OCTOPATH TRAVELER Q&A: Part 3

Q: I would like to know more about your process between deciding on themes through to composition and arrangement. For example, what software do you use, and which parts do you work on first? Also, which pieces on the new soundtrack had the most arduous creation process?

A: The software I use is Cubase. Generally, I write a sketch on piano, work on that until I have a complete structural outline, and then flesh it out with an arrangement. If the piece doesn’t work at the piano solo stage, it’s easy to go back and try again, and if the melody isn’t very appealing at that stage, it will usually be rejected after given an arrangement too!

The hardest pieces to write for this game were the battle tracks, I think. 🤔 Battle music has a true profundity to it which is very challenging.

Q: Temenos’s theme → This piece received a thorough analysis, but since Temenos is my favorite character, if there are any other behind-the-scenes stories you could share, or if you were considering any other options for the piece’s overall feel, I would love to hear more!

A: I wasn’t sure if I had any stories like that, so I dug through my old files, and ended up unearthing a demo that was even more detective-y, haha! It was a little over the top, and I also wanted to give the music that aloof feel—that sense of trying to look into someone’s soul and being nimbly sidestepped—and the result was the version on the soundtrack.

Q: Vide, the Wicked → I like Kazan too, and I like the choral vocals in the battle with Vide because they sound so much like Kazan’s voice. The analysis for this piece is still to come, so you may be planning to discuss this then, but did you consciously compose the piece and choose vocalists with resemblance to Kazan’s voice actor in mind?

A: As I mentioned in the Q&A the other day, Kazan is the reason the vocals are male. However, I wasn’t particularly intent on matching his voice. I simply chose the singer whose voice worked best for the song from the list of candidates I received.

Q: There must be times that you are unable to think of a melody or otherwise get stuck while composing. How do you deal with the problem when this happens?

A: Well, I’m basically never able to think of a melody and constantly stuck, haha! Even in those cases, though I have to push on, so I simply force myself to work through it. It’s something that kind of comes when it comes, so the answer is probably what you can achieve by doing your best at each individual moment.

Q: Were there any tracks or scenes that you found worked even better than you imagined when you experienced them in-game?

A: All of the scenario boss battles blew me away when I saw them in-game. It made me very glad that I’d created versions for each character theme.

Q: The character theme melodies seem more prominent in the Battle Extend music for OT2 than they were in OT1. Was this intentional?

A: That’s a great question! During OT1, I was still feeling out what the Battle Extend system could do, so I tried to ensure that the music could transition from any point by excluding melodies as much as possible. I learned more about how to use the system during Champions of the Continent, and now I am at the point where I recognize that even if certain transitions might feel slightly forced, this can actually help heighten the excitement leading up to the battle.

Q: When writing the music for OT2, how often did you find yourself unthinkingly reaching for phrases from games you were involved in previously? You mentioned this in your analysis of “Normal Battle II,” and I was curious to know more!

A: This is actually a problem for me—if I let my guard down even a little, I’m constantly coming up with very similar musical ideas, haha! I’ve written quite a few battle themes in particular, especially if you include Champions of the Continent, and to be honest I’m at a bit of a loss now because I used up all my creative reserves!

Q: In [your analysis of] “Discord” in the previous game, you wrote, “Repeating the same phrase creates a sense of being unable to move forward—of hitting the wall.” I’d like to know more about methods for arranging instruments according to feeling or atmosphere, or thinking about characteristics of phrases or the structure of the whole piece!

A: I think of it like a puzzle, I suppose. When there’s a particular emotion you want to express, there are multiple possible solutions, so the idea is to figure out which piece fits best.

For example, suppose you’ve come up with a phrase. Will you repeat it? Develop it? Perhaps introduce a completely different phrase? Let the phrase ring out behind a different melody? Disguise it with other ideas? This kind of logical analysis at times when you can’t decide what to do is surprisingly helpful for revealing where the unused pieces are.

Q: OCTOPATH TRAVELER has almost no pieces with irregular or changing time signatures. My impression is that irregular time signatures were common in RPGs of the Super Nintendo era; do you intentionally avoid them? If there is a reason you don’t use them in OCTOPATH TRAVELER, why is that?

A: I do use quite a few in Champions of the Continent, but when there’s no point in using rhythms like this, I basically don’t. I like music in irregular time signatures, and sometimes compose it myself, but I believe that technique should serve expression, and I simply never felt that time signatures like this were needed in the OCTOPATH TRAVELER music!

That concludes the Q&A section! Everyone’s questions were so sharp that I had a great time answering them. Thank you all very much.

My next post will be the very last in the series!

Translation: Matt Treyvaud