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The lead composer for Zelda: Breath of the Wild is Manaka Kataoka (Animal Crossing)

Astral Dog

Astral Dog

Member
duckroll said:
Wait I don't understand. She's a woman. This is such a manly game where Link has to ride a horse, climb structures and cliffs, and fight giant monsters. How can a female composer relate to these actions and themes?
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She had experience on the significantly less manly Spirit Tracks so not a problem
 
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wmlk

Member
Sub Boss said:
It blows Skyward Sword and Tw8light Princess out of the water.:D
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Skyward Sword had amazing, dynamic orchestral pieces within the first hour or so of the game.

And Spirit Tracks is great. I just haven't heard anything like that in BotW.

It's currently reminding me of FFXV. You spend so much time out in the wild and the music implementation makes the presence of any music feel so sparse and uninteresting. The actual tracks might sound great, but they don't really get the chance to make an impact.
 
Astral Dog

Astral Dog

Member
wmlk said:
Skyward Sword had amazing, dynamic orchestral pieces within the first hour or so of the game.

And Spirit Tracks is great. I just haven't heard anything like that in BotW.

It's currently reminding me of FFXV. You spend so much time out in the wild and the music implementation makes the presence of any music feel so sparse and uninteresting. The actual tracks might sound great, but they don't really get the chance to make an impact.
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I think it can do it. Nothing to be worried about so far SS 2as very repetitive with its music
 
F

Fantastapotamus

Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
No matter what the rest of the OST sounds like, that track in the trailer was amazing. I now wish the game had no voice acting so I could just rip it from youtube and put it on my phone.
 
V

Vanguard771

Member
Oregano said:
Someone posted in the NMH3(?) thread that Suda told Famitsu he made up his speech on the spot. The translator probably had no clue what he was on about.
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Spirit Icana said:
Tell me about it. That Suda51 translator was amazing! :p

I felt bad for him. That stuff's hard.
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If you rewatch that part of the presentation you can hear the translator sigh after a couple seconds of Suda talking. It definitely didn't feel like his speech was rehearsed before hand.

On topic, the music is amazing. The trailer worked so well because of the music and I'm beyond ready for the release of the OST.
 
R

rec0ded1

Member
Fantastapotamus said:
No matter what the rest of the OST sounds like, that track in the trailer was amazing. I now wish the game had no voice acting so I could just rip it from youtube and put it on my phone.
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Totally. I've been searching YouTube hoping it had leaked or at least find the original song that influenced the part that starts at 1:48
 
T

Thud

Member
Huh, looks like she married between Spirit Tracks and New Leaf. She used her maiden name before.

We don't know if she's the main composer yet, but either way the tracks are amazing. It's a big jump in her career.
 
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Nzyme32

Member
I think it is great that the new style of games are getting equally new yet clearly veteran leads for a variety of areas. This lady's music particularly in the latest trailer was wonderful; fitting yet suitably different.
 
J

Joeshabadoo

Member
wmlk said:
OK so, anyone wanna point me to any time where there's any kind of bombastic music played in the hours of gameplay that we've gotten so far? The music in the latest trailer is likely just promo/trailer music like we've heard for Twilight Princess before (one of the tracks was reused for the first Skyward Sword trailer).
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Off the top of the dome, the Steppe Talus fight and entering fully active and mobile Guardian encounters showcase themes with more bombast beyond the combat music for smaller grunt enemies, but even then we're only seeing music associated with the plateau and the area of hyrule field just north of it.

people should be ready for the fact that each distinct area and exploration therein will be defined by far more muted and subtle accompaniment meant to underscore a more desolate and ruined landscape

when larger scale more involved themes come in (they def will) they will have FAR more impact. the same can be said for whenever voice work comes in, and also sort of when you encounter NPCs. it should feel like a bit of an oasis.

those are my hopeful thoughts, at least
 
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Thoraxes

Member
I just love how the style she's using accommodates the sound design so well. The ambient pieces are used to great effect, and the same can be said about the more traditional stuff as well. Rather than just themes and themes and songs and songs, there's more nuanced work at play.
 
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Timeaisis

Member
Cool. As much as I love Kondo, new fresh takes is always good. The music I've heard sounds great.

Edit: oh damn she did Spirit Tracks? Best part of that game is it's soundtrack.
 
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LurkerPrime

Member
Manaka Kataoka is doing a phenomenal job--they made the right choice. (I'll admit I assumed it was Koji Kondo initially, for no reason other than his traditional work with Zelda's music.)

Seriously, the music has been 100% on point in all the trailers. If they keep it up for the actual game, it'll be quite the wonder indeed. I foresee awards in her future!
 
O

oti

Banned
Nzyme32 said:
I think it is great that the new style of games are getting equally new yet clearly veteran leads for a variety of areas. This lady's music particularly in the latest trailer was wonderful; fitting yet suitably different.
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I love how in the trailer they wait until the last few seconds to throw in the traditional Zelda sound. It's amazing. I need this soundtrack.
 
Yoshi

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Linkstrikesback said:
Well, if I was going to call any moderately big series of 2d Nintendo platformers a series of menial tasks, the one that pads it out by filling the levels full of generic collectables that you need to 100% the game might be a starting point...

You can frame any game as just busywork if you look at it from the right angle. They didn't sell 10m+ copies of New leaf by accident though. The gameplay might not be for you, but it does what it set out to do better than most any other life sim on the market, and it paid off.
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The collectibles in Yoshi games are not primarily busywork though, because timing and more difficult jumping sequences must be pulled off to get them and in the case of the life meter, one has to prevent getting hit, so this certainly is more than busywork. That is, with the exception of Yoshi's Story, if you are OK with getting any fruit, there is no challenge to that.

I was not talking about sales, but I think as non-shareholders we can all agree that neither low nor high sales make a or good nor a bad game, even though we may not find an agreement on Animal Crossing.
 
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jb1234

Member
The trailer music has been nice but the music I've heard in in-game clips has been pretty dull. The more ambient use of music in modern Zelda games hasn't really been to my taste.
 
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tanuki

Member
Animal Crossing has some of the best music Nintendo has ever produced, so it's good to hear the composer has been given the AAA stuff to work on too. :)
 
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balohna

Member
ACNL has a fantastic soundtrack. Like, absolutely brilliant. Catchy and moody, but also more subtle and interesting than a lot of other Nintendo soundtracks. Even hundreds of hours in, you might catch a harmony or subtle accent you had missed previously.

So, I'm very happy with this choice.


https://youtu.be/rmtKHo7GB64
 
A

ASIS

Member
Deft Beck said:
What about it is feminine, exactly?

The music is excellent, regardless of gender.
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It's very soft, that's what I meant, even the enemy encounters feel much more inoffensive than previous installments.

Note that I don't think women are incapable of producing masculine tunes or vice versa because that's just a stupid line of thinking. It's just weird things that I associate with music (for instance I associate colors with different songs).

And yes, the music is excellent, one of the best in the entire series so far, and that's saying something.
 
E

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
She's crazy talented, every piece has blown me away. And she perfectly suited for this game. You wouldn't really think it but BotW's musical accompaniment needs are very similar to AC. The need for background music that compliments but doesn't overshadow the environments. Time of day and dynamic weather. Everything we've heard has just been fantastic.
 
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Jaymageck

Member
The Wiki also says Ryo Nagamatsu is on board.

He's by far Nintendo's best current composer in my view, so I wonder if he did any of the tracks to date.
 
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watershed

Banned
Fancyarcher said:
Not a bad choice at all. Curious to see what she brings to the table. I like Animal's Crossing background music a lot.
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You can already hear her influence in the soft piano music that plays quietly while exploring different areas. The Temple of Time has its own gentle piano music, the Outpost Ruins has a similar tune, the stables have a kind of epona's song like melody, riding a horse has a jaunty piano tune, etc. The general direction of quieter, more atmospheric background music is quite different from the traditional big heroic overworld themes of past Zelda games and even the location specific music is much more delicate this time.
 
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Drewboy64

Member
Must be a great choice, because the music in the trailers has been phenomenal. Reminds me of Joe Hisaishi's work from Studio Ghibli.
 
T

Terrell

Member
Vampirolol said:
Very happy that a woman is doing this amazing soundtrack.
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Actually, Nintendo has a few women on staff doing composing that have outright slayed, the other notable one being Shiho Fujii, who worked on Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon, which have some of the best tunes of any Nintendo soundtrack in years.
 
B

BooJoh

Member
I love the AC soundtracks, and if they're any indication of the quality of music we'll get in BotW then I'm really looking forward to it.

Admiral Woofington said:
I'm gonna assume that when they say 'she was wasted' they meant that her name was never going to explode in Animal Crossing vs a major AAA mainstream system seller like Zelda.
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Yeah but didn't ACWW and ACNL each sell better than any Zelda title, meaning her talents are actually brought to a wider audience through AC?
 
V

Vampirolol

Member
Terrell said:
Actually, Nintendo has a few women on staff doing composing that have outright slayed, the other notable one being Shiho Fujii, who worked on Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon, which have some of the best tunes of any Nintendo soundtrack in years.
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Didn't know about that. Both MK8 and Splatoon have incredible soundtracks!
 
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