OCTOPATH TRAVELER Q&A: Part 1

Thank you for sticking with me throughout the entire OT2 music analysis series. The end is finally in sight.

Because I wrote all the analysis posts in this series from my perspective as composer, I realized that there might be some things people wanted to know that I didn’t cover. If so, I thought, I’d like to follow up as best I can. So I put out a call for questions on Twitter, and I’d like to answer those questions here. For various reasons that shall go non-disclosed, I might not be able to take up every question, so I humbly request your understanding in advance there.

Q: I have a question about OT2. How do you handle inspiration and choice of instrumentation? Also, do you know if the OST will be available on Spotify or other streaming services?

A: Basically, I just read through the materials I have until inspiration strikes or a musical idea occurs to me, then sketch out those ideas on the keyboard. I’m actually the type of composer who draws a total blank if I’m ordered to start from nothing at all, so I envisage the work as searching for the sounds that the narrative needs with the characters and worldbuilding as my guide, sort of like hunting for jigsaw puzzle pieces and assembling them into a whole. In that sense, I always get a lot of help, haha!

As for making the OST available on streaming services, I understand that there are no plans to do so at present. The timing [of any move to change that] would be decided by Square Enix, so I can’t offer any insight. Sorry. m_ _m

Q: 1. Who is the male vocalist in the second battle with Vide? He wasn’t listed in the booklet, which made me curious. I imagine that female vocals would generally be better received, so did you intentionally choose male vocals for the contrast with OT1?

A: The vocalist is Toshiaki Murakami. I’m pretty sure he actually is in the booklet! 👌

I don’t think it’s cool to give away too much of the unspoken lore, but the idea is that the vocals match the gender of the person who brought back the being in question: Lyblac in OT1 and Kazan in OT2.

Q: There are even more tracks in OT2 than the previous game. I have to know—how long does it take you to write each one? I assume it depends on the track, but I’d love to know what the longest and shortest times involved are. ♪

A: The shortest would probably be one or two hours, for jingles and things, haha! Personally, while I don’t think it’s especially important how fast a composer works (ultimately, what matters is quality), I would say that each track takes me two or three days. Sometimes I maintain a piece-per-day pace, but battle tracks can take up to a week, and I might spend a fortnight or even a month on a main theme!

Q. Do you have a particular song you think of as a masterpiece you’d like to pat yourself on the back for? If so, can you explain the reasons or events behind this?

A. That’s a tough one, haha! I tend to be a pretty intense self-Googler, and when I find people talking about how they sat down and savored the main theme over the game’s title screen, I feel truly happy that I wrote that music. It was a long, involved compositional process with plenty of twists and turns, but if the players enjoy it, those are good memories too, haha!

Q: Are there any songs that you think could be arranged for vocals for live performance, or would be interesting if arranged that way?

A: I’ve been wanting to add vocals to my arrangements for a long time, and the field music in OT2 is the result! Outside of that, I do have ambitions to include more vocal battle pieces.

Q: I love the seamless transitions from the character motifs to the boss battle music. Are there any combinations you’re particularly happy with?

A: With Hikari, the Battle Extend music is in that category, but I also like how all the set pieces leading up to his boss battles are presented—the battle with Rai Mei, the battle with Mugen and so on. In terms of Battle Extend music, I’m also partial to Partitio’s. 👌

Q: Were you given a specific order to create the eight travelers’ themes in? For example, on the soundtrack, the travelers are ordered so that the first letters of their name spell out “OCTOPATH,” so maybe you composed them in that order? I suspect maybe you composed Agnea’s theme first—what do you say? (Because I think the first would be the easiest to compose.)

A: There probably isn’t any particular order. If pressed, I’d say that I composed the themes in parallel, in an order that made it easy to differentiate each traveler’s music. As you say, Agnea and Hikari’s themes are easy to distinguish from the others, but I remember struggling quite a bit with the themes for Throné and Osvald.

Q: Are there any secrets along the lines of “Actually, this bit in this song is an homage to that bit of that song”? When I heard the way the B melody of the Wildlands field music echoes the B melody/refrain of “Battle at Journey’s End” in OT1, I got goosebumps.

A: That actually was pointed out to me during production, but I’m sorry to say that it wasn’t intentional. The two pieces just happened to come out similar, haha! I sincerely apologize if this undercuts your emotional reaction. 🙏

As I wrote in the relevant analysis posts, the battle music as a whole is an homage to the previous game! 👌

To be continued next time! (I plan to do three Q&A posts in all.)

Translation: Matt Treyvaud