Exploring the Music of Golden Sun
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- Опубликовано: 16 июл 2024
- Join me as I take a dive into the musical world of Golden Sun, where a smart mixture of classical and rock sensibilities swirl together to become more than the sum of their parts. Much like the peanut butter and jelly that work together to grace your toast each morning, composer Motoi Sakuraba uses these musical influences to create a completely new musical personality for the Golden Sun series that's still just as compelling today as it was 20 years ago.
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Seeing a vid of golden sun in modern times warms my heart.
Same, I was whistling along to track bits that were played, I miss this game.
My first ever JRPG, I was so lucky
I miss this game so much i want it back. or heck even a remaster for switch.
Every single song from the first two games just... does something to my heart. Makes me feel pulled to a time and place that you just can't go back to.
This is easily in my top 3 games of all time, quarantine gave me time to run through it again
I literally shouted "OMG!" when I seen this, you've maxed out the nostalgia bar on this one!!
slap like now!
wait,... wrong channel.
SAME THANKY YOU THINKG
Dude me too! I'm so happy right now!
Same. I was so ready for this
@@reverie4866 It makes me realise just how much the music really makes the game for me, I absolutely love all the prog rock stuff in RPG's but feels weird having it broken down.
Golden Sun is such a masterpiece. I hope Golden Sun returns to the Switch.
Even a remake from the previous ones would be amazing, especially from the GBA titles!
@@DrakkarCalethiel I'm all in for a remake (with modern conveniences). The GBA games were absolute masterpieces in their design and music.
even tho Dark Dawn can't hold up with the GBA releases, I guess it still would sell well as it is a really solid RPG.
@@proodles How about Golden Sun 4, Dark Dawn ended on a cliffhanger about a decade ago.
@@DrakkarCalethiel tbh, Dark Dawn to me really felt like a prologue to the the "real" GS 3. It was all just introducing new gen characters and then ended.
One of my favorite games of all time!
Same here!
Same here!
anyone in the comments who are wondering if they should play GS because the music slaps? YES YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD
Lol agreed!
Absolutely! Alone for the music it is worth playing. The absolutely well written story makes it even better!
don't forget the beautiful 2D graphics !
this rpg was absolutely formative for me in my childhood i've probably played it 10+ times
Just because I like the music of a game does not mean I'll actually enjoy the game. For example, I love Bastion's soundtrack, and the aesthetic and storytelling is masterfully done, but I do not enjoy the actual gameplay. I acknowledge it as a masterwork of game design, but it isn't for me.
I knew that Motoi Sakuraba composed Golden Sun and Valkyrie Profile, but how come I just learned that he composed the score for DARK BLEEPIN' SOULS?!
Which reminds me, the metric shifts from the battle themes of Valkyrie Profile are so, SO prog-rockish
This is my favorite revelation to see. My jaw dropped too
As well as many (if not all) games in Bamco's "Tales of..." series, if you didn't already catch that in the opening crawl.
@@IkklThePickle he did music on ToS ? holy fuck
@@decepticonne he's been the head composer on every Tales game besides Tales of Legendia, although some soundtracks are rather collaborative (e.g. Zestiria, Abyss).
Huh. Guess Golden Sun is the reason why I like prog rock so much
it all makes sense now
Lmao it might be. Have you heard eruption by focus?
Saaaaaaaame
Tarkus by ELP
same with me haha
I wrote a final paper in college about "An Adept's Home" and hometown themes in games as revitalizations of the pastorale, but it was really just an excuse to talk about Sakuraba's sound. Thank you THANK you so much for this video - I was in tears. Finally someone ripped this man's genius apart and let me follow and sing along. I now finally understand why my head exploded as an 11-year old when I was fighting that Doom Dragon. I'm already going to the 8BBB show, and was so happy for that plug as well! Honestly, again, thank you so much for this video. Made my damn month.
that paper sounds absolutely dope!
I don’t want to meet the person that cannot recognize how good golden sun music sounds.
Even with the gba’s poor audio output.
I hope we see a remaster of the original games one day.
I would go to the 8BBB show if it weren't 11 hours away and i have class the day after :(
Honestly would love to read that paper if you still have it around somewhere!
@@davidmunshaw2340 I second this sentiment.
I almost never comment on things but I was intensely hoping you would cover Golden Sun one day. I love its music so much and even though I understand little of music theory this video has made me hear the tracks in such a different way and I noticed a bit of why they sound like they do. I also never knew Motoi Sakuraba was so prolific! I'm off now to listen to Gikyokuonsou
If you're interested in more Golden Sun arrangements, the channel TandA has done 41 of them, so far.
ruclips.net/channel/UCV3ZW9RRRmk8S6EbflJ4RWg
I literally clapped when you started talking about Elemental Stars. This theme is so beautiful I have it as part of my standard music library.
And yeah, Doom Dragon's theme is absolutely out of this dimension.
Ah the GBA.
What a beloved handheld. And this game's soundtrack stands as an exceptional use of the hardware to further enhance the gaming experience.
Elemental Stars is one of my favourite songs ever. It gives such a beautifully dreamy feeling, I love the timbre of that oboe sound it uses
Elemental Stars is great. My favorites are Forest Requiem and the Fusion Dragon theme!
Reminds me of Xenogears main theme
@@SS17MUSIC There are so many great pieces. Elemental Stars, Venus Lighthouse, Aqua Rock, Magma Rock, all the dragon themes.
@@Sidnv I agree it's why I listen to the ost frequently!
Elemental Stars is the biggest reason I learned to play the oboe in middle & high school.
Golden Sun's Music Rocks my Childhood; in an era where I didn't have an MP3 player and music to call my own, games like this gave me all the jams I could ask for
Because of no MP3 I remember using countless batteries to just keep my GBA on and listening elemental star on headphones while falling asleep
The score of Golden Sun is some of my favorite game music of all time.
Ahh Motoi Sakuraba's music was always great.... Thank you for covering golden sun, I barely see any one talking about it...
Made me literally gasped when I saw this upload in my sub box, love this series
How about you having a monthly section where you give us a game scenario to make music that we think fits. Then you choose the ones you like most for a showcase with a "micro" analysis (maybe). I think it will be fun to see and motivational for a lot of us.
I agree with you on that I think it would be fun
I think it's a pretty genius idea! Hopefully would be less work to produce than a full theory episode, the Algorithm prefers channels that uploads more often, and in today's world with abundant stock music, it's just as important for devs to learn how to use pre-existing music properly as it is to learn composing it. Win-win for everybody, basically :D
I can never have too many song ideas
Would love this
that kind of happens on his discord
I am absolutely ecstatic that you finally made a video about Golden Sun. And finally I got an answer to what the hell all those time signatures in doom dragon were!
The second game in this series has some of the best music in any video game ever, regardless of console. The music in Golden sun the lost age is a 10/10 no question
Mario Tennis and Golden Sun music have such a unique flair to them. When I first played Valkyrie Profile a few years ago, I was like "hmm this sounds like Motoi Sakuraba", and then the battle theme (and later the boss theme) started playing and I was like "this is ABSOLUTELY Sakuraba".
Love golden sun
*Golden Sun is so Underrated*
One of the best video game I've played in the Gameboy Advance
To this day I'm still waiting for a sequel to be released on the Switch
When I saw the notification for this I was stoked! Love Golden Sun!
Absolutely love golden sun, glad to hear you talk about it's music!
There are two games which I want more than anything:
- Golden Sun 4
- Star Ocean 2 Remake
Both of which would have Sakuraba-san's fingerprint on it. SO2 is TO THIS DAY my favourite soundtrack and game of ALL-TIME.
Holy cow. I’ve always thought Golden Sun had one of the best soundtracks of all time, and now I know why. Prog rock/metal is my favorite genre of music and somehow I never noticed Golden Sun’s composition was heavily rooted in prog!!! Love it!!!
Same, but with Star Ocean ost
The Golden Sun soundtracks are amazing! Keep up the great work!
Golden Sun 4 on the Switch when Nintendo
I was introduced to Sakuraba's work with Tales of Symphonia. I love it when he goes all out in his prog rock pieces and I'm very happy that you covered one of the games he's worked on. c:
So was I ! The soundtrack of Symphonia is one of his finest work :D
Motoi Sakuraba has had more influence in my life than I ever realized. I played Mario tennis as a kid, Golden Sun later, and Dark souls after that. I loved all of those games and the music was a huge part of that.
Mario tennis music was so fun, it was a big part of me keeping playing it lol
I never truly understood what made Golden Sun's soundtrack, and Sakuraba's music in general, so absolutely fascinating to me, but you hit the nail on the head.
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yesssssss
Thanks for this. I already love your vids, but a Golden Sun one?!?! Man, I cant watch this enough
11:04 So maybe it's just a strange auditory illusion, but it for the world sounds like you started talking more slowly when the tempo shifted here. Neat.
There is one thing that is guaranteed in the game music world: If Sakuraba in involved, it will be an amazing soundtrack!
Oh my god, I love your comments in purple. They're the types of comments people make when talking about music in person "oh man, wait for these scoops, AND THIS CHORD HERE!" Jaja, please keep them up.
There's actually another step on the sliding scale of battle music complexity in the opposite direction from the bosses.
When you're fighting non-Adepts (normal people), you deal extra damage with Psyenergies because they can't see your mind powers. The music obligingly plays a more simplistic, fast-tempo hard rock drive to further accentuate your edge in combat and the favorable gap in ability.
Is that why I felt so nostalgic when I first played Valkyrie Profile, years after Golden Sun ?
I mean, the musical structure, the instrumentation, it's literally the same music ! Not that I mind, I just never realized ! 😲 and I enjoyed so many of the games on this list ... probably thanks to Sakuraba ! 😍
My favorite game on handheld. Such an amazing story and such good music. Really love the tower pieces and the final overworld theme. Puts me right into the mood of playing it!
Aaah my favourite game series!!! Golden Sun's music does things to me
Golden Sun is one of my most beloved games and video game soundtracks. I was so surprised when I heard Sakuraba-san was going to compose the music for Dark Souls. So utterly different, yet equally pleasing to the ears (and heart). Thank you for your musical explorations! Someday I would love to hear your take on Cing's Hotel Dusk/Last Window or Jeremy Soule's depressingly beautiful Secret of Evermore score. But you probably have enough requests to cover already.
before i watch the video, i have to say nothing can reach quite the same mix of excitement, warmth and melancholia as receiving a notification for a video on Golden Sun music from your channel... a testament to how the first two games in the series showcase that a "simple things done well" philosophy on all levels can go a long way towards building a strong, memorable piece of media
ok time to watch the vid :)
every single tune in the Golden Sun duology is a hit, and video game post-game extra features peaked with the NPC in the Golden Sun 2 coliseum who let you listen to all of them. i won't take any constructive criticism
Now I feel obligated to listen to the whole Golden Sun OST! He didn't even mention the first battle theme.. I'm sure that was his evil plan all along
"Or if that's too square for you..."
*pulls up a Black Page*
Fantastic video. One of the best ost's ever.
I always wanted to see Sakuraba do a live Golden Sun/Baten Kaitos concert like he did with Star Ocean.
I remember reading similar stuff about Sakuraba's prog rock roots in Jonny Atma's blog for his metal cover of the Golden Sun Battle Theme, and Golden Sun's soundtrack is a prime example of why guitars aren't always the essence of rock.
Reading that made me listen to other stuff from Sakuraba, and while I obviously never pieced together any of the technicalities, he has an undeniably intense composition style that is very easily identified. But they heavy rhythm of Golden Sun's OST is what I love the most about the works of his that I listened to.
It was pretty uncanny to watch/listen to the go-to musical ed RUclips creator talk about the music from a game series that I hold dear to.
"OHHH" i said out loud in amaze... Golden Sun in the 8-Bit Music Theory Channel?! MUST WATCH
Motoi Sakuraba is my absolute favorite video game composer. His music is probably a huge factor in me getting into JRPGs and I love that I can go back to games I used to play and hear his style and be like, oh cool!!! He did this game too!
This game soundtrack was actually my first introduction to prog rock. I was so amazed at how different it sounded from every other game soundtrack. The modulations made the fights freakin intense!!! ❤️ Sakuraba
Omg yes I absolutely LOVE golden sun series 💕. Although not gonna lie...got some war flashbacks with that doom dragon music 😂. Forever burned into my mind because it took a long time to get through hahaha
I saw an 8-bit Music Theory video, and immediately went to click it. Then I saw that it was on GOLDEN SUN, and I couldn't click fast enough!
I absolutely love Sakuraba's music! 'Star Ocean' and 'Tales of' music scores have been ingrained in my mind for the rest of my life.
Now this is a topic I like!
Golden Sun 1 & 2 are some of my favourite games to date. I had no idea he was also the composer for Dark Souls! This video made me so happy
Thanks for covering this awesome soundtrack! I spent forever as a kid counting out that rockin' Doom Dragon theme.
The Saturos battle theme has always been one of my favorites out of video games in...general. Fantastic overview of Golden Sun's OST in general.
LOVE Motoi Sakuraba, for me personally, his magnum opus is the Baten Kaitos Soundtrack.
I was listening Golden Sun OST right now!! Let's enjoy this video for sure!
I’m so glad you did golden sun
Golden Sun !
This series (combined) has one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time, and is still one of my favorite RPGs ever. The music has been a massive influence to me as a musician and actually played a crucial role in my decision to become a musician. Sakuraba is one of the best composers the industry has. Thanks for this video.
You picked a good one this time around. Love Sakuraba's work
Remember how epic the Deadbeard battle was? I think I remember I won by just a hair the first time.
Ever fight dullahan in gs2? He kicked my ass over and over before finally beating him
I absolutely LOVE that you made a video about Golden Sun!
I've always hoped for one, but I'd have never expected to see one analyzing almost all of the different styles of soundtrack from this game.
Thank you for making such awesome analysis videos, always a blast to watch!
This is one of the few channels where I'm actually eager for another upload.
Also, thanks for properly introducing me to Disasterpiece, the Midnight Wood from Hyper Light Drifter just blows my mind, this guy is by far one of my biggest influences. 7:55 Also, chromatically moving a minor third down in this manner is pretty common on high pitched chip melodies, isn't it? I find myself using it too, it has become such a nostalgic sound for me. Ohh, even better with that delay on there.
I use it all the time too; it's perfect for making really ethereal melodies. The oldest song I know that uses it is I Talk to the Wind, where it's a big part of the flute line.
@@Teuthida Ohh yeah, works so well on flutes! I think 8 and 16-bit sounds alike playing this little transition often mimic flute characteristics, iirc Earthbound and Chrono Trigger have tracks where they do exactly that, sounds so magical.
Ohh, and thanks for sharing that track, didn't know that one. Actually, just realized I've heard it when I was young, but never knew what it was :D
Honestly, being a proghead myself, I can see why these guys do well in the videogame industry. The freedom is absurd and the inspiration is fantastic(Literally!). There is such a raw, evocative quality to prog, I consider it's elements and effects very close to what I'd expect from a good OST. I imagine Wakeman's epics could colour entire worlds. ELP's madness could take us through a multitude of universes. Tangerine Dream could take us to deep space and back. Magma's hectic chants could turn terror into reality.
It might be just me, but I think the conceptual nature of prog translates very well into the storytelling aspect of vidya.
What impressed me the most is the rendering of Motoi Sakuraba's work on the GBA which is really standing out. Only few games on that hardware were able to translate magnificent symphonies and orchestral ambiances. And coupled with the genius of Sakuraba, it created an amazing level of musical quality in Golden Sun, in my opinion
Love how at 3:05 you overlay the Mario Tennis music in place of Golden Sun's normal battle theme, and it did not sound at all out of place despite being 2 very different games. It's always interesting to see how studios/musicians who make vastly different games will often times still use very similar musical styles. I had a similar "a-ha" moment when I played Donkey Kong Country Returns and noticed that parts of the Tiki themes sounded exactly like something I would hear in Metroid Prime (mainly the choral parts)...At the time I noticed this, I did NOT know that DKC Returns was created by Retro Studios/scored by the same composer as the Prime games . But it was really cool to find out that my ear had picked up on something first and that the knowledge only followed thereafter when I thought to look it up on a hunch.
Was just watching your odd time signatures video yesterday and was wondering what your thoughts on the "Fusion Dragon" fight was since it jumped around with the time signature so much, even going up to the ever famous 23/16. So glad to see this pop into my subscription box. Thank you!
Makes me SO happy seeing all the love for Golden Sun in this video and in the comments. Thanks a lot!
(I hope you won't mind, it's not really a plug, I'd just like to indicate to the fans of the franchise that the Reddit community is quite alive nowadays, we also have an awesome Discord that you can find the link to on the subreddit. Thank you again!)
Any piece of Golden Sun music brings tears to my eyes.
Thanks for the Gikyokuonsou recommendation, I'm gonna listen to that right now.
Golden Sun and The Lost Age have such great music, I used to spend hours at that music test lady with headphones plugged into my gba. Good times!
It's so cool to see how Dark Souls resemble his other works in subtle ways, the way you put it makes so much sense. It always struck me as the odd one out of his resume (most of his works on RPGs have a pretty distinct and identifiable prog rock style to them) but now I can see where the influences are. Great video on a legendary composer.
favorite channel talkin about music from my favorite game by my favorite VG composer!!! the stress of writing a thesis is completely healed if just for a few minutes. thank you 8bit music theory :)
I’ll always go back to this game
ngl _The Elemental Stars_ is still one of the few video game soundtracks that invokes an emotional reaction for me. Beautiful track.
I NEED to share this with somebody, so I'll toss it here.
I recently started playing Tales of Berseria with a friend and when the battle theme started it just kept buggin me how familiar is sounded. After a few battles it hit me that it was reminding me of Golden Sun battle themes, so I looked up the composer for the game and BAM! Motoi Sakuraba!
I love how his style is so distinct when he really lets loose.
THIS IS CHRISTMAS. Thank you so much for that. Golden Sun music has always been with me, and "'elemental stars" still plays in my head almost 20 years after playing it. I would add to what you said that the huge brassy-and-stringy arrangements you highlight in your analysis are very much a thing of Golden Sun 1, where (A BIT OF SPOILERS) magic is still going strong because of where the game takes place in the world. Golden Sun 2 has its share of epic adventure musical moments, but is much more "world music" than GS1, as you encounter poorer, more isolated regions with very distinct cultural identities. If there is one instrument that I remember most from GS2, it's the steel drum, as so many island locations feature it.
Also, some would like to know that the music is, in fact, played on a heavily-compressed soundfont made of samples Sakuraba took from an Roland SC-88 Pro Synth (on it, you can literally play the uncompressed sounds that make up Golden Sun's music)
Example of a "restored" GS1 track with the uncompressed samples:
ruclips.net/video/1K9yah3WsEo/видео.html
Great work, and thank you!
Thank you very much for covering Golden Sun. It's my favorite game series and I love the soundtrack. I like all your videos, but this one is special.
I've been sitting here frequently telling myself, "That sounds similar to music from Star Ocean 2." Just checked and yeah, Motoi Sakuraba was the composer for that game and others that I was linking this to, lol.
Renaud Marshall its his best work imo
I'm a classical composer/conductor and a longtime fan of Golden Sun; this video is a wet dream for me. Thanks you so much for this brillant analysis, as marvelous than Sakuraba's genius.
He also made the music for Tales of Vesperia?! Jfc, this man is amazing
i've been on a kick of listening to my old soundtracks from my childhood and as a normal subscriber i somehow missed this entirely. coming to revisit my absolute soundtrack and to hear you compliment Sakuraba's composition is the highlight of my week. Maybe the highlight of my month! the stylish edits on the Doom Dragon section really got me feeling like someone else feels that incredible feeling of music. God I love this channel
I was so hyped by the mention of Golden Sun when I looked at the notification of your channel. I always found that it's soundtrack was always spot-on in the emotions that it had to convey and that there were something enough unique and special in it to be analyzed by you.
I cried of joy at every soundtrack you have chosen to look over. And even if I would have loved that you analyze more musics of it's soundtrack, I can only say one thing :
Thank you
Ahhh, always happy to hear Golden Sun music. The OST is one of the few VGM I frequently listen to, absolutely adored the music since I first played the games as a child.
Im so happy to see motoi sakuraba finally getting a mention on this channel 🥰
About time this gem of a game gets some attention ☺️💕
Thank you for covering its stylish music !
Ohh I can't tell you how much I love the music of GS.
The menu theme, the Lost Age map theme, and Saturos theme is bangin too
Still waiting on GS4, Nintendo
Bring Golden Sun back! The game is such a classic that deserves more recognition. I'll always be a fan!
Golden Sun
Golden Sun's music was a huge part of what made it enjoyable
Huh, so I guess I was not crazy when I hear this soundtrack for the first time and thought "this is good work"
This game was phenomenal. Definitely one of my favorites of all time! I always hoped it would return to the gaming world some day. Well, who knows!
Thank you for the very interesting breakdown.
So, before Golden Sun Camelot and Motoi Sakuraba were responsible for the Saturn games Shining in the Holy Ark and Shining Force 3. Shining Force 3 still has some of the most memorable music I can remember and it has many, many echoes in Golden Sun. There are pieces I still remember Flowing River, Light of the Moon (there is a remix on youtube), Flying Dragon of the Battlefield , Dignity and Pride, The Final Battle etc. Your exploration of his style here actually enriches a lot of what I liked about the uniqueness of that game's music (the grandeur of the orchestra with rock based timpani giving the songs their dynamic edge). The way he can create sorrowful, tense or ethereal sounds where necessary. The earbending modulations were in full force in SF3 too, often creating a sense of confusion or drama that really went well with the convoluted and deep plot of the game. As much as I like Motoi's later work, I can't help feel these collaborations with Camalot were where he really gave full reign of his musical personality at the height of his powers, at a time when games, especially JRPGS, were less commericalised and mainstream so more esotoric music was permitted. I'm glad after all these years to discover that actually there are other people who loved this music!
Somehow I associated him with progrock years later when I came to know what progrock was - primarily because of Rick Wakeman (who is there at 9:55 I think) and his Arthur song - again there was always this romantic connection between progrock and the fantasy genre - being associated with British elections, upon hearing that I knew some of where Sakuraba gained his influence. There was an OST version of SF3's music, where Sakuraba wasn't limited so much by the Saturn console where many of the songs from that game go full out progrock and expand upon ideas that were inherent, it is easy to imagine Golden Sun's tracks could have had the same treatment.
Truthfully so memorable was this game's music to me that I have always been happy to see his career grow and expand in various directions and display his versatility, but I had little idea about how he was self-taught, which makes the results of the SF3 OST even more remarkable. It is quite incredible he ended up creating the music for a game as big as Dark Souls.
Another game with striking music (and an invented language for the lyrics) that came out in the dying days of the Saturn was Panzer Dragoon Saga, another forgotten Saturn gem with some fascinating music like Sona mi areru ec sancitu or Pure Blood Seed.
Thank you Ben and Zhu for requesting Golden Sun! This is my favorite game of all time, and seeing its music explored to this extent is all kinds of awesome!
I've been thinking all along that Motoi Sakuraba battle themes would be GREAT fodder for this channel! It always struck me how easily you can recognize his battle themes by structure alone. I'd love to see more videos on his battle themes specifically (Tales, Star Ocean, Valkyrie Profile, Eternal Sonata, the list goes on!).
I'll petition for Hitoshi Sakimoto too -- he's a composer I can pinpoint by his orcestral bass texture alone and I want to know more about that haha
Awesome vid, I always knew there was something special about the Golden Sun music.
Yoooo Golden Sun?
This is kinda hype ngl
Ahh my heart. This is such a nostalgia hit
Great exploration of one of Motoi's work. I just listened to Motoi's Gikyokuonsou prog rock album as per your suggestion and holy sh1t, what a crazy good album! His piano/keyboard use is amazing! Also, as a drummer, I cannot praise his grooves and writing enough, what a talented composer.