account for 10% of the final decision, the 90% is made by the judges, player's voice is the only 100% by the public, but I guess in this case it can count as a popularity contest since I doubt the judges even played 2 hours of xenoblade and just went with GOW
@@reeriot1485 yeah, each media outlet has multiple reviewers, editors, etc and the ones that actually played the game would need to advocate for it. how something is chosen is not transparent, whether or not the people deciding the vote for the outlet have any experience with the game, etc. so I definitely think each game needs to provide truly representative samples for people who didn't play to get at least a little familiar with the game. just have the nominated game's devs/studio/ip owners provide the sample packs and vga can screen them for anything misrepresentative. then the ones who did play the game from the media outlet can also check the samples and say things like no, the acting in the game wasn't this good all the time blah blah blah
I just have to say, if Xenoblade 3 isn't nominated for best music at the game awards, it'll be a crime. It's absurd how incredible this game is, from its music to its performances, and has sky rocketed the series into my all time favorites.
musical taste: check, educational know-how: check, pure passion for the craft: check... but you know what I love most about your videos? the performance, the edit, those solo banters. your sense of comedy has a "sheen" to it!
Towards the end of the list, I was thinking how weird it was that Vs. Moebius hadn't even been mentioned yet, then 1:24:27 happened. It just came in like the musical equivalent of "It's the big bad boss! Boo!"
Tbh I wouldn't have been mad if Metal Hellsinger or Elden Ring won either. But God of War's only weakness (and every sony game has this issue) was how beyond generic the music was. At least even the game awards orchestra knew the win was BS
I'd agree if it was Xenoblade 2, but Xeno 3 has a lot of unmemorable music (all of the nominees did besides metal hellsinger). I guarantee you most people can barely recognize a tune besides Weight of Life and Moebius theme
1:19:16 I don't think you mentioned it, but the flute here literally plays A Life Sent On, the off-seer's tune. This theme not only represents life itself and the will to move on, but it's like Noah and Mio are off-seeing the enemy in advance. It's so melancholic, yet so badass
The flute addition to the Moebius theme is the best form of musical storytelling I’ve ever seen, those who’ve played that whole sequence will understand
When "A step away" played, my heart was broken beyond repair. I've never felt so helpless and useless in a videogame before. You watch the entire party suffer, hoping something would save them, but no. No rescuing, no secret passage, no way out. You just sit your @ss watching Noah lose it, Manana trying to cheer the guys up (major points for Manana in this scene), god, even Taion sees no way out of that situation. Monolith, you know how to make a boy cry.
I really hope this video blows up, there’s a level of effort and production value here that you almost NEVER see in xenoblade music analysis/reaction videos 😭 this had me feeling every emotion in existence lol
I had the same reaction as you when I heard #11. Xenoblade 3 still has one of the best video game soundtrack of all time. All the songs are bangers !!!
So glad you focused on the Agnian Homecoming as much as you did. That theme gives me goosebumps EVERY time the flutes kick in, without fail. It’s such a powerful piece, for such a powerful point in the story. It’s so good.
Agree with the goosebumps, I still get them myself! Typically the second time the motif plays, and then stronger ones the third time as the brass kicks in (54:39). Bonus easter egg! (SPOILER if you click Show more) "I will need a while... to recover." [30 minutes later] The meme is "20 minutes later", but it wasn't the right amount of time. 28 minutes later start the 2 minutes I mention at 36:45. 29 minutes, you're at the part I refer to at 37:55. 30 minutes you get 36:55, which completes your recovery.
Congratulations. This video officially made me cry, specifically during Feelings Risen into the Sky. P.S. I make it a point to whistle the flute part of the Moebius theme whenever listening to any version of it, regardless of if its a version with said flute. It's fun trying to match the song completely by memory without the actual instrument there as a guide.
I'm still feeling a bit grumpy that this game didn't win the music award in Game Awards, even though it has so much amazing and emotional music. I really liked your video, it made me appreciate the soundtrack even more than I was before, highlighting the instruments, leitmotifs and some themes I hadn't heard much during my playthrough, thank you.
It's always a joy to watch long videos about any aspects of Xenoblade games. This series oozes with pure art in every aspect of it, and the same can be said about the music 110%
I just found this video when searching for Xenoblade 3 music, and your enthusiasm shines through. After watching the whole thing, I started going through all your old videos and found your post-mortem. I can't tell you what makes the UA-cam algorithm favor one video over another, but I can tell you what makes you stand out from the 8-Bit Music Theories of the world: your emotional connection to the games, and your breadth of game music knowledge and interest. There are others who know music theory, but no one else would, or frankly *could*, casually whip out a Donkey Kong Country or multiple Etrian Odyssey tracks to compare to XC3, not to mention your very expert identification of motifs between XC1, 2, and 3 which are complex and sprinkled everywhere throughout the soundtrack. I don't know what's next for you, but you earned yourself a UA-cam Premium subscriber and I look forward to whatever you make next, whenever you make it. Also, your "best 1 minute of the soundtrack" is a great gimmick. I like it, if you do more soundtrack reviews.
I appreciate your comment; it's like you understand this series better than I do! (Or did, at least: that "post-mortem" led to a couple insightful discussions!) I've heard that my first ten videos were all over the place in terms of focus and what can be expected from them, and I'm fairly sure by now that my mistake was trying to give the series a higher purpose, rather than just going "I love video game music, come hear me talk about it!"
You know a game has an incredible soundtrack when someone makes a top 50+ best tracks in the game and some of your favorites don't make the cut...and to be honest, I don't really disagree with your choices. I do appreciate your analysis as it helped me to appreciate some of these songs even more. This is especially true for the battle themes since many of them I never heard to completion while playing the game. Plus, it's hard to hear them with the characters constantly talking over them. I didn't realize that the composers actually had the characters' flutes made in real life and used them to record the soundtrack. That's incredible! Thank you for sharing that piece of information. Two songs I would have included on my list are "A Life Overflowing" and "Dannagh Desert (Night)." The first is just a variation of the Off-Seer motif, but this particular version sets the mood during a highly emotional point in the story. All of the other instances of the motif seem to build up to that one point in the game. The "Dannagh Desert (Night)" theme is beautiful in its simplicity, but what pushes it over the top for me is the fact that it didn't even need to exist. The Dannagh Desert isn't particularly important to the story and could have been removed without an significant impact to the game. Its inclusion was likely a labor of love from the developers as a way to make something special for the fans of Torna. So not only did they create a whole area in the game, but the composers also created original music for it (they could have used the "Eagus Wilderness" theme). The night theme reminds me of a lullaby, gently singing the souls lost in Torna to their final rest.
Such a good video, and the humor is on point. Got out of me a big laugh with the Chain Attack music. Also the analysis are super insightful, especially the part where you discuss the vocalists and composers. I hope it gets thousand of views, but I can't show it to my friends who haven't finished the game. Experiencing the Homecoming themes and Moebius battle themes for the first time in context is something I can't bring myself to rob them of.
Great video! It was fun to learn things like using the McGlynn sisters for different leitmotif roles. The mashups of different franchise tracks were awesome to hear too.
I have watched this 3 times over the past year. I like the format and analysis and of course I love the music. Would love to see videos like this on the other Xenoblade soundtracks
I know it’s not likely. But can you please do a video like this for Xenoblade X. It’s soundtrack is CRIMINALLY underrated. Hiroyuki Sawano is a composer who’s not afraid to experiment and take risks and he’s one of the greatest composers ever. It just makes me so sad that a lot of people don’t appreciate the genius of Hiroyuki’s composing. When you started singing Uncontrollable from Xenoblade X I was like, “Yes, someone who appreciates Xenoblade X”. And the world is so big I know there are plenty of people who do, but like yea
Hi, I made that Musescore track you heard of Keves Battle! You did such an amazing job with this video. I'm glad to see someone else is as obsessive over this music as I am. You did everything so much justice, going all the way back to chrono trigger where the themes originated to pull out all of their meaning x)
This was such a great video. I loved this game's soundtrack to pieces. It's nice that it got the nom at the game awards but it's criminal that it didn't get the actual award. Also, glad to see Cave on your list - I think it's the most underrated song in the game
I love how the prologue track for 3 is the same as Prologue A from Xeno 1. Had some major nostalgia vibes of Shulk describing how the Bionis and Mechonis were at war, like Keves and Agnus. Thanks for the awesome video!
Kiyota, ACE, Hiramatsu, Mitsuda, Abounassr and Shimomura: Between 3 games they've managed to create the best music known to mankind in my opinion. There's truly no better collection of music on this earth - no hyperbole
Loved this!! I still can’t get over how they used real replicates of the flutes to record that part of the soundtrack. That’s such a cool detail. Have a greater appreciation for all of the tracks after watching this.
OMG, what you said about the title screen is ALWAYS my experience with Xenoblade title themes. I remember the first time I listened to this one, I thought "Okay, it's lovely." but after I was done with the game, I was an emotional wreck. I LOVE IT.
I think the Agnus battle theme having the long build up makes sense considering it's a musical reference to how battles worked in Xenoblade 2: Build up elemental orbs, initiate a chain attack and knock them all over like dominoes. It even sounds like a full burst in musical form at the ending part!
If this game does not get best soundtrack at TGA then it will be a travesty. It is fast becoming my favorite score in a series with exceptional OSTs already.
Weight of life is also set up for you to almost be able to sing the lyrics, "The last day with you, was truly magical" from One Last You, the ending theme of XC2.
This was so good! Loved the chain attack interrupting other battle songs all the time, true to form too lol. Really enjoyed you just geeking out to all these great Xenoblade 3 songs. Also really enjoyed when you started singing to the remix/battle theme of drifting souls.
I am SO glad to read this. I myself have a couple videos I get back to every year, namely Bismuth's explanation of the DK64 TAS. ua-cam.com/video/QKsRNoLyXO8/v-deo.html&lc=UgwvuvflHeekn0Yl2SF4AaABAg Thinking of my XC3 music appreciation video on someone's list is a wonderful feeling.
It's a good number for me - especially for my series on game music, which rarely hits 10k! This one's about to break into my all-time top 5, that's otherwise entirely made up of semi-viral Necrodancer covers released close to the games. But yeah it's a struggle. I just want to make quality content and not worry about the algorithm, but then I see other videos on the Mario movie's music with 10 times the views for 1/10 the effort, and I am stuck wondering why.
Staggering OST and I loved your passion and clear understanding of the music, which made for both an educational and thoroughly enjoyable view. I was glued till the end. That Home Coming theme...perfection.
The most enjoyable hour and a half I've had on UA-cam in a while! ^_^ Xenoblade 3 was already my GOTY and soundtrack of the year as it was. After watching this video's breakdown of 50 of the game's incredible pieces though.... I feel like I appreciate so many of the tracks - even the ones I ALREADY thought highly of- so much more than before. Moreover, as others have commented, the timing of your edits, sense of humor and passion for video game music- I LOVED the frequent references to other soundtracks, especially Chrono Trigger- was mega entertaining and inspiring :) Thank you very much for the fantastic work Nicolas! Definitely a vid I'll want to rewatch in the near future.
This was really a great video. Your editing is really fun to watch and the little humorous moments are great. I love how you analyze every track. I learned so many new things in this video. Keep up the good work!
As someone who literally JUST played through ff8 and ace combat 7 for the first time in the last 2 months, hearing your callbacks to them BACK TO BACK sent me REELING. GREAT TASTES AND GREAT VIDEO MY MAN, I LOVED THIS
I actually wanted to put this out there for the chain attack theme; For me, it never ruined a fight emotionally. In fact, in the final battle it was a triumphant theme for my party. It made me feel like I TOOK CONTROL of that fight, that it was OUR destiny, not his anymore.
EXACTLY! I see lots of people complaining that it played during the final stage of the boss, but for me that was AMAZING! I felt a rush of adrenaline as I beat the spark out of that mudder to the beat of Chain Attack! It really made the experience x10 better. Also I ended with Riku using "Last word", which was the cherry on top
It works so well there precisely because it doesn't play during the earlier phases. _Only the final-final phase_ lets the Chain Attack interrupt it, so it's much more _earned._
Thank you for this wonderful journey! I listened to this during my commute and at work, and it was really cool hearing the commentary while listening along. It helped relive the feelings I got during the game, and when first hearing these tracks in context. I teared up yet again when you reached… certain songs. And it helped me appreciate the more underrated stuff!
Interesting! I consider the visual part pretty essential, but apparently it works audio-only too. Glad I could distill the experience so you could relive some parts again!
Thank You for the crazy amount of time you put into this video! Was my personal GOTY and favorite OST surpassing XC2s. It may have been just me but i got Persona 5 vibes from the beginning of Agnus Battle, and Big Colony reminded me of something that could've been in FF7 Remake. I love both of those OSTs as well so it made it even cooler. Thanks again for the great video! (Top 50 XC2 next?) :p
Watching through the first 5-10 minutes and suddenly caught myself humming the themes despite the fact it's been well over 6 months since I last properly played the game or listened to much of the soundtrack. Incredible how much music can stick with you sometimes! Around the halfway point in the video now and it's just a treat to hear a bunch of the songs again and learning things I didn't know about them before. I'm even hearing parts of songs I've *never* heard before thanks to the Menu and Chain Attack songs, and the default fast travel time being morning. Can't wait to see how much more I end up learning through the second half.
This came up on my recommended and so glad it did. This is a brilliant video, wonderful work. I have no ability to put into words how life changing the Xenoblade series has been to me and how the music connects and reaches me in ways no others have. I never in my life expected to find perfection in anything, least of all a video game, but I did. This game and everything about it is the embodiment of what perfection is. You completely reduced me to a puddle of tears again with #11. That moment in the game hit like a mountain falling on me and I was only casually watching your video but when that came on, I honestly fell apart and was weeping, it was so strong and all the emotions of that moment in the game.
One thing that I think is really cool is that for all the you will know our names/recall our names songs they all have the exact same drop timing. If you play them all together at exactly 1:05 in each song they'll all transition into their respective guitar lead segments. Fun way for the composers to create continuity between the games!
Well, they're at least one second off, and don't quite get there the same way. Keep an eye out for my upcoming video on this subject! Probably called something like "The anatomy of You Will Know Our Names".
While I already love this soundtrack to bits, this video deepened my appreciation with it so so much more! All the information you give and the context behind each song (both in game and irl) made watching this seem like hearing everything all over again for the first time. Fantastic Job!
As someone who has listened to all Xenoblade OSTs for way too many hundreds of hours, this is a very nice analysis to watch. You mention a lot of the things that I also noticed myself, and also found a lot more comparisons to older games I didn't know about! Very interesting. And while any Top 50 like this is less of a ranking and more of an excuse to talk about music, The #1 was well deserved, I had actually been waiting to see when it would appear while watching the video. One track from the OST I am surprised is missing is Dannagh Desert, mainly because the day and night versions of that area track are so different from one another, and the tracks, while mostly atmospheric, both pick up a lot at the end, which also few people will ever be hearing given how much of the time you spend in combat in that area. It is one of my favourite tracks personally. My other favourite track is the spoiler-free "Commander Battle" at 0:25:18, the melody is so crazy and it never stops, just a really interesting piece. Thank you very much for this great video.
I definitely hear some mechanical rhythm in the chain attack theme. The 46 second mark in Chain attack seems to be the 40 second mark in Mechanical rhythm
I'm not sure what I'm listening for when you mention the "annoying buzz" on Fort O'Virbus. The only thing I hear that sounds like what that could mean is what I assumed was a Marimba or something similar and was an intended part of the song.
I like seeing someone who actually played the game go into depth with the soundtrack there's some things only someone who played the game can relate with such as the title screen how it incorporates many leitmotifs from the games soundtrack and as you play the game more you hear it
I found your channel through your Time to Fight: How many escalations did you want? Er I mean, Bionis Shoulder video. And now you come out with THIS behemoth. I watched it all in one sitting and it was an absolute joy the entire time. Your passion and knowledge really come through and it makes for a super enjoyable experience. Looking at your channel I see you have a criminally low amount of views on your previous videos and they're all games I'd love to watch so I'll go and give you a plus one to the viewcount on all of those! Very much looking forward to whatever you have cooking up next 😊
Just realized I played this game so much I actually listen to most of the area soundtracks fully. Especially erythia sea. I spend at least 30 percent of my gameplay time there swimming around. And I’ve played near 200 hours Lol
MAN PLEASE : you are MAD talented, smart and above all SUPER good at entertaining !!! So PLEASE do a video essay just talking, reviewing the whole Xenoblade 3 ost (and why not, even the gameplay, story and all the other elements). Your target audience if you do said video will be huge and your wit mixed with awesome presence will hook all Xenoblade fans, I can assure you that.
For real though, you mentioning Etrian Odyssey made me incredibly happy and feel recognized. Etrian Odyssey is my favorite videogame series of all time and incredibly special to me, so I'm thankful that you acknowledged the series' existence. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for acknowledging the Etrian Odyssey series and its masterful soundtrack, and I hope you get a chance to make a video on one of the EO games sometime.
Yeah I need to do that at some point, they're really deserving! In the meantime, let me redirect you to these favorites of mine: 42-minute battle medley: ua-cam.com/video/nIVF5abBwO8/v-deo.html Cthulhu's something: dodarchive.dwellingofduels.net/11-07-Free/02-Snappleman-EtrianOdyssey3-Cthulhu-DoD.mp3
First video I’ve seen where the quality of the bass is acknowledged. It’s criminal how many people just seem to either not notice or not mention it. Great job 👍
I love how in mobius battle theme at a couple laughing parts if you are wearing headphones it moves from one side to the other in an infinity symbol :D
Dang, this is such a good video! So well-organized and analyzed, you made me pick up on things I hadn't before! Meaty stuff, you're the guy with the gall!
I kinda want to see a future Xenoblade where they try to have more of a dynamic arrangement, where instead of moving from a field track to a battle track, both are similar, but different tempo, so things more of escalate, instead of cutting so much. If the Chain Attack music were like this, it would be much less disincentivising to do it in certain battles.
Would be interesting to see them try, but I don't know if the individual tracks would be as good. This and FF7R have a nice mix of dynamic and standalone battle music. Different tempo is much more technically advanced, but it's about time someone attempts it. I mean, DJs have been adjusting music speed on-the-fly for decades... Something every RPG should do, though, that I've only seen in Cosmic Star Heroine (upcoming video?) is have more than one jump-in point for battle tracks, so that we're not back to square one every time.
@@NicD if I recall correctly, OG FFVII had that, so that the battle music would start from the point it left last time (I think it didn't even respect phrases, just the actual point it stopped last time) I can't but remember a video where someone talked about Wario Mountain in Mario Kart 8 and be sorta jealous. It's not the same, as that is generally more scripted to do well and there are less points of entry, but I think there's some development in the side of game audio that can make the sound experience intrinsically more diegetic and more flavourful, and elevate the BSO to newer dimensions.
in my eyes, millick meadows having a very upbeat and energetic feel makes sense, because it contrasts with everblight plain + alfeto valley and their bleak tones. that makes sense because it plays right after you experience true freedom for the first time, free from the fight
It'd be cool to see another video like this where you talk about the spoilers, but I'm not sure how much that would actually add to the video. I'd also watch a video like this of you discussing the entire soundtrack of the game.
MAJOR SPOILERS: the real names of all XC3 tracks that play in this video, with a short description where useful.
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0:00:00 Brilliant Wings (remix of TtF! BS)
0:00:12 Enemies Closing In (XC1)
0:00:31 #51 Battlefield ~ The Scramble for Life
0:01:30 Young Warriors (prologue)
0:01:38 Confronting Our Past (Taion’s ouroboros)
0:01:42 In the Morning Mist (exchanging flutes)
0:01:51 Lost Days of Warmth (babies!)
0:02:01 A Life Woven Together (Vandham’s death)
0:02:07 Life's Fading Flame ~ Holding These Thoughts (attempted heroic sacrifice of vs. N)
0:02:12 That to Which the Defeated Cling (N’s impossible choice)
0:02:15 Congregating Lives (reinforcements against the final boss)
0:02:19 The Two Off-seers (Noah vs. Mio, other times)
0:02:22 Hope for the Future (Mio gets the pendant, Nia tells about infiltrating Origin)
0:02:25 Ferronis
0:02:43 #50 Moebius
0:03:41 #49 Malevolent Hollow (cave)
0:04:02 #48 Ribbi Flats
0:04:20 #47 Origin Ascending (cutscene on the way to the final area)
0:05:02 #46 Urayan Tunnels
0:05:29 #45 Captocorn Peak
0:05:43 #44 Battle on the Seas
0:07:00 #43 Great Sword’s Base
0:07:29 #42 City
0:07:56 Composers
0:10:07 #41a How the Future Endures (end of the final boss)
0:10:21 #41b Something's Beginning to Move (right after)
0:10:34 #40 Agnus Castle
0:11:07 #39 Keves Castle (Battle)
0:11:27 #38 Melia ~ Ancient Memories (but spelled “Meria”)
0:11:41 #37 Elaice Highway
0:12:00 #36 Keves Colony
0:12:53 #35 Soldier’s Paean
0:13:34 #34 Erythia Sea
0:14:36 #33 Iris Network
0:15:27 #32 Off-seer (a very indistinct name for the title screen)
0:16:13 #31 Shining Aspiration ~ Inherited Melody (probably)
0:16:28 Off-seer ~ Miyabi, Crys, Noah, Crys, Miyabi, Mio
0:19:56 #30 The Bereaved and Those Left Behind
0:20:43 #29 Yzana Plain (for Everblight Plain)
0:22:58 #28a Fort O’Virbus/Night
0:24:57 #28b Fort O’Virbus/Day
0:25:18 #27 The False Queens (as spoilers go, probably top 5)
0:26:45 #26 Alfeto Valley
0:27:34 #25 Origin Depths (Section A) - the non-A version is pretty good too in the middle
0:31:04 #24 Ouroboros Awakening
0:33:17 #23 Hostile Colony (Dynamic)
0:35:07 #22 Where We Belong (when the worlds separate in the ending)
0:35:35 #21 Nia ~ Toward the Heavens (starts playing when her hideout appears)
0:36:39 #20 Feelings Risen to the Sky (Mio’s hair has gotten kinda long)
0:38:06 #19 Showdown With Z, Act 2 (Act 1’s fine but lacks guitar)
0:40:13 #18 Eagus Wilderness/Day
0:43:02 Eagus Wilderness/Night
0:43:19 Sailing the Seas (which I didn’t want to spoil)
0:43:51 #17 The Great Sea Stirs
0:45:56 #16 Ultimate Enemy
0:48:03 #15 Agnus Battle
0:50:02 #14 Words That Never Reached You
0:50:50 #13 Milick Meadows
0:51:59 #12 A Step Away
0:53:11 #11 Homecoming (when she dies)
0:55:24 #10 Impending Threat (probably)
0:58:07 #9 Noah and N
1:01:09 #8a Tactical Action (Dynamic)
1:02:02 #8b Origin Battle
1:03:49 #7 Kaleidoscopic Core
1:06:25 Off-seer ~ Noah
1:07:08 The Two Off-seers
1:07:48 #6 A Life Sent On
1:10:16 Off-seer ~ Crys
1:11:28 #5 A Formidable Enemy
1:14:02 #4 Chain Attack!
1:16:24 #3 The Weight of Life (or Carrying the Weight of Life)
1:20:30 #2 Keves Battle
1:23:29 #1 You Will Know Our Names
1:24:27 Moebius Battle
1:27:38 Moebius Interlink Battle
1:29:34 Moebius Interlink Battle ~ Climax
1:30:09 Moebius Interlink Battle ~ End
1:30:34 Moebius Battle/M (multiple phases)
1:31:07 Brilliant Wings × TtF BS (a mashup I made)
How about the best song on xenosaga episode 3 plss
A real shame you don't feature the ENTIRE "You will know our names finale" track".
Ah but there are reasons for that!
1. I am working on a video with all the YWKONs, comparing their structure and how the sequels added to the formula.
2. As soon as I announce YWKON as #1, half my audience is no longer listening, they're just confused and angry at the Moebius Battle snub; I have one minute before I lose them, gotta move fast!
(Mind you, had any of YWKON, Keves Battle, Weight of Life or Chain Attack been missing from the top, I'd have had a riot on my hands anyway.)
@@NicD Fair enough!!
@@NicD how about mKe a video about xenosaga 3 ost plss
How the f**k does this game not win the music award in the Game Awards
It lost the popularity vote. No hate on GOW, but the music in Ragnarok is just mid and it only won because it received more votes from people that didn't listen to the soundtracks of all the games nominated.
xenoblade not winning any ost awards is pure popularity vote in Game Awards. Every single one of the games had an astoundingly good soundtrack, with hours upon hours of amazing music. A game like GOW wins with a 2 ~ hour soundtrack that is by all means not bad, hell some made into my playlists. But the 8 ~ hours of Xeno 3, or every other itteration before 3 outclasses pretty much ever other ost. Red dead redemtion 2 had a good ost for sure. Better then Xeno 2 ? hell no!! 2012 xenoblade chronicles wasnt even nominated for the score, who was ? COD black ops2, sure guys. X lost to DOOM soundtrack, wich in all honestly can be explained since DOOM had a amazing effect of "WHAT IN THE UNHOLY IS THIS MUSIC" effect.
Everyone that knows even an ounce of music theory and has learned a little bit about composing or style fusions in music knows that they all got rigged out of ost awards.. sad reality
To be fair, properly appraising a game's soundtrack is a huge undertaking, especially for a soundtrack of Xenoblade's sheer magnitude (~8 hours without repeats). We're commenting on a *92-minute video* that does exactly the sort of analysis you need, and that's just scratching the surface because it's just covering Nicolas' 50(ish) favourite tracks out of the ~150 in the base game (and another 20 in FR, though FR wouldn't have been a factor in 2022). Not only do you need to listen to most/all of the soundtrack, you need to understand how each track relates to the game, to each other, and even to previous games in the series (in XB3's case). Without that, you just aren't going to pick up on the aspects that go deeper than "this song sounds cool." That kind of in-depth appraisal, however, is only something you're going to do if you already love the game and its soundtrack. None of us would be watching this video without first loving XB3. It's not something a reviewer is going to do before voting at an awards ceremony. The best OST award is usually more a matter of just throwing a bone to a game that the reviewers feel deserves some recognition, but which didn't win any other awards.
In 2022 in particular, though, I think the most salient consideration is that GoW had a "real celebrity" composer. The Game Awards are not shy about their efforts to pretend to be the Oscars, jumping at every chance they get to rub elbows with industries they consider more prestigious than gaming. Just look at this past year and how often the actual people responsible for the games receiving awards were chased off the stage to give more time to celebrity cameos. McCreary's most known for his film and TV stuff (specifically Western film and TV). In the eyes of TGA, that makes him more worthy of recognition than composers like Mitsuda that are mostly only known for their contributions to game music (however monumental those contributions are). I don't think GoW winning best OST had anything to do with anyone's opinions on the soundtracks themselves so much as it was just another chance for Keighly to slobber all over a non-gaming celebrity.
As someone wise already mentioned, "90% of the Xenoblade Chronicles 3 OST sounds like they told the composer this could be the last song they can ever make".
It's just so good and over the top.
Over the top is not what I would call it at all.
@@NuiYabuko its "over the top" as in "going 100x harder than it needed to".
@@NuiYabuko Ok we get it, you don't like 3, in every comment you just keep hating on it, just let people enjoy it
@@3abdooogamer734 what
@@3abdooogamer734 pretty presumptuous, no?
1:25:55 A cool detail in this section of the Moebius Battle theme is that if you're wearing headphones, you can hear the choir looping around you in such a way that it makes the shape of the Moebius/infinity symbol.
When I first realized that my neurodivergent musical brain was emitting *all of the dopamine.* This game’s soundtrack is in contention for my favorite of all time.
Just tried it and heard it. I thought ye must be reading into it too much but it's actually amazing
TTHAT IS SO SICK WHATTTTTTTTTT
i gotta say the line "as is common in this soundtrack, instead of looping it picks up" is unbelievably poignant to the actual plot its insane
I just love how during the "Words That Never Reached You" at 50:00 he ends it by interrupting it with a chain attack...this is 100% proof someone actually played the game.
Special mention to how he uses a Gold-rank Flame Clock for the #1 track.
Also don't forget the cuts into the menu, so true especially later in the game when you try to get the Sidequests done
I like Bear McReary's work a lot, but it breaks my heart that XC3 OST did not won best music at The Game Awards. It is by far the best soundtrack out of all the games released this year in all aspects from composition, to arrangement and recording quality.
Why Game Awards why would you do this to us, you said you’d be by our side! Game Awards all we did we did for you!
Popularity context with public voting while our dear xeno 3 is a niche game, being nominated is the best win already
they should make it so it isn't a popularity contest and provide actual samples or full tracks for people to listen to and compare. also include when it's used in game with context
@@Cryosxify It is not really a popularity contest since the votes only account for 10% of the final decision, the 90% is made by the judges, player's voice is the only 100% by the public, but I guess in this case it can count as a popularity contest since I doubt the judges even played 2 hours of xenoblade and just went with GOW
@@reeriot1485 yeah, each media outlet has multiple reviewers, editors, etc and the ones that actually played the game would need to advocate for it. how something is chosen is not transparent, whether or not the people deciding the vote for the outlet have any experience with the game, etc. so I definitely think each game needs to provide truly representative samples for people who didn't play to get at least a little familiar with the game. just have the nominated game's devs/studio/ip owners provide the sample packs and vga can screen them for anything misrepresentative. then the ones who did play the game from the media outlet can also check the samples and say things like no, the acting in the game wasn't this good all the time blah blah blah
You must have known. The other Game Journalists, they didn't want breathtaking music. Didn't want a game with actual emotional depth.
I just have to say, if Xenoblade 3 isn't nominated for best music at the game awards, it'll be a crime. It's absurd how incredible this game is, from its music to its performances, and has sky rocketed the series into my all time favorites.
Hoo boy
Check the TGA nominations *wink *wink *nudge *nudge
My mannnn
Can’t believe they didn’t put XC3 in for Best Narrative. Total snub.
@@Rosa-kd2clI’m grateful it got nominated for a single category, let alone 2 and goty
musical taste: check, educational know-how: check, pure passion for the craft: check... but you know what I love most about your videos? the performance, the edit, those solo banters. your sense of comedy has a "sheen" to it!
Its like with my favorite toy reviewer, Jobby the Hong: be both informative and entertaining.
I could not possibly agree more!
Towards the end of the list, I was thinking how weird it was that Vs. Moebius hadn't even been mentioned yet, then 1:24:27 happened. It just came in like the musical equivalent of "It's the big bad boss! Boo!"
Musical Jumpscare
Thanks for the timestamp! 😅👍
God of War didn't deserve the award, they stole it from Xenoblade honestly.
100 percent. They shouldn’t have even been on that list honestly, Plague tale was better.
Yeah that one bummed me out too! Xenoblade Chronicles 3's music is soooo deep
Tbh I wouldn't have been mad if Metal Hellsinger or Elden Ring won either.
But God of War's only weakness (and every sony game has this issue) was how beyond generic the music was.
At least even the game awards orchestra knew the win was BS
I agreed
I'd agree if it was Xenoblade 2, but Xeno 3 has a lot of unmemorable music (all of the nominees did besides metal hellsinger). I guarantee you most people can barely recognize a tune besides Weight of Life and Moebius theme
I swear if xenoblade 3 doesn't win best music at game awards
Dude Game of the Year is the goal 😭
@@juju6018 let's be realistic, elden ring is gonna win goty but we can still get soundtrack category
@@kos-mos98 I was just being optimistic😂, thanks though
@@kos-mos98 you're right even getting that is a big advancement
TO be realistic, Elden Ring will win goty, but Xeno 3 deserves it much more!
I really love all the easter eggs hidden within the dissertation. Yes, Nico is the boss!
Sorry, I don't DO restraint!
That's him, right?
Moebius battle might be the best boss/battle music I have ever heard. And how it builds itself into the cuts cents is next level
1:19:16 I don't think you mentioned it, but the flute here literally plays A Life Sent On, the off-seer's tune. This theme not only represents life itself and the will to move on, but it's like Noah and Mio are off-seeing the enemy in advance. It's so melancholic, yet so badass
Oh my, big oversight, I meant to let the off-seer symbol speak for me, and then failed to put it in.
Also I love your headcanon!
Ohhhh I love that omg
The flute addition to the Moebius theme is the best form of musical storytelling I’ve ever seen, those who’ve played that whole sequence will understand
an hour and a half of Xenoblade music and a awesome guy loving every second of it
what more could you possibly want
I think that XC3 has the best music direction during cutscenes ive ever seen
When "A step away" played, my heart was broken beyond repair. I've never felt so helpless and useless in a videogame before. You watch the entire party suffer, hoping something would save them, but no. No rescuing, no secret passage, no way out. You just sit your @ss watching Noah lose it, Manana trying to cheer the guys up (major points for Manana in this scene), god, even Taion sees no way out of that situation. Monolith, you know how to make a boy cry.
I really hope this video blows up, there’s a level of effort and production value here that you almost NEVER see in xenoblade music analysis/reaction videos 😭 this had me feeling every emotion in existence lol
I had the same reaction as you when I heard #11. Xenoblade 3 still has one of the best video game soundtrack of all time. All the songs are bangers !!!
So glad you focused on the Agnian Homecoming as much as you did. That theme gives me goosebumps EVERY time the flutes kick in, without fail. It’s such a powerful piece, for such a powerful point in the story. It’s so good.
Agree with the goosebumps, I still get them myself! Typically the second time the motif plays, and then stronger ones the third time as the brass kicks in (54:39).
Bonus easter egg! (SPOILER if you click Show more)
"I will need a while... to recover."
[30 minutes later]
The meme is "20 minutes later", but it wasn't the right amount of time.
28 minutes later start the 2 minutes I mention at 36:45.
29 minutes, you're at the part I refer to at 37:55.
30 minutes you get 36:55, which completes your recovery.
Congratulations. This video officially made me cry, specifically during Feelings Risen into the Sky.
P.S. I make it a point to whistle the flute part of the Moebius theme whenever listening to any version of it, regardless of if its a version with said flute. It's fun trying to match the song completely by memory without the actual instrument there as a guide.
I'm still feeling a bit grumpy that this game didn't win the music award in Game Awards, even though it has so much amazing and emotional music.
I really liked your video, it made me appreciate the soundtrack even more than I was before, highlighting the instruments, leitmotifs and some themes I hadn't heard much during my playthrough, thank you.
It's always a joy to watch long videos about any aspects of Xenoblade games. This series oozes with pure art in every aspect of it, and the same can be said about the music 110%
The literal 2 hours of Luxin analysis on just the first 2 trailers we got, oh my god yes, you speak the truth!
Yasunori Mitsuda got robbed again at TGA
I just found this video when searching for Xenoblade 3 music, and your enthusiasm shines through. After watching the whole thing, I started going through all your old videos and found your post-mortem.
I can't tell you what makes the UA-cam algorithm favor one video over another, but I can tell you what makes you stand out from the 8-Bit Music Theories of the world: your emotional connection to the games, and your breadth of game music knowledge and interest.
There are others who know music theory, but no one else would, or frankly *could*, casually whip out a Donkey Kong Country or multiple Etrian Odyssey tracks to compare to XC3, not to mention your very expert identification of motifs between XC1, 2, and 3 which are complex and sprinkled everywhere throughout the soundtrack.
I don't know what's next for you, but you earned yourself a UA-cam Premium subscriber and I look forward to whatever you make next, whenever you make it.
Also, your "best 1 minute of the soundtrack" is a great gimmick. I like it, if you do more soundtrack reviews.
I appreciate your comment; it's like you understand this series better than I do! (Or did, at least: that "post-mortem" led to a couple insightful discussions!)
I've heard that my first ten videos were all over the place in terms of focus and what can be expected from them, and I'm fairly sure by now that my mistake was trying to give the series a higher purpose, rather than just going "I love video game music, come hear me talk about it!"
You know a game has an incredible soundtrack when someone makes a top 50+ best tracks in the game and some of your favorites don't make the cut...and to be honest, I don't really disagree with your choices. I do appreciate your analysis as it helped me to appreciate some of these songs even more. This is especially true for the battle themes since many of them I never heard to completion while playing the game. Plus, it's hard to hear them with the characters constantly talking over them. I didn't realize that the composers actually had the characters' flutes made in real life and used them to record the soundtrack. That's incredible! Thank you for sharing that piece of information. Two songs I would have included on my list are "A Life Overflowing" and "Dannagh Desert (Night)." The first is just a variation of the Off-Seer motif, but this particular version sets the mood during a highly emotional point in the story. All of the other instances of the motif seem to build up to that one point in the game. The "Dannagh Desert (Night)" theme is beautiful in its simplicity, but what pushes it over the top for me is the fact that it didn't even need to exist. The Dannagh Desert isn't particularly important to the story and could have been removed without an significant impact to the game. Its inclusion was likely a labor of love from the developers as a way to make something special for the fans of Torna. So not only did they create a whole area in the game, but the composers also created original music for it (they could have used the "Eagus Wilderness" theme). The night theme reminds me of a lullaby, gently singing the souls lost in Torna to their final rest.
Such a good video, and the humor is on point. Got out of me a big laugh with the Chain Attack music.
Also the analysis are super insightful, especially the part where you discuss the vocalists and composers.
I hope it gets thousand of views, but I can't show it to my friends who haven't finished the game. Experiencing the Homecoming themes and Moebius battle themes for the first time in context is something I can't bring myself to rob them of.
I understand, it's like, I can say "no spoiler" all I want, discovering a soundtrack of this caliber in-game is part of the experience!
Great video! It was fun to learn things like using the McGlynn sisters for different leitmotif roles. The mashups of different franchise tracks were awesome to hear too.
Indeed the McGlynn sisters! EVERYWHERE I looked was a rabbit hole, I didn't set out on making a video this long at first. 😅
I have watched this 3 times over the past year. I like the format and analysis and of course I love the music. Would love to see videos like this on the other Xenoblade soundtracks
1:05:10 Woah! The way you sang Drifting Soul- Or at least my favorite part of it- Is so good!!!
This video has greatly increased my appreciation for this soundtrack. Great work 👍
I know it’s not likely. But can you please do a video like this for Xenoblade X. It’s soundtrack is CRIMINALLY underrated. Hiroyuki Sawano is a composer who’s not afraid to experiment and take risks and he’s one of the greatest composers ever. It just makes me so sad that a lot of people don’t appreciate the genius of Hiroyuki’s composing. When you started singing Uncontrollable from Xenoblade X I was like, “Yes, someone who appreciates Xenoblade X”. And the world is so big I know there are plenty of people who do, but like yea
You're fucking smoking some heavy stuff right there if you think motherfucking Sawano is in any way and shape an underrated composer at all.
and this game got robbed at the game awards
by a single gow music
I think I finished watching that video for the 20th time.
I love the work you have done here!
Hi, I made that Musescore track you heard of Keves Battle!
You did such an amazing job with this video. I'm glad to see someone else is as obsessive over this music as I am. You did everything so much justice, going all the way back to chrono trigger where the themes originated to pull out all of their meaning x)
Hey, glad you found your way here! I know you recognized your transcription *immediately*, even with a different instrument.
This was such a great video. I loved this game's soundtrack to pieces. It's nice that it got the nom at the game awards but it's criminal that it didn't get the actual award. Also, glad to see Cave on your list - I think it's the most underrated song in the game
I never heard an ost that could literally make me tear up by just listening at it
I love how the prologue track for 3 is the same as Prologue A from Xeno 1. Had some major nostalgia vibes of Shulk describing how the Bionis and Mechonis were at war, like Keves and Agnus. Thanks for the awesome video!
Thought it was Alvis talking there?
Kiyota, ACE, Hiramatsu, Mitsuda, Abounassr and Shimomura: Between 3 games they've managed to create the best music known to mankind in my opinion. There's truly no better collection of music on this earth - no hyperbole
Loved this!! I still can’t get over how they used real replicates of the flutes to record that part of the soundtrack. That’s such a cool detail.
Have a greater appreciation for all of the tracks after watching this.
OMG, what you said about the title screen is ALWAYS my experience with Xenoblade title themes. I remember the first time I listened to this one, I thought "Okay, it's lovely." but after I was done with the game, I was an emotional wreck. I LOVE IT.
BTW, how did I JUST find out about this guy? He's amazing! *subscribes*
I think the Agnus battle theme having the long build up makes sense considering it's a musical reference to how battles worked in Xenoblade 2: Build up elemental orbs, initiate a chain attack and knock them all over like dominoes. It even sounds like a full burst in musical form at the ending part!
If this game does not get best soundtrack at TGA then it will be a travesty. It is fast becoming my favorite score in a series with exceptional OSTs already.
The only right question for this TGA is them to play the whole Moebious M (the two phases) live with the original singers and flutes.
It got nominated for two awards and game of the year and that makes me so happy but yes I seriously hope it gets best soundtrack
Man, seeing someone who loves Xenoblade 3's soundtrack as much as I do, and they're a professional, damn cool. You get my sub man, you're awesome
8:04 These gentlemen composed the best soundtracks of xenoblade chronicles 1, simply geniuses 👏✨
Weight of life is also set up for you to almost be able to sing the lyrics, "The last day with you, was truly magical" from One Last You, the ending theme of XC2.
Great singing! I was surprised your voice matched so well with the song!
This was so good! Loved the chain attack interrupting other battle songs all the time, true to form too lol. Really enjoyed you just geeking out to all these great Xenoblade 3 songs.
Also really enjoyed when you started singing to the remix/battle theme of drifting souls.
The singing was borderline self-indulgent, but then again I have to think of my OG fans too. 😉
@@NicD possibly some covers in the future???
I'm adding this to my must watch religiously time and time again list
I am SO glad to read this. I myself have a couple videos I get back to every year, namely Bismuth's explanation of the DK64 TAS.
ua-cam.com/video/QKsRNoLyXO8/v-deo.html&lc=UgwvuvflHeekn0Yl2SF4AaABAg
Thinking of my XC3 music appreciation video on someone's list is a wonderful feeling.
The fact that this has only 100k views is criminal. like 100k is a lot, but it seems so little compared to what others get for way less effort.
It's a good number for me - especially for my series on game music, which rarely hits 10k! This one's about to break into my all-time top 5, that's otherwise entirely made up of semi-viral Necrodancer covers released close to the games.
But yeah it's a struggle. I just want to make quality content and not worry about the algorithm, but then I see other videos on the Mario movie's music with 10 times the views for 1/10 the effort, and I am stuck wondering why.
Staggering OST and I loved your passion and clear understanding of the music, which made for both an educational and thoroughly enjoyable view. I was glued till the end. That Home Coming theme...perfection.
The most enjoyable hour and a half I've had on UA-cam in a while! ^_^ Xenoblade 3 was already my GOTY and soundtrack of the year as it was. After watching this video's breakdown of 50 of the game's incredible pieces though.... I feel like I appreciate so many of the tracks - even the ones I ALREADY thought highly of- so much more than before.
Moreover, as others have commented, the timing of your edits, sense of humor and passion for video game music- I LOVED the frequent references to other soundtracks, especially Chrono Trigger- was mega entertaining and inspiring :) Thank you very much for the fantastic work Nicolas! Definitely a vid I'll want to rewatch in the near future.
This was really a great video. Your editing is really fun to watch and the little humorous moments are great. I love how you analyze every track. I learned so many new things in this video. Keep up the good work!
This is one of the best videos on here. Excellent work. I love the little jokes and perfectly fitting cut-ins. Crazy high quality on your part!
Love the leitmotif symbol, I'm gonna have to sit down and watch this later!
As someone who literally JUST played through ff8 and ace combat 7 for the first time in the last 2 months, hearing your callbacks to them BACK TO BACK sent me REELING. GREAT TASTES AND GREAT VIDEO MY MAN, I LOVED THIS
Hahaha that's hilarious and must have been real special, thanks for sharing!
I actually wanted to put this out there for the chain attack theme; For me, it never ruined a fight emotionally. In fact, in the final battle it was a triumphant theme for my party. It made me feel like I TOOK CONTROL of that fight, that it was OUR destiny, not his anymore.
EXACTLY! I see lots of people complaining that it played during the final stage of the boss, but for me that was AMAZING! I felt a rush of adrenaline as I beat the spark out of that mudder to the beat of Chain Attack! It really made the experience x10 better. Also I ended with Riku using "Last word", which was the cherry on top
I had a running gag to fuel, but I absolutely grant you that it was perfectly welcome in the final battle!
It's your boss theme.
It works so well there precisely because it doesn't play during the earlier phases. _Only the final-final phase_ lets the Chain Attack interrupt it, so it's much more _earned._
Thank you for this wonderful journey!
I listened to this during my commute and at work, and it was really cool hearing the commentary while listening along.
It helped relive the feelings I got during the game, and when first hearing these tracks in context. I teared up yet again when you reached… certain songs. And it helped me appreciate the more underrated stuff!
Interesting! I consider the visual part pretty essential, but apparently it works audio-only too. Glad I could distill the experience so you could relive some parts again!
Oh, I’m sure I missed a bunch of visual gags and jokes. And I’ll happily fully watch it on Friday!
Double the views HECK YEEAAAH
I didn’t expect to watch an hour of music theory, but I just did! Great job!
Great video ! I saw the whole video. XC 1,2,3 best soundtracks in video games history
Thank You for the crazy amount of time you put into this video! Was my personal GOTY and favorite OST surpassing XC2s. It may have been just me but i got Persona 5 vibes from the beginning of Agnus Battle, and Big Colony reminded me of something that could've been in FF7 Remake. I love both of those OSTs as well so it made it even cooler. Thanks again for the great video! (Top 50 XC2 next?) :p
I'm terribly addicted to that video. watching again and again ! merci :)
Watching through the first 5-10 minutes and suddenly caught myself humming the themes despite the fact it's been well over 6 months since I last properly played the game or listened to much of the soundtrack. Incredible how much music can stick with you sometimes! Around the halfway point in the video now and it's just a treat to hear a bunch of the songs again and learning things I didn't know about them before. I'm even hearing parts of songs I've *never* heard before thanks to the Menu and Chain Attack songs, and the default fast travel time being morning. Can't wait to see how much more I end up learning through the second half.
Alternative title to this video: Top 50 reasons Why Xenoblade 3 Was Robbed
This came up on my recommended and so glad it did. This is a brilliant video, wonderful work.
I have no ability to put into words how life changing the Xenoblade series has been to me and how the music connects and reaches me in ways no others have.
I never in my life expected to find perfection in anything, least of all a video game, but I did. This game and everything about it is the embodiment of what perfection is.
You completely reduced me to a puddle of tears again with #11. That moment in the game hit like a mountain falling on me and I was only casually watching your video but when that came on, I honestly fell apart and was weeping, it was so strong and all the emotions of that moment in the game.
One thing that I think is really cool is that for all the you will know our names/recall our names songs they all have the exact same drop timing. If you play them all together at exactly 1:05 in each song they'll all transition into their respective guitar lead segments. Fun way for the composers to create continuity between the games!
Well, they're at least one second off, and don't quite get there the same way.
Keep an eye out for my upcoming video on this subject! Probably called something like "The anatomy of You Will Know Our Names".
I was eagerly waiting for that video. I love Xenoblade and I love how you talk about it, especially when you present the artists involved. Thanks
While I already love this soundtrack to bits, this video deepened my appreciation with it so so much more! All the information you give and the context behind each song (both in game and irl) made watching this seem like hearing everything all over again for the first time. Fantastic Job!
As someone who has listened to all Xenoblade OSTs for way too many hundreds of hours, this is a very nice analysis to watch. You mention a lot of the things that I also noticed myself, and also found a lot more comparisons to older games I didn't know about! Very interesting. And while any Top 50 like this is less of a ranking and more of an excuse to talk about music, The #1 was well deserved, I had actually been waiting to see when it would appear while watching the video. One track from the OST I am surprised is missing is Dannagh Desert, mainly because the day and night versions of that area track are so different from one another, and the tracks, while mostly atmospheric, both pick up a lot at the end, which also few people will ever be hearing given how much of the time you spend in combat in that area. It is one of my favourite tracks personally. My other favourite track is the spoiler-free "Commander Battle" at 0:25:18, the melody is so crazy and it never stops, just a really interesting piece. Thank you very much for this great video.
This video was really fun to watch! And thank you for making it because I feel like this game's music is being underappreciated.
I definitely hear some mechanical rhythm in the chain attack theme. The 46 second mark in Chain attack seems to be the 40 second mark in Mechanical rhythm
I... think it's close enough for the promised heart! I'm not as certain it's an intentional reference, but it very well could be.
I am totally in love with the Xeno³ Soundtrack and what a great Deep Dive video this is. Please keep doing this.
I am SO glad UA-cam recommended me your video. This is incredible! You really helped me understand and appreciate this soundtrack so, so much more.
I'm not sure what I'm listening for when you mention the "annoying buzz" on Fort O'Virbus.
The only thing I hear that sounds like what that could mean is what I assumed was a Marimba or something similar and was an intended part of the song.
I like seeing someone who actually played the game go into depth with the soundtrack there's some things only someone who played the game can relate with such as the title screen how it incorporates many leitmotifs from the games soundtrack and as you play the game more you hear it
I found your channel through your Time to Fight: How many escalations did you want? Er I mean, Bionis Shoulder video. And now you come out with THIS behemoth. I watched it all in one sitting and it was an absolute joy the entire time. Your passion and knowledge really come through and it makes for a super enjoyable experience. Looking at your channel I see you have a criminally low amount of views on your previous videos and they're all games I'd love to watch so I'll go and give you a plus one to the viewcount on all of those! Very much looking forward to whatever you have cooking up next 😊
Man I never wished I could like a video more than once this hard, keep it up
Just realized I played this game so much I actually listen to most of the area soundtracks fully. Especially erythia sea. I spend at least 30 percent of my gameplay time there swimming around. And I’ve played near 200 hours Lol
MAN PLEASE :
you are MAD talented, smart and above all SUPER good at entertaining !!!
So PLEASE do a video essay just talking, reviewing the whole Xenoblade 3 ost (and why not, even the gameplay, story and all the other elements).
Your target audience if you do said video will be huge and your wit mixed with awesome presence will hook all Xenoblade fans, I can assure you that.
For real though, you mentioning Etrian Odyssey made me incredibly happy and feel recognized. Etrian Odyssey is my favorite videogame series of all time and incredibly special to me, so I'm thankful that you acknowledged the series' existence. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for acknowledging the Etrian Odyssey series and its masterful soundtrack, and I hope you get a chance to make a video on one of the EO games sometime.
Yeah I need to do that at some point, they're really deserving!
In the meantime, let me redirect you to these favorites of mine:
42-minute battle medley: ua-cam.com/video/nIVF5abBwO8/v-deo.html
Cthulhu's something: dodarchive.dwellingofduels.net/11-07-Free/02-Snappleman-EtrianOdyssey3-Cthulhu-DoD.mp3
I'm glad you kept on going with this series! Never stop moving forward
First video I’ve seen where the quality of the bass is acknowledged. It’s criminal how many people just seem to either not notice or not mention it. Great job 👍
I love how in mobius battle theme at a couple laughing parts if you are wearing headphones it moves from one side to the other in an infinity symbol :D
Listening to the soundtrack again with your commentary and jokes was amazing. You put so much effort into it, great work!
Dang, this is such a good video! So well-organized and analyzed, you made me pick up on things I hadn't before! Meaty stuff, you're the guy with the gall!
Wow, this is possibly the best vg ost analysis/ranking I've ever seen, well done!
Been looking forward to this video! I love the way you edit in all of the music clips from different game and all of your insights, keep it up man! :)
Incredible video. You are spot on about the Moebius track and the variations. The Flute is stunning
Thank you for giving Tactical Action the respect it deserves!! One of my favorites as well
Weight of life is such a banger
absolutely brilliant video, such high quality - keep it up pal 👏
I kinda want to see a future Xenoblade where they try to have more of a dynamic arrangement, where instead of moving from a field track to a battle track, both are similar, but different tempo, so things more of escalate, instead of cutting so much. If the Chain Attack music were like this, it would be much less disincentivising to do it in certain battles.
Would be interesting to see them try, but I don't know if the individual tracks would be as good. This and FF7R have a nice mix of dynamic and standalone battle music.
Different tempo is much more technically advanced, but it's about time someone attempts it. I mean, DJs have been adjusting music speed on-the-fly for decades...
Something every RPG should do, though, that I've only seen in Cosmic Star Heroine (upcoming video?) is have more than one jump-in point for battle tracks, so that we're not back to square one every time.
@@NicD if I recall correctly, OG FFVII had that, so that the battle music would start from the point it left last time (I think it didn't even respect phrases, just the actual point it stopped last time)
I can't but remember a video where someone talked about Wario Mountain in Mario Kart 8 and be sorta jealous. It's not the same, as that is generally more scripted to do well and there are less points of entry, but I think there's some development in the side of game audio that can make the sound experience intrinsically more diegetic and more flavourful, and elevate the BSO to newer dimensions.
Mount Wario is SO. GOOD. Really impressive dynamic music.
I'll check if anyone has already made a video on it, and otherwise...
in my eyes, millick meadows having a very upbeat and energetic feel makes sense, because it contrasts with everblight plain + alfeto valley and their bleak tones. that makes sense because it plays right after you experience true freedom for the first time, free from the fight
Honestly spectacular. Well edited, good knowledge, and love all the jokes along the way.
It'd be cool to see another video like this where you talk about the spoilers, but I'm not sure how much that would actually add to the video. I'd also watch a video like this of you discussing the entire soundtrack of the game.
Thank you for making these videos, I really appreciated it!
Great video, the presentation/pacing is done really well! I can tell you really used your thinking muscles for this one.