What a great video! More than that, what a great IDEA for a video! It is not surprising that a video game would use classical music. Remember that early cartoon animation also relied on classical music both to inspire thematic storylines and to provide soundtracks. Disney's Fantasia epitomized that trend. Many classical musicians at the time of Fantasia's release took quite a dim view of it, claiming that it compromised the music on which it was based. Perhaps they were shortsighted. For many children like me in the 1960s, Saturday morning cartoons were a primary exposure to classical music. Anyhow, thank you Mr. and Mrs. Shafer for this wonderful excursion!
To answer your questions as someone who's a player of the game: -you got the intention for the music perfectly, the major theme in the game is travelling, travelling through a fantasy world that has many different places that are each inspired by different parts of the world. The first motion showcased music from the first area which has inspirations from central Europe, majorly Germany. There's other regions inspired by China, Japan, Middle east & South asia, Southern europe,etc. The devs always talk about introducing traditional cultures from around the world to the young generation, and for positive intertwining of cultures from around the world. -To answer "where does the music play?" Well, everywhere. You have background music for all locations that play while youre exploring the different areas and locations of the world, you have battle music that plays when you engage in battle(that is specific to different regions). There's music that plays during the narrative quests, according to the situations in the quests, music that plays during cutscenes in the quests,there's music for grand boss battles, there's musical motifs for characters, characters have thier own themes that is played in their trailer videos on youtube(which has more modern components ) etc. One thing the game is praised a lot for is the mixing of traditional sounds and modern sounds, which is seen majorly in boss themes, character trailer themes, etc. but my favourite example of that is "Duel in the mist" the battle theme of a Japan inspired region, that uses completely traditional japanese instruments in a style you'd see in trap music, and "rage beneath the mountains" the theme for a boss in the china inspired region that integrates traditional chinese instruments and modern rock. Greatly enjoyed the video and I'd be very happy if you want to check out more tracks from the game :)
As someone who loves and play Genshin ever since I first tried it in 2.8 version (and got mesmerized by the OST), thank you for summarizing what I wanted to say better than I could!
Delighted that you listened to this concert! There are over 900 pieces of music in the game (and more being added as the game continues to expand) so this is very much a taster! Events tend to move very rapidly in video games, hence the shortness of many of the tracks! Many pieces will only ever be heard once during play as they are used in a specifc story scene! Fortunately, there are a couple of dozen soundtrack albums available.
As a 34 years old woman, I also play the game to just to chilling and to escaping from the busy real world. Sometime, I just login to the game just for listening to the region song or event the boss theme, it's very soothing and can melting all the stress I had all day long.
Well, this is a revelation! I’ve never played a video game. I just assumed the music would all be metal or rock. Never occurred to me there might be a classical vibe In the music. I learned something. Thanks to those who requested this!
Video game music is as diverse as the games themselves. Pop, rock, metal, folk, electronica and even jazz are very commonly heard in video game soundtracks, but classically influenced music still remains as one of the most popular musical genres in video games.
@@helenespaulding7562 In terms of new media, video games are often the most creative outlets for aspiring composers. They are usually not bound to rigid meters or demands for pieces to be spliced down 8 bars of 4:4 like in TV or film. Likewise, they earn a lot of money, so there is a lot of funding to go around, especially for live recordings. Hence why there is such a wide spectrum of genres in video games. A lot of dreams come alive here, and passion is in abundance. Now especially is a good time to compose for video games.
@@UngodlyFreakin genshin impact from what I heard from the music, they use a bunch of different kinds of genres and sometimes 4 different ones in the same piece which is what makes it pretty unique imo.
If you watch the full video you will be more surprised then 😂 So far the game have 5 regions, each regions came from real life culture adaptation. Either name, buildings, story, and ofcourse music. So far it was german, china, japan, arab & s. asia, and last france.
In the world of Genshin Impact, there are seven nations, each one representing an element and a real world region. The music Amy has dived into here is from Monstadt, which is Germany. The church-like splendor of the music represents the Church of Favonius and their Archon, Barbatos, the God of Wind and Freedom. The music from each nation reflects the nature of its Archon and real world locale. The time and care that has gone into Genshin's music (and the game itself) is extraordinary. The game developers, MiHoYo, has put on several live concerts and have been very well received by players and Classical music fans alike. The game is currently in the nation of Fontaine, which is France and its Archon is Lady Furina de Fontaine, Goddess of Water and Justice. Quite a bit of Jazzy, high energy music to be heard. Anyway, the composer of all this music is Yu-peng Chen, known to fans as the Music Archon. He's not afraid to mix Classical with modern, including legacy instruments from each country. Chen clearly understands his talents and what his goals are.
Yu-peng Chen left the team earlier this year to work on his own projects. Nearly all of the music from Fontaine was written by other composers. The team is clearly talented because most people didn't even notice.
Not all, only the early works were solely composed by him, as well as most of Inazuma. By Sumeru the OSTs have already collaborative efforts with HoYomix and by Fontaine, it’s all HoYomix.
@@scenerv9641 Indeed, Fontain is primarily France and includes western Europe (Italy, UK, Scotland). Food from Fontain include lasagna, haggis, cassoulet, and boudin noir aux pommes. Fontain locations and names seem to look western Europe; Loch Urania , Mout Esus (Celtic), and Poisson.
I feel like it might not be too much of her liking? idk this person seems to have a very traditional approach to classical music but noteless I hope I'm wrong and she do likes it 😅
PSA: Video games are not just for children. It's fine to not play them, obviously! But please don't reduce them to something for children if you openly acknowledge that you have not engaged with the medium; there is way, way more to the video game industry, and video games in general, than you likely realize. They are art, just like classical music is art.
I really enjoyed this. I think that people who are unfamiliar with video games don't realise how diverse they can be, from cheap cash grabs to genuine works of art. The video game industry brings in more money than music and movies combined. There's a lot of talent across many different disciplines and when good talent is arranged well, the end product can be quite spectacular. I would love to see you try out video games, but would also be quite content with more video game music reactions. This was a fun watch.
Hi, I just discovered this because genshin and music channels fan xd and love how you interpret the songs. So spot on. And I know every genshin player has said everything about the music and the world and they are totally right. I just want to point out your comment about bohemian rhapsody because there is actually a character written around that specific song and loved that you pass through the concert and got it.
LOVE THIS!! Hope you continue to react on each region's soundtrack/live concert. What Genshin Impact did was more than just creating a masterpiece of a video game but also imbued to the new generation a newfound appreciation for the classical music, on varying regions at that!
Thank you for the insight! I think you can try the live on Sanghai one too, they play the music live on stage with audience in it. It had been uploaded earlier on the same channel.
The Genshin fans can explain the game in far more detail than I can, but It is a massive game with many regions or countries in it with different music in each area. Much of the music is a clever mashup of known themes or motifs. My 1st encounter with it was the 2022 concert where the Dawn WInery Theme (basically "Greensleeves") was given to the Japanese rock band Band--Maid who turned it into a theme and variations with each section rocking harder than the previous one.
I thought for a second at first she was going to look at the Band-Maid clip, since it is actually rock music. Hopefully one day she will discover this amazing rock band.
Always love when people give Genshin a go, embrace it in their own ways no matter if through music, reacting, gameplay or otherwise. There is a little bit of everything for everyone in Genshin, so thank you so much for telling us your thoughts and impressions about the music !!
Ooooh, now I have high hopes of seeing you watch Genshin's first concert from 2021! It remains my favorite and has a mix of orchestra, jazz, rock, and electronic. Especially the orchestral ones are amazing, they're playing in a grand hall, there's no VR distractions and stuff.
And so it begins people! hahaha Kidding aside, there's so much amazing orchestral music in the Videogame world. Just this year alone, some amazing work has been put forth in the genre. I can really recommend the work of Jeremy Soule for the game Skyrim. He makes the sort of atmopheric music that takes you on a journey. Next time you clean the dishes or take a walk, put on the Skyrim soundtrack. There's some amazing pieces of music in there. Specially the songs "From past to present" or "Journeys end".
This comment will be somewhat expansive, but I will try to answer some of your questions and explain some things How does this music appear in the game? In Genshin Impact (as well as in many games) music can appear for many reasons and under many circumstances. Some tracks only play in certain areas, some only play at different times of day (not real life time, but time in the game world), some tracks only play during battle, and some of the longer tracks are dedicated to particularly tough and special foes. The music will fade in and out depending on the current situation in the game to fit the current mood. Genshin is coming close to 1000 unique and fully orchestrated in-game tracks (it releases new music pretty frequently) so there is a song for pretty much any situation. What about the Asian influences? The world that Genshin Impact takes place in is split into 7 distinct nations. Each nation, while also representing one of seven elements (earth, wind, fire, water, ice, lightning, nature), each represent a real world culture and history. The seven nations and their influences go as follows: Monstadt: Medieval Germany (the two songs at the start of the concert are from this region) Liyue: Ancient China Inazuma: Japan between the Edo period and Meiji restoration Sumeru: A combination of various middle-eastern cultures like Mesopotamia as well as some northern African cultures like Egypt Fontaine: Victorian era France Natlan: Mainly inspired by Meso-American cultures Snezhnaya: Eastern Eurasia (mostly Russia) These cultural influences affect the music of each region through both compositional and instrumental means. However, the music always keeps a basis in western European classical music to some degree. Each region also has their own in-universe cultures, values, and aesthetics that also influence the music, and that's not even getting into the topics of regional themes, character leitmotifs, and metatextual motifs. What about the more contemporary/"rocky" type parts? There are a few reasons why Genshin will use more contemporary styles. Sometimes when creating a piece for a "boss" (a boss in videogames is a super special and tough enemy that usually has multiple phases that need to be beaten before it goes down) the composers will use electric guitars, rock drums, and even electronic elements to add even more energy to the music to fit the intensity of the fight. The other reason is that instead of in-game music, what you may be listening to is trailer/promotional music. Because this music doesn't need to fit the tone of the rest of the game as much, the composers and producers have a lot more freedom in what instruments and techniques they use.
As you alluded too, large videogame studios now hire orchestras and professional musicians to record the composer's soundtrack. We've come a long way from the beeps and boops of the midi soundtracks that I grew up with.
I'm bewildered you decided to react to Genshin music but absolutely thrilled!! I adore the music in Genshin, there are so many tracks and areas and each one has astounding music. Music from The Chasm is some of the most enthralling in my opinion.
Interesting change of pace, which allows you to analysis something much closer to what you are normally involved with (classical). I would love to see you do a video on one of your favorite classical pieces, using a similar analysis method as you do with rock songs. It would be fascinating to hear what imaginative description you have for some of these pieces, since I'm sure your ability to visualize things in rock was developed doing the same with classical music. I did watch some parts of the full video, since I never played this particular game. A nice blending of different styles and moods. I love how enthusiastic you can get with some rock songs, so I'm sure this is even more the case with your favorite classical pieces. I have played a lot of video games over the years, mostly computer based games. But in recent years I try to stay away from them since they are so addictive and can take up huge amounts of my time. The ones I like allow you to enter into and get lost in a completely different world, often medieval fantasy and futuristic sci-fi worlds. With todays technology some of these environments look very realistic, rather than just the cartoonish style of the one you were looking at here. Video games can be a genuine art form that combine multiple mediums, such as visual art, environmental sounds and music. Since I am a computer programmer by trade, I have created several video game environments just for fun. I just did it as an artistic outlet for creating my own worlds that I could move around in and interact with. To answer your question, the music generally changes based on the environment you find yourself in (as you guessed). If you enter a cathedral you hear cathedral music, if you enter a tavern you will hear medieval bardic like music. It will also change based on the intensity of the scene. If you are being attacked by other people, animals, or monsters the music will become very intense. If you are going through a scary environment, the music will reflect that. So in this respect it functions much the same as in film scores, other than needing to be dynamic based on your actions.
I've watched and listened to many of your videos since you started here. I'm also a professional gamer and Twitch streamer. I've played quit a few hours of Genshin, which has lots of great music and wonderful visuals. There is the background ambient music, or course, but some of what you've listened to is used in battles or encounters. A melee combat scene has all of the sound effects and character voices (and noises), but the up tempo music pieces help make the scene more exciting. I'm always tickled to think about all the young people who are discovering classical and traditional genres because of video games using so much music like this.
If it's to cold out ? FINE. If you can't see the damage technology, has done, and seeing a balance with tech time, and real life experience. You will see lose of feelings , including love. BALANCE!! is key.
So fun to hear more classical musicians reviewing this game's soundtrack! I play the oboe and english horn in a classical orchestra for over 10 years and I've been in love with the classical influences noticable in the sountrack. I personally have felt like there's been a lot of Rimsky-Korsakov inspiration, also Tchaikovsky, I completely agree! The oboe you enjoyed in the first piece is actually an english horn, also known as the cor anglais, the alto brother of the oboe (though in my language we call it an alto oboe so I understand that you named it the oboe)! There are different regions in the game which are inspired by different regions in the real world, which is also reflected in the music. The first region that you listened to is inspired by central Europe, which you can feel in the music. The latest released region is inspired by France which is definitely noticable by the abundant usage of the accordion, classical guitar, but also the incredible woodwind harmonies and melody lines. That region also has some heavily Bach-inspired pieces, there is a proper fugue in there! I have always enjoyed how popular media uses classical music and thereby introduces it to a broader audience. A good example for me is the Barbie movies, where the older movies were inspired by classical ballet, because of these I ended up playing a classical instrument! I agree with you that these concerts have made an odd choice naming the collections if performed pieces "movements". The interesting thing is that in the actual soundtrack most pieces are longer and also build onto each other. Even though most tracks are about 2 minutes long, they oftentimes have the same leidmotif, and listening to the same pieces back to back gives you a more authentic symphonic movement experience than what is portrayed in the concert. Relating back to one of the things you were wondering, in some areas of the game the background music changes based on whether its night or day (which is actually common for video games to do), and the night versions are a bit slower and have a slightly different instrumentation from the day pieces but more or less the same melody. If you are interested in a "proper" classical concert based on video game music (not that this isnt one but it is definitely not the classical format we are used to), I highly recommend Final Symphony! It is a concert series based on the Final Fantasy Game series soundtrack (a Japanese series of games with an incredible soundtrack by Japanese composer). You can listen to this concert recording on Spotify among others and it has a movement structure similar to classical symphonies. The music is probably what has really gotten me interested in video game music, especially by Asian composers, who love to incorporate classical inspiration.
The catalogue of great video game music is huge. My favourite is probably Sogno di Volare by Christopher Tin from Civilization 6. Although, if you want to ride the hype train, the Baldur's Gate 3 score is also amazing.
So because those themes are so short, there are actually two reasons to it. First one is that those are only themes. There are actually multiple versions of those themes in a region and they are all composed to loop, because its an open world where the player walks around and often doesn't really listen to the music, in some places stops to take it all in. And with seven regions that are split into many themes you here, the music is composed to melt into the next theme almost seemingless as you walk to complement the scenery. The second reason is, that there are actually long versions of those themes "orchester versions" but as this concert exists to give a small peak into ALL the nations playing all of it would simply take way to much time. If you wanna have a listen to longer themes listen to the shorter concerts as there are mostly less themes but longer played out. I must add tho that all end up aprupt, because of the loop reason i explained first. ❤
I chuckled when you mentioned Bohemian Rhapsody because that was exactly what that song was going for. Even the character that song was about is called Scaramouche. 😁 If you're curious, the latest version of this game is called 'Fontaine' and it's all about French-inspired music. It is very good.
20:44 "It gives this feeling of travel." Right on the money. In game you play as "The Traveler", a young woman (or man) from another world, on the hunt for their missing sibling. We start in (basically) Germany and then move on to China, Japan, Egypt and France. Next we'll move on to Latin America and then end in Russia. Living out a giant adventure story on the level of the Lord of the Rings has been great fun. This is the largest and most in depth game I've involved myself with. Don't let the pretty music and visuals fool you; this game has gotten dark at times. Nothing quite like stopping a University from creating a new god that feeds on people's hopes and dreams. In case anyone is wondering, "genshin" is Chinese for "primordial".
Great video! I absolutely agree with your thoughts on video games creating interest in classical music. I largely attribute my love of classical music to a video game I played in my early years that used its orchestral soundtrack masterfully. I have actively sought out live performances of these pieces of music because they had such an impact (no pun intended) on me. For anyone who is curious, check out the orchestral version of Hikari from Kingdom Tres for the song that started my love of classical music.
I am a first time viewer of your channel, brought here because I love watching classical musicians listen and respond to Genshin's lovely music. I thoroughly enjoyed your analysis of the 2 Mondstadt pieces and should you choose to make more videos on Genshin, I will happily return.
It's really great to see that professional musician has this kind of good comment for the game music, as a player of game and an adult, I also strongly agree with your understanding of 'this game is good for people to relax and escape of the real world stress'. It's a world that brings me the feel of peace, love, movement and friendship(of course with fictional characters in the game), but everything feels so real especially after I have experienced all the stories with the characters, facing challenges together, had reunions, new adventures one country by one, meeting new friends. This game not only brings me joy and relax, but also contributed to music world wonderful pieces, along with fantastic pictures, beautiful sceneries, stories full of love and true feelings. It also helped to re-introduce Chinese intangible culture heritage to young people in a very brilliant and fascinating way. The most powerful effect and greatest impact of the music to me is, whenever I hear one piece, the story I had with a character, the road I have passed, the scene I have explored, or even the enemy I have battled against, will emerge in my mind immediately. Especially for some stories that I was touched very deeply, I would wanted to cry or teared every time when I heard a piece. If you ask other players and search for other people who worked or has professional knowledge in music area, and who also played the game, you probably would get the similar feedback of how people feels about this game and its music. Trust me, you don't have to be a player, but you have to get to know more about this game, you would never regret it.😃 Btw, all of the pieces are for different location, different enemy, different scene(day and night has different tones), different characters, that's why their music is better served with a real game play or at least by watching someone play/battle/exploring the world/watch character PV. Enjoy!
There actually is a lot of rock and metal-based video game music, if you're interesting in combining the two. After all, video game scores can be as varied as they are in any other medium that utilizes music. Doom Eternal with its heavy metal choir is probably one of the more famous ones, but there's a lot more out there if you're interested.
Im a 26 y/o woman and I play genshin to relax from work 😊 your commentary is very insightful! I love hearing people deconstructing genshin music 💕 i wasnt someone who used to hear classical music so when i started adding that kind of music to my playlist my mom was surprised “ Since when do you like classical music? Or orchestra?” 😂 I would like to say that this game has opened my eyes and mind to new things, be it music or cultures without it being overwhelming.
Very interesting and unexpected reaction. I don't play games, so I don't know much about it, but I've heard some short pieces of music while my husband and his son play a game. However, I've never really payed much attention to it, but I've noticed the huge variety of music, ftom classical to rock to electronic. I guess it depends on a game. Anyway, I like when you step out of what you're doing on the channel. It is fun and refreshing, I suppose both for you and for us. You should keep doing it from time to time. 😊🖤
I haven't listened to many scores for games, but the few I've heard have been quite creative. Hooks and 'riffs' ... it's all about the playing ... games, and music ... Thanks for the play :)
As a player of the game, I love listening to reactions for this sort of thing. Thank you for your reaction and perspective. It's always interesting to see what grabs different people and how they interpret/digest it. For this particular concert, there is a decent fraction of songs which you won't actually hear in-game. I am talking of music from character trailers or game version trailers. But yes, a large portion of this music can be heard in game, though the concert version will of course sound a bit different. I see others already mentioning how the music of different regions/countries in the game take inspiration/are themed from music from different regions of our own world. Also worth noting is how there are regional motifs that recur in different pieces of music, or for music relating to specific characters. From relaxing background music for exploration and ambiance, energetic music for when you are combat, to music specifically for specific story beats. For quite a few of the games tracks, the context of the song helps make it even more enjoyable. It all comes together very nicely in a way I find hard to describe without being excessively wordy, and I won't even try to here as I don't want to write a book here. The music in this game is indeed loved by its community. Thank you for taking just a peek into it. There are many games with incredibly wonderful music that many people love. Though I would love to hear your thoughts on more of Genshin's music, I would not want you to limit yourself and monopolize your time on this game alone. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on more game music. I see you already have loads of suggestions in comments for more game music, but here's another in case you are looking for more. Take a look at a track or two from NieR Automata. It's not a game I have ever played, but enjoy the music of nevertheless.
Interesting you mentioned Pizzicato, a track from the game which heavily involves that is "Combat beneath the waves", its the battle theme for region of ruins with a tragic history. The track is one of my favourites due to how many varied emotions it expresses while also being upbeat and filled with tension, to fit being the background of combat.
The game's summer event, Golden Apple Achipelago OSTs really helped me a lot during the pandemic. They feel nostalgic for no reason, so bittersweet and so beautiful to me. But too bad they were time-limited but hey, they're all available on Spotify🌝.
As both a Genshin Impact fan and a composer, the music in Genshin Impact is absolutely astounding!! There's a lot of games that have used orchestras and classical music for their soundtracks (one of my favorite pieces ever is Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy), but what the team at Genshin Impact is doing really is next level! I have deeply studied the soundtrack of the game, going down to the orchestration, the narrative and ambient use of the different pieces, and it might be one of the deepest works of music ever made! There's a gigantic list of rules in how the orchestration of different pieces work and what they imply both narratively and in gameplay, and there's hundreds of leitmotifs that come and go and twist and combine and develop... It really is amazing! One of my favorite cases in the narrative of four themes: La Signora, The Fatui, Inazuma, and Raiden Shogun, and how they mix and call and respond to each other when the whole story of Inazuma happens in the game. You can pretty much tell what's happening every time just by the music itself! It would be great to talk about it because it is incredibly dense and there's a lot of info I've gathered! I've thought again and again about doing a video on my channel but there's SO MUCH to tell that I'm overwhelmed and don't even know where to start! I could spend literally days about the soundtrack. Not the game, just the soundtrack itself.
A great part of this game is its music, being the other part its story. The music improves the impact (pun intended) of the story. There are several sad and/or hopeful key moments in the game so intense that makes you cry... Later, when that song that was playing in that moment plays again, the feelings and the mood of that moment comes back. Its incredible how music can change the mood of a scene, and evoque certain feelings over and over again just hearing a few notes. I recommend to watch all the oficial cutscenes of the game to check that effect. I know is out of context, but those cutscenes are self-explanatory enough to understand them. They will also help to explain how the music is blend inside the game.
Listening to just Mondstadt music from this game, the first few tracks particularly, is extremely limited. The next part of the game is of literal historical musical value. Hope you enjoyed the full concert, regardless!
delving into the world of video games. Hmm.... There is a lot of great video game music. I wonder if this will be the beginning of that journey. I know that you will probably get a lot of views, that's for sure
You should listen to some of these tracks from Genshin too. Liyue (Main region OST track) Lover's Oath Rapid as Wildfires Maiden's Longing Fragile Fantasy Chattering Snowflakes Inevitable Conflict Irresistible Force Die Mittsommernacht-Fantasie Inazuma (Main region OST track) Duel in the Mist Combat Beneath the Waves Undersea Encounters Tearless Souls of Byakuya Sumeru (Main region OST track) Flickering Shadows of Trees Hustle and Bustle of Ormos ( Port Ormos day theme) Swirls of the Stream Swirls of Shamshir For Riddles, for Wonders Fontaine (Main region OST track) Ballad of Many Waters Clair de Lune Lamentation et Triomphe Rondeau des fleurs et des rapieres Symphony of Boreal Wind (Dvalin) Wrath of the Monoceros Caeli (Childe) Rage Beneath the Mountains (Azhdaha) Saltatio Favillae (Signora) The Almighty Violet Thunder (Raiden) Polumnia Omnia (Scaramouche) God-Devouring Mania (Apep)
This concert is only about 1/10 of the Genshin's reportoire. The composer Yupeng Chen and the Hoyomix team composed hundreds of pieces in 18 albums in total so far. Genshin is only 3 years old, it will be creating more and more amazing classical pieces.
Contemporary video game music runs the gamut from orchestral pieces to heavy metal and everything in between; in a way, it's no different from contemporary film scores. There's definitely been a rise in orchestras tackling (old and new) video game music over the past several years, whether the orchestras take on the music themselves, or they host tours of others who play/conduct video game music (most notably Distant Worlds, which specializes in music from the Final Fantasy series of video games). One approach that might be interesting would be for you to listen to original video game music from before 2000 (around the time when pre-recorded music replaced old ways of synthesizing instruments via computer), then listen to a modern fully-orchestrated version of the song. As someone who's played video games since 1981 (and was, originally, a music composition major in college before I switched to English), I might be able to offer some recommendations if you're interested in pursuing video game music more.
Can you identify one of the most ambitious video game pieces, judging from the perspective of classical traditions? Is there a video game piece that is the equivalent of a major tone poem, for example?
@@mikes9305 More modern video games have definitely been able to achieve those goals, to be sure. However, in addition to being tied to other elements of the overall work (just as film scores, although they are music in and of themselves, are inextricably tied in some ways to the films they are a part of), video game music can also be constrained by how the player of the game actually plays it. As a result, many pieces of music for video games have to be designed to loop seamlessly, in case a player winds up spending several minutes in a particular part of the game, and that looping can limit the structure of the music in various ways. One of the earliest examples of "ambitious" music I would cite is the main theme of Final Fantasy VII, released in 1997. Music pieces for similar purposes in previous games were only a minute or two in length, but the loop in this piece is five minutes long, with a one-minute introduction, and all its distinct parts brilliantly exemplify the themes of exploration in the part of the game where it plays. A search on here for "main theme of final fantasy 7" will get you the original synthesized version that played in the game (composed by Nobuo Uematsu), but it's also been recorded by full orchestras on numerous occasions, and many of those recordings are available on RUclips as well. As video games have gotten more sophisticated, the longer scripted sequences in them have enabled video game music composers to create more pieces akin to tone poems, but in addition to many of these games giving me motion sickness when I try to play them, I don't like how the gameplay in them has become so similar, and how they've used narrative conventions of film more than those of literature (as they did in the early years of gaming). Perhaps other members of the Virgin Rock community can chime in with recommendations of more modern video game scores that are considered "ambitious" by the standards you listed?
@@SeanShannon Thanks! In a different posting here, I had noted those (often ingenious) music loops as one of the key differences between video game and movie soundtracks. Thanks for recommending a specific piece! ☺
My knowledge about music is as plenty as Johnny Sins' hair but I still watch music analysis videos. Awesome video there! You can try watching the concert that was hosted in Shanghai too if you'd like. There is a LOT more OSTs played and they are all mind blowing or breathtaking or really impressive to say the LEAST. So many styles of music from Middle Eastern,Japanese to European and the performers still killed it.
I'm not a huge gamer, but my sons are, and I get to listen indirectly to a lot of different game themes. My favorite is Super Mario Galaxy. Amazing orchestral piece.
I would highly recommend the Sumeru concert - the music from that region is sooo beautiful [and was my introduction to this game]. Port Ormos theme is also just really neat
When I first heard of the Gregorian chant; [music would never be confined to just Rock]. Your humming along with these tunes, is spectacular: & a new Genre altogether! Can't wait for the new Album!
This is a concert made for fans . It is near identical to the actual pieces with good quality but they made the arrangement much more live performance friendly and so there are some fine sounds and details changed in sound.
It's awesome that you listened to one of my favorite games music. I am a rock and metal guitarist but since I play and listen to a lot of progressive rock and metal, game music gives me that connection too. Awesome video
Interesting you mentioned Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody. There is quite a few references to that with one character called Scaramouche, also known as The Balladeer (a nod to Freddie Mercury). His boss music has a bit of Fandango, but he is not a fan of Dango (the dessert) as he does not like sticky sweets. In one of his teaser videos he says "I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all" and another video is "titled Any way the wind blows" There are others but getting into spoiler territory for those who might want to play this. He is a member of the Fatui Harbingers, the antagonists of the game, and each one is based off the characters in commedia dell'arte.
Thank you for making this video! Video game music is a huge part of my life and is what got me into classical music and so many other genres that I would have otherwise never even paid attention to. I would love to see a collab between you and @marcomeatball here on youtube. He has a background in opera and has one of my favourite youtube channels on video game music analysis/appreciation
Love your reacting and opinion. I would love to see more Genshin Impact reactions! :) Die Mittsommenacht Fantasie is a song that plays a lot with baroque and rock (as it's the theme of your channel). Genshin's channel has a lot of smaller orchestras videos that are easier to react (Sumeru orchestra is my personal favorite)
As someone else has already said, the catalogue of video game music is vast and very diverse. I would really like to see it featured occasionally on the channel. It'd be great to see your analysis on some of the music from the Persona series. Particularly the velvet room theme, Battle for Everyone's souls and Memories of You. Memories of You has beautiful lyrics.
This is music meant to evoke emotions suited to the location or the story events. The music pulls the player into the world subconsciously and accentuates important moments. I've seen so many, mostly young, people commenting that they thought classical music was dull, but now they want to hear more. I'm old and have always listened to many types of music, but my appreciation for Chinese Opera certainly rose with the tale also heard in this concert. It is interesting that you picked up the 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. There is a character, Scaramouche, whose name comes Commedia dell'arte, but whose back story can be seen paraphrasing the lyrics of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
I would not have minded in the least to hear the entire concert broken down as you did with the first two songs. Very insightful and interesting to hear the music I've listened to and experienced in a game being broken down by someone who does not know much about the gaming side of things but a lot about music. Thank you. Video game music is not only listened to but also experienced: enhancing the moment, just like a soundtrack would in movies. It tells you about the place, the mood and the atmosphere when you walk into a new place or meet a new person. Video game music is often interactive, changing with a player's actions: whether you buy supplies from a marketplace, engage in a battle against the monsters of the wild, or enter a lost, hidden ruins of an ancient civilisation buried in mystery, the music will follow you and help you experience it in a memorable way and immerse yourself in the world you are exploring. And listening to the music afterwards, helps us return to those moments. That is how video game music brings people together.
Kinda late into the party, but the game goes like this: You are a traveller from another world, and your aim is to find your sibling. As you go on your journey, you explore nations, cities, and regions of the world. Each location is always accompanied with its own music. Each music that plays tells a story of the place, it could be lively, melancholic, or an enemy is lurking in some corner. The music also sort of describes the culture of the place, its people and their way of life. The music in this game is diverse. From western orchestra to eastern style music, and every now and then, modern musical elements come in play all to tell a story, from electric guitars to electronic/synthetic music. Sometimes, a fusion of all I've mentioned is evident. There are also music for special characters, those who will play a crucial role in your quest. Those music often depicts their own stories and struggles. Long story short, the music is everywhere.
27:13 if u are interested in someone who actually plays the game and has classical musical background. I would recommend MarcoMeatball he is a pro opera singer turned voice actor turned youtuber who specializes in breaking down video game music both for the first time with "reaction" content as well as exploring some of the deeper emotions embedded in songs he knows and loves.
I wish you react to the full concert since I like the way you breakdown the first two piece And since you asked this is the timestamp of the concert and the context in which the music is used but I only did it from my memory and not Wiki so there might be mistakes so please correct me if I'm wrong as I listen to them mostly outside of the game nowadays cuz they are just that good, I have the lossless audio recording of all genshin OST and I listen to them almost daily. 0:00 Beginning 0:18 Genshin Impact Main Theme (Piano) The main theme of the game, the one that plays everytime you start the game MONDSTADT (City of Wind/Anemo) 1:07 Windborne Hymn I'm pretty sure this one plays in the Mondstadt cathedral, the one you see in the video. There are 7 Gods that govern the world, there are more gods but most of them died during the war and only few survivor aside from the main elemental god. Each of the 7 gods rule a nation so there are officially 7 nation each with their own god but there are a lot more teritory/places aside from that. Since the Gods are not only real but also walk the land, religion are viewed differently from the real world which is interesting. 2:57 A Day in Mondstadt Main theme of the city of Mondstadt during the day. 4:05 Bard's Adventure Venti's theme/trailer OST. He is the personification of the Anemo Archon (god of wind) and this is his character trailer OST. He is playful and free spirited as expected for the god of freedom. 6:30 Lone Sojourner This play inside Daw Winery(Diluc's home)? I rarely went there but I love this piece a lot 7:30 Dawn Winery Theme Dawn Winery main theme, I think this play outside of the house? 8:45 Let's Go, Crimson Knight! This is Klee character trailer OST. She is a young and playful but powerful character as she use bomb and explosive to fight LIYUE (Geo/Rock Nation) 10:35 Broker Betwixt Life and Death Hu Tao Character Trailer song. She is funeral parlor director hence the Halloween like music, she is playful and like to play prank so the music represent her very well 12:10 Clear Sky Over Liyue Was it Liyue's night theme? I forgot when this play exactly but it is definitely on Liyue 13:44 Lover's Oath This is Wangshuu Inn OST, the place where you meet Xiao. The music is beautiful but I don't remember story significant of this piece 15:10 Hang by a Thread This play on Chasm Limited Event story quest where the main characters and friend are stuck inside the earth and trying to find a way to escape and Xiao almost get lost alone 19:06 Rex Incognito Zhongli trailer OST. He is the God of Geo/Rock. He is very old and full of wisdom. His OST was very popular and can be considered as fan favorite back when he was first released two-three years ago 21:10 Devastation and Redemption Yunjin Sings this in her performance after we finish one of the Archon quest rebuilding the Jade chamber and fight the wife of ancient God with the help of Shenhe, she is a Chinese opera singer in the game. it is a story about Shenhe and her exploit. This one is memorable and special cuz there isn't many piece using traditional chinese opera singer in modern day so Chinese fan especially appreciate this song. INAZUMA (Electro/Lightning Nation) 24:02 Fall of Maples Inazuma city main theme? or was it the one that play when you get to Inazuma for the first time? I can't remember exactly. Definitely one of my fav piece, extremely beautiful 26:15 Soar in the Wind Ayaka teaser OST. She is a noble lady of Inazuma nation from the Kamisato Clan. There are Teaser and Trailer for major characters in the game and they are different, teaser usually reveal more about the character's story/background and personality while trailer focus more into showcasing the characters abilities, moveset and visual. 29:36 Serene and Fathomless Ayato trailer OST, he is the brother of Ayaka which teaser OST played before this one. 32:17 Termination of Desires Raiden Shogun trailer OST. She is the Electro Archon (god of thunder). She is the god of eternity so she pursue eternity but she stumble in the present and the main character help her in the quest but before that she was an enemy and a very scary one. 34:55 When the Sakura Bloom I think this was from Archon Quest where Raiden Shogun was stuck inside fighting her puppet creation and you tried to help her escape? or was it a trailer OST for the version in which the archon quest take place? or both? SUMERU (Dendro/Plant nation) 38:04 Flickering Shadows of Trees one of many Sumeru city OST, this play during the day 39:51 Swirls of Shamshir One of Sumeru Battle themes. I love the instrument choice in this piece. 44:02 Ethereal Mildness This sounds like Nahida OST but it isn't her trailer or teaser OST as it also play in the forest and archon quest. Nahida is the Dendro Archon btw (god of plant). Sumeru main story feel a lot different from the other region cuz the Dendro archon actively help and interact with you from the beginning to end but her help is limited and often time indirect cuz she was weak. 44:58 Melody of Brave Seeds Aranara OST? I think this play in their village and quest 46:58 Polumnia Omnia Last Phase of Scaramouche boss battle, he is one of the major boss fight in the game and yes the character and music take a lot of inspiration from Bohemian Rhapsody. He is related to the Electro Archon from Inazuma hence the Japanese instrument+lyric and inazuma ost influence on the later part but he is a part of the Fatui which is the villain group hence the ominous music and Latin? Lyric 50:40 Ashes of Anupadhisesa Wanderer (Scaramouche) character teaser OST FONTAINE (Hydro/Water Nation) 53:15 Across the Meadows Fontaine area OST, not the main theme of the nation but it play in a lot of places across the nation 54:42 Ballad of Many Waters City of Fontaine main OST? pretty sure this play during the day 56:47 Dream Aria Genshin main theme OST but with a full orchestra 1:01:10 Blossoms of Summer Night Yoimiya character OST. She is a firework maker so that's probably why they use her OST as the end credit background music And that is all, anyway superb performance, too bad most of the piece/song here are very short and the concert itself is shorter than most concert we have seen from Mihoyo. Next can you react to all major Area main theme? They have live version/recording too and they looks and sounds amazing. Unfortunately for Mondstadt and Liyue, as the early region in the game release they don't have a main theme like the other regions do but they still have a main theme that consist of a mix of multiple OST from the region while the other nation have a unique main theme. Region main Theme OST listed from Oldest to newest: Mondstadt start at 3:15 : ruclips.net/video/UIam8zl4af8/видео.htmlsi=M3HbV2Wzsn5E09Dr Liyue (I can't find the live version help!) : ruclips.net/video/d5MrlIKlDno/видео.html Inazuma: ruclips.net/video/e4bptIoZFDE/видео.html Sumeru: ruclips.net/video/VrP3lO3aGDg/видео.html Fontaine: ruclips.net/video/qZ9DaB7xRZs/видео.html BTW since Genshin Impact have multiple channel for different language (Chinese, Japanese and English) the total views are actually multiple times that is shown in the english channel which is pretty crazy
Yes, Genshin's other name is Escapism - The Game. You travel a beautiful and vast fantasy world inspired by our world, cultures and certain periods in time (Romantic Period Germany, Belle Epoque France, One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, Feudal Japan...) you'll make lots of friendships with a diverse cast of characters, and together with them you become stronger and wiser to save the world, which has become so dear to you, from looming evil and destruction.
There’s so much good video game music out there! I’m a huge fan of both them and the music made for them! If you decide to do another episode on video game music, I would highly recommend music from the series Xenoblade Chronicles. Each game has these beautiful piano compositions as themes for the opening screens, as well as amazing battle music with a wide medley of instruments, from piano and strings to electric guitar. It’s wonderful. Another series with highly lauded music (and my personal favorite) is Persona 5, the soundtrack is very jazzy and upbeat (I’ve heard it described as acid jazz before), and is a treat for the ears. Also worth checking out!
Oh my, it’s my first time watching your channel and I love it! English is not my first language, by the way you talk is so clear and it’s amazing for my understanding. I hope you analyze some Inazume and Sumeru theme, specially the last one. Congratulations for you work and thank you very much!
Dancing Mad, the final boss music for a legendary game, Final Fantasy 6 as played by the composer's rock band, The Black Mages would be fun. I'm sure you'd be able to pick out a dozen little things it pilfered from classical sources. It's very hymn like too as you're fighting a deranged jester that's ascended to godhood. It's from the early/mid 90s so it was written for a sound chip which had limited abilities but the most skilled could make it do magic. The 80s was all very heavily inspired by 70s Japanese electronic music and 70s British prog rock (at least on the limited consoles) but by the 90s sound chips had gotten good enough other genres became a bit more common. Also Western developers had fully reestablished themselves after the crash of '83. It wasn't until around the turn of the century actual recorded music became the norm, which is when you start seeing an explosion of classical music like this in games (and really generic metal because it was the 2000s). To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy 10 is a piano solo you'd enjoy from that time.
Not only they are doing concerts around the world, but the tickets for them sold really quickly. I heard that the ticketing website for the Chicago concert got overwhelmed and stopped working for a few hours because of how many people were trying to buy a ticket. And for the Düsseldorf concert, I had to sit in an online queue for 25 minutes before being able to buy my ticket (this queue was to avoid the issues that the Chicago concert ticketing website had), and all the seats were sold in 40 minutes.
Video game music seeming too short and underdeveloped is a common hurdle classical musicians run in to when exploring the genre. While this trend started largely from technical limitations of early electronics, it persists so strongly for two main reasons. Being programmatic music, it isn't required to do the bulk of the developmental lifting. Visuals, plot, and gameplay can all carry that weight together. The second is that there is no way to control if a player is experiencing an area for 2 minutes or 2 hours, also requiring the music to be loopable, so a consistent vibe serves better than a musical journey that is constantly cut off and restarted due to gameplay. However, game composers have ways to counter this and still tell well-developed musical stories. Within a single song, dynamic layering allows the music to develop and adapt to the player's inputs. At it's most basic (but still highly effective) is Metal Gear Rising, where the boss tracks start instrumental, but activate the vocal layer perfectly at the climax of the fight. At the most complicated you get Journey, where different instruments and melodies flow in and out in very complex layers based on everything the player does, and even if a second player has joined. Second is motif and instrument choice constructing internal languages across many different tracks. At it's most basic, many games have the song for their final area or credits be a new version of the intro/title screen music, acting as a familiar bookend that shows how things have changed. Genshin is the master at developing it's internal language, with every nation and character having specific sounds that become heavily associated with them, then are used to tell stories. Polmnia Omnia alone contains the enemy group's theme, the specific character's variation of that theme which deviates to show his disloyalty to the group, the notes representing the area he's attacking being twisted into the sound qualities that represent the ideals he's pursuing, and all that's without even touching on the lyrics and the meanings behind their distortion and language. Both these strengths are difficult to experience from outside their intended games, but have a huge influences on why video game osts are so popular and can drive people into genres and live music events they would otherwise never consider exploring.
thank you for sharing your professional thoughts on genshin music! those songs are played in different areas as you assumed, different songs can be played in the same area depending on whether it’s daytime or night as well. yupeng chen, the composer, is loved by so many players bc of his talent. i highly recommend you try their latest live concert vid which took place in shanghai:) apart from european style, they also have chinese, japanese, and middle eastern styles which is def a blessing for my ears
If you are interested in watching a live perfomance of the Concert theres the "Genshin Impact Orchestral Concert 2023" Official Shanghai Performance Recording in the Genshin Impact official channel. Its almost composed of the same songs separated in those movements that I agree with you should be called suites. The game itself has too many more music pieces, and these concerts are just a small fraction of the whole thing. For example one of my favorite pieces is Die Mittsommernacht-Fantasie that I'm sure you would like to listen.
In fact, may be react to Doom ost? It's metal and it's great. So main character of the game is called Traveler. And along his journey you visit different countries inspired by real world cultures (German, China, Japan. Arabian, France, Russia). So yeah, most of pieces helps to immerse players it specific location and it's culture. And as some reaction youtuber said, classical soundtrack in games helps to introduce players to classical music as genre.
im so glad that for your first foray into the world of video game music, you chose Genshin Impact! I love music and listen to all types, and to me Genshin soundtrack is among the best music in the world 🥰 Loved hearing your thoughts on it!
Welcome the Genshins music. It's amazing and I'm not surprised everyone has been gravitating to listen to it, they've put so much effort to make the themes work for their games.
I know a game you might enjoy playing, though you'd probably find it pretty easy. It's an old one, originally from 1990, called Loom. The gameplay revolves around learning and remembering short musical figures/gestures that act as magic spells, and figuring out how to use them to solve the obstacles that stand in your way. It has multiple difficulty levels, with the easiest showing you the staff (quite literally) and telling/showing you exactly what notes you're hearing when learning a spell, and on the hardest you have to do everything by ear. Would probably make a pretty good teaching tool for beginners. The background music for it is excerpts from Swan Lake, which is appropriate for the story.
RUclips algorithms is just crazy, everything related to Genshin and music is suggested to me. I found yours lol. But it’s good. The music in Genshin is what drawn lots of players like me. I drawn to this game due to great lore, characters, music, play style and graphic. And you right about the travel part. We traveled from nation to nation (the nation which part takes from our world, from German to China to Japan then se Asia plus Arab plus India then now France.) This video games is not only meant for kids. Most players are teens and our generation of millennials, plus the older gen x. I even found some 60 years old players. If you do give it a try and like it for casually playing it. Welcome to community then😂
I need to know your reaction and impression of Rex Incognito. It's quite possibly the most popular song of the entire game so far, and for good reason. There's also the song *Shouki No Kami* that also utilizes a lot of other tactics. Heavy classical, singing, a beat that you can rock out to without losing the music itself...
I think the travelling one summarized it well. Each region's music theme was taken inspired by the culture they referenced it from. Not only that, but each place has its own soundtracks too. I'd say the music was one of the top 4 factors why the game made it this big imo. I was pretty much pleased especially in the early year i played the game, just strolling around exploring places, enjoying the ambience with the music playing and sfx of walking on grass was so amazing. The music made it so immersive and led players to have some sort of attachment to either places or characters. Sometimes i'd just go to my fav place and enjoy the music while looting some items lol. Great video! Love your analysis!
The concert you watched was a different one from the one that you mentioned played around the world. The official Shanghai performace that was part of the world live performances was uploaded to Genshin's RUclips channel the week before this one that you listened to.
Thank you for the lovely video and analysis! I like the note about the Organ melody being very singable. To me, it feels like it traces back to that 'primordial' wind that humanity first mastered: the breath or voice. Which I think is fitting for a hymn dedicated to a god of wind. Regarding 24:50 I do have a story about how this game in particular has helped me in that way, though it is a touch personal. My father had just passed away and it had fallen onto me to pick up the pieces and provide for my mother and siblings even though I was only just completing my college thesis, and despite the grief I was feeling because I'm the eldest son. It was around that time that a new story quest centered around a certain character was released, and it involved helping her find closure as she was mourning the tragic death of her dear sister. Experiencing the quest provided a form of healing perhaps, or maybe just catharsis. Either way, it did help me bring myself back together, and it's one of the reasons why I'm confident in saying that the game has value beyond being just a distraction.
While the technology might restrict what composers could do early in the medium, you can find great compositions since the mid 80s, some of my fav comes from Xenogears composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and YU-NO by Ryu Umemoto, what I find interesting about game music is that can be very eclectic, alot of times very different from your more commercial songs or even classical ones. Not mention that because most early game music was made with sample instruments or even just especific sounds available in what soundchip they could use, it has a different flavour to it
What a great video! More than that, what a great IDEA for a video!
It is not surprising that a video game would use classical music. Remember that early cartoon animation also relied on classical music both to inspire thematic storylines and to provide soundtracks. Disney's Fantasia epitomized that trend.
Many classical musicians at the time of Fantasia's release took quite a dim view of it, claiming that it compromised the music on which it was based. Perhaps they were shortsighted.
For many children like me in the 1960s, Saturday morning cartoons were a primary exposure to classical music.
Anyhow, thank you Mr. and Mrs. Shafer for this wonderful excursion!
For me , It was Tom and Jerry cartoons. They were really good too
Yeah I always say that Genshin's music choices are meant to evoke a kind of whimsical Disney adventure vibe so this follows.
They were shortsighted but we are too on what became art today.
To answer your questions as someone who's a player of the game:
-you got the intention for the music perfectly, the major theme in the game is travelling, travelling through a fantasy world that has many different places that are each inspired by different parts of the world. The first motion showcased music from the first area which has inspirations from central Europe, majorly Germany. There's other regions inspired by China, Japan, Middle east & South asia, Southern europe,etc. The devs always talk about introducing traditional cultures from around the world to the young generation, and for positive intertwining of cultures from around the world.
-To answer "where does the music play?" Well, everywhere. You have background music for all locations that play while youre exploring the different areas and locations of the world, you have battle music that plays when you engage in battle(that is specific to different regions). There's music that plays during the narrative quests, according to the situations in the quests, music that plays during cutscenes in the quests,there's music for grand boss battles, there's musical motifs for characters, characters have thier own themes that is played in their trailer videos on youtube(which has more modern components ) etc.
One thing the game is praised a lot for is the mixing of traditional sounds and modern sounds, which is seen majorly in boss themes, character trailer themes, etc. but my favourite example of that is "Duel in the mist" the battle theme of a Japan inspired region, that uses completely traditional japanese instruments in a style you'd see in trap music, and "rage beneath the mountains" the theme for a boss in the china inspired region that integrates traditional chinese instruments and modern rock.
Greatly enjoyed the video and I'd be very happy if you want to check out more tracks from the game :)
As someone who loves and play Genshin ever since I first tried it in 2.8 version (and got mesmerized by the OST), thank you for summarizing what I wanted to say better than I could!
Delighted that you listened to this concert! There are over 900 pieces of music in the game (and more being added as the game continues to expand) so this is very much a taster! Events tend to move very rapidly in video games, hence the shortness of many of the tracks! Many pieces will only ever be heard once during play as they are used in a specifc story scene! Fortunately, there are a couple of dozen soundtrack albums available.
As a 34 years old woman, I also play the game to just to chilling and to escaping from the busy real world. Sometime, I just login to the game just for listening to the region song or event the boss theme, it's very soothing and can melting all the stress I had all day long.
I too sometimes log in just to stare at the scenery and just relax..until I go slaughter slimes and crabs for Navia artifacts later.
@@jellythewomanconsumer1590 😂 Same here too
It's a great comfort game!
@@annaairahala9462 Totally agree !
It is a very chill single player game. That you can play play with 3 other poeple if you want.
Well, this is a revelation! I’ve never played a video game. I just assumed the music would all be metal or rock. Never occurred to me there might be a classical vibe In the music. I learned something. Thanks to those who requested this!
Video game music is as diverse as the games themselves. Pop, rock, metal, folk, electronica and even jazz are very commonly heard in video game soundtracks, but classically influenced music still remains as one of the most popular musical genres in video games.
@@UngodlyFreak amazing. And a great surprise.
@@helenespaulding7562 In terms of new media, video games are often the most creative outlets for aspiring composers. They are usually not bound to rigid meters or demands for pieces to be spliced down 8 bars of 4:4 like in TV or film. Likewise, they earn a lot of money, so there is a lot of funding to go around, especially for live recordings. Hence why there is such a wide spectrum of genres in video games. A lot of dreams come alive here, and passion is in abundance. Now especially is a good time to compose for video games.
@@UngodlyFreakin genshin impact from what I heard from the music, they use a bunch of different kinds of genres and sometimes 4 different ones in the same piece which is what makes it pretty unique imo.
If you watch the full video you will be more surprised then 😂
So far the game have 5 regions, each regions came from real life culture adaptation. Either name, buildings, story, and ofcourse music.
So far it was german, china, japan, arab & s. asia, and last france.
In the world of Genshin Impact, there are seven nations, each one representing an element and a real world region. The music Amy has dived into here is from Monstadt, which is Germany. The church-like splendor of the music represents the Church of Favonius and their Archon, Barbatos, the God of Wind and Freedom. The music from each nation reflects the nature of its Archon and real world locale. The time and care that has gone into Genshin's music (and the game itself) is extraordinary. The game developers, MiHoYo, has put on several live concerts and have been very well received by players and Classical music fans alike.
The game is currently in the nation of Fontaine, which is France and its Archon is Lady Furina de Fontaine, Goddess of Water and Justice. Quite a bit of Jazzy, high energy music to be heard.
Anyway, the composer of all this music is Yu-peng Chen, known to fans as the Music Archon. He's not afraid to mix Classical with modern, including legacy instruments from each country. Chen clearly understands his talents and what his goals are.
Yu-peng Chen left the team earlier this year to work on his own projects. Nearly all of the music from Fontaine was written by other composers. The team is clearly talented because most people didn't even notice.
@@TheLocust830 You're right, I had forgotten about his departure. That's a fantastic team he left in his stead.
Not all, only the early works were solely composed by him, as well as most of Inazuma. By Sumeru the OSTs have already collaborative efforts with HoYomix and by Fontaine, it’s all HoYomix.
Isn't Fontaine also technically English? Like apart from it representing France it also represents the UK, or did I just imagine that 💀
@@scenerv9641 Indeed, Fontain is primarily France and includes western Europe (Italy, UK, Scotland). Food from Fontain include lasagna, haggis, cassoulet, and boudin noir aux pommes. Fontain locations and names seem to look western Europe; Loch Urania , Mout Esus (Celtic), and Poisson.
She's gonna walk into the world of Boss fight music, and I can't wait.
Not ready for one winged angel 😎
@@michelazdf2031is anyone ever ready for Sephiroth?
I feel like it might not be too much of her liking? idk this person seems to have a very traditional approach to classical music but noteless I hope I'm wrong and she do likes it 😅
PSA: Video games are not just for children. It's fine to not play them, obviously! But please don't reduce them to something for children if you openly acknowledge that you have not engaged with the medium; there is way, way more to the video game industry, and video games in general, than you likely realize. They are art, just like classical music is art.
I really enjoyed this. I think that people who are unfamiliar with video games don't realise how diverse they can be, from cheap cash grabs to genuine works of art. The video game industry brings in more money than music and movies combined. There's a lot of talent across many different disciplines and when good talent is arranged well, the end product can be quite spectacular. I would love to see you try out video games, but would also be quite content with more video game music reactions. This was a fun watch.
Hi, I just discovered this because genshin and music channels fan xd and love how you interpret the songs. So spot on.
And I know every genshin player has said everything about the music and the world and they are totally right. I just want to point out your comment about bohemian rhapsody because there is actually a character written around that specific song and loved that you pass through the concert and got it.
LOVE THIS!!
Hope you continue to react on each region's soundtrack/live concert. What Genshin Impact did was more than just creating a masterpiece of a video game but also imbued to the new generation a newfound appreciation for the classical music, on varying regions at that!
Thank you for the insight!
I think you can try the live on Sanghai one too, they play the music live on stage with audience in it. It had been uploaded earlier on the same channel.
The Genshin fans can explain the game in far more detail than I can, but It is a massive game with many regions or countries in it with different music in each area. Much of the music is a clever mashup of known themes or motifs. My 1st encounter with it was the 2022 concert where the Dawn WInery Theme (basically "Greensleeves") was given to the Japanese rock band Band--Maid who turned it into a theme and variations with each section rocking harder than the previous one.
I thought for a second at first she was going to look at the Band-Maid clip, since it is actually rock music. Hopefully one day she will discover this amazing rock band.
Always love when people give Genshin a go, embrace it in their own ways no matter if through music, reacting, gameplay or otherwise. There is a little bit of everything for everyone in Genshin, so thank you so much for telling us your thoughts and impressions about the music !!
Ooooh, now I have high hopes of seeing you watch Genshin's first concert from 2021! It remains my favorite and has a mix of orchestra, jazz, rock, and electronic. Especially the orchestral ones are amazing, they're playing in a grand hall, there's no VR distractions and stuff.
And so it begins people! hahaha Kidding aside, there's so much amazing orchestral music in the Videogame world. Just this year alone, some amazing work has been put forth in the genre. I can really recommend the work of Jeremy Soule for the game Skyrim. He makes the sort of atmopheric music that takes you on a journey. Next time you clean the dishes or take a walk, put on the Skyrim soundtrack. There's some amazing pieces of music in there. Specially the songs "From past to present" or "Journeys end".
I do love video game soundtracks from Olivier Deriviere especially from Alone in the dark.
This comment will be somewhat expansive, but I will try to answer some of your questions and explain some things
How does this music appear in the game?
In Genshin Impact (as well as in many games) music can appear for many reasons and under many circumstances. Some tracks only play in certain areas, some only play at different times of day (not real life time, but time in the game world), some tracks only play during battle, and some of the longer tracks are dedicated to particularly tough and special foes. The music will fade in and out depending on the current situation in the game to fit the current mood. Genshin is coming close to 1000 unique and fully orchestrated in-game tracks (it releases new music pretty frequently) so there is a song for pretty much any situation.
What about the Asian influences?
The world that Genshin Impact takes place in is split into 7 distinct nations. Each nation, while also representing one of seven elements (earth, wind, fire, water, ice, lightning, nature), each represent a real world culture and history. The seven nations and their influences go as follows:
Monstadt: Medieval Germany (the two songs at the start of the concert are from this region)
Liyue: Ancient China
Inazuma: Japan between the Edo period and Meiji restoration
Sumeru: A combination of various middle-eastern cultures like Mesopotamia as well as some northern African cultures like Egypt
Fontaine: Victorian era France
Natlan: Mainly inspired by Meso-American cultures
Snezhnaya: Eastern Eurasia (mostly Russia)
These cultural influences affect the music of each region through both compositional and instrumental means. However, the music always keeps a basis in western European classical music to some degree. Each region also has their own in-universe cultures, values, and aesthetics that also influence the music, and that's not even getting into the topics of regional themes, character leitmotifs, and metatextual motifs.
What about the more contemporary/"rocky" type parts?
There are a few reasons why Genshin will use more contemporary styles. Sometimes when creating a piece for a "boss" (a boss in videogames is a super special and tough enemy that usually has multiple phases that need to be beaten before it goes down) the composers will use electric guitars, rock drums, and even electronic elements to add even more energy to the music to fit the intensity of the fight. The other reason is that instead of in-game music, what you may be listening to is trailer/promotional music. Because this music doesn't need to fit the tone of the rest of the game as much, the composers and producers have a lot more freedom in what instruments and techniques they use.
Also they would use synthesizers and electronic to represent things that don't belong to the world in the game
As you alluded too, large videogame studios now hire orchestras and professional musicians to record the composer's soundtrack. We've come a long way from the beeps and boops of the midi soundtracks that I grew up with.
Thank you for reacting to this concert.
I hope she can reacting other video concert from genshin impact.
I'm bewildered you decided to react to Genshin music but absolutely thrilled!! I adore the music in Genshin, there are so many tracks and areas and each one has astounding music. Music from The Chasm is some of the most enthralling in my opinion.
Interesting change of pace, which allows you to analysis something much closer to what you are normally involved with (classical). I would love to see you do a video on one of your favorite classical pieces, using a similar analysis method as you do with rock songs. It would be fascinating to hear what imaginative description you have for some of these pieces, since I'm sure your ability to visualize things in rock was developed doing the same with classical music. I did watch some parts of the full video, since I never played this particular game. A nice blending of different styles and moods. I love how enthusiastic you can get with some rock songs, so I'm sure this is even more the case with your favorite classical pieces.
I have played a lot of video games over the years, mostly computer based games. But in recent years I try to stay away from them since they are so addictive and can take up huge amounts of my time. The ones I like allow you to enter into and get lost in a completely different world, often medieval fantasy and futuristic sci-fi worlds. With todays technology some of these environments look very realistic, rather than just the cartoonish style of the one you were looking at here. Video games can be a genuine art form that combine multiple mediums, such as visual art, environmental sounds and music. Since I am a computer programmer by trade, I have created several video game environments just for fun. I just did it as an artistic outlet for creating my own worlds that I could move around in and interact with.
To answer your question, the music generally changes based on the environment you find yourself in (as you guessed). If you enter a cathedral you hear cathedral music, if you enter a tavern you will hear medieval bardic like music. It will also change based on the intensity of the scene. If you are being attacked by other people, animals, or monsters the music will become very intense. If you are going through a scary environment, the music will reflect that. So in this respect it functions much the same as in film scores, other than needing to be dynamic based on your actions.
I've watched and listened to many of your videos since you started here. I'm also a professional gamer and Twitch streamer. I've played quit a few hours of Genshin, which has lots of great music and wonderful visuals. There is the background ambient music, or course, but some of what you've listened to is used in battles or encounters. A melee combat scene has all of the sound effects and character voices (and noises), but the up tempo music pieces help make the scene more exciting.
I'm always tickled to think about all the young people who are discovering classical and traditional genres because of video games using so much music like this.
If it's to cold out ? FINE. If you can't see the damage technology, has done, and seeing a balance with tech time, and real life experience. You will see lose of feelings , including love. BALANCE!! is key.
So fun to hear more classical musicians reviewing this game's soundtrack! I play the oboe and english horn in a classical orchestra for over 10 years and I've been in love with the classical influences noticable in the sountrack.
I personally have felt like there's been a lot of Rimsky-Korsakov inspiration, also Tchaikovsky, I completely agree!
The oboe you enjoyed in the first piece is actually an english horn, also known as the cor anglais, the alto brother of the oboe (though in my language we call it an alto oboe so I understand that you named it the oboe)!
There are different regions in the game which are inspired by different regions in the real world, which is also reflected in the music. The first region that you listened to is inspired by central Europe, which you can feel in the music. The latest released region is inspired by France which is definitely noticable by the abundant usage of the accordion, classical guitar, but also the incredible woodwind harmonies and melody lines. That region also has some heavily Bach-inspired pieces, there is a proper fugue in there! I have always enjoyed how popular media uses classical music and thereby introduces it to a broader audience. A good example for me is the Barbie movies, where the older movies were inspired by classical ballet, because of these I ended up playing a classical instrument!
I agree with you that these concerts have made an odd choice naming the collections if performed pieces "movements". The interesting thing is that in the actual soundtrack most pieces are longer and also build onto each other. Even though most tracks are about 2 minutes long, they oftentimes have the same leidmotif, and listening to the same pieces back to back gives you a more authentic symphonic movement experience than what is portrayed in the concert.
Relating back to one of the things you were wondering, in some areas of the game the background music changes based on whether its night or day (which is actually common for video games to do), and the night versions are a bit slower and have a slightly different instrumentation from the day pieces but more or less the same melody.
If you are interested in a "proper" classical concert based on video game music (not that this isnt one but it is definitely not the classical format we are used to), I highly recommend Final Symphony! It is a concert series based on the Final Fantasy Game series soundtrack (a Japanese series of games with an incredible soundtrack by Japanese composer). You can listen to this concert recording on Spotify among others and it has a movement structure similar to classical symphonies. The music is probably what has really gotten me interested in video game music, especially by Asian composers, who love to incorporate classical inspiration.
The catalogue of great video game music is huge. My favourite is probably Sogno di Volare by Christopher Tin from Civilization 6. Although, if you want to ride the hype train, the Baldur's Gate 3 score is also amazing.
So because those themes are so short, there are actually two reasons to it.
First one is that those are only themes. There are actually multiple versions of those themes in a region and they are all composed to loop, because its an open world where the player walks around and often doesn't really listen to the music, in some places stops to take it all in. And with seven regions that are split into many themes you here, the music is composed to melt into the next theme almost seemingless as you walk to
complement the scenery.
The second reason is, that there are actually long versions of those themes "orchester versions" but as this concert exists to give a small peak into ALL the nations playing all of it would simply take way to much time. If you wanna have a listen to longer themes listen to the shorter concerts as there are mostly less themes but longer played out. I must add tho that all end up aprupt, because of the loop reason i explained first.
❤
I chuckled when you mentioned Bohemian Rhapsody because that was exactly what that song was going for. Even the character that song was about is called Scaramouche. 😁
If you're curious, the latest version of this game is called 'Fontaine' and it's all about French-inspired music. It is very good.
which song was it, please? :x
20:44 "It gives this feeling of travel." Right on the money. In game you play as "The Traveler", a young woman (or man) from another world, on the hunt for their missing sibling. We start in (basically) Germany and then move on to China, Japan, Egypt and France. Next we'll move on to Latin America and then end in Russia. Living out a giant adventure story on the level of the Lord of the Rings has been great fun. This is the largest and most in depth game I've involved myself with. Don't let the pretty music and visuals fool you; this game has gotten dark at times. Nothing quite like stopping a University from creating a new god that feeds on people's hopes and dreams.
In case anyone is wondering, "genshin" is Chinese for "primordial".
Great video! I absolutely agree with your thoughts on video games creating interest in classical music. I largely attribute my love of classical music to a video game I played in my early years that used its orchestral soundtrack masterfully. I have actively sought out live performances of these pieces of music because they had such an impact (no pun intended) on me. For anyone who is curious, check out the orchestral version of Hikari from Kingdom Tres for the song that started my love of classical music.
I play Genshin since the first day it came out back in September 2020, and what has kept me intwined with the game is the music. The music is amazing
I am a first time viewer of your channel, brought here because I love watching classical musicians listen and respond to Genshin's lovely music. I thoroughly enjoyed your analysis of the 2 Mondstadt pieces and should you choose to make more videos on Genshin, I will happily return.
It's really great to see that professional musician has this kind of good comment for the game music, as a player of game and an adult, I also strongly agree with your understanding of 'this game is good for people to relax and escape of the real world stress'. It's a world that brings me the feel of peace, love, movement and friendship(of course with fictional characters in the game), but everything feels so real especially after I have experienced all the stories with the characters, facing challenges together, had reunions, new adventures one country by one, meeting new friends.
This game not only brings me joy and relax, but also contributed to music world wonderful pieces, along with fantastic pictures, beautiful sceneries, stories full of love and true feelings. It also helped to re-introduce Chinese intangible culture heritage to young people in a very brilliant and fascinating way.
The most powerful effect and greatest impact of the music to me is, whenever I hear one piece, the story I had with a character, the road I have passed, the scene I have explored, or even the enemy I have battled against, will emerge in my mind immediately. Especially for some stories that I was touched very deeply, I would wanted to cry or teared every time when I heard a piece. If you ask other players and search for other people who worked or has professional knowledge in music area, and who also played the game, you probably would get the similar feedback of how people feels about this game and its music.
Trust me, you don't have to be a player, but you have to get to know more about this game, you would never regret it.😃
Btw, all of the pieces are for different location, different enemy, different scene(day and night has different tones), different characters, that's why their music is better served with a real game play or at least by watching someone play/battle/exploring the world/watch character PV. Enjoy!
There actually is a lot of rock and metal-based video game music, if you're interesting in combining the two. After all, video game scores can be as varied as they are in any other medium that utilizes music.
Doom Eternal with its heavy metal choir is probably one of the more famous ones, but there's a lot more out there if you're interested.
Im a 26 y/o woman and I play genshin to relax from work 😊 your commentary is very insightful! I love hearing people deconstructing genshin music 💕 i wasnt someone who used to hear classical music so when i started adding that kind of music to my playlist my mom was surprised “ Since when do you like classical music? Or orchestra?” 😂
I would like to say that this game has opened my eyes and mind to new things, be it music or cultures without it being overwhelming.
please listen to the full concert, its well worth your time!!!!!
Very interesting and unexpected reaction. I don't play games, so I don't know much about it, but I've heard some short pieces of music while my husband and his son play a game. However, I've never really payed much attention to it, but I've noticed the huge variety of music, ftom classical to rock to electronic. I guess it depends on a game.
Anyway, I like when you step out of what you're doing on the channel. It is fun and refreshing, I suppose both for you and for us. You should keep doing it from time to time. 😊🖤
I haven't listened to many scores for games, but the few I've heard have been quite creative. Hooks and 'riffs' ... it's all about the playing ... games, and music ... Thanks for the play :)
As a player of the game, I love listening to reactions for this sort of thing. Thank you for your reaction and perspective. It's always interesting to see what grabs different people and how they interpret/digest it. For this particular concert, there is a decent fraction of songs which you won't actually hear in-game. I am talking of music from character trailers or game version trailers. But yes, a large portion of this music can be heard in game, though the concert version will of course sound a bit different.
I see others already mentioning how the music of different regions/countries in the game take inspiration/are themed from music from different regions of our own world. Also worth noting is how there are regional motifs that recur in different pieces of music, or for music relating to specific characters. From relaxing background music for exploration and ambiance, energetic music for when you are combat, to music specifically for specific story beats. For quite a few of the games tracks, the context of the song helps make it even more enjoyable. It all comes together very nicely in a way I find hard to describe without being excessively wordy, and I won't even try to here as I don't want to write a book here. The music in this game is indeed loved by its community.
Thank you for taking just a peek into it. There are many games with incredibly wonderful music that many people love. Though I would love to hear your thoughts on more of Genshin's music, I would not want you to limit yourself and monopolize your time on this game alone. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on more game music. I see you already have loads of suggestions in comments for more game music, but here's another in case you are looking for more. Take a look at a track or two from NieR Automata. It's not a game I have ever played, but enjoy the music of nevertheless.
Interesting you mentioned Pizzicato, a track from the game which heavily involves that is "Combat beneath the waves", its the battle theme for region of ruins with a tragic history. The track is one of my favourites due to how many varied emotions it expresses while also being upbeat and filled with tension, to fit being the background of combat.
The game's summer event, Golden Apple Achipelago OSTs really helped me a lot during the pandemic. They feel nostalgic for no reason, so bittersweet and so beautiful to me. But too bad they were time-limited but hey, they're all available on Spotify🌝.
As both a Genshin Impact fan and a composer, the music in Genshin Impact is absolutely astounding!! There's a lot of games that have used orchestras and classical music for their soundtracks (one of my favorite pieces ever is Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy), but what the team at Genshin Impact is doing really is next level!
I have deeply studied the soundtrack of the game, going down to the orchestration, the narrative and ambient use of the different pieces, and it might be one of the deepest works of music ever made!
There's a gigantic list of rules in how the orchestration of different pieces work and what they imply both narratively and in gameplay, and there's hundreds of leitmotifs that come and go and twist and combine and develop... It really is amazing! One of my favorite cases in the narrative of four themes: La Signora, The Fatui, Inazuma, and Raiden Shogun, and how they mix and call and respond to each other when the whole story of Inazuma happens in the game. You can pretty much tell what's happening every time just by the music itself! It would be great to talk about it because it is incredibly dense and there's a lot of info I've gathered! I've thought again and again about doing a video on my channel but there's SO MUCH to tell that I'm overwhelmed and don't even know where to start! I could spend literally days about the soundtrack. Not the game, just the soundtrack itself.
I can even confidently say, quite some pieces of the soundtrack are literally on the same level as many famous classical composers.
A great part of this game is its music, being the other part its story. The music improves the impact (pun intended) of the story.
There are several sad and/or hopeful key moments in the game so intense that makes you cry...
Later, when that song that was playing in that moment plays again, the feelings and the mood of that moment comes back.
Its incredible how music can change the mood of a scene, and evoque certain feelings over and over again just hearing a few notes.
I recommend to watch all the oficial cutscenes of the game to check that effect. I know is out of context, but those cutscenes are self-explanatory enough to understand them.
They will also help to explain how the music is blend inside the game.
Listening to just Mondstadt music from this game, the first few tracks particularly, is extremely limited. The next part of the game is of literal historical musical value. Hope you enjoyed the full concert, regardless!
delving into the world of video games. Hmm.... There is a lot of great video game music. I wonder if this will be the beginning of that journey. I know that you will probably get a lot of views, that's for sure
the way you speak are so soothing, hope you can react to more genshin music!❤
ok now everyone let's convince her to react to the Genshin Live Symphonies
I'm enjoying this, please do more of Genshin music
This game has a lot of masterpiece music 😊
You should listen to some of these tracks from Genshin too.
Liyue (Main region OST track)
Lover's Oath
Rapid as Wildfires
Maiden's Longing
Fragile Fantasy
Chattering Snowflakes
Inevitable Conflict
Irresistible Force
Die Mittsommernacht-Fantasie
Inazuma (Main region OST track)
Duel in the Mist
Combat Beneath the Waves
Undersea Encounters
Tearless Souls of Byakuya
Sumeru (Main region OST track)
Flickering Shadows of Trees
Hustle and Bustle of Ormos ( Port Ormos day theme)
Swirls of the Stream
Swirls of Shamshir
For Riddles, for Wonders
Fontaine (Main region OST track)
Ballad of Many Waters
Clair de Lune
Lamentation et Triomphe
Rondeau des fleurs et des rapieres
Symphony of Boreal Wind (Dvalin)
Wrath of the Monoceros Caeli (Childe)
Rage Beneath the Mountains (Azhdaha)
Saltatio Favillae (Signora)
The Almighty Violet Thunder (Raiden)
Polumnia Omnia (Scaramouche)
God-Devouring Mania (Apep)
I 2nd this. And will also include "Tales From the Snow Mountain" and "what a hopeful voyage" as well.
Maybe first priority react to die mittsommernacht-fantasie. This feel like evolution of classical music and have rock element on it
This concert is only about 1/10 of the Genshin's reportoire. The composer Yupeng Chen and the Hoyomix team composed hundreds of pieces in 18 albums in total so far. Genshin is only 3 years old, it will be creating more and more amazing classical pieces.
Contemporary video game music runs the gamut from orchestral pieces to heavy metal and everything in between; in a way, it's no different from contemporary film scores. There's definitely been a rise in orchestras tackling (old and new) video game music over the past several years, whether the orchestras take on the music themselves, or they host tours of others who play/conduct video game music (most notably Distant Worlds, which specializes in music from the Final Fantasy series of video games).
One approach that might be interesting would be for you to listen to original video game music from before 2000 (around the time when pre-recorded music replaced old ways of synthesizing instruments via computer), then listen to a modern fully-orchestrated version of the song. As someone who's played video games since 1981 (and was, originally, a music composition major in college before I switched to English), I might be able to offer some recommendations if you're interested in pursuing video game music more.
Can you identify one of the most ambitious video game pieces, judging from the perspective of classical traditions? Is there a video game piece that is the equivalent of a major tone poem, for example?
@@mikes9305 More modern video games have definitely been able to achieve those goals, to be sure. However, in addition to being tied to other elements of the overall work (just as film scores, although they are music in and of themselves, are inextricably tied in some ways to the films they are a part of), video game music can also be constrained by how the player of the game actually plays it. As a result, many pieces of music for video games have to be designed to loop seamlessly, in case a player winds up spending several minutes in a particular part of the game, and that looping can limit the structure of the music in various ways.
One of the earliest examples of "ambitious" music I would cite is the main theme of Final Fantasy VII, released in 1997. Music pieces for similar purposes in previous games were only a minute or two in length, but the loop in this piece is five minutes long, with a one-minute introduction, and all its distinct parts brilliantly exemplify the themes of exploration in the part of the game where it plays. A search on here for "main theme of final fantasy 7" will get you the original synthesized version that played in the game (composed by Nobuo Uematsu), but it's also been recorded by full orchestras on numerous occasions, and many of those recordings are available on RUclips as well.
As video games have gotten more sophisticated, the longer scripted sequences in them have enabled video game music composers to create more pieces akin to tone poems, but in addition to many of these games giving me motion sickness when I try to play them, I don't like how the gameplay in them has become so similar, and how they've used narrative conventions of film more than those of literature (as they did in the early years of gaming). Perhaps other members of the Virgin Rock community can chime in with recommendations of more modern video game scores that are considered "ambitious" by the standards you listed?
@@SeanShannon Thanks! In a different posting here, I had noted those (often ingenious) music loops as one of the key differences between video game and movie soundtracks. Thanks for recommending a specific piece! ☺
My knowledge about music is as plenty as Johnny Sins' hair but I still watch music analysis videos. Awesome video there! You can try watching the concert that was hosted in Shanghai too if you'd like. There is a LOT more OSTs played and they are all mind blowing or breathtaking or really impressive to say the LEAST. So many styles of music from Middle Eastern,Japanese to European and the performers still killed it.
I'm not a huge gamer, but my sons are, and I get to listen indirectly to a lot of different game themes. My favorite is Super Mario Galaxy. Amazing orchestral piece.
I would highly recommend the Sumeru concert - the music from that region is sooo beautiful [and was my introduction to this game]. Port Ormos theme is also just really neat
When I first heard of the Gregorian chant; [music would never be confined to just Rock]. Your humming along with these tunes, is spectacular: & a new Genre altogether! Can't wait for the new Album!
If you want the very classical music from Genshin, I'd recommend to listen "Die mittsommernacht-fantasie". I really hope they perform it live someday.
Also recommend to check Shanghai 2023 Concert as well. There is more ost in that also live on stage.
This is a concert made for fans . It is near identical to the actual pieces with good quality but they made the arrangement much more live performance friendly and so there are some fine sounds and details changed in sound.
It's awesome that you listened to one of my favorite games music. I am a rock and metal guitarist but since I play and listen to a lot of progressive rock and metal, game music gives me that connection too. Awesome video
Interesting you mentioned Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody.
There is quite a few references to that with one character called Scaramouche, also known as The Balladeer (a nod to Freddie Mercury).
His boss music has a bit of Fandango, but he is not a fan of Dango (the dessert) as he does not like sticky sweets.
In one of his teaser videos he says "I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all" and another video is "titled Any way the wind blows"
There are others but getting into spoiler territory for those who might want to play this.
He is a member of the Fatui Harbingers, the antagonists of the game, and each one is based off the characters in commedia dell'arte.
Thank you for making this video! Video game music is a huge part of my life and is what got me into classical music and so many other genres that I would have otherwise never even paid attention to.
I would love to see a collab between you and @marcomeatball here on youtube.
He has a background in opera and has one of my favourite youtube channels on video game music analysis/appreciation
Love your reacting and opinion. I would love to see more Genshin Impact reactions! :) Die Mittsommenacht Fantasie is a song that plays a lot with baroque and rock (as it's the theme of your channel). Genshin's channel has a lot of smaller orchestras videos that are easier to react (Sumeru orchestra is my personal favorite)
As someone else has already said, the catalogue of video game music is vast and very diverse. I would really like to see it featured occasionally on the channel. It'd be great to see your analysis on some of the music from the Persona series. Particularly the velvet room theme, Battle for Everyone's souls and Memories of You. Memories of You has beautiful lyrics.
Excellent choice. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2024. Thank you.
This is music meant to evoke emotions suited to the location or the story events. The music pulls the player into the world subconsciously and accentuates important moments. I've seen so many, mostly young, people commenting that they thought classical music was dull, but now they want to hear more. I'm old and have always listened to many types of music, but my appreciation for Chinese Opera certainly rose with the tale also heard in this concert.
It is interesting that you picked up the 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. There is a character, Scaramouche, whose name comes Commedia dell'arte, but whose back story can be seen paraphrasing the lyrics of 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
I would not have minded in the least to hear the entire concert broken down as you did with the first two songs. Very insightful and interesting to hear the music I've listened to and experienced in a game being broken down by someone who does not know much about the gaming side of things but a lot about music. Thank you.
Video game music is not only listened to but also experienced: enhancing the moment, just like a soundtrack would in movies. It tells you about the place, the mood and the atmosphere when you walk into a new place or meet a new person. Video game music is often interactive, changing with a player's actions: whether you buy supplies from a marketplace, engage in a battle against the monsters of the wild, or enter a lost, hidden ruins of an ancient civilisation buried in mystery, the music will follow you and help you experience it in a memorable way and immerse yourself in the world you are exploring. And listening to the music afterwards, helps us return to those moments. That is how video game music brings people together.
Kinda late into the party, but the game goes like this:
You are a traveller from another world, and your aim is to find your sibling.
As you go on your journey, you explore nations, cities, and regions of the world. Each location is always accompanied with its own music. Each music that plays tells a story of the place, it could be lively, melancholic, or an enemy is lurking in some corner. The music also sort of describes the culture of the place, its people and their way of life.
The music in this game is diverse. From western orchestra to eastern style music, and every now and then, modern musical elements come in play all to tell a story, from electric guitars to electronic/synthetic music. Sometimes, a fusion of all I've mentioned is evident.
There are also music for special characters, those who will play a crucial role in your quest. Those music often depicts their own stories and struggles.
Long story short, the music is everywhere.
Need a full reaction on this
More of this please!!!
27:13 if u are interested in someone who actually plays the game and has classical musical background. I would recommend MarcoMeatball he is a pro opera singer turned voice actor turned youtuber who specializes in breaking down video game music both for the first time with "reaction" content as well as exploring some of the deeper emotions embedded in songs he knows and loves.
I wish you react to the full concert since I like the way you breakdown the first two piece
And since you asked this is the timestamp of the concert and the context in which the music is used but I only did it from my memory and not Wiki so there might be mistakes so please correct me if I'm wrong as I listen to them mostly outside of the game nowadays cuz they are just that good, I have the lossless audio recording of all genshin OST and I listen to them almost daily.
0:00 Beginning
0:18 Genshin Impact Main Theme (Piano)
The main theme of the game, the one that plays everytime you start the game
MONDSTADT (City of Wind/Anemo)
1:07 Windborne Hymn
I'm pretty sure this one plays in the Mondstadt cathedral, the one you see in the video. There are 7 Gods that govern the world, there are more gods but most of them died during the war and only few survivor aside from the main elemental god. Each of the 7 gods rule a nation so there are officially 7 nation each with their own god but there are a lot more teritory/places aside from that.
Since the Gods are not only real but also walk the land, religion are viewed differently from the real world which is interesting.
2:57 A Day in Mondstadt
Main theme of the city of Mondstadt during the day.
4:05 Bard's Adventure
Venti's theme/trailer OST. He is the personification of the Anemo Archon (god of wind) and this is his character trailer OST. He is playful and free spirited as expected for the god of freedom.
6:30 Lone Sojourner
This play inside Daw Winery(Diluc's home)? I rarely went there but I love this piece a lot
7:30 Dawn Winery Theme
Dawn Winery main theme, I think this play outside of the house?
8:45 Let's Go, Crimson Knight!
This is Klee character trailer OST. She is a young and playful but powerful character as she use bomb and explosive to fight
LIYUE (Geo/Rock Nation)
10:35 Broker Betwixt Life and Death
Hu Tao Character Trailer song. She is funeral parlor director hence the Halloween like music, she is playful and like to play prank so the music represent her very well
12:10 Clear Sky Over Liyue
Was it Liyue's night theme? I forgot when this play exactly but it is definitely on Liyue
13:44 Lover's Oath
This is Wangshuu Inn OST, the place where you meet Xiao. The music is beautiful but I don't remember story significant of this piece
15:10 Hang by a Thread
This play on Chasm Limited Event story quest where the main characters and friend are stuck inside the earth and trying to find a way to escape and Xiao almost get lost alone
19:06 Rex Incognito
Zhongli trailer OST. He is the God of Geo/Rock. He is very old and full of wisdom. His OST was very popular and can be considered as fan favorite back when he was first released two-three years ago
21:10 Devastation and Redemption
Yunjin Sings this in her performance after we finish one of the Archon quest rebuilding the Jade chamber and fight the wife of ancient God with the help of Shenhe, she is a Chinese opera singer in the game. it is a story about Shenhe and her exploit. This one is memorable and special cuz there isn't many piece using traditional chinese opera singer in modern day so Chinese fan especially appreciate this song.
INAZUMA (Electro/Lightning Nation)
24:02 Fall of Maples
Inazuma city main theme? or was it the one that play when you get to Inazuma for the first time? I can't remember exactly. Definitely one of my fav piece, extremely beautiful
26:15 Soar in the Wind
Ayaka teaser OST. She is a noble lady of Inazuma nation from the Kamisato Clan. There are Teaser and Trailer for major characters in the game and they are different, teaser usually reveal more about the character's story/background and personality while trailer focus more into showcasing the characters abilities, moveset and visual.
29:36 Serene and Fathomless
Ayato trailer OST, he is the brother of Ayaka which teaser OST played before this one.
32:17 Termination of Desires
Raiden Shogun trailer OST. She is the Electro Archon (god of thunder). She is the god of eternity so she pursue eternity but she stumble in the present and the main character help her in the quest but before that she was an enemy and a very scary one.
34:55 When the Sakura Bloom
I think this was from Archon Quest where Raiden Shogun was stuck inside fighting her puppet creation and you tried to help her escape? or was it a trailer OST for the version in which the archon quest take place? or both?
SUMERU (Dendro/Plant nation)
38:04 Flickering Shadows of Trees
one of many Sumeru city OST, this play during the day
39:51 Swirls of Shamshir
One of Sumeru Battle themes. I love the instrument choice in this piece.
44:02 Ethereal Mildness
This sounds like Nahida OST but it isn't her trailer or teaser OST as it also play in the forest and archon quest. Nahida is the Dendro Archon btw (god of plant). Sumeru main story feel a lot different from the other region cuz the Dendro archon actively help and interact with you from the beginning to end but her help is limited and often time indirect cuz she was weak.
44:58 Melody of Brave Seeds
Aranara OST? I think this play in their village and quest
46:58 Polumnia Omnia
Last Phase of Scaramouche boss battle, he is one of the major boss fight in the game and yes the character and music take a lot of inspiration from Bohemian Rhapsody. He is related to the Electro Archon from Inazuma hence the Japanese instrument+lyric and inazuma ost influence on the later part but he is a part of the Fatui which is the villain group hence the ominous music and Latin? Lyric
50:40 Ashes of Anupadhisesa
Wanderer (Scaramouche) character teaser OST
FONTAINE (Hydro/Water Nation)
53:15 Across the Meadows
Fontaine area OST, not the main theme of the nation but it play in a lot of places across the nation
54:42 Ballad of Many Waters
City of Fontaine main OST? pretty sure this play during the day
56:47 Dream Aria
Genshin main theme OST but with a full orchestra
1:01:10 Blossoms of Summer Night
Yoimiya character OST. She is a firework maker so that's probably why they use her OST as the end credit background music
And that is all, anyway superb performance, too bad most of the piece/song here are very short and the concert itself is shorter than most concert we have seen from Mihoyo.
Next can you react to all major Area main theme? They have live version/recording too and they looks and sounds amazing.
Unfortunately for Mondstadt and Liyue, as the early region in the game release they don't have a main theme like the other regions do but they still have a main theme that consist of a mix of multiple OST from the region while the other nation have a unique main theme.
Region main Theme OST listed from Oldest to newest:
Mondstadt start at 3:15 : ruclips.net/video/UIam8zl4af8/видео.htmlsi=M3HbV2Wzsn5E09Dr
Liyue (I can't find the live version help!) : ruclips.net/video/d5MrlIKlDno/видео.html
Inazuma: ruclips.net/video/e4bptIoZFDE/видео.html
Sumeru: ruclips.net/video/VrP3lO3aGDg/видео.html
Fontaine: ruclips.net/video/qZ9DaB7xRZs/видео.html
BTW since Genshin Impact have multiple channel for different language (Chinese, Japanese and English) the total views are actually multiple times that is shown in the english channel which is pretty crazy
Yes, Genshin's other name is Escapism - The Game. You travel a beautiful and vast fantasy world inspired by our world, cultures and certain periods in time (Romantic Period Germany, Belle Epoque France, One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, Feudal Japan...) you'll make lots of friendships with a diverse cast of characters, and together with them you become stronger and wiser to save the world, which has become so dear to you, from looming evil and destruction.
There’s so much good video game music out there! I’m a huge fan of both them and the music made for them! If you decide to do another episode on video game music, I would highly recommend music from the series Xenoblade Chronicles. Each game has these beautiful piano compositions as themes for the opening screens, as well as amazing battle music with a wide medley of instruments, from piano and strings to electric guitar. It’s wonderful.
Another series with highly lauded music (and my personal favorite) is Persona 5, the soundtrack is very jazzy and upbeat (I’ve heard it described as acid jazz before), and is a treat for the ears. Also worth checking out!
The first video game music I "noticed" was in Myst in 1993.
Oh my, it’s my first time watching your channel and I love it!
English is not my first language, by the way you talk is so clear and it’s amazing for my understanding.
I hope you analyze some Inazume and Sumeru theme, specially the last one.
Congratulations for you work and thank you very much!
Dancing Mad, the final boss music for a legendary game, Final Fantasy 6 as played by the composer's rock band, The Black Mages would be fun. I'm sure you'd be able to pick out a dozen little things it pilfered from classical sources. It's very hymn like too as you're fighting a deranged jester that's ascended to godhood. It's from the early/mid 90s so it was written for a sound chip which had limited abilities but the most skilled could make it do magic. The 80s was all very heavily inspired by 70s Japanese electronic music and 70s British prog rock (at least on the limited consoles) but by the 90s sound chips had gotten good enough other genres became a bit more common. Also Western developers had fully reestablished themselves after the crash of '83.
It wasn't until around the turn of the century actual recorded music became the norm, which is when you start seeing an explosion of classical music like this in games (and really generic metal because it was the 2000s). To Zanarkand from Final Fantasy 10 is a piano solo you'd enjoy from that time.
Wish for more. Specially battle themes
NO WAY this is awesome!!!
That was a great video! Genshin has a lot of concerts and an amazing soundtrack as a whole!
Please also listen to Fontaine Live Symphony
Not only they are doing concerts around the world, but the tickets for them sold really quickly. I heard that the ticketing website for the Chicago concert got overwhelmed and stopped working for a few hours because of how many people were trying to buy a ticket. And for the Düsseldorf concert, I had to sit in an online queue for 25 minutes before being able to buy my ticket (this queue was to avoid the issues that the Chicago concert ticketing website had), and all the seats were sold in 40 minutes.
Video game music seeming too short and underdeveloped is a common hurdle classical musicians run in to when exploring the genre. While this trend started largely from technical limitations of early electronics, it persists so strongly for two main reasons. Being programmatic music, it isn't required to do the bulk of the developmental lifting. Visuals, plot, and gameplay can all carry that weight together. The second is that there is no way to control if a player is experiencing an area for 2 minutes or 2 hours, also requiring the music to be loopable, so a consistent vibe serves better than a musical journey that is constantly cut off and restarted due to gameplay.
However, game composers have ways to counter this and still tell well-developed musical stories. Within a single song, dynamic layering allows the music to develop and adapt to the player's inputs. At it's most basic (but still highly effective) is Metal Gear Rising, where the boss tracks start instrumental, but activate the vocal layer perfectly at the climax of the fight. At the most complicated you get Journey, where different instruments and melodies flow in and out in very complex layers based on everything the player does, and even if a second player has joined.
Second is motif and instrument choice constructing internal languages across many different tracks. At it's most basic, many games have the song for their final area or credits be a new version of the intro/title screen music, acting as a familiar bookend that shows how things have changed. Genshin is the master at developing it's internal language, with every nation and character having specific sounds that become heavily associated with them, then are used to tell stories. Polmnia Omnia alone contains the enemy group's theme, the specific character's variation of that theme which deviates to show his disloyalty to the group, the notes representing the area he's attacking being twisted into the sound qualities that represent the ideals he's pursuing, and all that's without even touching on the lyrics and the meanings behind their distortion and language.
Both these strengths are difficult to experience from outside their intended games, but have a huge influences on why video game osts are so popular and can drive people into genres and live music events they would otherwise never consider exploring.
thank you for sharing your professional thoughts on genshin music! those songs are played in different areas as you assumed, different songs can be played in the same area depending on whether it’s daytime or night as well. yupeng chen, the composer, is loved by so many players bc of his talent.
i highly recommend you try their latest live concert vid which took place in shanghai:) apart from european style, they also have chinese, japanese, and middle eastern styles which is def a blessing for my ears
If you are interested in watching a live perfomance of the Concert theres the "Genshin Impact Orchestral Concert 2023" Official Shanghai Performance Recording in the Genshin Impact official channel. Its almost composed of the same songs separated in those movements that I agree with you should be called suites. The game itself has too many more music pieces, and these concerts are just a small fraction of the whole thing. For example one of my favorite pieces is Die Mittsommernacht-Fantasie that I'm sure you would like to listen.
Im glad more and more music related channels are appreciating genshin music
In fact, may be react to Doom ost? It's metal and it's great.
So main character of the game is called Traveler. And along his journey you visit different countries inspired by real world cultures (German, China, Japan. Arabian, France, Russia). So yeah, most of pieces helps to immerse players it specific location and it's culture.
And as some reaction youtuber said, classical soundtrack in games helps to introduce players to classical music as genre.
im so glad that for your first foray into the world of video game music, you chose Genshin Impact! I love music and listen to all types, and to me Genshin soundtrack is among the best music in the world 🥰 Loved hearing your thoughts on it!
Another call for the song "Travel" by The Gathering, the TG25 live version. "I wish you knew your music was to stay forever".
Welcome the Genshins music. It's amazing and I'm not surprised everyone has been gravitating to listen to it, they've put so much effort to make the themes work for their games.
I know a game you might enjoy playing, though you'd probably find it pretty easy. It's an old one, originally from 1990, called Loom. The gameplay revolves around learning and remembering short musical figures/gestures that act as magic spells, and figuring out how to use them to solve the obstacles that stand in your way. It has multiple difficulty levels, with the easiest showing you the staff (quite literally) and telling/showing you exactly what notes you're hearing when learning a spell, and on the hardest you have to do everything by ear. Would probably make a pretty good teaching tool for beginners. The background music for it is excerpts from Swan Lake, which is appropriate for the story.
RUclips algorithms is just crazy, everything related to Genshin and music is suggested to me. I found yours lol. But it’s good. The music in Genshin is what drawn lots of players like me. I drawn to this game due to great lore, characters, music, play style and graphic.
And you right about the travel part. We traveled from nation to nation (the nation which part takes from our world, from German to China to Japan then se Asia plus Arab plus India then now France.)
This video games is not only meant for kids. Most players are teens and our generation of millennials, plus the older gen x. I even found some 60 years old players. If you do give it a try and like it for casually playing it. Welcome to community then😂
I need to know your reaction and impression of Rex Incognito. It's quite possibly the most popular song of the entire game so far, and for good reason. There's also the song *Shouki No Kami* that also utilizes a lot of other tactics. Heavy classical, singing, a beat that you can rock out to without losing the music itself...
I think the travelling one summarized it well. Each region's music theme was taken inspired by the culture they referenced it from. Not only that, but each place has its own soundtracks too. I'd say the music was one of the top 4 factors why the game made it this big imo. I was pretty much pleased especially in the early year i played the game, just strolling around exploring places, enjoying the ambience with the music playing and sfx of walking on grass was so amazing. The music made it so immersive and led players to have some sort of attachment to either places or characters. Sometimes i'd just go to my fav place and enjoy the music while looting some items lol.
Great video! Love your analysis!
The concert you watched was a different one from the one that you mentioned played around the world.
The official Shanghai performace that was part of the world live performances was uploaded to Genshin's RUclips channel the week before this one that you listened to.
Well for a more diverse and definetly where most of the good stuff is at is through the 2023 shanghai orchestral concert.
I feel like you and MarcoMeatball would really enjoy talking about classical music and how the tradition lives on video game OSTs!
free game, free music!
There's definitely some rock inspired video game music out there you could check out, to keep in theme with the channel.
Genshin impact music is quite unique with may different influences and traditional instruments
Great video.❤️❤️❤️
Sooo many awesome Pokemon songs and their different versions... Can' t wait to see what else comes up from this game angle though :)
Thank you for the lovely video and analysis!
I like the note about the Organ melody being very singable. To me, it feels like it traces back to that 'primordial' wind that humanity first mastered: the breath or voice. Which I think is fitting for a hymn dedicated to a god of wind.
Regarding 24:50 I do have a story about how this game in particular has helped me in that way, though it is a touch personal. My father had just passed away and it had fallen onto me to pick up the pieces and provide for my mother and siblings even though I was only just completing my college thesis, and despite the grief I was feeling because I'm the eldest son.
It was around that time that a new story quest centered around a certain character was released, and it involved helping her find closure as she was mourning the tragic death of her dear sister. Experiencing the quest provided a form of healing perhaps, or maybe just catharsis. Either way, it did help me bring myself back together, and it's one of the reasons why I'm confident in saying that the game has value beyond being just a distraction.
While the technology might restrict what composers could do early in the medium, you can find great compositions since the mid 80s, some of my fav comes from Xenogears composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and YU-NO by Ryu Umemoto, what I find interesting about game music is that can be very eclectic, alot of times very different from your more commercial songs or even classical ones. Not mention that because most early game music was made with sample instruments or even just especific sounds available in what soundchip they could use, it has a different flavour to it