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[Ritzboof]

i made a thread about this phenomena a little while back, and its still kinda fascinating to me. back then, i was interested in how much character it could add to a games soundtrack. a catchy tune or two that a game likes to use a lot is really strong and memorable. i gave examples like no more heroes, radiant silvergun, and pepsiman, just because i really liked how the stuff sounded and how the music took part in the games overall theme, like a specific feeling or scenario in sound form. other people mentioned stuff like undertale, katamari damacy, the overworld music in banjo-kazooie, chrono trigger, and super mario games like world and galaxy. tho i havent had personal experience with a lot of stuff, its just interesting to me to see other examples of such a cool technique done in games

to date my favorite use of this in a game ive played is probably in the silver case. the silver case is basically a VN with interactive elements and a really dynamic style, with a really interesting and surreal story written by suda51 and some other guy. the characters and situations in that game are a lot different from anything else ive experienced; it was nothing crazy, but its really unique and genuine (as weird as things can get). i liked my experience with the game and sorta by extension its soundtrack, which uses leitmotif to add a specialized atmosphere to certain scenes and situations. it didnt strike me at the time, but when this track played from my playlist a while back, it brought me back into the games story and characters for a moment. this one is special, because this track sort of feels like a mix of a variety of tunes and styles that the game uses throughout its story, and it plays during a scenario around the end of said story

it amazes me how powerful this stuff can be to add character to an experience and give you complex memories that bring you back into a scenario or feeling. i guess thats what music is for in general, but theres definitely something special about leitmotif. its like you have an extra sense when youre sucked into a games world. the music really added a lot to the narrative of the silver case, and it made itself a part of me with the way that it brought in my senses

 

[akuda]

Looking forward to playing Silver Case when my physical edition comes in the mail, I had a moment of doubt about keeping my preorder up but it does sound good.

As far as leitmotif... You can't talk about it without bringing up Persona 4, can you? The effect of it toward the end of the game is incredible. It really brings the whole 100+ hour adventure together in its final hours in a way I think Persona 5 unfortunately failed to.

Mother 3 also has some killer ones - the whole game's soul is pretty entrenched in music so it's not surprising. But they develop musical themes over the course of the game to really hammer home the progression of the story.

 

[TannerDemoz]

Don't all decent video games have musical motifs? I completely agree with everything you're saying but I wouldn't call it a phenomena, and maybe not even a technique in video games, given how common musical motifs are?

 

[The Awesomest]

Y'know, OP, I was just thinking of creating a thread to gush over Skies of Arcadia's use of motifs. I've yet to encounter another game that uses it quite like Skies did. When I have time I'll write up something for this thread.

 

[The Awesomest]

Alright, sorry for the double post. I was hoping someone else might have contributed something in the meantime. Hopefully someone finds this bump interesting.

Before I start discussing the music of Skies of Arcadia, I want to go over one small musical concept to help us understand - the idea of sections, or different ideas expressed within a composition. Different sections of a song will have different melodies and rhythms. For example, in a typical pop song, you'll start with a verse - that would be section A. Then the chorus which would be section B, because the melody and rhythm is different. Then back to the verse (another A) back to the chorus (another B) then maybe a bridge, which would be section C, and ending back at the chorus (section B again). That would make the form of this song A-B-A-B-C-B, our basic roadmap of the musical ideas in that song. Try to listen for different sections in songs that you listen to. Jingle Bells, for example, only has an A and B sections, which repeat A-B-A-B ad nauseum. Old McDonald's form would be AABA.

Back to Skies of Arcadia. I want to explore one particular motif in its main theme that is expressed throughout the game. I particularly want us to look at how a motif can be tied to a specific idea, and how it develops along with the plot through the course of the game. Fair warning, for anyone who cares, there will be spoilers ahead for Skies of Arcadia. You've been warned.

Skies of Arcadia - Main Theme
First, let's observe the form of the song. There are three main sections:
Section A is from the beginning to 0:25.
Section B is from 0:26 to 0:51.
Section C is from 0:51 to 1:16, followed by a short transition that loops back to A, making the form ABC.
Make sense? Good. I want you to get section C in your heads, because that's the motif we'll be following. I'll just be referring to it as "Section C" throughout.

(By the way, I do encourage you to listen to the songs I've linked all the way through. The more you get these songs in your head, and understand the musical context, the more sense this whole essay will make.)​

The next time we hear Section C is in the song "Legend".
Skies of Arcadia - Legend
Legend begins with a double bass solo, the orchestra comes inat 1:04, and we hear our motif again beginning at 1:35.
What does this have anything to do with the plot? For that, we need to see the song in context to understand why this motif is relevant.

The first time we encounter Legend is in a cutscene where Fina explains to the others the nature of her mission, which is to prevent a terrible catastrophe from the past, in which great stones fell from the sky and brought the world to ruin, from occurring again. Notice how much of the focus is on the big white continent with the tower coming out of it. This is important.
We find Legend again much later in the game, when the party learns the truth about the world and the calamity that befell it - the people from that white continent, Soltis, were the ones who caused it. Pay attention to 7:19 when we see Soltis again, sinking below the clouds.

The use of our motif in Legend establishes that section C is closely tied with the past, with the calamity that occurred, and particularly with continent Soltis, which sank below the clouds, from which this calamity originated.

Eventually, the game reaches its climax, in which Soltis does end up resurfacing, because of course it does, and the world is once again threatened with the ancient calamity that destroyed the world before, because this is a JRPG and it needs some drama. And so, our plucky heroes set out to save the world by returning Soltis to the clouds from which it came - but not before one last battle to determine the fate of the world:

Skies of Arcadia - Last Battle
Oh, what's this? What are these familiar motifs I hear at 2:03 and 2:30? It's sections A and B from the Main Theme, but with section C oddly missing, as the song just returns to Section A. Section C, which has come to represent all the horrors of the past stemming from the continent Soltis, is left out of the Last Battle theme - a theme which symbolizes the fate of Soltis, and the whole world, up in the air. When the battle is over, will section C rejoin the rest of the theme? Will Soltis fade away, leaving something else in its place?

Let's check out the aftermath of the battle:
Skies of Arcadia - Legendary Sinking Continent
The battle ends with our heroes victorious, and Soltis slowly sinks below the clouds, as section C plays one last time. The horrors from the past are gone, and with them, the section of the main theme that represented them.
Here's a link to the song itself, without the sound effects: Legendary Sinking Continent

Spoiler

By the way, have you noticed how the music in the cutscenes sounds like trash when compared to the soundtrack version? Well, the soundtrack links are from the Dreamcast version of the game, while the cutscenes I've linked are from the Gamecube version. In order to get Skies of Arcadia to fit on one Gamecube disc, the developers had to compress the sounds from the Dreamcast version into the mush that it became.

Alright, so we know that our motif, section C of the Skies of Arcadia Main Theme, represents Arcadia's troubled past and all the mess that our heroes had to clean up. So what happens to the main theme now that Soltis has been sent back, and all the problems that came with it have been dealt with? Everything that section C symbolized is gone.

Skies of Arcadia - Credits
The game ends by revisiting the main theme. Sections A and B are still there, but there's now a new section C representing the change that has come to Arcadia. The old has gone away, and the world has a bright future ahead of it. This is made even clearer by the fact that our new section C is in a major mode, whereas the old one was in a minor mode. This makes the new section C sound brighter and more hopeful than the old one.

Skies of Arcadia was able to use a motif in a way that added meaning to the game, and to its soundtrack, by tying that motif to a particular idea, and making it part of the main theme of the game. Even without watching any of the cutscenes, one can get a sense of how the plot develops by observing how the various sections of the main theme, particularly C, are used throughout the course of the game. I've yet to encounter a game that uses motifs quite like this, though I'd love to be wrong.
I hope someone found this interesting. I discovered this many years ago, on my third or fourth playthrough of the game, and I've been wanting to share it ever since, but I never had the time or the energy. Thank OP for making this thread, if not for anyone's sake but my own.