Achiyo’s theme songs are Bibliophobia (for in-game tracks) and The Legend of Ashitaka (for out-of-game tracks). They maybe don’t fit the asskicking that happens in this chapter, but I thought it was worth a reminder. : )
As a pipe organist myself, the Vault’s soundtrack made me nearly cry with happiness when I first heard it because it’s so beautifully Baroque (I was seriously freaking out musicgasming all over the place haha). A videogame piece for organ that treats it seriously and not just a trope for “intellectual bad guy”! I mean, it doesn’t even sound specifically like videogame music, and I think that’s one of the great things about it. It sounds like heavy Buxtehude, tbh. IT’S SO SPARKLY. I really want the sheet music. I tried transcribing it myself but there’s so much reverb it’s really hard to hear a lot of the individual mid-range notes. Though it’s also so cool how when you go to higher floors of the Vault you hear less and less of it, just the bassy pedal notes that would naturally carry farther, it’s a great detail, I love it. I also appreciate how Soken weaves the organ into random other soundtracks (and bagpipes, my other favourite niche instrument, though I don’t play that) purely for the timbre.
And then I cried with sadness, obviously. Continue reading