RPGFan's Rhythm Encounter

Have you ever wanted an inside look at what it's like to write covers from classics like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI, perform, and run a stream/YouTube channel? Then this episode is for you. It's another special interview episode here on Rhythm Encounter, and we're fortunate to be joined by talented pianist, streamer, and arranger Kara Comparetto! She joined us to discuss her work and performance-driven RPG music in general, from costume-making to learning the subtle differences in playing piano, pipe organ, and harpsichord (including recording yourself doing different parts of the same song to fit them together beautifully). And, of course, we have some of her tracks to listen to and discuss!

Featuring: Hilary Andreff, Patrick Gann, with special guest Kara Comparetto; Edited by Jono Logan

Links for this episode
This episode's links are all about Kara. Find her on:

• KaraComparettomusic.com
• YouTube
• Twitch
• Apple Music
• Spotify
• Instagram

Tracklist
0:08:51 - Dancing Mad (Nobuo Uematsu, arr/perf. Kara Comparetto) - Final Fantasy VI
0:37:52 - Chrono Trigger (Yasunori Mitsuda, arr/perf. Kara Comparetto) - Chrono Trigger
1:06:37 - Kara's Bonus Track: Peaceful Days (Yasunori Mitsuda, arr/per. Kara Comparetto) - Chrono Trigger

Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.

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A podcast appears! Fight? Spell? Parry? Item? JAM.

The music of Dragon Quest, largely composed by the late Koichi Sugiyama, combines a classical sensibility with a flair for the dramatic, with tracks ranging from serene world map tunes to pop-inspired tracks for naming your hero. And let's not forget the timeless fanfare, one of the most recognizable themes in RPGs. Today, four intrepid would-be heroes gathered at Ruida's tavern to discuss the music of Dragon Quest, eager to celebrate the music of the first Japanese RPG series.

Featuring: Michael Sollosi, Audra Bowling, Gio Castillo, Mario Garcia; Edited by Jono Logan

Tracklist
Part 1 - “Angels, Demons, and Dragons, oh my!”
0:10:02 - Light through the Leaves of Love [Symphonic] (Koichi Sugiyama) - Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition
0:12:11 - Audra - Protectors of the Starry Sky (Koichi Sugiyama) - Dragon Quest IX OST

Part 2 - “Do Dragons Dream of Electric Slimes?”
0:31:01 - Happy Humming (Koichi Sugiyama) - Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
0:33:47 - Battle for the Glory (Koichi Sugiyama) - Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen DS OST

Part 3 - “Dragon Quest III’s Company”
0:49:13 - Adventure (Koichi Sugiyama) - Dragon Quest III Symphonic Suite (2005 Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra version)
0:52:28 - Town (Night) (Koichi Sugiyama) - Dragon Quest III

Part 4 - “Dragon Quest: Origins”
1:10:13 - Only Lonely Boy (Koichi Sugiyama) - Suite Dragon Quest II (1987 Tokyo Strings Ensemble version)
1:13:29 - Town of Alefgard (Koichi Sugiyama) - Dragon Quest (Game Boy Color)
1:34:26 - Gio’s bonus track!

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It's time to get down! In this panel, the Rhythm crew has selected some favorite jazz and funk tracks in RPGs. Not styles of music that first come to mind when thinking of RPGs, and indeed, that's part of their charm and effect! How have game composers and arrangers adopted these styles while arranging or used them to build on the game itself? We consider those questions while listening to some excellent and catchy music. Join us as we add some creativity, improvisation, and fun to our RPG music intake. Even Motoi Sakuraba is getting on this, so we hope you will too and enjoy the range of songs we have for you today!

Featuring: Hilary Andreff, Gio Castillo, Michael Sollosi; Edited by Jono Logan

Links for this episode

• The 8-bit Big Band Official Website
• YouTube: The 8-Bit Big Band's Pollyanna Video
• Retro Encounter 336: Tales of Xillia Part I
• Retro Encounter 337: Tales of Xillia Part II

Tracklist
0:08:39 - Tifa's Theme Jazz Arrangement (Eijiro Nakagawa) - Square Enix Jazz Final Fantasy VII (also Final Fantasy VII Remake)
0:15:14 - Glass in One Hand (Satoshi Okubo) - Last Window: The Secret of Cape West
0:31:27 - HAIA (D.T.Construction) - moon
0:36:27 - Pollyanna (I Believe In You) (Keiichi Suzuki, arr. 8-Bit Big Band) - Mother series
0:57:17 - Rydia (Nobuo Uematsu arr. Sean Schafianski) - Final Fantasy IV Jazz Arrange Version
0:59:35 - A City of Another Civilization (Motoi Sakuraba) - Tales of Xillia OST
1:17:33 - Sophisticated Fight (Wataru Ishibashi, arr. Noriyuki Kamikura) - The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC (from Sora no Kiseki Zanmai)
1:21:55 - Last Surprise (Shoji Meguro) - Persona 5 OST
1:25:48 - Be the Star!! (Chihiro Aoki) - Yakuza 5 OST
1:55:34 - Sollosi's Bonus Track!

Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.

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What defines a musical game? Videogames, and RPGs especially, are known for using a musical score to enhance the experience, so what parameters really define "musical games" and make their use of music especially notable? Today, our Rhythm panel is going on a journey to look at a wide variety of music that we feel fits into this category to tease out some of those important factors that mark a truly musical game. A game probably doesn't have to take place in the mind of an ailing composer from our reality and include many facts about his life to be considered a musical game, but it also doesn't hurt. We also consider musical gameplay elements, games with musician characters, and interactive music in games.

Featuring: Hilary Andreff, Patrick Gann, Wes Iliff, Jono Logan; Edited by Jono Logan

Links for this episode

• YouTube: EXEC_PAJA/.#Orica extracting (Ar tonelico) - English lyrics
• YouTube: Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore - Dream☆Catcher music video

Tracklist
0:11:37 - A Pirate I Was Meant to Be (Michael Land) - The Curse of Monkey Island
0:16:08 - The Overture 2 (Pytor Illyich Tchaikovsky) - LOOM: Game Soundtrack
0:39:57 - Difficult Love Puzzle (Tenpei Sato, vocal Kaoru Fujino) - Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure
0:44:40 - Dream☆Catcher (KOH) - Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE
1:00:32 - Train Train (Lynda Carter, John Jarvis & Kerry Marx) - Fallout 4
1:02:42 - Setting Sail, Coming Home (Darren Korb) - Bastion
1:24:06 - Your truth is my false (Motoi Sakuraba) - Eternal Sonata
1:27:16 - EXEC_PAJA/.#Orica (comp/arr/vocal Akiko Shikata) - Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia
2:00:16 - Pat's Bonus Track!

Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.

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We interrupt the expected "Musical RPGs" episode with a quick listen to some recent music, just as we did earlier in the year with episode 101. With new Zelda and Final Fantasy XIV music that came our way in May, Mike had to share those. But there's several other notable indie projects to share too, so enjoy what we're listening to, and let us know what's been in your ears lately!

Featuring: Mike Salbato, Hilary Andreff; Edited by Jono Logan

Links for this episode

• Retro Encounter 183 - Ys: The Oath in Felghana Part I | RPGFan
• Retro Encounter 184 - Ys: The Oath in Felghana Part II | RPGFan
• Zack Parrish on Bandcamp

Tracklist
0:03:10 - Set the Stage on Fire (The Stage Is Set)(Nobuo Uematsu, arr. by Zack Parrish) - Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora
0:07:29 - Stargazing (Andrew Jeremy) - Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly OST
0:26:24 - Water Dungeon (Maybe Toru Minegishi) - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
0:41:08 - Trading Town of Redmont (Ys III: Wanderers from Ys) (Falcom Sound Team jdk, arr. GENTLE LOVE) - Prescription for Sleep: Game Music Lullabies Volume III
1:03:55 - Mysterious Place (Deniz Akbulut, arr. by Takahiro Eguchi) - CrossCode ~ The Ultimate Arrange
1:06:55 - Golbez Theme (Nobuo Uematsu, arr. by Masayoshi Soken?) - Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.4: The Dark Throne

Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.

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Welcome to our long-awaited followup to 2014's Theme Park episode! Episode 21 of Rhythm Encounter was all about character themes, and we knew it was time to do this topic again, because there has been no shortage of characters with their own themes in RPGs since then. We've got Dragon Quest, Dragon Age, and even games without dragons in their names, like The Legend of Heroes, Deltarune, and more!

Featuring: Mike Salbato, Gio Castillo, Audra Bowling, Greg Delmage; Edited by Jono Logan

Links for this episode

• Noriko Matsueda - Within Living Memory... (What's His Name Remake)
• Within Living Memory...
• Rhythm Encounter 21 - Theme Park
• Rhythm Encounter 72 - Game Music Concerts
• Final Fantasy X But it's Steamed Hams (Animated Parody)

Tracklist
0:07:49 - Spamton (Toby Fox) - Deltarune Chapter 2
0:08:30 - Sera (Rayne Shockney, Elizaveta Stoubis, Nick Stoubis) - Dragon Age: Inquisition -The Bard Songs-
0:22:30 - Within Living Memory (or Kalen or Karen) (Noriko Matsueda) - What's His Name (Front Mission)
0:27:19 - Elle’s Theme (Miyoko Kobayashi & Masanori Hikichi, arr. Martin Denk) - Terranigma Unofficial Soundtrack
0:49:24 - Fight With Seymour (Nobuo Uematsu) - The Black Mages (Final Fantasy X)
0:54:28 - The Girl Who Stole the Stars (Yasunori Mitsuda, arr. Sam Griffin) - Our Cerulean Skies (Chrono Cross)
1:16:17 - The Tomboy Princess' March (Koichi Sugiyama) - Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
1:17:57 - Grimcats the Phantom Thief {”I’m Grimcats!”} (Original Composer: Yukihiro Jindo, Arrangement: Mitsuo Singa, Performance: jdk BAND) - The Legend of Heroes: Kuro no Kiseki Super Ultimate
1:43:54 - Greg's Bonus Track!

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Whether you know him from his legendary work on Final Fantasy Tactics or elsewhere, odds are you at least know composer Hitoshi Sakimoto's name. And while he often gets talked about for his work in those Ivalice titles like FFT, Final Fantasy XII, and Vagrant Story, Sakimoto has worked on a fascinating variety of game soundtracks, dating back to 1988!

As fascinating as it is that he worked on music for Radiant Silvergun and Gradius V, today we are, of course, discussing Sakimoto's music in RPGs, including four new-to-Rhythm Encounter game debuts. There are sure to be some surprises, but there's only one way to know for sure — find out!

Featuring: Mike Salbato, Hilary Andreff, Audra Bowling, Greg Delmage; Edited by Jono Logan

Links for this episode

• Hitoshi Sakimoto on VGMdb
• Rhythm Encounter 5 - Ormond Alliance | RPGFan
• Rhythm Encounter 40 - Back to School | RPGFan
• Rhythm Encounter 71 - Press Start: Title Screen Music | RPGFan
• Retro Encounter 283 - Crimson Shroud | RPGFan

Tracklist & Order
0:16:05 - Brand Logo ~ Title Back (Hitoshi Sakimoto) - Final Fantasy Tactics OST
0:17:12 - Dawn on Leá Monde - Vagrant Story (Hitoshi Sakimoto) - Vagrant Story OST
0:36:56 - Revolt (Hitoshi Sakimoto) - Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber OST
0:40:10 - Limitation (Hitoshi Sakimoto) - Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together OST
1:06:37 - A World Where Magic Never Was (Hitoshi Sakimoto) - Crimson Shroud OST
1:09:15 - The Middle Layer Area (Hitoshi Sakimoto) - Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter OST
1:34:55 - The Ones Who Obtain Tomorrow (Hitoshi Sakimoto) - Legaia 2: Duel Saga OST
1:37:21 - Brat Overflow -Branched- (Hitoshi Sakimoto) - 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim Remix & Arrange Album -The Branched-
2:03:50 - Hilary's Bonus Track!

Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.

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At Rhythm Encounter, we've created episodes around seasons in the past — Episode 6 was about summer, while Episode 23, Winter Warmer, was popular enough that we revisited winter in Episode 59. And yet, we've somehow never had episodes about spring or fall/autumn. Well, today we address one of those missing seasons, with four panelists and eight songs about springtime! Or rather, songs that we feel have a "spring feel," and in some cases, what some people who have never experienced "spring" imagine what its soundtrack should be. Our cast turned out to approach this fun topic from more directions than we knew going in, and it made for some great discussion about wonderful RPG music.

Featuring: Mike Salbato, Gio Castillo, Audra Bowling, Tin Manuel; Edited by Jono Logan

Links for this episode

• Bambi - Little April Shower

Tracklist
0:09:14 - Dawn of Mana - opening theme (Ryuichi Sakamoto) - Dawn of Mana OST
0:14:06 - Rainbow Butterfly Woods (Tomohito Nishiura) - Dark Cloud 2 OST
0:34:42 - Gazing Over the Great Plain (Yasunori Nishiki) - Octopath Traveler OST
0:38:00 - The Plain and the Sky ~Citro Plain BGM~ (Yoshino Aoki, Norikazu Miura, Masaharu Iwata, Kaori Komuro and Hiroaki Tomuno) - Suikoden Tierkreis OST
0:51:15 - A Moment of Calm (Genso Suikoden Music Team) - Suikoden V OST
0:54:18 - Spring (Wild Horseradish Jam) (ConcernedApe) - Stardew Valley OST
1:15:36 - Have You Ever Seen Me? (Nobuo Uematsu; arr. Yuichiro Goto, based on “Tozas, The Dwarves’ Village” from FFIII) - Final Fantasy Vocal Collections II “Love Will Grow”
1:18:20 - Breeze With U (Barry "Epoch" Topping) - Paradise Killer OST
1:38:51 - Tin's Bonus Track!

Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.

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In preparation for April Fool's Day, someone at RPGFan suggested we finally tackle a long-standing idea: a joke episode that features only chocobo music from Final Fantasy. We loved the idea, but then a funny thing happened — a perfectly normal episode celebrating Nobuo Uematsu's iconic theme and its many, many iterations over the years. The idea was funny, but we love this little ditty too much for our praise to be anything but sincere. So gas up your chocobo with some greens and let's go!

Featuring: Mike Salbato, Jono Logan, Patrick Gann, Ben Schuster; Edited by Jono Logan

Links for this episode

• Compi de Chocobo Music Review | RPGFan
• The History of Final Fantasy Music | RPGFan
• Kara Comparetto: Chocobo Medley (in Costume!) from Final Fantasy
• BRA★BRA FINAL FANTASY BRASS de BRAVO (Official YouTube Playlist)
• BRA★BRA FINAL FANTASY BRASS de BRAVO 3 (Official YouTube Playlist)
• BRA★BRA FINAL FANTASY VII BRASS de BRAVO (Official YouTube Playlist)

Tracklist
Origins de Chocobo
0:06:22 - Jono - Chocobo Theme (Nobuo Uematsu) - Final Fantasy II
0:06:57 - Jono - Chocobo-Chocobo (Nobuo Uematsu) - Final Fantasy IV

Whiplash de Chocobo
0:26:14 - Pat - Crazy Chocobo (arr&perf Shootie HG) - Final Fantasy XIII-2
0:28:06 - Pat - Cinco de Chocobo (arr Shiro Hamaguchi, perf Seiji Honda) - Piano Collections Final Fantasy VII

Bop de Chocobo
0:53:31 - Mike - Mambo de Chocobo (Nobuo Uematsu, arr. Yasumasa Sato, performed by the Siena Wind Orchestra) - BRA★BRA FINAL FANTASY BRASS de BRAVO 2 (and FFV)
0:56:45 - Ben - Pulse de Chocobo (Masashi Hamauzu) - Final Fantasy XIII

Chill de Chocobo
1:17:48 - Mike - Bluesy Chocobo (Nobuo Uematsu, arr. Naoshi Mizuta & Masashi Kimura) - Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
1:22:18 - Ben - Rodeo de Chocobo (Yoko Shimomura) - Final Fantasy XV

1:53:14 - Mike's Bonus Track!

Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.

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There is nothing quite as exciting as having a composer as a guest on Rhythm Encounter. After offering much praise for Chained Echoes and its soundtrack, we wanted to get to know up-and-comer Eddie Marianukroh, the composer of said game. In today’s episode of Rhythm Encounter, we talk to Eddie regarding his work as a composer, and ask him to share some game music that matters to him. In contrast, co-hosts Patrick Gann and Greg Delmage share two of their favorite Chained Echoes tunes and get some behind-the-scenes factoids from Eddie regarding these tracks and more!

Featuring: Patrick Gann, Greg Delmage, with special guest Eddie Marianukroh; Edited by Jono Logan

Links for this episode

• Eddie Marianukroh's website
• Our Chained Echoes game review
• Interview with Matthias Linda on Chained Echoes

Tracklist
0:10:54 - A World Betwixt (Yasunori Mitsuda, arr. John Paul Hayward) - Cross Symphonic: A Symphonic Tribute to "Chrono Cross"
0:14:50 - Flower Fields of Perpetua (Eddie Marianukroh) - Chained Echoes
0:56:12 - Trisection (Hitoshi Sakimoto, arr. Ruby “PurpleSchala” Toung) - Final Fantasy Tactics Piano Collections Vol.1
0:58:57 - Standing Tall (The Mountains of Kortara) (Eddie Marianukroh) - Chained Echoes
1:42:55 - Eddie’s Bonus Track!
1:44:59 - Pat's Bonus Bonus Track - “Full Speed Ahead” (ZILF) - Chained Echoes' tortoise race

Album links for places to buy, stream, and more are available in our post on RPGFan.

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