{"id":419,"date":"2012-06-19T12:00:34","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T17:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stackofshame.com\/blog\/?p=419"},"modified":"2012-06-19T11:56:09","modified_gmt":"2012-06-19T16:56:09","slug":"final-fantasy-xiii-2-graviton-cores-music-as-a-crutch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stackofshame.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/final-fantasy-xiii-2-graviton-cores-music-as-a-crutch\/","title":{"rendered":"Final Fantasy XIII-2: Graviton Cores, Music as a Crutch"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve hit a point where I’m hunting for items called “Graviton Cores” to help with a plot-related task.1<\/a><\/sup> I’ve tracked down a couple of them, but the remaining ones are proving a little hard to find. Still, it’s giving me plenty of opportunity to level, collect monster crystals, etc. Which is another way of saying, “I’m doing one of my favorite things ever”.<\/p>\n

But this also puts me at risk of accidentally abandoning the game. I get very wrapped up in all the advancement, then I take a break (like, perhaps, a holiday trip). Then I don’t jump right back in, because I was in the middle of something in the game. And I never have the time to reacquaint myself with what I was doing, and next thing I know, I haven’t played it for 3 months.<\/p>\n

Still, I’m having fun and I’ll try to avoid this problem. That, after all, is the entire point of this blog<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Since there’s not much to talk about (yet) when it comes to leveling, I thought I’d write a little about the music in the game.<\/p>\n

I’m a big fan of\u00a0<\/em>the series’ music, especially the music composed by Nobuo Uematsu, which is most of it. I don’t think the music for this game was done by him, but it’s still pretty good. My only gripe with it is that many of the songs have vocals.<\/p>\n

I find the vocals to be horribly distracting. I’m not sure when vocals first started showing up in\u00a0Final Fantasy\u00a0<\/em>music. I think it was\u00a0X<\/em>, but I’m not sure. In\u00a0X, a song in one of the opening cinematic had death metal-style growling or barking. It wasn’t too bad there, though it was a little surprising.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0XIII-2<\/em>, though, there are several tracks with vocals. And some of these are played during regular exploration. I find it very distracting. I also find it less fun. I usually make up ridiculous lyrics in my head. While I was re-playing\u00a0Final Fantasy VII<\/em> a few years ago, my wife came up with lyrics for two songs: one to the game’s main theme about Mexican food, the other for the battle music about Rainbow Horseheads. Discussion of these will have to wait for a future posting. For now, take my word for it that they were\u00a0amazing<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Also, though, with vocals suddenly the songs become more concretely\u00a0about<\/em> something. And usually not something as interesting as the action going on onscreen. Moreover, now there’s another character of sorts to contend with \u2014 the vocalist.<\/p>\n

And yes, I have similar feelings about music used in other media. Overall it’s used too much, and when it is used, it’s used poorly. Music so saturates games, movies and television that it can be jarring and disconcerting when it’s not used \u2014 I recall a notable episode of\u00a0Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em> that used the lack of music to good effect. In games a lack of music is often used to incur feelings of discomfort in players.<\/p>\n

That’s always interesting, but it also highlights how much games, movies and television use music as a crutch. When used well, music can compliment some amazing storytelling. When the storytelling is weak, the viewer is left with emotional reactions to something that isn’t particularly compelling. That is, the music is serving as a cue \u2014 “Get goosebumps! This is an emotional moment!” \u2014 rather than letting the action speak for itself.<\/p>\n

This was parodied very well by SNL several years ago:<\/p>\n