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Quintus

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  • 1 month later...

By the way, if anyone was interested in buying the The Legend Of Zelda 25Th Anniversary Symphony CD, you should know that it seems that it will only be offered with Skyward Sword, and it will not be released individually.

I am sure it will turn up as an individual purchase just like the Zelda Collectors Edition disc did/has.

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Just stumbled upon this:

It is the only orchestrated track of Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack (why did they just recorded one track? I have no idea!). It features probably the best version of the main theme in orchestral form at 1:27.

By the way, if anyone was interested in buying the The Legend Of Zelda 25Th Anniversary Symphony CD, you should know that it seems that it will only be offered with Skyward Sword, and it will not be released individually.

Oh wow. I hadn't heard anything about these albums yet. I was planning on getting Skyward Sword anyway, so the Symphony CD is just double the awesome. :D

I don't have any of the Ocarina of Time albums, so I just found/ordered a used copy of that new 3D soundtrack from a "new" seller on Amazon for $25.

Hopefully that won't bomb out on me.

Also, regarding why they didn't redo the entire soundtrack, I found this interview where Kondo says he wanted it to "stay faithful to the Nintendo 64 sound... if you changed the sound like that, it wouldn't be Ocarina of Time!"

A lot of neat stuff in the 6 page interview: http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/3ds/zelda-ocarina-of-time/0/0

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He has a point.

Who? Kondo?

Yes. The nostalgia factor with Ocarina of Time is very high and that has to do (subconsciously or otherwise) with the original score. For better or for worse, it would feel like a different game with an orchestral soundtrack, and I don't think that was the goal they were intending to reach.

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Yokota didn't say anything about recording an orchestral soundtrack for OoT 3D. He only mentioned working on "slightly more up to date" arrangements. Maybe it would have been something like the sampled arrangements of Zelda Reorchestrated, which sometimes sound really good... but tend to miss out on the simple and reserved character of the music.

Yokota's one orchestral recording was just put at the end of the credits, right? If there's one thing about OoT's soundtrack that bothers me, it's that the main theme doesn't play over Hyrule Field when you're Adult Link. And I'm not one of those people that's always been outraged that the main theme is never stated outright in OoT. I just think it would have been perfect to show the passage of time and Link's gained maturity. The shoehorning of the main theme into Majora's Mask, on the other hand, was totally unnecessary.

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Just stumbled upon this:

It is the only orchestrated track of Ocarina of Time 3D soundtrack (why in the name of fuck did they just recorded one track? I have no idea!). It features probably the best version of the main theme in orchestral form at 1:27.

Firebird rip-off.

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Yes. The nostalgia factor with Ocarina of Time is very high and that has to do (subconsciously or otherwise) with the original score. For better or for worse, it would feel like a different game with an orchestral soundtrack, and I don't think that was the goal they were intending to reach.

That's because of people like you that we were stuck for so long with MIDI-sounding soundtracks for Nintendo games. Shame on you! Thank god they're slowly changing that and starting to offer us orchestral soundtracks more often.

Actually, I'm more than happy about that. I loved Super Mario Galaxy and I can't wait for Skyward Sword.

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Yokota's one orchestral recording was just put at the end of the credits, right? If there's one thing about OoT's soundtrack that bothers me, it's that the main theme doesn't play over Hyrule Field when you're Adult Link. And I'm not one of those people that's always been outraged that the main theme is never stated outright in OoT. I just think it would have been perfect to show the passage of time and Link's gained maturity. The shoehorning of the main theme into Majora's Mask, on the other hand, was totally unnecessary.

I never noticed the main theme didn't appear even once in OoT! :P

Where does the main theme appear in Majora's Mask? It's been so long since I played this game, I can't remember.

Are you talking about Termina Field?

Yeah.

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I believe before it was just an informed rumor, or it was confirmed that there would be orchestral music, just not whether it would be fully orchestrated, or if just cutscenes and special events would be orchestral and the more technical "gamey" stuff would be MIDI.

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Stoked to hear about it, and no game series deserves it more... but I can't help but be annoyed at some of the video game community's reaction, mainly being "FINALLY, no more SHITTY MIDI". I mean, all of the Zelda games have had outstanding music regardless of the limitations. I'm able to look past the lack of live performance and unrealistic samples to the essence: well-crafted and influential electronic music. Without MIDI, Ocarina would have been an entirely different game - there would have been no instrument to play in-game and the ability to make the score respond instantaneously to on-screen events (battles, night-to-day etc) would have been virtually nonexistent.

I'm yet to hear an orchestral game track that I like more than "Gerudo Valley".

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Stoked to hear about it, and no game series deserves it more... but I can't help but be annoyed at some of the video game community's reaction, mainly being "FINALLY, no more SHITTY MIDI". I mean, all of the Zelda games have had outstanding music regardless of the limitations. I'm able to look past the lack of live performance and unrealistic samples to the essence: well-crafted and influential electronic music. Without MIDI, Ocarina would have been an entirely different game - there would have been no instrument to play in-game and the ability to make the score respond instantaneously to on-screen events (battles, night-to-day etc) would have been virtually nonexistent.

I'm yet to hear an orchestral game track that I like more than "Gerudo Valley".

People are only acting like that because Twilight Princess (which "should" have been orchestral) was MIDI.

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Yeah... MIDI was perfect for Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and the handhelds. I'd never ask for anything more. Only by Twilight Princess was it starting to wear thin. To be fair, the samples used in TP (yes, they are samples, not GM MIDI) are more advanced than those of OOT, but they just didn't measure up to the epic, filmic themes the game dealt in. I'd almost say Skyward Sword, from what we've seen so far, is less deserving of orchestral music, although I'm stoked to have it. It's a little more intimate and abstract than the "realistic" TP, and to an extent synth music is okay for that style.

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Yay! My OoT 3D disc arrived. Thrilling to finally own a copy of this "legendary" music. (See what I did there? It's The Legen... yeah.)

I remember falling in love with Hyrule Field years ago, before I ever considered myself a soundtrack fan.

The part starting at 2:34 still hits the spot.

Hyrule Field Main Theme :music:

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Stoked to hear about it, and no game series deserves it more... but I can't help but be annoyed at some of the video game community's reaction, mainly being "FINALLY, no more SHITTY MIDI". I mean, all of the Zelda games have had outstanding music regardless of the limitations. I'm able to look past the lack of live performance and unrealistic samples to the essence: well-crafted and influential electronic music. Without MIDI, Ocarina would have been an entirely different game - there would have been no instrument to play in-game and the ability to make the score respond instantaneously to on-screen events (battles, night-to-day etc) would have been virtually nonexistent.

I'm yet to hear an orchestral game track that I like more than "Gerudo Valley".

You do not understand why people say things like "FINALLY, no more SHITTY MIDI". It's not because they thought the music was shit. It's because they thought the music was kick-ass and would have been "kick-ass-er" in orchestral form. At least, that's the reason why I say such things. Yeah, Gerudo Valley is brilliant. Now, give Gerudo Valley orchestral version, and we're reaching new heights! I've said it many times before, I love Tal Tal Heights and The Ballad of The Windfish from Link's Awakening. But they sound horribly bad (this is Game Boy we're talking about!). So the thing is, I ain't gonna be able to burn them on a CD and listen to them "just like that" and enjoy them. Now give me an orchestral performance of these two cues, and rock on, baby!

I understand perfectly well. The wording just makes people sound ungrateful. I don't see the need for everything to be orchestrated anyway. Sure, a lot of OOT was written symphonically, but the Temple cues for example would not translate well to an actual orchestra as they relied heavily on synthetic sound effects. Not to mention the use of "exotic" instruments like steel drums, various guitars, eastern woodwinds etc that were accessible through samples, but unlikely to be used for recording purposes (monetary limitations).

Koray, I talk about Nintendo because I don't game much anymore, but when I do it's generally a Zelda or Mario game.

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but the Temple cues for example would not translate well to an actual orchestra as they relied heavily on synthetic sound effects. Not to mention the use of "exotic" instruments like steel drums, various guitars, eastern woodwinds etc that were accessible through samples, but unlikely to be used for recording purposes (monetary limitations).

:blink: Have you listened to "The Temple of Doom"? (the track AND score)

And I am sure some of the synthetic sound effects (like in the case of the Forest Temple) could be done chorally

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but the Temple cues for example would not translate well to an actual orchestra as they relied heavily on synthetic sound effects. Not to mention the use of "exotic" instruments like steel drums, various guitars, eastern woodwinds etc that were accessible through samples, but unlikely to be used for recording purposes (monetary limitations).

:blink: Have you listened to "The Temple of Doom"? (the track AND score)

And I am sure some of the synthetic sound effects (like in the case of the Forest Temple) could be done chorally

Because of course a heavily compressed orchestral score for a video game would have the same budget as an 80's Spielberg blockbuster. Again, they would unlikely have had access to any non-orchestral instruments or performers for such a project.

I can imagine a composer with access to an orchestra would feel obliged to utilize it fully, with that Hollywood sound. That kind of instrumentation can sometimes contradict the kind of creativity inspired by technical limitations.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to Skyward Sword, both game and soundtrack. But no-one could ever convince me that OoT would have been a better game with a recorded symphonic score.

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If there's one thing about OoT's soundtrack that bothers me, it's that the main theme doesn't play over Hyrule Field.

Actually it does, a very short snippet though. at 2:14/2:15

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I know, but in full. I think the existing field music is perfect for young Link. For when Link steps out of the Temple of Time after 7 years, I would have liked to have heard a musical evolution. A couple places like Kakariko Village have different music, so why not the field?

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I know, but in full. I think the existing field music is perfect for young Link. For when Link steps out of the Temple of Time after 7 years, I would have liked to have heard a musical evolution. A couple places like Kakariko Village have different music, so why not the field?

I completely agree.

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