The Godslayer

Hello there, it's mr musical tarpit here again.

It's been awhile since the first blog so be sure to hold onto your elven ears and dwarven beards, because this one's a l o n g one.

Partly the silence was because I wanted something festive to announce for this second blog entry, so here it is: as far as the soundtrack goes, we have hit the mark of 30 (more or less) finished songs. After working for a bit more than 10 months I do feel the need to say that I'm at least a little surprised of how easily it has gone this far. Almost as surprised as I am impressed. It may not sound like too much but one must take into account that this is something that gets done for free on spare time for our own pleasure (and eventually for others' too I hope). So if there's something that song amount means it's steady progress - and that is a good duo of words right there.

Back when we started I didn't really know what to expect. Sure, like you may understand from the first blog, starting this musical journey into the unknown depths felt like the right thing to do but I had no idea how huge and long it would grow. Actually, this is the first time I've taken a shot at such a huge project. Everything before this has been something with a short deadline or no deadline at all and more importantly, not only on my own shoulders. The great maker obviously does visit me from his castle every now and then to issue his new orders and to leave his lordship's constructive feedback concerning the earlier accomplishments, but most of the time it's pretty lonely here in the cellar.

So after painstakingly composing over 30 songs most of which consist of multiple different parts and usually require at least five differently arranged instruments - how does it stay fresh?

"Well, since it's not a job as such, it really doesn't. The restrictions of my program of choice come on the way more and more frequently, the lack of deepness within the instrumentation is a recurring problem and generally speaking, how many different town or dungeon themes can there really be?"

Everytime I've begun thinking things like these, I've taken time off. There's no point trying to force through it. It's gonna take a long time before the game itself is in any kind of official test phase so the only way of achieving both, quality and quantity, is taking it slowly, bit by bit. Since the only actual light at the end of the tunnel is the finished game itself, I don't think there are too many ways to actually prevent the inspiration (and a general interest into using one's time staring at a computer screen) from drying up. So whenever it feels like it isn't going anywhere and especially if the music itself starts to sound like crap, I just let it be up until it calls me again or the great maker sends his alpha death squad to capture and tort... um, inspire his beloved composer.

Inspiration can sometimes be a tough lover. It comes when it wants, and does the same with leaving. Sometimes you can interpret what it says into an understandable form, sometimes it's just insane gibberish. Sometimes it's a fake inspiration, one that says "you've got a killer melody there, you better work on it hard!" just for its victim to later realize that the piece of music was actually a piece of crap, so to speak. However, it should be valued as gold. There aren't too many things more pleasant after a musically dry season than an inspired moment of clarity. When one thing goes right, it usually gives enough energy to plow through a few others as well.

So the next time you feel like you're losing your touch while working on something you're hell-bent on finishing, excuse yourself a break. Let your mind clear itself and give all that spent energy a chance to recover. It might take time but eventually the desire and inspiration will return, one way or another.

What have we got done then? There are some town and city themes, dungeon and forest stuff, different character themes, a main theme, various pieces for specific plot points, three variations of a world map theme, some shorter stuff like sound effects and of course the themes for victory and game over. Oh, and some different battle themes. Still so much to do...


Also, recently the great maker sent his deranged servants to drag me up from this wretched cellar of pungent death and mutant rats. After a long, painful and extremely frustrating ride I was taken to his lordship. Without a single expression he placed a keyboard on the table before me and said one word: "play" - and play I did!

Although it's clear that I can't stop making endless jokes about Matias "TosiTaku" Ahonen being an assholic dictator, in reality working with him has been great. We've known each other for a long time, so mutual differences don't really matter. We speak the same language... most of the time. This was the second "test session" where I got to know more about the progress of the game, express my opinion about it and try out how the music really works - and therefore I get to tell you guys how's it going. I don't wanna uncover too much and I am not going to spoil anything plotwise. However, I'm going to talk about the story.

Most of the necessary plot parts are done. It's playable but very far from done which is only natural since we are over a year from the set deadline. In comparison to Story of Integra it already feels a lot better. It's a more personal and definitely more epic piece of gaming. Since the story is a complex and non-linear one, there's a lot more dialogue than in Integra, but what's most important, it's also improved. Some of the characters in Integra were well-written but others were a little more difficult to relate to, and some of them just felt like standard side characters. This time there's a lot more emphasis on the whole bunch. The characters interact better with each other, and you're gonna get some pretty juicy moments as their mutual contradictions, hidden agendas and non-compatible personalities clash while the characters still try and focus on working together. All in all, it's a lot more interesting to follow.

This brings me to the humour part. Although he was an optional character, it seems that most players did enjoy Lyrion. I know I did, after he became available I never even considered leaving him out of my party. The completely off-beat jokes felt very fresh and some of the time it was just fun to travel around in search of different piano tunes. In general, the whole idea of a very well working comical sidekick did satisfy me very much, because usually they just suck. Do not try arguing this thing with meesa, Mr. Lucas.

I think everybody understands that the same joke would definitely not work again, and even if the jokes could be as funny, it just wouldn't feel the same. So even the great maker was at some point a little concerned whether if the sequel becomes too serious. Luckily, in its darker and more mature tones the comedy found itself a new home. The Godslayer feels equally funny as it feels fun to play since the humour is placed right. Some of the jokes might feel a little off-the-wall the first time playing, but mostly the funny parts focus on the characters, and their collective chemistry which is not a simple formula at all. In one sense it kind of reminds me of Army of Darkness (or Medievil Dead). The version of Ash in that movie is the ultimate anti-hero, an arrogant bastard who's too sloppy and proud to do his job properly, and the viewers are stuck with this incompetent main character. I may be a little underlining this, but there's a bit of that absurd and eerily funny feeling, yeah. But luckily no Three Stooges-jokes!

Still, in total, it's no comedy. The story is very dark and feels more mature than in Integra. Unlike most j-rpg's, the roleplaying element is not just racking up your stats and picking up better weapons and kicking a lot of ass until you reach Zordax, the evil goblin king who stole your spikey-hair-hero's girlfriend and kicked your dog. I never really got much out of that, so being more focused on the story, the player's choices and the consequences of decisions really make a difference on how the story unfolds - and what you will become. Don't get me wrong - it still is a j-rpg and it's called The Godslayer. Ergo, there's bound to be some insanely epic battles, but I think it'll be a well-balanced game, fit for friends and enthusiasts of different playing styles.

This text is getting quite off-hand but let me tell you one more thing. The Godslayer is more like a true sequel rather than just an another entry in a series of different stories that share a similar gameplay-style and structure, ie. Final Fantasy -series. Those who have learned and remember their Integra are respected in this game, and some familiar characters and places may even find some new meanings and deeper backgrounds. Still, it's not required that the player knows everything about Integra... but if all these big words of mine make you drool and you still haven't gotten through the first game - now, there's something you should do while we get this big s.o.b. out into the wild. Oh, right, and keep in mind that the second part of any series is usually the most memorable one!

-Your Composer, Aleksi

ps.,

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pps.,

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