The semi-brutal puzzle/adventure game by The Legendary Zoltan

Original Composition: A Wizard Has Died
Featured In: The Hegg

This is my final contribution to Lusipurr.com. It was created with far less realistic-sounding orchestra samples than my previous works for the site. This is appropriate because it was composed for a video game that utilizes cute RPG Maker VX Ace sprites. It is a somewhat brutal puzzle/adventure game that I created, myself, called The Hegg. This music was inspired by Shadow of the Colossus and Super Castlevania IV. I am quite happy with the sound I was able to create using such old samples. I think this is the kind of music that is appropriate for this website and I hope that everyone enjoys this final piece.

I really enjoyed working at Lusipurr.com. I just want to emphasize to the readership that, if you have ever considered working at this site, you should definitely apply. The benefits far outweigh the workload. One really ought to be satisfied with just learning about what exactly is involved in running a site like this and the experience of working in the field of gaming journalism. However, there is so much more value to be gleaned if one is able to notice it and is open-minded to it. I believe that the exceptionally well-educated opinions of people like Lusipurr and SiliconNoob are a rarity in the world today, and I am just grateful to have been able to experience the kind of community that Lusipurr is striving to create here. I think the people who worked here for just one week and left missed a great opportunity. I plan to continue being a regular visitor of Lusipurr.com. I thank the staff for putting up with me and I thank the readers for listening to my music. See you in the comments section!

Celes on the beach at Solitary Island

Remix: My Friends May All Be Dead
Source: Final Fantasy VI: Searching for Friends
Original Composer: Nobuo Uematsu

Celes has just spent days hand-feeding a bed-ridden Cid fish after fish that she caught, herself, from the beach just outside their small shelter. However, despite her desperate efforts to nurse him back to health, Cid has passed away. Celes now sits on the beach, staring at the waves, contemplating whether or not to climb up to the top of the cliff that looms over her and jump to her death. She is stranded on a small island with no way off of it, no source of fresh water, and no human companions. Celes stands up, still facing the waves, and before she can turn around she hears the sound of footsteps in the sand. Celes quickly looks behind her to see a man wearing a bandana. It is Locke! And he is holding a guitar. He begins playing it, sending Celes’s spirits soaring. After a verse and a hug, Edgar shows up and he has a guitar, too! Locke’s lonely melody becomes a duet that celebrates their unlikely reunion. Celes listens and looks on in tears of joy. No sooner do Locke and Edgar finish their tune than the rest of the party shows up in an airship! Everyone is reunited and they all celebrate with music. Locke and Edgar play guitars. Shadow has an electric bass guitar connected to an amplifier that Terra has hooked up to a suit of MagiTek Armor. Setzer plays a single hi-hat cymbal while he waits for his drum techs, Sabin and Umaro, to bring out the rest of the kit. Mog and Gogo become the dancers. Gau and Cyan are working the bar on the airship and Relm is bringing everyone their drinks on the beach. Everyone is back together again and ready to restore balance to their ruined world. Except Strago because he sucks.

Selphie Tilmitt, Lyricist and Composer

Original Composition: Take Us Away
Inspiration: Final Fantasy VIII
Lyrics: Selphie Tilmitt
Vocals: J. Lawrence Kenny
Bass: Florian Heil

Hail, Lusicrooners. It is time for The Legendary Zoltan’s monthly music post. Today I bring you a song that is much more Lusipurr-friendly than the previous work. It is an original song inspired by a scene in Final Fantasy VIII where the party is aboard one of the transcontinental trains. In that scene Selphie is staring out the window and singing a song about trains. Do you remember it? That is the song I wrote! This was an excellent task given to me by our fearless leader, Lusipurr. This song needed to be written. In Final Fantasy VIII, Selphie Tilmitt sings,

Train, train, take us away.
Take us away, far away.
To the future we will go.
Where it leads no one knows.

If you think those are the most boring lyrics in the world, you are correct. That is how most pop music is though. Most pop music is also very repetitive: something that I am adamantly against. However, since I wanted the song to sound like it could be an actual pop song that exists in the world of Final Fantasy VIII, I held back all of my crazy prog-metal inclinations and made something that is totally believable. Now, I do not want you all to think that I made a bad song. I have not. I just made a pop song.

My approach actually started out the same as when I compose a metal song. I just picked up my seven-string guitar and started messing around. Not really knowing anything about jazz, I surprised myself when I was able to create a nice jazzy chord progression. To be honest, this chord progression sounds familiar to me and I may have heard something similar to it somewhere before. I can not imagine where though, because I do not listen to jazz. Until I can remember, I will just junction this Guardian Force over here. After laying down a smooth chord progression, I layered on some drums with brushes instead of drum sticks. Your welcome, Lusipurr. I wrote the melody for the vocals on my guitar. I did everything I could to keep it as chill as possible. It never gets busy, so each word comes out nice and relaxed. I sent that melody to a vocalist from the Overclocked ReMix community. I also completely outsourced the bass line. Once I had the bass and vocals integrated, the song was basically complete. I touched it up with a piano solo at the end and some additional percussion.

Overall, this song was a bit of a challenge because it was not my usual genre. It was definitely a good experience exploring jazzy piano and guitar phrases. I am really pleased with how the piece turned out and I really do believe that this song is a convincing train-inspired pop song that could actually exist. Readers, what do you think? Is this how you imagined Selphie’s train song would sound? Do you think this song fits the Final Fantasy VIII setting? Do you even know what a train is? Post your sparkling comments below.

Ovelia and Delita eventually sort out their differences.

Inspiration: Final Fantasy Tactics – Battle on the Bridge
Original Composer:: Hitoshi Sakimoto & Masaharu Iwata
New Composition: Blame Yourself or God

Hello, Lusipress-on nails users! Today the nicest staff member will show you something most aggressive. I am talking about a new volume in the Lusipurr Music Library. This time around I bring you Final Fantasy Tactics turned death metal. This song started out as a remix but quickly turned into its own thing. The opening guitar parts are quite similar to the opening string parts from Battle on the Bridge from Final Fantasy Tactics. The directly after that has similarities to its Tactics counterpart as well but after that it is nothing but Zoltan. It was not actually Battle on the Bridge alone that inspired me to write this song. If you leave Final Fantasy Tactics on the title screen without pressing any buttons for a while, a demo that explains the two sides of The Lion War starts playing. When you come back to the title screen, if you leave it alone again, there will be another demo which looks like a commercial for a Final Fantasy Tactics movie. That commercial uses the opening melody of this song and shows a lot of swords being thrusted into a lot of people. It had a big impact on me when I first saw it and I just had to make a song based on it. This is the first song on an entire album of game-inspired death metal that I am releasing very soon. The lyrics are posted below. Enjoy.

Blame Yourself or God
Last Dance! Chakra! Scream from the heart the last song!
Murder and theft are commonplace throughout the streets of Ivalice.
Squires assemble here to face the heathens but will it result in peace?

Honor be damned. It’s gotten out of hand. I’ll sacrifice my name before I sacrifice my friend.
Holy spell we calculate. Excaliburs will keep us safe.
I wish for no more bloodshed. Let’s both put down our swords and end 500 years of war.

“All” your “entertainment”

Download: Produced 2013.06.09

The Legendary Zoltan demonstrates that he is MIDI-capable with Chrono Trigger, SiliconNooB brings a wealth of facts and information to bear upon the Xbone, and, in a stunning reversal, Lusipurr plays all of the games that he has not played until now!

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This month, Lusipurr.com is pleased to present the fourth commission from our Music Director: Jahan ‘The Legendary Zoltan’ Honma!

Source Music: Chrono Trigger: Wind Song
Original Composer: Yasunori Mitsuda
Remix: Wind Song Orchestral

This is what I call an “improvement remix.” It is basically Wind Song from Chrono Trigger in its exact same arrangement but with higher quality samples. Wind Song is the music on the 600 A.D. overworld map. There are a lot of popular tunes on the Chrono Trigger soundtrack but I believe this one to be one of the greatest hits. Despite what my previous remixes might lead you to believe, I actually prefer remixes that sound and feel quite similar to their sources. Taking an original piece of RPG music and leaving all of the instrumentation, melodies, harmonies, and tempos the same to make something that “sounds just like Chrono Trigger but better” is really something I would like to do more often. Those who would like to hear more of these so-called improvement remixes should search on YouTube. I have heard some really nice Final Fantasy arrangements where the original is left completely intact and just improved in sound quality. They are quite enjoyable to listen to!

It’s-a me, Nintony!

Download: Produced 2013.05.05

Minister of Fineness Chris ‘Sabin’ Privitere is called upon to prognosticate about the video game industry, giving panelists Lusipurr, SiliconNooB, and The Legendary Zoltan answers to questions which have plagued the industry for decades.

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This month, Lusipurr.com is pleased to present the third commission from our Music Director: Jahan ‘The Legendary Zoltan’ Honma!

It’s the first Starlight Megaphone of the month, LusiGoblins! This month’s offering is a Castlevania III remix. Lusipurr gave me a noble quest to make a water-themed orchestral track based off of three Castlevania III water levels. Listen to it and be gay!

Source Music: Castlevania III: Aquarius, Rising, and Stream
Original Composer: Hidenori Maezawa, Jun Funahashi, and Yukie Morimoto
Remix: Chandeliers Reflected on Waterfalls

I think we all know that Castlevania music lends itself to orchestra pretty well. The challenge this time around was how to make it sound like water, Castlevania music, and something I actually want to listen to all at the same time. I achieved most of the water theme with the instrumentation. Using a lot of piano and harp worked well for me. The track begins with Aquarius starting with heavy piano chords that were inspired by a portion of level 3 in Castlevania IV where you have to climb a waterfall. If I were asked to write a piece for a waterfall level, dark and heavy piano would not be near the top of my idea list. It made such an impact on me, however, that I wanted to do something just a little bit like that with this piece. Then the main melody comes in with piano accompanied by harp and bowed strings. I used the instruments to keep the texture simple and focus highly on the interplay between the melody and harmony. For me the main point of interest in this entire first third of the remix is the woodwind section at 0:46. I achieved the classic Castlevania urgency sound right there. Right after that I achieved that classic Castlevania chandelier sound with the loud string section. I am quite happy with it.

I transitioned into Rising with the harp part. It was easy since both songs involved are in D minor. Even when hearing the original 8-bit version of this song, it actually sounded to me that they had intended that descending arpeggio to be a harp. I don’t know what kind of level this music accompanies in the game but it sounded kind of like a dark swampy area and that’s what I tried to emulate until the harp section.

The piano run that transitions into Stream is an original section to help me move from D minor to A minor. I like how it came out. Now we get into some really difficult stuff because this part is the most groovy by far. I thought of totally mangling the original feel to make it sound more orchestral or more watery but I had decided that the end should be kind of upbeat and retain the groove. In the past, people have criticized my work for not having the source music recognizable enough. So I let them have their way just this once. I made some unusual decisions in this section. You’ll hear all about them in the podcast. Whether you think it’s overly spartan or not, I’m sure you’ll enjoy Chandeliers Reflected on Waterfalls.

Choices, Choices…

Download: Produced 2013.03.31

The Legendary Zoltan braves goblins innumerable as he premieres his latest remix from The Secret of Mana, whilst SiliconNooB and KillswitchTool drive Lusipurr to distraction with an overabundance of language not wholly fit for a genteel audience.

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This month, Lusipurr.com is pleased to present the second commission from our Music Director: Jahan ‘The Legendary Zoltan’ Honma!

Followers of Lusipurr, welcome back to another episode of The Starlight Megaphone. I am The Legendary Zoltan presenting my sophomore musical piece for your listening enjoyment and the appeasement of the keeper of my soul. That said, I doubt he will be very appeased this time around. Last time, I brought you an unlikely call to action from the Kingdom (Queendom?) of Zeal. This time I have brought you a suspense story from the Kingdom of Wherever-the-hell-Secret of Mana-takes-place.

Source Music: Secret of Mana – The Oracle
Original Composer: Hiroki Kikuta
Remix: Don’t Open That Door! There’s a Dark Lich Hiding in There!

Unlike my previous goal of trying to simultaneously satisfy Lusipurr’s set criteria and make it sound good. I decided to go with something far less noble and throw “sounding good” out the window. This is a remix of the music that plays when you fight the Dark Lich boss. The original song is practically without genre. If I had to call it something, I would say that it is drum and bass music. Aside from the crazy percussive breakdowns, there is really only a single melody that is repeated often. So my goal was to turn a genre-less, repetitive, and scary piece and turn it into a different genre-less, repetitive, and scary piece. How creative I am!

I just threw away all the drums and build-up sequences in the original and just repeated the main melody over and over again. Are you worried yet? Each time the melody is repeated it is done so with different instrumentation, feeling, and sometimes even different tempos. The resulting piece is actually extremely varied and while not terribly catchy, is not uninteresting by any means.

When you are listening to the song, imagine that you are in a horror movie, opening doors in a giant mansion, one after another, looking for the exit. Behind one of those doors lurks a Dark Lich. During your flee of terror you eventually manage to find the exit. You feel the safety of sunlight and nature around you…until you learn the hard way that Dark Liches are in no way inhibited by sunlight!

The Characters of Chrono Trigger

Produced 2013.03.03

The Legendary Zoltan unveils “The Mammon March”, SiliconNooB brings dire news from the Annual Cervix, and Lusipurr bangs on about the end of Social Networking 1.0 in this highly-anticipated, media-rich podcast.

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This month, Lusipurr.com is pleased to present the first commission from our Music Director: Jahan ‘The Legendary Zoltan’ Honma!

Hello, demonic cat worshippers. The day is here! Today we will find out if I am promoted from probationary status or just fired on the spot. I would just like to say that I have had a great stay here at Lusipurr.com and I wish all the best to my replacement. [Editor's Note: Zoltan was confirmed as a staff member. -Lusi]

The Mammon March
Source Music: Chrono Trigger – Corridors of Time
Original Composer: Yasunori Mitsuda
Remix: The Mammon March

This is the legendary theme of the Kingdom of Zeal from Chrono Trigger. This piece is no stranger to the remixing scene but, to my knowledge, it has never been heard as a John Philip Sousa-style march. Sousan marches have a very defined style and structure that Corridors of Time fits into quite poorly. Most songs lend themselves to some genres better than others and that is why there are a lot of Castlevania and Mega Man metal remixes. However, with some effort it is possible to turn any song into any other genre no matter how remote, and that is what I have done. When I set out to remix Zeal into marching band music, I did not think it would sound good. After all, most marches are entirely in major keys, are very upbeat, and are written to inspire people to take action. Zeal is completely minor, much more exotic than upbeat, and was written for a kingdom where everyone just goes to sleep all the time.

Anyway, there is no need to bore you with my whole song-writing approach. Let us just get right to the results. Was The Legendary Zoltan able to make Corridors of Time into a proper Sousan march? Yes! Does it sound good? Yes! This is a call to action to research magic, improve the Mammon Machine’s ability to absorb energy from Lavos, and cast our grand shadows on the land dwellers below. We have the gift of magic! We are the chosen! This is the march for the glorious, magical Kingdom of Zeal.