Legend of Legaia - Intermission - The Beats of Legaia

 I wanna do something a little bit different here.  I feel like I’ve neglected talking about something in Legaia.  If you’ve read the title, you probably know what I’m talking about.  I am of course talking about the music in the game.

My problem with talking about the music is I will either give a generic “it sounds good” comment, which does not do the soundtrack justice, or I will make an indepth analysis of the music, breaking down what makes it so good, which would probably bloat the part if I did that.  No in-betweens.  But since I’ve got this intermission part all by itself to discuss the music, why don’t we do a little analysis of that?  I won’t do this for every track, but I’ll pick a handful of tracks that I’ll go over.

Overworld theme

 

 

The overworld music opens with a choir singing a held note, accompanied by the thud of a bass drum.  It immediately sets the tone of the vast, bleak world that lies before you.  A world where civilization has been ravaged by the mist.  A sleigh bell can be heard along with other percussions.  To me, these sleigh bells evoke a more traditional feel to the music, as if the world has been handed back to the wild creatures from the lack of civilization.

The melody is then heard from a wind instrument, though there is something interesting about the composition itself: the focal key in this piece is D, but as the listener, we have yet to figure out if it’s going to be a major key or minor.  With the choir being ambiguous on this matter, we would expect the main melody to fill satiate that curiosity, but we are yet not even given that.  The melody dances around the note we need to confirm our thoughts (either an F or F sharp), but never actually plays it.  The listener is left in suspension throughout this this first theme.  You could argue that the melody playing a C natural implies a minor mode, but the fact that we have no solid confirmation is what causes this suspense.

Granted, we do get to hear the melody play an F, but at that point, the F does not serve as the confirmation of a minor mode, but rather as a passing note to a key change.  The melody plays something similar, but now rooted on the key of G.  Discerning the harmony is more confusing at this point, as the choir is singing a C, gradually moving to a D.  Where is this going, you may ask?

The melody repeats itself back to the home key, and we get a reprise of what we just listened to.  So, how does this ambiguous melody translate to the theme of the overworld?  If you ask me, it create this mystique around the world.  You have no idea what the world has in store for our heroes.  And the mist only adds to that mystique, in more ways than one.

After listening to the key change to G for a second time, it seems like the melody is going to loop back again, but we hear something new.  The key returns to G, and what’s more: we hear a full G major chord!  Finally, we have closure on the matter.  Despite all the dangers and treacheries you will encounter in the world, there will always be a light for our heroes to follow.  That light being the Genesis Tree.  And man, is it represented as such here.  The melody climbs up and soars over the major chords, until eventually falling back down.  Coincidentally, the chords also return back to its ambiguous nature.

We are then greeted with a new subject, played by strings, playing in the key of B flat (VI of D).  A new percussion sound accompanies the sea of strings (tom drums I believe?  I’ve studied music, but I’m never too sure about exact names of percussion instruments).  I recommend listening to this part on headphones; the drums travel from one ear to the other.  The strings stay in the B flat chord throughout this section, until it eventually resolves to the ambiguous D chord we have heard at the beginning, looping the music seamlessly.

Battle theme

 

Next, let’s talk about the two battle themes in this game.  Some of you may be thinking: “Wait, there are 2 regular battle themes?  I thought there was just one!”  And I wouldn’t blame you – both of these battle themes sound very similar to each other!  However, there are key differences between each version that also play into the game as well.

Let’s start with the first one.  This battle theme plays whenever you’re not in a mist-infested area.  Percussion plays an integral role in this battle theme, as we are immediately hit by a series of drums.  We hear an orchestral hit on C a couple of times, followed by a melody on the piano.  The piano plays its notes staccato, giving the battle theme more punch to it.  The orchestra joins in with the melody here and there, but as far as instrumentation goes, the piano and drums are the main stars here.  Also, that piano melody?  Try to remember it as we discuss the variation of this battle theme.

The second battle theme plays when you’re in an area covered in mist.  Both versions are very similar in compositions and ideas, but by comparing the 2, you’re going to quickly find some differences in this version.  Immediately, you may notice the percussion has added a new drum sound, something higher pitched.  The drums are no longer restricted to the lower timbre; it’s much more encompassing this time around.  Remember how I talked about the piano melody?  Listen to it now.  You’ll notice that the melody gets interrupted by the drums.  The melody becomes more sporadic in this variation, and I feel this signifies the imminent danger of fighting in the mist.  It’s as if the piano melody is being covered by the mist, and replaced with the primal drumbeats of survival.

Another technique used by the composer here (in both battle themes) is the lack of drums in some sections.  In some parts of the battle music, the drums will cut away, and we’re left with the piano and some occasional percussion rustling.  You immediately recognize that the drums are left out because of how prevalent they are through the music.  This creates a feeling of anticipation, awaiting the drums to come back.

 

Boss theme

 

Since we’re in the theme of battle themes, let’s listen to the boss theme.  I’ve mentioned before that the bosses in this game have this sense of dread, and it’s not just from the difficult time I had with the bosses.  The music plays a great role in this as well.  The music opens with what sounds like plucked strings playing a chromatic passage – a G, followed by a minor third up, then back down chromatically.  This short passage is repeated over and over, and continues throughout most of the entire piece.  This repeated passage is what invokes the dread in this music.

This is followed by the melody by the strings, accompanied by drums.  The drums add to the tense nature of the music.  The melody is also a bit chromatic as well – from an octave leap to a semitone down, it creates a dissonance from its own key along with the repeated theme as well.  Later, the focal key changes from a D to a B-flat, as we hear the strings rise up in melody, while quickly switching back to D.  At its peak, the strings play a C sharp, in conflict with the underlying passage’s G.  The brass take over briefly with an augmented chord, only building tension from here.

The strings come back with a rising melody.  It starts with a b minor chord, then rises up to a d minor.  And, as if the tension could be held any longer, the strings and brass play an explosive diminished chord in unison.  What follows is what appears to sound like some kind of bell, droning in the low register.  The repeated chromatic passage picks up again, as if returning to the “knot in your gut” status quo.

Dungeon theme (jeremi tower)

Legaia’s music can invoke a lot of dread and unease, as demonstrated by the boss theme.  But another music I’d argue makes this dread feeling even worse is in this dungeon theme.  Like the boss theme, this dungeon theme has a recurring motif.  This time: it’s a piano alternating between two chords: g minor, and what appears to sound like an E flat major with an added F (VI-9?).  Some strings can also be heard underneath these chords as well.  And that’s it; it persists through the music, never deviating from its half-note rhythm.

Eventually, you’ll hear a theme from a marimba.  But it comes so softly that you initially wouldn’t recognize it.  It sneaks up on the listener, seemingly coming out of nowhere.  But this passage the marimba plays does not take over the persisting piano chords, but instead it serves as an accompaniment to it.  The marimba passage simply dances around the piano, then fades off.  A pan flute could be heard soon after, as if it’s a rustling in the wind.

The passages repeat, and after the second time, we are immediately hit with a choir with a rising passage, seemingly overtaking the piano chords.  The choir is accompanied by strings and the sound of drums.  While our ears are drawn attention to this new voice, the rhythm established by the piano continues its presence, even more so thanks to the drums.  This everlasting motif represents the long lasting presence of the mist, and the evil it produces.  The interesting part about when the choir kicks in is that it introduces a key change, a dramatic change from the repetitive piano part.  But as the choir’s part falls in pitch, it soon returns back to the g minor we’re familiar with.  The choir ends on an A, creating dissonance with the piano’s chords.

 

Genesis Tree restored theme

 

I’ve been talking about a lot of moody and tense tracks, so why not end this discussion with a more uplifting one?  The dark and tense elements can become overbearing if not balanced with something lighter.  Let’s talk about the theme that plays when the Genesis Tree is restored.

We are immediately greeted with a choir singing with an organ accompanying the voice.  The voice sings within the A7-major chord, while the organ plays a broken chord, eventually moving to a D-major chord – a V-I perfect cadence.  They both modulate to an F-major chord, then resolving to a C-major chord – a IV-I plagal cadence, a common cadence associated with hymns.  But here, the voice rises to a D, making a conflict with the C chord, but resolving to a leap to G.

Then, something unexpected happens – the voiced drops to a D, and we’re introduced to a completely different key from before, as it resolves to an F-minor.  With the F chord playing, the voice leaps up to a G, another dissonance to the organ.  We’re given tension as the voice and organ clash with each other, but they resolve with a G major chord from the organ, as the voice rises to a D, harmonizing with the G chord.  The voice slowly drops to a B, with an interesting C# passing tone.  The interesting thing about this C# is that the organ chord moves with it as well, playing an A-major chord.  They eventually resolve back to a D major chord – another plagal cadence.

The instrumentation choice here clearly relates to a more church-like music.  The uplifting tone this music evokes pushes the oppressive evil away, just like how the Genesis Tree pushes away the mist.

 

 

And, I think that’s about what I want to talk about with the music for now.  There are so much other tracks I wanna talk about, but I think I’ve got most of what I wanna say out of my system, and if you’re interested in checking out the music, please take a listen.  But next time: we’ll get back to our usual playthrough!