Mar 182015
A full hour devoted to this semi-forgotten PS1 series.
0:00:00 – Overture (Vandal Hearts 2)
0:11:41 – Warlock (Vandal Hearts)
0:13:18 – Bygone Days 2 (Vandal Hearts)
0:14:40 – Fortress (Vandal Hearts)
0:28:31 – Warfare on a Plain (Vandal Hearts 2)
0:30:22 – A Crisis (Vandal Hearts 2)
0:33:10 – The Powerless People (Vandal Hearts 2)
0:39:49 – Hometown (Vandal Hearts 2)
0:41:51 – Madness People (Vandal Hearts 2)
0:44:02 – Warfare on a Constructions (Vandal Hearts 2)
0:46:16 – Warfare on a Mountain (Vandal Hearts 2)
1:02:01 – Burning Sorrow (Vandal Hearts Ending)
Warfare on a Mountain sounds just like America from West Side Story (or Scorcese’s Head from Goodfeathers. “I want to sit on Scorcese’s head.”)
Vandal Hearts was the type of strategy game that ends the battle if your leader dies, so I spent most of the game keeping my leader back so he wouldn’t get killed, but didn’t level up much. When I got to the end or nearly the last battle, there’s a guy in a castle at the back of the level, who casts a spell that reaches everyone on the map, so my leader got killed by an unavoidable spell because he was underleveled, and there was no way to fight any more and level him up. That was the end of my Vandal Hearts playing.
I LOVED the original Vandal Hearts.
And then for some reason never played the second one, nor the one that was released on PSN.
Honestly, nothing about this episode was as great as learning about the Vocaloid Opera Aoi. I’m not going to bother giving my shpeal about the wonders of Vocaloid, or how Hatsune Miku is the perfect being (but she is) but either way thank you for mentioning this.
Oh god, the Toys R Us ticket system. I remember really disliking that whenever we would go shopping there (usually for presents for my brother or other people’s kids). All a pennyless kid wants to do is pick up and look at all the game boxes. No such luck. To this day I still don’t think of it as a place I want to go and buy games.
I think my only experience with Vandal Hearts was scrolling to the very end of the list of downloadable games on Xbox Live to find Vandal Hearts: Covenant. I did this several times on 360 while bored but never did more than look at the screenshots and read the description. Despite having no nostalgia for the music, this was a great episode. I always enjoy hearing guests come on to talk about a game they’re exceptionally familiar with, and Patrick (Breath of Fire guy) did not disappoint.
Patrick and Brett,
Fun episode. Learned a lot about yet another obscure series, and enjoyed the music to boot. Man, political intrigue and duplicitous gods must have been hot topics in Japan in the late 90’s; the plot lines Patrick described seemed to mirror that of Guardian Heroes (possibly the greatest beat em’ up ever), and some others released at about that time.
Patrick is spot on about the Russian classical influence, but the castanets are straight Spanish. By the by, Russian classical music of that era(late 1800’s-early 1900’s) sounded that way because they were trying to evoke the feeling of the Middle East. Think Scheherazade and Arabian Nights.
Lastly, I thought the second batch of VH2 tracks were the best of the bunch. Madness People drove me crazy because I couldn’t figure out what it reminded me of……But it’s totally Blood Pool + the Boss encounter from Actraiser(itself inspired by that same era of Russian music) with a bit of Krusty’s Funhouse from Simpsons arcade thrown in at the beginning.(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsefax53YP0)
Warfare on a Constructions(not on a mountain) totally sounds like, Stage 2 from Castlevania Bloodlines(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKJsfwHObvw&index=3&list=PL01D23354DB6D47D3), and(wait for it)………..”America” from the Westside Story musical as mentioned above( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhSKk-cvblc go to about 1:30).
Thanks for the comments, everyone!
That correlation between Russian classical and the Middle East is certainly fitting, “Warfare on a Ruin” is pretty much “Arabian Nights.” You’ll get a kick out of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJwlCw0irPg
Also, for the longest time the OST wasn’t available in full on YouTube, and now I’m seeing somebody uploaded the entire thing in one video, complete with timestamps, so everybody can witness VHII’s majesty! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s_W1L4U3sQ
Wow, I wish you’d have played “Warfare on a Ruin” on the show. It had a bit of vigor that some of the other tracks lacked. Very nice! Also, thanks for arranging that discussion panel that Brent linked to. It was very cool.
Oh, and Brelston, I don’t know where else to mention this, but if by some small chance you don’t know about Power Glove, you should check them out. Reminds me a little of that Carpenter Brut track you mentioned a while back.
https://soundcloud.com/powerglove
Streets of 2043 is particularly rad.
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Well, I don’t think I’ve ever even heard of this series before, so it’ll be interesting to discover new music 😀
This show does a great job of getting me excited for a game I had minor interest in – by listening to the music, I get pumped and end up feeling a lot more interested in picking up the game.
I really love these episodes about games I know very little about!
Would like to mention that composer Hiroshi Tamawari’s wife reached out to me on Twitter and both of them really appreciate this podcast episode. GO VGMPIRE!!!
Oh man, this game. Shining Force was one of the first RPG’s I ever actually invested myself in. It was awesome to play another one like that. There may have been more out there, I might even played them, but Vandal Hearts man, dat arterial spray doe!
In case anybody’s still reading this: My interview with composer Hiroshi Tamawari is now up on VGMO! http://www.vgmonline.net/hiroshitamawariinterview/