Pureauthor
Member
Hello all. I'm back from a video game concert (my first one), and since I'm operating under the assumption that you all have time to spare when not flinging mudballs at each other over sales numbers, I'm going to post impressions. No pics, however.
The concert took place at Singapore's most prominent performance hall, the Esplanade, a structure that has earned itself the nickname of 'The Durian' amongst many Singaporeans. That's not really relevant, but it's past 1 where I am, so I'm rambling a bit.
Before entering the concert hall, visitors were given the chance to try out the English demo of Blue Dragon at several XBox 360 demo kiosks set up outside the concert hall. I'm assuming it's the English version because all the text was in English, even though we could only choose Japanese or Korean for the language choices.
Game was pretty good, but man the opening sequences are cutscene heavy. Also, I dunno if it was just the controller, but controls felt kinda... I dunno, floaty? There was always a bit of lag in between issuing an order and actually seeing it performed. The battle system is order-based - there's a slider on the top of the screen that shows the queue for who gets the next action.
Also, I dunno if you guys know this, but the official english name is appaerently 'Poo Snake'. And, um, killing it may net you a 'Poo' drop, which you can search to pick out some Gold. Moving on...
The concert programme is as follows:
PLAY! A Video Game Symphony - Fanfare - Nobuo Uematsu
Super Mario Bros. - Suite - Koji Kondo
Shenmue - Sedge Tree - Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
Lost Odyssey - Main Theme - Nobuo Uematsu
Sonic The Hedgehog - Suite - Masato Nakamura
Metal Gear Solid - Main Theme - Tappy Iwase, Kazuki Muraoka
Blue Dragon - Main Theme - Nobuo Uematsu
Kingdom Hearts - Suite - Yoko Shimamura
Final Fantasy VI - Dancing Mad - Nobuo Uematsu
(Intermission)
Daytona USA - _____ - Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Suite - Jeremy Soule
Chrono series - Suite - Yasunori Mitsuda
World of Warcraft - Suite - Jason Hayes
Halo - Suite - Martin O' Donnell, Michael Salvatore
Castlevania - Suite - Michiru Yamane
The Legend of Zelda - Suite - Koji Kondo
Final Fantasy VII - One-Winged Angel - Nobuo Uematsu
I got seated next to a kid who was apparently very excited about the fact that they were playing Halo music.
Anyway, while the music was playing, videogame footage was played on three big screens behind the chorus - with a couple exceptions. I'll get to that later.
(X)
Super Marios Bros. was done well - the standard tunes that everyone expected. The videogame footage was particularly nice, showing the progression of 8-bit Mario into the 3D one of Sunshine.
Shenmue's music was excellent. However, there was no gameplay footage whatsoever - just scenes involving the various characters.
There was a tiny hiccup when Arnie Roth informed us that the next piece was going to be 'Blue Dragon' (it was Lost Odyssey), made a bit worse when he informed us we could play it on the 'Playstations' outside the concert hall. The piece was done well, seemed unmemorable. The videogame footage was of some dark-haired guy slashing up red-eyed soldiers like candy. Very... grey.
Sonic the Hedgehog. Oh man, Sonic the Hedgehog. It started out so well too - the Sonic theme that we all know and love, and footage of him in his glory Genesis days, speeding through levels. Then, the music changed, and we transitioned into a 3D Sonic. I was thinking 'Oh, is that Adventure? No, wait, too detailed - oh, they didn't-"
Yup, they showed Sonic 360 footage, along with Shadow in all his vehicle driving glory. There was also SatSR footage interspersed in, but seriously, we had the princess chick, and Hedgehogs I didn't even know existed popping up all over the screen. Whoever okayed deserves to get his hand stuck in a blender. Music was great, although if they played Ice Cap Zone, I missed it.
Metal Gear Solid was done well - both music and footage. Ended with part of the E3 MGS4 trailer, where Snake sticks the gun into his mouth. Nice touch, I felt.
Blue Dragon - seemed largely uninspired, really. The footage was of the main kid (Shu) crashing some sort of ship into a giant robot. Dramatic, but I don't think it really captured the spirit of the game very well.
Kingdom Hearts... the problems with a suite is that they might not play the pieces you want - the composition was basically Simple and Clean along with Passion - and here I was hoping for some Hollow Bastion or The Encounter. Footage was of KHII, and summed up why I play KH in a nutshell - lots of Disney. Also, given the amount of sword flashes and explosions and lights onscreen, it might've given someone seizures.
Final Fantasy VI - Dancing Mad. I dunno, the conductor said something about this being performed for the first time in a live orchestra in Asia or something - I wasn't paying attention at that particular point in time. Anyway, it was... well, it was terrific. However, no footage. Apparently Square's stingy and refused to supply any.
After the intermission, we were treated to Takenobu Mitsuyoshi taking the piano and playing (along with singing) a piece from Daytona USA. I'm not sure of the song's lyrics or the title - all I know is that a particular line about going away gets repeated a lot. However, his enthusiasm was infectious. The crowd was whooping and cheering.
Oblivion - um, I can't say much. I really wasn't very interested in this segment.
Chrone series - really long suite, with a tonne of great music. Really enjoyable to sit back and close your eyes to. However, no footage, once again.
World of Warcraft - at this point, I was starting to realize that a lot of developers love to make huge, sweeping cinematic scenes with a single bird flying across the screen. Why they do this, I've not much of an idea. Music was great, footage was a mix of some WC3 CG scenes and WOW CG - y'know, ghoul summoning an infernal, that sort of stuff.
Halo - kid sitting beside me was beside himself with joy. The beat was really strong in this one. Videogame footage involved a lot of Master Chief doing nothing much. If there was gameplay footage, I missed it.
Castlevania. Oh, man, where do I even begin. Music was good - opened up with Simon's Theme. However, no Bloody Tears, no Iron Blue Intention, and if there was an Vampire Killer, I missed it. What is this? And the footage? Curse of Darkness footage at the start, and then an exact rendition of the promotional video for Portrait of Ruin - if you weren't familiar with the series, you might've thought the bald guy with the funny collar was actually someone important. Than back to 3D Castlevania footage. No mention of Classic Castlevania at all. Seriously, ugh.
The Legend of Zelda was good overall. Once again, a nice transition in footage from the old 8-bit Zelda games to Ocarina of Time, and then Twilight Princess.
Final Fantasy VII, One Winged Angel. It's One Winged Angel. Need I say more? Once again, no videogame footage.
Overall, the music ranged from 'good' to 'superb', while the gameplay footage ranged from 'great' to 'LOL whut'. A rather enjoyable evening.
The concert took place at Singapore's most prominent performance hall, the Esplanade, a structure that has earned itself the nickname of 'The Durian' amongst many Singaporeans. That's not really relevant, but it's past 1 where I am, so I'm rambling a bit.
Before entering the concert hall, visitors were given the chance to try out the English demo of Blue Dragon at several XBox 360 demo kiosks set up outside the concert hall. I'm assuming it's the English version because all the text was in English, even though we could only choose Japanese or Korean for the language choices.
Game was pretty good, but man the opening sequences are cutscene heavy. Also, I dunno if it was just the controller, but controls felt kinda... I dunno, floaty? There was always a bit of lag in between issuing an order and actually seeing it performed. The battle system is order-based - there's a slider on the top of the screen that shows the queue for who gets the next action.
Also, I dunno if you guys know this, but the official english name is appaerently 'Poo Snake'. And, um, killing it may net you a 'Poo' drop, which you can search to pick out some Gold. Moving on...
The concert programme is as follows:
PLAY! A Video Game Symphony - Fanfare - Nobuo Uematsu
Super Mario Bros. - Suite - Koji Kondo
Shenmue - Sedge Tree - Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
Lost Odyssey - Main Theme - Nobuo Uematsu
Sonic The Hedgehog - Suite - Masato Nakamura
Metal Gear Solid - Main Theme - Tappy Iwase, Kazuki Muraoka
Blue Dragon - Main Theme - Nobuo Uematsu
Kingdom Hearts - Suite - Yoko Shimamura
Final Fantasy VI - Dancing Mad - Nobuo Uematsu
(Intermission)
Daytona USA - _____ - Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Suite - Jeremy Soule
Chrono series - Suite - Yasunori Mitsuda
World of Warcraft - Suite - Jason Hayes
Halo - Suite - Martin O' Donnell, Michael Salvatore
Castlevania - Suite - Michiru Yamane
The Legend of Zelda - Suite - Koji Kondo
Final Fantasy VII - One-Winged Angel - Nobuo Uematsu
I got seated next to a kid who was apparently very excited about the fact that they were playing Halo music.
Anyway, while the music was playing, videogame footage was played on three big screens behind the chorus - with a couple exceptions. I'll get to that later.
(X)
Super Marios Bros. was done well - the standard tunes that everyone expected. The videogame footage was particularly nice, showing the progression of 8-bit Mario into the 3D one of Sunshine.
Shenmue's music was excellent. However, there was no gameplay footage whatsoever - just scenes involving the various characters.
There was a tiny hiccup when Arnie Roth informed us that the next piece was going to be 'Blue Dragon' (it was Lost Odyssey), made a bit worse when he informed us we could play it on the 'Playstations' outside the concert hall. The piece was done well, seemed unmemorable. The videogame footage was of some dark-haired guy slashing up red-eyed soldiers like candy. Very... grey.
Sonic the Hedgehog. Oh man, Sonic the Hedgehog. It started out so well too - the Sonic theme that we all know and love, and footage of him in his glory Genesis days, speeding through levels. Then, the music changed, and we transitioned into a 3D Sonic. I was thinking 'Oh, is that Adventure? No, wait, too detailed - oh, they didn't-"
Yup, they showed Sonic 360 footage, along with Shadow in all his vehicle driving glory. There was also SatSR footage interspersed in, but seriously, we had the princess chick, and Hedgehogs I didn't even know existed popping up all over the screen. Whoever okayed deserves to get his hand stuck in a blender. Music was great, although if they played Ice Cap Zone, I missed it.
Metal Gear Solid was done well - both music and footage. Ended with part of the E3 MGS4 trailer, where Snake sticks the gun into his mouth. Nice touch, I felt.
Blue Dragon - seemed largely uninspired, really. The footage was of the main kid (Shu) crashing some sort of ship into a giant robot. Dramatic, but I don't think it really captured the spirit of the game very well.
Kingdom Hearts... the problems with a suite is that they might not play the pieces you want - the composition was basically Simple and Clean along with Passion - and here I was hoping for some Hollow Bastion or The Encounter. Footage was of KHII, and summed up why I play KH in a nutshell - lots of Disney. Also, given the amount of sword flashes and explosions and lights onscreen, it might've given someone seizures.
Final Fantasy VI - Dancing Mad. I dunno, the conductor said something about this being performed for the first time in a live orchestra in Asia or something - I wasn't paying attention at that particular point in time. Anyway, it was... well, it was terrific. However, no footage. Apparently Square's stingy and refused to supply any.
After the intermission, we were treated to Takenobu Mitsuyoshi taking the piano and playing (along with singing) a piece from Daytona USA. I'm not sure of the song's lyrics or the title - all I know is that a particular line about going away gets repeated a lot. However, his enthusiasm was infectious. The crowd was whooping and cheering.
Oblivion - um, I can't say much. I really wasn't very interested in this segment.
Chrone series - really long suite, with a tonne of great music. Really enjoyable to sit back and close your eyes to. However, no footage, once again.
World of Warcraft - at this point, I was starting to realize that a lot of developers love to make huge, sweeping cinematic scenes with a single bird flying across the screen. Why they do this, I've not much of an idea. Music was great, footage was a mix of some WC3 CG scenes and WOW CG - y'know, ghoul summoning an infernal, that sort of stuff.
Halo - kid sitting beside me was beside himself with joy. The beat was really strong in this one. Videogame footage involved a lot of Master Chief doing nothing much. If there was gameplay footage, I missed it.
Castlevania. Oh, man, where do I even begin. Music was good - opened up with Simon's Theme. However, no Bloody Tears, no Iron Blue Intention, and if there was an Vampire Killer, I missed it. What is this? And the footage? Curse of Darkness footage at the start, and then an exact rendition of the promotional video for Portrait of Ruin - if you weren't familiar with the series, you might've thought the bald guy with the funny collar was actually someone important. Than back to 3D Castlevania footage. No mention of Classic Castlevania at all. Seriously, ugh.
The Legend of Zelda was good overall. Once again, a nice transition in footage from the old 8-bit Zelda games to Ocarina of Time, and then Twilight Princess.
Final Fantasy VII, One Winged Angel. It's One Winged Angel. Need I say more? Once again, no videogame footage.
Overall, the music ranged from 'good' to 'superb', while the gameplay footage ranged from 'great' to 'LOL whut'. A rather enjoyable evening.
