![]() In the game, these songs blend in to one another, but on the Original Soundtrack, the tracks are rearranged so that each disc has a different concept. Especially with the Boss Battle, Director Yoko had requested that these would have a different impression from typical stage music, so I made a conscious effort to bring out the contrast in the sounds. Okabe: I mentioned this before when I was talking about working with multiple composers, but with Drakengard 3, I wanted the music to have a broad range of variation. Was that a conscious decision to change the tone of the music as it progressed? RPGFan: There’s a big stylistic shift between the first disc of the soundtrack album and the second. Once a rough version of a piece is made, we implement it into the actual game and double-check on the impression of the song, then I would tweak it or even remake the track if needs be, and repeat that process. Okabe: When I joined the creative process, the character designs and plot line were already established, so after having those shared to me, I asked Director Yoko about what his creative intention behind each scene were, or if he had any particular requests, and then I began writing the music. RPGFan: How closely did you work with the development team on Drakengard 3? Was the music written alongside the game’s development, or separately? What was that process like? That being said, when expressing one world through multiple creators, it would become mish-mashed and confusing if each individual did what they want so it’s tough to keep a clear direction while having a consistent mental image. ![]() Even with an assignment to create under the same “theme,” each creator would bring their own color, so I’ve asked many composers to write songs on this game. Okabe: In NieR, I put my efforts into keeping the feel of the world consistent, but with Drakengard 3, I wanted to broaden the range of variety. RPGFan: The score for Drakengard 3 has so many talented musicians involved! Can you talk a little bit about the process behind having so many composers contributing to a single project? What are some of the challenges and benefits of having such a big team working on the music? In the end, there were some songs that were much like those of NieR, (laughs), but it may be a result of my creative colors showing through. After starting on the actual work, that pressure kind of went away. However, once the project started, Director Yoko Taro came to me and the first thing he requested to me was this: “I want you to create something different from the previous Drakengard titles or NieR.” And so, I created music with the stance to make something different from the previous NieR. Okabe: When I was assigned to handle music for Drakengard 3, I felt that the consumers would expect the music to be in the same vein as NieR, and so my intention was to make music that is in that sort of direction. Knowing how successful it was, how did you handle the pressure knowing that the music for Drakengard 3 would be inevitably compared to your previous success in NieR? RPGFan: The soundtrack to NieR was an unexpected, breakout hit that has garnered tons of positive attention from fans and critics alike. Songs that were listed in the text books not only contained classical music, but also included foreign pop songs and movie music from the ’60s and ’70s with some arrangements made to match the level of the performer I feel that my current musical sensibilities were greatly affected by these.Īfter that, I didn’t really learn from a particular teacher, but I honed my music creation skills through various activities such as joining a band, multi-track recording, and DTM recording (desktop music recording recording music on the computer). Okabe: I began taking lessons on the electric organ when I was 4 or 5 years old, and continued until about 12 years old. RPGFan: Can you tell us a little bit about your background? What kind of musical training do you have? How did you become involved with writing music for video games? MONACA composer Keiichi Okabe was gracious enough to take some time from his busy schedule of melodymaking to answer some of our burning questions, and you can check out the results of that interview below! (In case you missed our review of Drakengard 3, be sure to give it a read.) While the game itself attracts attention on its own, many players were delighted to hear that its musical stylings would be crafted by none other than the team behind its spiritual predecessor, NieR. Drakengard 3 is out now, in all of its violent and bizarre glory.
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